update on Venture project

[Guest Obsidian16825]

It might have been around Labor Day when I last was on the forum here. My husband and I were asked to get my uncle's '83 Venture running. Over the Labor Day weekend, we almost did, then my husband knocked a hole in one of the carb float bowl covers, so we pulled the carbs again and brought them home. Since my uncle lives three hours away, we got a bike trailer and went back for the bike. A busy life and apprehension delayed us pulling the bike off the trailer until a week ago. I patched the hole in the carb with some of that two part epoxy stick the obnoxious guy on television pitches, and we put capfulls of Seafoam in the jets we could get to, and reinstalled the carbs.

 

Yesterday, we drained the fuel tank and put fresh gas in. With coaxing, the engine started and ran, mostly on three cylinders, sometimes four, and for maybe the first time since 1996, the motorcycle actually moved under its own power. My husband was straddling it, letting the engine warm, twisting the throttle, listening for the fourth cylinder to fire. As the old girl warmed and idled without choke, he decided to just see what would happen if he shifted to first and eased out the clutch. She wanted to go, so he, with no seat installed, gingerly putted a couple of laps around the house. Well, that was dicey, so he put a helmet and jacket on, and decided to see if she'd go up and down the street. Second and third gears are fine, and fast enough without a seat, or rear brake, and poor front brake. There's no power to the instrument cluster, or blinkers, or headlight. Not surprising, there appear to be a couple of exaust leaks.

 

The fuel flow valve needs to be replaced. The plastic is crumbled, so the valve can't be turned. We'd like to put a better one on it. I haven't searched yet, but am hoping to find out if others here have replaced their fuel valves with better ones. The one on my Vulcan looks like it'd fit, so I'm hoping I can replace it with a Kawi valve.

[mbrood]

For resurrecting a 25 year old bike that sat dormant for 12 years, it sounds like you are actually fairly lucky... and she runs! Sure glad to hear about that! The other items are those "one at a time" things, but if you come across any electrical connector, clean it and grease it... time does a number on them! Age also is nasty to those simple and weak spring clips holding the round fuses in the main panel, the age harden and often loose their spring (intermittant connection) or break (fair pain to fix).

 

You'll also want to check the rear lower frame for cracks... this plagues that year!

[bongobobny]

I have an '85 that I originally bought for parts but decided to try to get running agsain. I'm pulling it into the garage next month to turn it into a winter project. Hasn't run for about 10 years. Turns over but no spark. Got my work cut out for me too!!

[Guest Obsidian16825]

I'll add the rear frame to the list of things to check. Do they crack because of weight overloading of the luggage?

 

Fortunately for my uncle, we care about old bikes. We have two 1979 Hondas, a CB750 and a GL1000, both running when we bought them. Unfortunately for him, he's not a mechanic and has a hard time on the internet, researching and searching for parts. We're really looking forward to returning the Venture to him, especially since our work is volunteer and we don't want to become his ongoing maintenance staff. He's mentioned selling this bike and getting something smaller and newer.

[1BigDog]

You mentioned that you have no rear brake and a poor front brake. After sitting all those years im sure your brake fluid is thicker than pancake syrup too. You may also have to flush the system completely, including rebuilding the master cylinders and calipers. There may also be a pretty good buildup of grunge inside the clutch master cyl. That too may also need to be flushed. My first 83 had plenty of grunge througout the brake and clutch system and that bike only sat for 3 years.

[saddlebum]

but if you come across any electrical connector, clean it and grease it...

 

Be careful what you use for grease some contian conductive ingredients such as neversieze. SUGGESTIONS : dielectric grese, truklites electrical grease and believe it or not good old fashioned vaseline (which also works great on battery terminals)

For low voltage computer or sensor connections use nothing just keep them clean and dry.

[Guest Obsidian16825]

vaseline! I think we might have a jar somewhere around here. When I had horses in a boarding stables, and people would leave their wheelbarrows full of manure parked for days outside my stall doors, I'd smear globs vaseline on the wheelbarrow handles. I'm pretty sure we have dielectric grease. That's what I was thinking of.

[bongobobny]

The '83 was the only year affected by frame cracking. They beefed up the wqeek point with more metal on the '84`up. I believe the frame cracking was around the rear shock mount but I'm not positive on that. I own an '84...