83 Venture Rebuild/Restoration

[Marcarl]

Almost looks real,,,, nice job!!

[Pasta Burner]

12 hours ago, Johnnycyclone said:

This weekends project was the fuel tank. At first I wasn't going to do anything with it because is looked pretty good, only a few scratches. But once I had it installed it looked a little worse than when it was out on it's own. So I sanded down the tank and sprayed on some old satin black paint I had leftover from another project. Not the gloss black as before, but it turned out real nice. Here is a before and after pic.

 

Your attention and dedication to detail makes all the difference.  Very nice work.  I also like seeing you’re using some common man tools and not everything high end.

[RDawson]

I wish I had your patience, the restoration is great. 

[Johnnycyclone]

Pasta Burner - thanks, that's one thing I have learned over the years is the details can make the biggest difference in a project. Too bad that the details are what slows down the progress. This is taking way too much time to get done. And yes, no special tools or any fancy shop, just me working out of my garage with Craftsman and Harbor freight tools. 

RDawson - that's the funny thing is I don't have a lot of patience and I just want it to be done. Sometimes my lack of patience causes me to have to rework the same parts more than once.  I am only posting the good stuff, not the parts I mess up and have to redo. Haha! 

This weeks mini project is the clutch and brake levers. The ones I have aren't too bad but there are some chips in the coating. So removed the original coating with a wire wheel and then I am trying a product called Plasti-dip. It looks real good, but I am not sure how well it will hold up over time. So if it doesn't work then I will have to think of something else to try. 

So here is a before, after removing the coating, and the after the parts have been dipped.  Actually this was quite easy to do, so hopefully it holds up well. 

 

[Marcarl]

I didn't have much luck with that stuff when I tried it, so went with shrink tubing instead and am now quite happy. It will leave a small hole in the end though but nobody has remarked on that yet, but then he's not around very often either.

[Johnnycyclone]

On 12/5/2021 at 6:08 PM, Marcarl said:

I didn't have much luck with that stuff when I tried it, so went with shrink tubing instead and am now quite happy. It will leave a small hole in the end though but nobody has remarked on that yet, but then he's not around very often either.

Thanks Marcarl. It seems a little soft and not very durable, but since this can has been sitting on the shelf for awhile now, I thought I would give it a shot. If it doesn't work out I will probably strip it back off an just shine up the aluminum and leave it at that. Thanks again.......

[Marcarl]

If you are going to shine up the aluminum then you will probably get black hands. I did mine back in 2014 and so far so good, and if it does go bad,,, well 10 minutes work and all is good again.

[Johnnycyclone]

On 12/15/2021 at 7:50 PM, Marcarl said:

If you are going to shine up the aluminum then you will probably get black hands. I did mine back in 2014 and so far so good, and if it does go bad,,, well 10 minutes work and all is good again.

Another good point, thanks!

[Johnnycyclone]

Time to play catch up on the progress. I have a few minutes this morning to share a pic and some details.

Here is a short list of what has been done  that isn't really picture worthy.

• Shifter linkage
• Battery box
• Positive and negative battery cables
• Fuel tank
• New speedometer cable
• Ignition switch
• Voltage regulator (eliminated connectors and soldered wires together)
• Clutch hard line

I will be posting more yet this week as more has been done I just need to work on getting some pics. 

[Johnnycyclone]

One of the small projects was the lower side plates. I sanded the clear off of the front and then painted them black. Once dried I sanded the paint off of the areas that were bare aluminum. I finished it up with a coat of clear. The interesting detail on the clear is I bought matte clear but because I forgot to stir the clear all of the matte was on the bottom. So when I mixed up a batch and sprayed these, the clear is actually glossy and not matte. Here's a before and after.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Johnnycyclone

[Johnnycyclone]

I also did the upper plates this time I mixed the clear up and so the clear is less shiny and more of a matte. For now I will leave them both as is, but later I will probably redo one of the other depending on which version I like the glossy clear or the matte.

 

[Johnnycyclone]

I have also been working on the handlebar controls. Reworking the covers using the same technique as the side plates.

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Johnnycyclone

[Johnnycyclone]

Here is the clutch master cylinder that has been rebuilt, which included new sight windows. 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Johnnycyclone

[Marcarl]

Looking real good!!

[bpate4home]

This is awesome to come along on this journey.

[Johnnycyclone]

On 12/19/2021 at 5:14 PM, bpate4home said:

This is awesome to come along on this journey.

It's just to bad this journey is taking so long, going on the sixth year. But this is the one and it should be finished mid summer if all goes as planned. I'm glad you can follow along!

[Johnnycyclone]

I started the carbs this past fall when I disassembled them and cleaned them. I had to purchase 3 different kits to get the parts I needed for the rebuild. I finally finished them up this past week and have them back on the bike. Here are a few pics. 

 

[bpate4home]

11 hours ago, Johnnycyclone said:

It's just to bad this journey is taking so long, going on the sixth year. But this is the one and it should be finished mid summer if all goes as planned. I'm glad you can follow along!

LOL.  Six years for you, I just started reading it a few months ago. 😁

[cimmer]

Who did you get the diaphragms and slides from?

Rick F

[saddlebum]

4 hours ago, cimmer said:

Who did you get the diaphragms and slides from?

Rick F

If you only need the diaphragms and the sliders are in good shape try out this place http://jbmindustries.com/Yamaha650.html

I have purchase from them a couple times and highly recommend them. Read entire page before you buy though in case you prefer to stick to OEM style. Pay particular attention the the note highlighted in yellow near the bottom of the page referencing the venture

Quote

Yamaha Venture Notes:  The 73 mm Mikuni Diaphragm fits the Venture models even with plastic slides.
Remove the short metal tube from the plastic slide if loose, and remove the rings. Place the JBM Industries
diaphragm on the metal tube, and then push tube into the plastic slide. Use Super Glue on metal tube. If metal
insert tube is not loose, just cut the rings off plastic slide with side cutters as shown.

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by saddlebum

[Johnnycyclone]

On 1/1/2022 at 9:49 PM, cimmer said:

Who did you get the diaphragms and slides from?

Rick F

These were the only ones I could find that were complete, but I didn't look very hard either. The quality seems good, but I won't know for sure until it's running again. There are certainly more options available, like the one's saddlebum has had success with. Spend a little time and do your research and then go with what you think will work best for your situation. Hope this helps!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363114187801

[Johnnycyclone]

Still working on the hand controls this week. I also finished up the rebuild of the front brake master cylinder. Here is one of those small detail pics. I touched up the painted letters for the start button, along with the horn button and the turn signal switch. Here is a before and after pic of the start button. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Johnnycyclone

[Johnnycyclone]

New grips from Honda were purchased. The ones for the GL1500 model look to be an exact match. Mine didn't have any grips so I can only go by what I see in pictures on ebay.

I also finished rebuilding the front brake master cylinder and have it installed

I'm also working with a company to reproduce the letters to go on the controls. Most are completely gone and even though the decals won't be an exact match I think they will look pretty good. I will post some pics when I get them on the controls. 

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Johnnycyclone

[Marcarl]

I would call that: Detailing!!!

[cimmer]

On 1/3/2022 at 5:56 PM, Johnnycyclone said:

These were the only ones I could find that were complete, but I didn't look very hard either. The quality seems good, but I won't know for sure until it's running again. There are certainly more options available, like the one's saddlebum has had success with. Spend a little time and do your research and then go with what you think will work best for your situation. Hope this helps!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363114187801

Let us know how they do as I have always been leary or stuff from China but I sure hope they work out for you. The project is lookiing fabulous to say the least..

Rick F.