My 83 Venture restoration saga.

[Silverado6x6]

I bought Super Tech Synthetic Dot 3, it meets the requirements needed. Removed clutch master, had to dremel off head of one screw, again it was full of brake fluid crystals, like a bad batch of rock candy. Sight glass is shot, bought a pack of three german flat glass 17.5x2mm watch crystals, many thanks to those that pioneered that idea. Complete clutch MC on ebay for the most under $50 also have worn out sight glasses, I will clean it up and see if its viable. Waiting for epoxy paint to cure first before I mount and bleed rear brakes, bought a set of those infamous kevlar carbon fiber pads for the rear from Ebay this morning.

 

Price was right though.

[dacheedah]

I would suggest using an hand impact driver to remove old screws, works awesome. Put anti sieze on the replacement screws.

[Silverado6x6]

Gonna replace with stainless torx or hex head screws.

[Silverado6x6]

My day job has been keeping me busy but I manage to sneak some time in here and there, waiting for a bunch of parts from Ebay, decided to chuck clutch master cylinder so I bought another, removed both handlebars that already had the ends removed, they were black epoxy painted last week, removed all the scarred and heat damaged clear coat from the aluminum of the main bars, hit every inch with the green fine scotch pad on my Snapon side rotary air tool, then used 800 and 1500 grit wet dry paper to remove any marks.

 

I did not want absolute mirror finish but instead went with a hand rubbed satin brushed look by using a sheet of scotch pad and rubbing lengthwise of both bars uniformly.Cleaned out the bar end mount hole with a dremel wire brush, clear coated everything, I suggest wearing gloves for the novice as its easy to leave oil from you skin on the "white" aluminum.

 

Will be leaving brakes linked for now. Now I am beginning to gather the few pieces of body that were melted, its good for the most part they are available except the rf turn signal lens in the fairing seems overly priced.

[Silverado6x6]

Had a busy weekend, have bought all the replacement plastic, front and rear brakes fully operational , drained fork oil, and then I went back to engine, found the sliders in carbs of 1 3 and 4 had seperated and thus the diaphragm s were not working, used green sleave retainer loctite on them.

Used too much seafoam and marvel oil in gas so engine will not start without choking, drained fuel and will put fresh gas in today, tach quit, hopefully its just a glitch from plug fouling, those tci units are spendy, will check all plugs to tci for corrosion. Did see some green corrosion inside coil of number 2 coil, could be my problem with tach.

[Silverado6x6]

An update on the 83 restoration, removed and cleaned carbs, still will not hardly run, pulled TCI and opened it up and found it had water in it and all 8 diodes crusty white junk. Took a gamble and spent less than $4 on Radio Shack diodes, replaced them but to no avail, eproms must be shot, will convert to Ignitech in the next week or so.

A re-print of the factory service manual of the XVZ12 turned up from Ebay, much better than the Haynes or Clymer manuals.

The replacement clutch master cylinder from fleabay turns out to be also not much better than junk, will have to get a piston kit now, new front pads and grips have arrived, first of the fairing pieces should show up soon, others more slowly as I opted to ship Parcel Post rather than Priority.

 

Saturday morning I will be driving again to Anchorage to check out an 89 Royale, here is the image from Craigslist.

 

http://images.craigslist.org/00Y0Y_by9C1JpQc6K_600x450.jpg

 

Owner has not been able to sell it due to "smoke from engine and no clutch"

here is the actual Craigslist ad. I may trade him some unimportant items he wants for the bike.

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/mcy/3927587241.html

[Silverado6x6]

I got the 89 Royale, just got home from driving to Anchorage making a barter for some rifles and now I own it, here is a brief analysis of bike:

It runs, fired right up, no noticeable smoke from exhaust both at sellers and later when I test rode it, oil seepage is coming from a leaking front top cover gasket, cost of RR gasket is $28 each from local Yammy shop. Minor leakage at that not known but appears to have no excessive oil leakage anywhere else, will clean engine, change oil and monitor.

A little bit of engine roughness, Seafoam time.

Clutch master cylinder was low with contaminated fluid, inoperative completely, had water in it, drained, refilled, bled slave and clutch works, left absorbent pad under slave because I suspect its leaking and thus why owner stated smoke from engine, dripping right on exhaust, very clean low mile used slave on fleabay at my accepted offer of $30 or a rebuild kit for $20 and shipping. As of right now or two hours ago it was fully operational.

 

Has minor fairing damage around mirror mounts, I have resin and carbon fiber cloth for a backside repair, very minor scrapes, luggage in excellent condition, everything works from the CLASS to the cassette radio and CB, horn does not, oh my, that just ruined everything....

Took it for a short spin, tires are in very good condition, tomorrow at 0 dark thirty I will change oil, check coolant, especially check the brake and clutch fluids and most likely will flush all out with new DOT 4. So at this stage I am optimistic engine may have been mis dignosed, owner was told it would be over $1,000 to repair engine, so if I have to pull heads I would be looking possibly at valve seals and gaskets, will just ride it and see for myself. I think this bike is a real winner, its absolutely gorgeous, some blemished on the windshield that do not want to come out, I'll try some different restoration compounds or just a new one.

[Silverado6x6]

Changed engine oil, its running on a Seafoam mix in fuel, went for a 2am ride with my girlfriend, clutch works great, windshield is NOT usable for at night, needs a new one, has a driveline whine, I believe its excessive middle gear backlash, only on decel that you feel and hear it, after our night ride it fails to hot start back at shop so it needs a starter mod but out of it all the worst I am seeing is a stator replacement, its just not charging, we rode only on the battery it seems and never knew it, won't go past 12.6v.

 

Has stator short to case I find, no biggee, $120 plus gasket and some oil.

 

I am so in love with this bike! Much better riding than my 2009 Star 1300 Tourer.

[Silverado6x6]

Got me a new stator in the mail, in the meantime I am pulling the upper fairing to see why my horns don't work and to fix up some areas around the mirror mounts that are broken, i will be using plastic epoxy and some carbon fiber, i have a bunch of it left over from another project, stronger than fiberglass.

 

i was reading that some people do not like Metzeler tires on the venture, I use Metzelers on my 2009 Star XVS 1300 Tourer and I love them, much better than the stock Dunlops.

But I use metzelers air pressure recommendation of 38-40 solo or 40-42 2 up or with gear, I chose the latter as I am over 200 and carry gear with me.

 

Not interested in high mileage tires as I have no plans of leaving Alaska, all riding is local, I may even remove the Metzelers after I check their manufacture date and install some Shinko 230 Tourmasters. I bought a pair for my 83 Honda CX650 and they feel great.

[zagger]

I almost stopped reading on the first post when you said "you seem an intelligent group".

Obviously some guy who is completely out of touch with reality!

 

I also reconstructed an '83 venture and just love the engine. I'm sure you will prevail in the end, just keep plugging away.

zag

[Silverado6x6]

The 83 awaits a new ignition, sidetracked at the moment because here in Alaska good riding weather is often in very short supply, last year it rained all summer, luckily this year its an awesome clear dry summer, but summer be it cold, dry or wet is still much shorter than down in the lower 48. I may even see snow by the end of august atop the higher 10,000 ft peaks nearby. 89 comes first, 83 is on back burner, parts are still in transit.

I have to be honest with myself, I hate riding my 2009 Star 1300 Tourer, it gives me an aching shoulder, needs a different bar pullback, a better seat and a better windshield or fairing. The 89 Venture rides so smooth, no buffeting, seat is right on comfy, it is the bike I want to ride, so I am in a hurry to get the stator fixed and to really scope out any other problems.

 

About the forums, not as much tech talk as I have seen elsewhere. Often why I do not post more here.

[Venturous Randy]

has a driveline whine, I believe its excessive middle gear backlash, only on decel that you feel and hear it,

 

I suspect you have a broken pinion nut in the rearend. You will need to pull the rear wheel and the rearend and generally the driveshaft will come out with the rearend as the seal holds it in.

RandyA

[Silverado6x6]

You mean the final drive or middle gear pinion?

Its a howl when i decel in gear pretty darn loud.

I was thinking of middle gear backlash needs to be tighten up a bit.

[Venturous Randy]

You mean the final drive or middle gear pinion?

Its a howl when i decel in gear pretty darn loud.

I was thinking of middle gear backlash needs to be tighten up a bit.

 

 

The final drive. During acceleration, you will have proper gear spacing, but during deceleration, the proper gear spacing goes away. If this is the case, it will probably be cheaper to pick up another final drive rather than trying to fix yours.

RandyA