vboost on Venture

[CaseyJ955]

I saw a decent writeup on this on another Venture forum. It would be interesting to see how mounting and wiring are being handled on this. I kept the entire wiring harness from my doner Vmax until I sort through whats needed.

I cant help but think that the whole experience has to be a bigger kick with vboost.

 

I know Ignitek can control vboost but what about with the OEM box, servo and controller. It would be cool to know how those with functional vboost got there. I have also read about vboost on Ventures without the vmax heads/cams.

[baylensman]

WHAT!!!! There's another Venture site??

[zagger]

It would be cool to know how those with functional vboost got there. I have also read about vboost on Ventures without the vmax heads/cams.

 

Hey Casey,

My 83 Venture has vboost valves with manual control. I used a bicycle shift lever mounted on the end of the left handlebar to provide the means to manually open and shut the vboost valves. Heads and cams are stock venture. The bicycle shifter has several "clicks" between closed and fully open and I have found that the engine runs best for general riding with the valves just slightly opened (one click) all of the time. I cannot say that I've ever experienced the vboost rush of power - likely because my RPM's are generally too low to require the extra air/gas. Or maybe the stock heads and cams just cannot make use of the extra juice - I really don't know. I've never ridden a VMax and cannot compare my setup with the real thing. The boost valves do add some extra height to the intake system - not a problem for my bike but it might be a problem with a stock airbox.

Good luck.

zag

[Horton3791]

Hello Casey. I know we talked about using a stock Vmax TCI awhile back. After looking into it further, for what it cost to buy a stock USED max box off ebay.... you might as well spend an extra $20-$40 (if the difference is even that much) and just get the ignitech. Plus, with the ignitech unit you will not have to have the vboost controller box. The new unit will be able to control the servo motor by itself. They are proud of the old stock TCI units on ebay... most I see go for $150-$200. Some are cheaper if you wait long enough. I ordered directly from ignitech and out the door with shipping it cost me $189. Plus there is plenty of information and people on this forum willing to help you out with the programming. When I first signed up for this sight I was surprised to find out you have to pay $12 a year after your trial membership is up (Since all of the other forums I am on are free). But if you think about it, its a very small price to pay for the knowledge others provide and information they have taken time to put on this sight. I plan on paying for my membership before my trial is up.

[CaseyJ955]

That sounds reasonable, I think TCI replacement is a good place to not cheap out considering all the other work going into it. Besides I may very well want to be able to alter spark curve and timing which I guess I cant do with the OEM box.

 

I have an 85 Vmax TCI but I think the Ignitek would be best also, I could run resistor free COPS then also. The Vmax vboost controllers are pretty iffy also, they can often be fixed with re-soldering the input beads on the PCB but I would just as soon integrate the better tech and more tunability. I'm going to have to agree with you here. I should be just fine after I sell the Vmax boost controller, TCI and the TCI off the Venture.

 

I thought about the cable to but I would like it to work as a stock Vmax would in that regard. I have most of what I need to do the conversion except this and the air box.

[Horton3791]

The only items I'm lacking to start my conversion are head gaskets, a marks exhaust collector ( I might make my own at work), a gel battery so I can relocate it for the vmax airbox, and the jets and needles for the carbs.

I will keep in touch and we will get these projects figured out! I plan on starting sometime before the end of the year, but something always gets in the way lol. If I could sell my Cavalcade I would order everything I need right now.... oh well it will happen sooner or later.

[CaseyJ955]

The only items I'm lacking to start my conversion are head gaskets, a marks exhaust collector ( I might make my own at work), a gel battery so I can relocate it for the vmax airbox, and the jets and needles for the carbs.

I will keep in touch and we will get these projects figured out! I plan on starting sometime before the end of the year, but something always gets in the way lol. If I could sell my Cavalcade I would order everything I need right now.... oh well it will happen sooner or later.

 

Here is a good article on jetting from the Vmax forum. It's probably a great jumping off point for snagging the first few sets of jets, one thing I learned on my Vmax is definitely avoid Dyna Jet kits for the Yamaha V4. They get it way to rich and in spite of the Vmax heads and cams it runs best a tad on the lean side. One thing I dont know is if Vmax needles will work properly on the Venture carbs (34mm vs 35mm, otherwise identical I believe). Some of the aftermarket needles have the 5 notches, and with a needle shim kit I would imagine enough adjustability to make it work awesome.

 

Vmax jetting discussion. http://vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=1024

 

I got my cheapest jets from Sean at Morleys. I'm thinking the experience I have gained dialing in my Vmax will serve well in getting this conversion done on the Venture. I noticed OEM parts/gaskets/seals et al very reasonably priced on boats.net also, maybe head gaskets too.

 

FYI for anyone embarking on jetting, you may or may not know that jets sizes are not alike. The MK and DJ jets are numbered differently. I'll post up a conversion chart below in hopes that it will be handy and avoid confusion, ask me how I know

 

Also I'll put up an illustration of the different needles commonly available for Vmax. I'll be trying the FP (factory pro) needles in my Vmax next. I have had stage 1 and stage 7 now. I do not see myself using DJ needles on a Venture, they are just to damn thin for any MPG. I think for the Venture I'll try stock Vmax needles or FP needles and leave the slides and springs stock for best MPG while still allowing for proper vboost operation and the extra RPMs at the top. I dont have an image of the Venture needle so not sure how it compares to the OEM Vmax needle. I'm not sure if shimming would make a stock Venture needle work well with Vboost.

 

If one does buy a Dyna Jet kit for the Vmax to jet a Venture, it will include stage 1/7 springs and a drill bit for drilling out the slides. I know I wont be doing this on a Venture, it causes the needles to come in closer to 3k rpm rather than the stock 4k rpm. I cant see this helping MPG. Because I'm going to use Vmax heads and cams I'll probably start with stock vmax needles and jetting, or leaner. The Vmax is jetting a little rich from the factory and stupid rich if you use a Dyna Jet kit. I know others have jetting for this and I would hope to also learn from their experience (and altitude) on what it took to get it running as it should. I'm really anxious to see how much it will be like jetting a Vmax.

 

[Horton3791]

Just from experience I have used a slide out of my v-max (Ripped the diaphragm on the venture so I was using the max slide for testing) with the max needle in place on the venture and I couldn't even tell a difference. Since my max is down right now with 3rd gear blown out I still have that slide in my venture, but I have since switched out the needles after I found out they are different after all.

Since I will be running a Marks collector and I'm going to free up my exhaust some, I think I will start out with stock max carb settings and go from there. This will be mains,pilots,air jets,slide needles, etc... to me it just makes since to start at that point since we are basically putting together a vmax engine. If it needs to be adjusted from there I will use left over main jets out of my Morley Muscle kit and find the right mixture.

I totally agree with you about using stock mikuni jets. I've tried dyno jets in other toys in the past and they never seemed to work as well as stock jets in my experience... even after converting the numbers over for the right jetting.

[Horton3791]

Just an update.

I have installed my new ignitech TCI that I ordered straight from ignitech. Decided the best place to put it is where the CB radio is, since I will never use it. So I took the face plate off the cb radio and use it at a cover for the hole that is there now. There is plenty of room in the pocket for the TCI and the cable to download new files to the unit. Also looks like the cb radio was never taken out with the face plate still in place! To do this I had to cut my ignitech harness and add an extra foot to it so I would have plenty of length to reach the bikes stock harness.

 

Being the tinkerer I am (and I like to get things done ahead of time) I had a bad vmax black box laying around... I borrowed the 5 pin connector off of it and went ahead and grafted that into the Ignitech harness with the help of a diagram Dingy sent me. Hooked up the spare servo motor I had, and loaded a Vmax MAP to the TCI that Dingy also sent me. Alright!!! Servo motor functioning! I don't have the max heads on yet and I don't have the servo motor mounted so I downloaded the venture MAP back onto the TCI for now.

 

The tinkering doesn't stop! Since I wanted to get the ignitech harness wrapped up, I went ahead and bought a map sensor so I could graft that into the harness as well. The wire diagram Dingy sent shows how to wire this in along with a how to article about setting up the MAP sensor. Bought the hose and restrictor from advance auto and got that installed. Runs a lot better with the MAP sensor!

 

Last but not least I ordered some COPS from a 2007 CBR1000 that I just had to put on! After browsing through the forum I found a thread about installing these and wouldn't you know... It was Dingy that wrote up the article. So I set off to to remove the stock TCI unit and old coils to get them out of the way... For your information it is a pain in the a** to remove the bracket that holds all of that stuff on when the fairing is still on the bike! I labeled all of the stock harness plugs according to the cylinder they went to. Then I cut the connectors off some old vmax coils that were no good to use for my COPS. Wired everything up according to the wire diagrams I had and they work perfectly, plus they look so much better! Now there is a gapping hole in the bike where all of that stuff was sitting. Since I ran out of parts to put on the Venture I went ahead and put everything back together so I can ride it. But that doesn't keep me from thinking of the next step to take.

 

So I have this giant hole in the bike behind the battery tray that I'm just pondering on. The wheels are turning in my head about how to build the new battery tray I need to install when I get the max heads,vboost, and air box on. So in my thinking I got a hold of Dingy to ask him how he mounted his vboost servo motor and if he had enough clearance for it. Without hesitation he sends me some drawing files of his battery box he had built with dimensions on how to build it, plus how to mount the servo motor to the bottom of the battery tray!!! Since I work in a metal shop I had the battery tray built in less than an hour on my lunch break. It won't be going in until I get a gel battery but I have it in the parts room waiting!

 

All that is holding me back from completing the vmax conversion now is gaskets, and jets to convert the carburetors over to max settings. HUGE thanks to Dingy for everything!!! If it wasn't for him and the information he provided I wouldn't have gotten this far this quickly! Heck I probably wouldn't have been able to do this project at all without his help. Haha. Again thank you Gary for the help, I really appreciate it!

[bongobobny]

Casey, the real guru on this is former member Dingy!! To my knowledge he still is active on the VMax forum, maybe PM him there. He is VERY friendly and helpful!!

[CaseyJ955]

Thanks, im going to see if I cant use his map for the ignitek, I have no place to work with all the snow but I plan to have a garage proper by spring. I have a lot of jets and a stock set of max needles and springs. I too will get gaskets and mew diaphragms over the summer and hopefuly be ready to start on it after touring season. I have expressly avoided any other bike or auto projects to make sure Im can give this my full attention.

 

I think my next step is the ignitek, cops and battery tray, Ill do that early spring so I can enjoy those upgrades for the touring season.

 

I better look into the Marks collector. I would really lile to find a way to use a free flowing 4-1 system but I cant see how w/o a full custom ($$$$) system.

Edited December 31, 2016 by CaseyJ955