DynaGlide
XS400 Enthusiast
Let me start by saying I'm not an import guy. I've owned my Harley-Davidson Fat Bob since new in 2009 and it has been my bike to learn how to wrench on. Over the winter I did a complete cases up engine build on it and that left me wanting to find a new project.
That being said, I've wanted to get into an older bike for a while now and through a series of circumstances I ended up with this Maxim engine to mess with. My friend is a big Yamaha guy and he had this sitting under a pile of stuff in the corner of his garage. He got the bike for $80 and basically told me have fun with the engine, see if you can get it running. Ultimately I think he/we will chop the bike up and turn it Cafe. I don't care about the "Harley" vs "Metric" attitudes some have, I enjoy all motorcycles mainly because I love learning how they work or were built.
On the outside the engine is in pretty terrible condition but as far as I can tell mostly together/okay. Just years of neglect and I suspect some faulty oil seals before being stored:
When I got the carbs apart I was surprised to see them almost perfect:
The cylinder head valve seals were definitely bad, some of the ports are pretty ugly inside I can take a pic later, but I got them disassembled:
One thing led to another, a bunch of dirt got into the crankcase taking the top end off and I went ahead and split the cases. (A word of caution to anyone following this for their own DOHC. .there's a case bolt hiding behind the oil pump which the manual doesn't tell you about. I found out the hard way):
I'm normally a lot more careful working on things but so far I've approached this thinking it would get parted out. The further I went I realized it looks pretty good inside I have a chance here. I'll be relying on the community for help as I clean this up and get it back together as the manual for the Seca available from this forum isn't that great and I can't find any threads on a DOHC engine so I'm starting one.
A small 3.5 gallon parts washer gets in today from Eastwood, should help out with all the messy stuff. Plenty of stripped bolts along the way need replacing and the stator is pretty much a goner. I'd like to clean up the engine but don't have the patience to polish it up and I'm on a budget, open to suggestions.
Wish me luck.
That being said, I've wanted to get into an older bike for a while now and through a series of circumstances I ended up with this Maxim engine to mess with. My friend is a big Yamaha guy and he had this sitting under a pile of stuff in the corner of his garage. He got the bike for $80 and basically told me have fun with the engine, see if you can get it running. Ultimately I think he/we will chop the bike up and turn it Cafe. I don't care about the "Harley" vs "Metric" attitudes some have, I enjoy all motorcycles mainly because I love learning how they work or were built.
On the outside the engine is in pretty terrible condition but as far as I can tell mostly together/okay. Just years of neglect and I suspect some faulty oil seals before being stored:
When I got the carbs apart I was surprised to see them almost perfect:
The cylinder head valve seals were definitely bad, some of the ports are pretty ugly inside I can take a pic later, but I got them disassembled:
One thing led to another, a bunch of dirt got into the crankcase taking the top end off and I went ahead and split the cases. (A word of caution to anyone following this for their own DOHC. .there's a case bolt hiding behind the oil pump which the manual doesn't tell you about. I found out the hard way):
I'm normally a lot more careful working on things but so far I've approached this thinking it would get parted out. The further I went I realized it looks pretty good inside I have a chance here. I'll be relying on the community for help as I clean this up and get it back together as the manual for the Seca available from this forum isn't that great and I can't find any threads on a DOHC engine so I'm starting one.
A small 3.5 gallon parts washer gets in today from Eastwood, should help out with all the messy stuff. Plenty of stripped bolts along the way need replacing and the stator is pretty much a goner. I'd like to clean up the engine but don't have the patience to polish it up and I'm on a budget, open to suggestions.
Wish me luck.
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