PopMac's XS400 Maxim Cleanup

Remove any rubber parts as carb cleaner will damage rubber
Je especially careful with the diaphragms
Yes - I took the photos right when I removed the carbs, but I've removed all rubber. Thanks for the heads up.

I'll be doing an oil change probably next weekend, so now is probably the time to buy a torque wrench. What do you guys use? People recommend the Tekton 3/8 drive one but it starts at 10 lb-ft. The oil gallery bolt is supposed to be tightened to 5.1 lb-ft and the oil filter bolt to 11. Obviously the 5.1 is an issue but its also my understanding that these wrenches don't do too well at the lowest end of their scale, so I don't know how the 11 would do either. Recommendations
 
I bought a cheap beam wrench.
Doesn't click and not extremely accurate but adequate for what we're doing.
Never needs a conventional calibration. Bend beam back to 0 if it's ever off zero.
 
Well, last night was a bit of a frustrating one! Without scrolling back, I'm pretty sure I mentioned that my plans to work on the bike over winter got a bit screwed because I've been sent away for work. I'm only in town on weekends since mid October until April, so my weekends are pretty busy between catching up on stuff that needs to be done from the week, gigging with my band, spending time with my wife, and trying to maintain some form of social life. I haven't have any time to touch the bike since my last post, two and a half months ago.

Anyway, I happened to have a free day today so I called up a buddy earlier in the week to see if he could give me a hand. Plan was to pop the carbs back in, get the bike running and see if my problems were solved by the cleaning. If not, he knows significantly more than I do so he was going to help diagnose the issues. Doing this means that last night was the time to empty out the vinegar from my gas tank (has been soaking to get rid of some rust in there) and fill it up with gas so we could get everything running today. Well, I wasn't quick enough with my rinsing and getting the inside dried and coated with WD-40. It was looking fantastic in there, got rid of so much rust then it flash rusted and is way worse than it ever way. So shit. All that time for nothing and because the tank wasn't good we couldn't get anything further than popping the carbs back in. Later today I'll be buying more vinegar to fill it back up and hopefully I can find time this next weekend to do it up properly and get the tank on and see if the bike runs.

My friend still came by today to help me put the carbs back in though. I had such a hard time getting them out by myself I figured two people would be better than one to get them back in. With much effort and more swearing we got them in but they aren't looking quite right to me. I looked back at old photos but its sort of hard for me to tell. On the air filter side, should the carbs be more in the boots? My friend and I both agree that they probably should be but for the life of us we couldn't get them in any more on that side. Is this just how they are or do I need to keep fiddling with them?

I'll be putting in an inline filter as well before I get the bike going. With the amount of effort it is getting the carbs back in and out I want to do this as little as humanly possible. I had one but I keep and work on my bike in my works (construction company) shop and its gone missing. We have a lot of random stuff kicking about so I'm assuming at some point over the last few months somebody grabbed it thinking it was the companies... but I'll look again before buying a new one.
 

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Yes,it should be pushed in more...are you keeping stock airbox?
Alright, I'll keep working them and see if I can get it to move at all.

I haven't put a much thought into pods. I suppose the big benefit of them is simply removing the carbs later becomes way easier? Looking around now it seems like to install them I would need to remove the swingarm and shock to get the airbox out and move the battery to somewhere else. Also likely need to go up a size in jets, but thats assuming the bike is already properly jetted... previous owner has put on new exhaust pipes already and I don't know if he ever rejetted for that or whats really going on as I haven't had the bike running great yet.

Is that right? If so, where did you move your battery to?
 
Put a shorai battery in the cafe cowl i made.
I love the pods...you can take the carbs on/off in seconds.
A little tuning/jetting is required but well worth it.
I mounted the pods on the original rubbers..the ones in the air box so as to keep laminar airflow as much as possible.
 
Put a shorai battery in the cafe cowl i made.
I love the pods...you can take the carbs on/off in seconds.
A little tuning/jetting is required but well worth it.
I mounted the pods on the original rubbers..the ones in the air box so as to keep laminar airflow as much as possible.
I looked through your build after you posted, that bike looks fantastic! I'll do some looking this weekend to see if theres anywhere that makes sense to put the battery without massive mods. I wouldn't mind rejetting and tweaking if the carbs were easy to take out. Pods seem like the way to go, just need to figure out logistics.
 
A lot of people make it seem like its a nighmare to tuned for pods but it ain't...be patient use logic and try to read-up 16VGTIDave's threads on jetting...helped me a lot.
 
A lot of people make it seem like its a nighmare to tuned for pods but it ain't...be patient use logic and try to read-up 16VGTIDave's threads on jetting...helped me a lot.
I agree, I had very little problem tuning my carbs while using pods. Mine has stock jets. I did, however, install them on the factory "H" hoses- I believe that helped.
 
I agree, I had very little problem tuning my carbs while using pods. Mine has stock jets. I did, however, install them on the factory "H" hoses- I believe that helped.
Was yours a DOHC or SOHC? If DOHC, where did you move your battery too?
 
Uni's or real K&N's are they way to go if you have to do it. I prefer stock for best tuning.
 
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.

Tank is cleaned out, ready to be installed back in again. When I put the tank on the bike and tighten down the back bolt, the whole tank is a bit loose. It wiggles from side to side at the front by maybe an inch or so. I've had the tank off of the bike so long that I don't remember if it was like this always or if I'm missing something... Is this normal or is something off?

*edit*
Dammit. Doing a bit of searching looks like I'm missing the rubber dampers. Luckily these are cheap on eBay... I don't remember ever seeing them but I'll tear the shop apart this afternoon to see if they are somewhere.
 
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Today was a good day! More work needs to be done but the bike is now running (quite well, actually), I took it for a safety and it passed! I've got temporary insurance on it so I can boot around a bit and tomorrow will be putting real insurance on it.

Update since the last post - couldn't find my dampers anywhere but a local on the site here hooked me up, so that was awesome. I popped the tank on and had two problems 1) the petcock leaks and 2) the bike wouldn't start. Still working out of town during the week I admitted defeat and realized that if I wanted this bike done any time reasonably soon I'd need to take it to my mechanics.

So they did a carb overhaul for me as well as more work on my brakes and now the bike is running beautifully. The petcock still leaks but only in prime... I'll need to find a replacement because that's no good but currently it's not the end of the world.

Also I need a new chain and sprockets. When they did the inspection the chain was loose so they tightened it as much as they could but said the chain is stretched and still a bit too loose. So I'll be ordering that all right away and hopefully can find somebody to give me a hand with it.

The guys doing the inspection told me to stick in the city for now, keep it at or under 60, don't accelerate hard or drive like an idiot and it should be fine until I get a replacement in.

So - I've been driving around for maybe a half hour today and I absolutely love it. This bike is straight up fun. Even keeping it super low key due to the chain I was having a blast. It's way more responsive than I thought it was going to be, feels like its got some jam to it, the style fits me perfectly and I really just love everything about it. Except the turn signal control... need to look into that.

Just about to go out again
 
Good to hear its working out.

I love the cruising on the maxim just don't like the looks of them :D hopefully I can resurrect mine soon after my current project is finished.
 
Good to hear its working out.

I love the cruising on the maxim just don't like the looks of them :D hopefully I can resurrect mine soon after my current project is finished.
I'm torn on the aesthetics. Sometimes I think its super dorky looking and other times I really like it. I think swapping out the mirrors would go a long way but the seat also doesn't really do it for me. I think I'd like it with a straight seat but not a cafe racer style seat... I did a mockup with a Vanvan seat and really liked it... but a custom seat would run me $400+ and if I had $400 to spend on the bike right now it would go to other improvements instead of cosmetic stuff. Attached is a photo from today. Today was one of the days that I dig the look of the bike a lot.

After my last post I went for an hour long ride. Man I love this bike. Just feels great. As I was driving my speedometer died though. After getting home I took a look and the cable had fallen off. I screwed it back in place, went for a trip around the block and it seems to be working but the needle seems a bit shakey or wobbley now. I'll take a look at it tomorrow but I consider today a great success.

My mechanic has a chain that I'll pick up in the next couple days and I ordered new sprockets, so now I've got a week to find somebody to help me swap them out or learn how to do it myself.
 

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Wish you were closer could help out with the chain and sprockets as they are east to do if you knw whats going on......

I love the look of this bike..............http://www.xs400.com/threads/greg-hageman-build-an-xs400-maxim.16815/

I may have to make mine like that when the time comes.......
That is great looking!

Chain and sprockets don't seem all that difficult from what I'm seeing but at the same time it also seems like something I don't really want to mess up. Theres two guys who have offered in the past to give me a hand if I need, so hopefully one of them has some spare time.
 
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