Well I bought a set of V-Max heads....now what?

[VanRiver]

Hello Guys and Gals....well my eBay "buy it now" trigger finger got the best of me today and I bought a set of 1989 V-Max heads. I plan to put them on "AZZI" my 86 Venture Royale I have at my Arizona house which I only paid $250 for, so I think the old gal is worth spending some cash on. Now to my questions.....I suffer from the disease of "More Money Then Brains" or as the professionals call it MMTB. Therefore I know the swap can be done and is a really nice upgrade for these bikes, I just don't know how to do it!! So I thought I would once again reach out to my forum brothers and sisters for help and insight (thank you in advance).

 

Here are my questions:

 

1. I have read in other forum posts that both Front and Rear heads can be removed while the motor is still in the bike. Should I plan to leave the motor in to save some time and effort or is it just easier for a novice like me to remove it and be able to work on a bench to do the swap?

 

2. AZZI had a broken speedo which the previous owner never fixed, therefore I have no confirmed mileage of this bike....but the PO said she was "high" mileage probably in the high 100,000 range. Should I look for a different Venture engine do the V-Max head swap on the bench and simply swap the old engine for the new V-Max souped up one after? Or can my well running unknown high milage motor be fine to do the V-Max head transplant on? (Cost is also a factor here too)

 

3. Additional parts, what else do I need? My V-Max heads appear to be complete and off a low milage (17,000 Miles) bike. What other parts should I buy for this project? I believe I need to still buy the following:

A. New Head gaskets

B. New V-Max valve cover gaskets

C. Do I need V-Max Side cylinder cover plates?????? I believe @dingy mentioned they were required.

D. Anything else?

 

4. I've never done a head swap before..... nor done valve adjustments......or worried about timing adjustment before on a big motor like this......shall I just use my Yamaha shop manual to take me step by step through the process of doing this swap or do you guys have any other info sources I should use?

 

So am I over my head on this project for AZZI? Do you think a novice like me is able to pull it off and not ruin a perfectly good running bike in the process?

 

Your thoughts, insight, and experience are always appreciated!

[cowpuc]

WOW ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ WOW WOW WOW RIV ,, sounds like you and AZZI are gonna get really aquainted brother = WHAT A BLAST!!

 

Just took a look at those vids you posted up on the V-Max rebuild - good stuff - THANKS!!

 

As far as the head swap goes,, I know NOTHING about NOTHING concerning the project (have never had one of these 1st Gens apart) except for what I have read and it seems like I remember someone mentioning something about the exhaust port angle being different on the Max's requiring some exhaust pipe modification's to make the switch you are talking about.. I sold Crud so I cant go out and check em side by side for certainty but I would not be surprised that this is the case as I know Crud's exhaust system was totally different than my 1st Gens.

Another question is whether or not your planning on using V-Max cams? As you know I just retired Tweeks and am now riding her sister (Tweeksis) who I got from Carbon One. Tweeksis came with a bunch of V-Max parts, it appears that the owner before Carbon One was planning on doing something very similar to your project with Tweeksis and never proceeded with the project. Along with the heads/cams/pistons/rods/v-boost manifold and carbs I noticed a TCI unit in the box. @ragtop69gs pulled the numbers on the TCI when we noticed it included in the box of goodies (Raggy was at Larry's when we picked up our new bike) and discovered it was a V-Max TCI. This didnt mean much to me at the time but on my ride home I got thinking about how cool it would be to do what your talking about - complete the project so to speak.. I started going thru how I would approach the build and it dawned on me that the V-Max TCI in those boxes of parts may very well be a necessary item to get the spark advance/timing set correctly if the V-Max cams were to be used..

,,,, ,,, did you follow any of that Riv? I get all excited about stuff like this when I read about where your headed and start rattling on.. Did not mean to confuse you brother - just tossing things around in my pea brain:big-grin-emoticon:

[VanRiver]

Thanks @cowpuc, your thoughts and insights are always informative. Yes, I plan on using the V-max cams in my project so thanks for the heads up on the potential need for the TCI. From all the other posts on the forum from guys and gals who have blazed this trail before me I have not found a reference to needing to change the TCI, but it does make sense for the spark advance like you were talking about. Hopefully one of those guys and gals will chime in and confirm for the both of us.

 

As for the exhaust, I believe the exhaust ports are a match with our Gen 1's. According to some very informative posts from @dingy while he was building his beautiful bike Tweety he mentioned that Gen 1 exhaust posts were the same with V-max but for the guys that were swapping heads on a Gen 2 they would have to do some mods to get it to fit. Hope I interpreted his posts correctly. Here is a quote from Gary a.k.a Dingy:

I did not do an entire Vmax engine swap. The Vmax will however fit right in.

I used the bottom end out of a 1988 Venture, which is a 1300cc compared to a 1200 Vmax. This is what the Vmax guys are doing to get more HP.

The top end from a Vmax will bolt right up to the 1300 lower end. You want to use 1300 head gaskets. Exhaust headers are a match.

The main problem is getting the V-boost system to fit in. It can be done though. Requires modification to air cleaner. Choke is different on Vmax carbs, hand choke on carb body instead of on handlebars.

In my humble opinion, the collector is not that much of a restriction compared to the mufflers. From what I could see in the collector, there was only one internal 'swiss cheese' baffle. By shining a light in the intake I could see lots of light through the muffler port. The mufflers are a huge restriction.

Gary

So Mr. Puc if you got all the parts for this project already in stock, are you thinking about doing the head swap someday too? Then you could call it TweeksisRud in memory of having both Tweeks and Crud (in spirit not parts) coming together?

[cowpuc]

I could only wish Riv.. At this point in life,, bad hands and all that, I have no plans for proceeding with the project.. Just gonna enjoy Tweeksis for what she is,,,,, and she is something special I tell ya - she is my 1st one of the 6 with an actual repaired 2nd gear = took me forever just to remember I dont have to short shift any longer

 

The parts I have are currently in the Ebay/Craigs section here on the site.. I am planning on sticking them in our Auctions Section when I get time to deal with it all (brother - all the riding this new scoot is demanding of us sure uses all the free time ).. Send me a PM or respond on that ad I posted in the mentioned section if you have any interest in anything I have Riv.. Also, I would be more than happy to take pics of stuff, take measurements to help you and AZZI out Riv - just ask if you need any info that I my be able to assist with...

[bongobobny]

Yes, you either need the VMax side covers, or saw down the Venture covers, On the Venture the covers are partially on the head, on the VMax they come up only to the bottom of the head...