Gearhead
-
Posts
971 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Events
Store
Everything posted by Gearhead
-
"The mocrophone tends to pick up "air" (background) noise at highway speeds (>60 mph), but is very efficient at low speeds at cancelling noice. (I will be installing "Mic-Mutes"). " Try making some extra mic socks. My dad and I have Chatterboxes - his on an open face helmet, mine on a closed face. Actually, he has a closed face also. The open face version has the same mic, but on a boom and with a foam sock, while the closed face version has just a little thin sock. Over time I noticed that dad sounded better when wearing his open face helmet. I also paid attention to the wind noise. It turned out that even with the chin bar, the closed face versions benefitted from a larger foam wind sock, both for noise cancelling and also to make dad sound better / clearer. Just find some open-cell foam with a similar looking density to the socks that are out there and cut one out. Or, you could just buy one. Jeremy
-
41 mpg? You lucky dog! What concentration of Seafoam have you been running? Obviously it's been chipping away at something - Maybe some nasty deposits on an intake valve? Jeremy
-
"Should be able to get over 40 mpg with it from all that I have seen, so it still needs tuning. " I dunno, getting 39 while hammering on it isn't all that bad. I'm lucky to get 39 while taking it easy! Jeremy
-
"Getting underway 2 up, between the chuffing and the shaking is more of a dance on the clutch and throttle than any large bore bike I have ridden or owned. " The way you describe this is not normal. That is a fast bike which pulls smoothly (albeit with a little lump) almost from idle. The performance specs on it (not 2-up, of course :-) are 0-60 in 3.7 sec or so, and 1/4 mile in about 12.7 sec. The power required to do that to an 800 lb bike should not and in my case does not require any theatrics with throttle / clutch. Even when my carbs were way out of sync, it was easy to do a standing start with my wife aboard. Not that this helps you any - I'm just moving more in the direction of "what you describe can't be normal". Jeremy
-
"And, by the way, I'm no motorcycle mechanic at all, but I was an auto mechanic for years" Hey, and engine is an engine, and your auto experience is of the utmost value in troubleshooting any engine! ...Well...maybe not a jet engine... I guess the water coming out when the engine is hot is unusual. Is it very cold and humid where you are? Thinking about your gas mileage and progression of fixes, I think more about the carbs. Did you say you've removed and cleaned them out? Sometimes Seafoam doesn't do it. The other thing that isn't too hard to check is the TCI connection. Remove the battery and batt box, and you can reach the TCI connectors. Remove them, have a look, use some terminal cleaner and reassemble with grease. Have you checked your pressure sensor (vacuum advance) operation? Mine had corrosion on the connector for that, also located under the battery, which completely stopped it from working. Jeremy
-
Some random thoughts... I'm reading all this and one thing is for sure: it is really hard to describe a vibration or noise and have different people interpret it accurately! Usually backfiring is caused by exhaust leaks where the head pipe attaches to the head. My 87 is leaky where the muffs go on and it does not backfire. Do later models have AIS, or is that only 2nd gen? If you had a spark misfire due to problems in the wires or caps, I would not expect it to smooth out at higher RPM's. Have you guys experienced a lot of wire failure? On my Virago, the wires are wound copper; all the resistance is in the cap. Wound copper wires last a really long time, unlike carbon-strand resistance wires on a car. "noticed when idling and warm throwing what appears to be very fine liquid carbon droplets on the floor at each exhaust and the newly found exhaust leak." Normal. Even my fuel injected cars do this. Water is a normal by-product of combustion, and this is just carbon-y water. Excessive amounts could indicate rich. What's your gas mileage like? "when the Black box calved on my 85, the thing first started to miss slightly on one cylinder til around 3000 RPM, then it went away" Mine had corrosion on the TCI connector that was affecting the running intermittently, esp when water got in there. I cleaned up the connection and I think it's gone. "Then Freebird came on and told me about the normal "rumble" at low rpm that these Yamaha V4s produce, and that some riders who aren't used to it think that there is something wrong with it. Since then I've gotten used to it and grown to love it! " I think there is a lot to this, although hard to say if yours is in this normal range. V-engines in general have a "lumpy" quality that inlines do not. Even V-8's, although smooth, have a lumpy sounding exhaust note. I think the sound of the Venture is close to that of a V-8, but a little lumpier - like a cross between a slightly cammed-up V-8 and my Virago twin. I used to have a Honda Interceptor 500 V-4. Now it's been awhile, but I think it was smoother (although it still had the lumpy quality). It was a 90 deg vee angle and had smaller pistons, which probably account for that. The Venture's 70 deg angle is not ideal for balance. My Venture was badly out of sync when I bought it. It also had a clutch basket rattle. Lo and behold, syncing the carbs fixed the rattle! And I would say that the lumpy nature of the engine was similar before and after the sync, but less pronounced afterward. However, I could never identify a particular RPM like you can where it got better. Also, the engine revs really well, but also runs fine at low RPM - no rattles, etc. Jeremy
-
After you charge the battery, let it rest for a day or so then measure the voltage. A healthy, fully-charged batt will have about 12.7 volts. If after charging and resting you have significantly less than that, you have a problem. Also, connect a volt meter to the batt and measure while cranking (or attempting to). If you are down to relay clattering, your voltage is pretty low - I'd guess 8 volts or so. If you measure something like that at the batt, it is the problem. If, OTOH, you measure good voltage at the batt under these conditions, you have a voltage drop somewhere else, like in the cables, solenoid or even the starter itself as has been suggested already. Jeremy
-
At very low speeds, the factory crash bars to a pretty good job. I dumped mine in a sandy wash near my house. It simply fell on the crash bars and stayed there. At higher speeds, I think all bets are off. Jeremy
-
I just bought some Pioneer TSG1041R 4" 2-way speakers for the dash of my 87. I only had time to install one. I was able to do it through the blinker hole without removing any fairing pieces, only the blinker, although one nut was a bugger to get to. It fit perfectly, and I had a chance this morning to compare the new one on the right to the old one on the left. I had hoped for a dramatic improvement, which I would say it fell short of. The new speaker actually seems to put out slightly less total volume than the old. However, the highs are MUCH better (there really aren't any highs with the old speaker) and the overall sound is decidedly clearer; the old one sounds muddy. Jeremy
-
So, what do you guys suppose these trailers weigh, unloaded? Loaded? Jeremy
-
GeorgeS, Thanks for all the great pics. Exhaust volume like a stock Harley - even with all that stuff gutted - wow. 1) Did you leave any baffles at all in there? 2) The cap at the back of the muffler - did you have to cut all the way around to get it off? All I see holding it is a little tack weld on the inside, toward the wheel. How else is it held to the outer pipe? And did you also have to cut it loose from the inner pipe? 3)Did you put the rear cap back on without all the guts? How did you make the edges look OK? Thank you, Jeremy
-
Question for metalurgists and welders, Professional or amateur.
Gearhead replied to fixit3546's topic in General Tech Talk
I'm not a professional, but I play one on TV... :-) Seriously - just my humble opinion - the gage of steel in bike frame tubing is not terribly thick, I would think. My Hobart 135 120V MIG can make a nice, strong weld easily on 1/8" and the tubing is surely thinner than that. I use CO2 / Argon mix gas. Jeremy -
Steve, what's an Edset??? Am I missing something? Jeremy
-
Freebird, I just saw your post on this - shoulda looked first, sorry. I also saw the opinions on Air Rider from Bushwhacker, I think. Anybody else with an opinion? (On headsets, that is :-) Jeremy
-
Hi, I just asked about speaker upgrades, now I'm wondering about headsets. What do you guys recommend, or not recommend? I know J&M is the big supplier of these, and they are spendy. They do make one headset that is under $100 bucks including the cable, much cheaper than their other sets. What's the tradeoff - are they really cheesey? Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks, Jeremy
-
Yammer, Voyager speakers are ~4" speakers in self-contained boxes. Kawi mounts them to the trunk rack, which severely limits the usage of the rack but works well. They are wedge-shaped, holding the speakers at an upward, forward angle, pointing at the passenger's head. They would be a nice way to add speakers, as the enclosures, while nothing real special, are designed to be on a bike and look the part. The bar you describe - one end is under a front corner trunk mount bolt, and the other end protrudes past the armrest to hold the speaker? I thought about computer speakers, but didn't figure they'd hold up in the elements. Jeremy
-
Thanks, Fishin. Did you wire them in parallel with the fronts? I searched for Voyager speakers on E-bay - very proud of them! Oh, regarding the front speakers: how do you get them out of there? Does it require fairing removal, or is there an easier way? Through the turn signal hole, maybe? Thanks, Jeremy
-
Have any of you fine folks retrofitted rear speakers onto your first gen? How'd ya do it? Jeremy
-
Regarding #2, follow Hlange's advice. Definitely install a breather filter though. These are available at Autozone or similar place. In fact, you may be able to just put a very short hose on the nipple on the engine where this hose connects, and install the filter right there. As for #3, most loads are grounded to the frame. Obviously, your frame and engine ground needs to be sound. You would have a lot of extra wire if you ground everything back to the battery. Not that it would be wrong that way, but overkill IMHO. Jeremy
-
Air Filter Question:
Gearhead replied to Russ's topic in Venture and Venture Royale Tech Talk ('83 - '93)
I haven't had my 87 VR for too long, and I have a stock filter. In the past I've only had good luck with K&N filters. I like the cleanability, the increased airflow capacity esp. when dirty, and there's debate on whether they filter the air better or worse than paper. I will say this, however, about the VR - it seems very sensitive to intake changes. I was doing tune-up work on it and ran it in the garage without the filter. It will idle, but simply won't take any throttle - if I try to rev it, it just gasps and dies! If I hold the paper filter in place with my hand (airbox lid still off), it improves just slightly. If I put the lid on with the filter out, the problem pretty much goes away. Of course, with the filter and lid properly assembled, there is no problem. Thus, it seems that the LID imposes a significant enough restriction (the intake hole does look puny) to significantly affect mixture, which is not something I've seen before, at least not this much. I would think, however, that mine would be OK with a K&N filter. Jeremy -
Hello, I'm looking for the same info. Do the 4" speakers fit right in or require mods? Did they improve your sound quality? Are they special for outdoor exposure, or just car speakers? Any other opinions on how automotive poly cone speakers will hold up over time in the bike dash? How about 2-way speakers? Finally, does anybody have a slick way to mount rear speakers? Thanks, Jeremy