thielb's 82 Maxim restoration

Oh come on now! The flasher relay on a Maxim isn't THAT bad to get to. Remove seat, tank, upper engine mounts, and the bracket that keeps the wiring harness off the engine. Then reach into the frame from the front and slide the rubber mount up and off it's tab. The relay can then be removed from the rear of the frame.

You are half way there based on your last pics. Don't give up so easy!
 
aw man now I'm gunna feel bad if I go the easy route :laugh: okay okay I'll head back out there and have a look. I see in the old thread that the ep34 relay worked for all the sohc guys...would it be safe to assume that the ep34 would work fine for the maxim as well? I cant imagine the blinkers operate very differently between the two models...how bout you dave, i know you run lights with much lower draw than stock, what'd you pick for the maxim?
 
The only significant differences between the SOHC and DOHC signals is that all DOHC have the auto cancel feature (except Euro models) and individual indicator lights. Makes upgrading to LED's slightly easier. I used an LED specific flasher relay. One of the ones that has the extra ground wire. It was what the local auto parts store had in stock when I needed it right away.

Just a thought - you may want to check that your signals lights all have good grounds. I found the rear lights on my bike had sketchy grounds that prevented the lights from flashing. The lights came on, without flashing. Once I had the rear grounds sorted out, they worked fine.
 
Great, thanks Dave. I think I'll order the ep34 for now since i wont have time to go to any auto or electronics stores today and im leaving the bike behind again while I'm back to school. All the reviews for that relay suggest that it works great for LEDs or just the lower load incandescent bulbs and it has the same 3 plug format as shown in the maxim part diagram. I'll definitely double check my connections and grounds again when I'm back at the bike, thanks for the tip :thumbsup:
 
Update. No go with the ep34. No power to the blinkers at all. I know that the relay gets power because the old relay just holds the lights on still. Maybe its a dud, im not sure. Probably going to radioshack tomorrow to have a talk with someone about this relay and maybe pick up a few resistors to at least get the old relay working for now. :shrug: Thoughts?

Also, just opened up the ep34 and it definitely smells burnt. Could it be possible that my small incandescent bulbs are too much load compared to LEDs which is what the ep34 is actually designed for? That really wouldnt make sense because it supposedly has a 162W max and theres no way that the new blinkers are getting that high, the old blinkers wouldnt even max that out...

On the brighter side, i poured some fuel in and she fired up like i just put it away yesterday. What a relief :)
 
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The ep34 should work with anything. I am using it right now with giant bulbs in my blinkers. It's compatible with LEDs, but it doesn't require them.

When I first ran my ep34 I guessed at which wires to connect and definitely blew a fuse at least once. I know that is possible!
 
I have smaller bulbs on my SECA and I had the same problem, the indicator lights would stay on with the stock relay and they wouldn't work with the replacement LED flasher relay. I tried a million ways of connecting it, went back to the shop and had the new relay tested, tried sticking it on again on at least six occasions (therefore I can now dig my way from a fully put together bike to getting to the flasher relay inside the frame in like 10 minutes). Then I added an extra ground wire between the relay and the frame and my indicators have been working perfectly ever since. :doh:
 
I'll definitely take some but it will have to wait, i am once again a hundred miles away from my bike for a while. I also ended up using a different relay so I'll get the product ID for that too
 
So last time I was home, I took a look at the choke lever attached to the switch on the left bar. Has anyone removed that lever with the cable and used a choke down on the carbs more like those found on the SOHC models? Getting more stuff off the bars and more cables out of the way just seems like an all around better way to go... I cant tell real well from the parts diagrams for that switch but it doesnt look like removing the choke lever would hurt anything else on the switch unit. Thoughts?
 
It's too cold today for me to go out and open up the frozen shed to look at mine so I will speculate ....

It would depend on whether the Maxim choke cable activates a 3-position choke control like on my old sr250, or whether it pulls against a spring loaded "enricher" control.
If the later, you would have to come up with something which would hold against it. If the former, I would think you cold just attach a knob down where the cable nears the carbs.
 
it's an enricher control, the choke cable pulls out two plungers which are springed on the inside of the carb.

Yes you could eliminate the choke lever and cable but you would have to make something that 'sticks' the choke when it's pulled. Either something with enough friction to hold against the choke plunger springs, or something you can lock into place by twisting or something. Shouldn't be too hard
 
thielb said:
So last time I was home, I took a look at the choke lever attached to the switch on the left bar. Has anyone removed that lever with the cable and used a choke down on the carbs more like those found on the SOHC models? Getting more stuff off the bars and more cables out of the way just seems like an all around better way to go... I cant tell real well from the parts diagrams for that switch but it doesnt look like removing the choke lever would hurt anything else on the switch unit. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'm so glad this came up. I put drag bars on my dohc xs400 and the choke lever is not clearing the top of the gas tank -- I want to get rid of it. I removed the lever mechanism and it won't affect anything else in the switch unit. The problem is rigging something that will pull and hold the enricher bar on the carbs. I asked about the choke lever from the sohc bikes and someone (XSChris?) told me they won't work with the dohc carbs. Any ideas?
 
Its been a good day! :D Got everything waxed and put back on the bike, fired up right off the bat and shes runnin real strong! Turned out looking way better than i actually expected!! Looks super sharp, I'm 100% satisfied. Put on about 100 miles today really pushin her out cruising with my buddies. The riding position is much more to my liking with the drag bars, more comfortable and aggressive. Really getting better at running this bike a bit harder too. Last year I was just learning and wasn't super comfortable with the idea of having the revs up all the time. Today I was ripping around as hard as i could keepin the revs between 7k and 9.5k and boy does it make things more fun. Also working on some new stuff after watching twist of the wrist a couple times :thumbsup: So great to be back on the bike :bike: :bike: :D
 

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