Tony1M

Well, I was wrong. I added water to the upper level mark and the alarm went bye bye. The sensor was just doing it's job and my eyes were not. I filled the rest of the cells to the same level. Thanks again for the offer, scotty. I appreciate it.

Scotty, thanks! First, I'll try the steel wool method and report back.

I started the bike this morning for the first time this season. For the first time ever, I had the battery plugged into a battery-minder through the winter. The battery remained in the bike throughout the winter. (I have a permanent charger-connector on the battery and am able to connect the charger to it via a cable whose end is available externally.) When I turned the key I got the usual run-through of alarms on the dispaly, but the low-electrolyte alarm stayed on. I removed the cover and the electrolyte level in the sensor's cell, as well as the rest, seemed OK to me, so I removed the sensor, dipped it in a glass of water and the alarm stayed on. I think that I might have a bad sensor, but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, after determining that the battery level was OK, I put things back together, started the bike and went out for a ride. The bike started and ran beautifully. I want to have a working sensor and NOT do the resistor "mod" to eliminate the alarm, so: 1. Do these battery sensors occasionally fail? 2. Is dipping the sensor in a glass of water an adequate way to test it, or is the electrolyte part of the circuit? If so, should I just add demin water regardless of the present level in that cell? Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

Dan, Thanks! http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/regulator.jpg

Do I smell just a bit of the odor of a group-buy?

I bought our horns from a person named Garret at this place: http://www.stebelengineeredsounds.com/main.html Garret is a fantastic guy to deal with. He responds to queries very quickly. He will ship to Canadian buyers using US Post, even though the company generally uses UPS. I had the horns in hand almost exactly a week after placing the order. (For Canadians ordering from the US, this is more than acceptable.) Because of my own experience, I highly recommend this place, especially for Canadians.

Same here.

I installed the two Stebel Magnum horns yesterday. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/leftfront.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/Driverlefthorn.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/Driverrighthorn.jpg I easily installed each horn on the OEM brackets and wired the ground from each horn to the rubber-insulated bolt at each lower side of the radiator directly behind the silver-colored trim piece that is just behind each horn. (I have since determined that one could probably wire the ground right under the nut that secures the horn to the OEM bracket. Whether this would look neater than the way I have it now is debatable.) I pulled the two wires from each of the OEM horns up close to the battery , connected the like-colored wires to each other in parallel and installed a single female connector on each pair, then connected those two to the relay's low-current terminals that energize the relay's electromagnet. I then connected one end of an in-line fuse-holder to the positive battery terminal and the other to the parallel-linked 12-gauge positive wires that go to the horns. Right now, the relay is just dangling in the breeze near the battery box. The four wires connected to it seem to hold it in position adequately. I'll mount it more sturdily of something comes loose. Anyway, even though we were prepared for something loud, I just about scared the living s..t out of my wife and I the first time I pushed the horn button. These horns are very very loud - much louder than the horn on our Honda Accord that is parked right next to the bike in the garage. There is no doubt whatsoever that our new horns are going to make the drivers of any vehicles on the road around us sit (jump) up and take notice if I should decide that someone needs to know where our bike is. Ironically to me, my wife thinks that our horn may actually cause an accident if a driver loses control of his vehicle because of the scare. I suggested that trucks typically have very loud horns and that they don't seem to cause accidents, but I'm not really sure if they do or they don't. I just take comfort in the fact that when people hear very loud noises, they tend to move away from the source of the noise ("Tremors", 1990 ). OTOH, if someone is gingerly taking sips of very hot coffee as he/she drives down the road, when I hit that horn, , there's no telling what might happen to the coffee and, therefore, the driver's control over his vehicle. To any others who might be considering replacing their bike's OEM horns for something much louder, please give these babies some serious consideration. They are LOUD!

Thanks, Rocket!

Rocket, thanks for the information. Do you have any photos of the nautilus on the bike? Did you have to replace the OEM straight mounting bracket? Thanks again. Tony

Thanks for the information, guys! Unless somebody posts real soon that the nautilus is easily installed on a first gen., I'll be ordering the Magnums to replace our OEMs. Thanks again.

Forgive me for being off topic, but here's a place that does a fuel injection kit for VMax, so it might work in a 1st gen: http://www.roadstercycle.com/yamaha_vmax_fuel_injector_cv_car.htm You retain the OEM carbs, but replace the diaphram/slides and covers with fuel injectors (not included in kit?) and add the four throttle bodies. Of course you then have to buy a Megasquirt system, injectors, pump, gauges, etc., so some money is definitely going to change ownership during this little royal venture. (heh, couldn't resist) In the end, is this system really going to be less complicated and easier to maintain than four clean, well-synchronized carbs? I place my bet on "maybe".

The horns on our bike are pathetic. I've put off replacing them, but the other day I really wanted to give someone a blast, so now is the time to replace the OEM horns. I've done a seach and read several good threads about how to wire Stebel air and electromagnetic horns. I'd like to go electro because I think they may be easier to install than the nautilus. Please tell me if I'm wrong on that. I'm seriously considering putting these on our 84 VR: http://www.bikerhiway.com/stebel-magnum-motorcycle-horns-dual-tone-chrome-p-280.html http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/chromehorns.jpg Any first gen folks have these on their bike? If so, what do you think of them? Will they fit on the same brackets where the OEM horns are? (That is, can you just remove the OEM horns and install the new ones on the very same OEM brackets?) If you have these on your bike, please post some photos of your installation. Thanks for any information. Tony

I installed Jack's new fork brace this morning. I debated buffing it to a high polish, but decided to install as received: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/newbrace.jpg A couple of light taps with a plastic hammer and the brace dropped right into position. Torqued to 16 ft-lbs and that was that. Hey, now I can go off-roading (after a few beers, of course)!! Thanks for your great service, Jack. Tony

I replaced the seals using the PVC pipe to seat the well-lubricated seals. I used 20 ga. single-strand aluminum wire to hold the the washers and taper cylinder in position while I installed the outer tube. My wife was the wire and steel-rod operator. When the wire/damper touched the bottom of the outer tube, she pulled up on the wire while holding the damper downward using the rod. After the wire was pulled up and out I could feel the outer tube move upward a bit as the damper rod made its way right to the bottom of the tube. Then I started the 10 mm bolt. Then my wife put the custom tool down the tube to secure the damper rod and I torqued the bolt to spec. I raised the outer tube to its uppermost position, added fork oil to 6" below the top of the inner tube, lowered the outer tube to full extension, installed the spring, installed the custom spacer, then, finally torqued the cap bolt to spec. Then I assembled the rest of bike, added some coolant, and took it out for a test drive without adding pressure to the front. Ride is noticeably firmer than before, but that is just fine with me. The bike takes bumps beautifully, with less "wallowing" than before. I tried a few emergency pulls of the front brakes and the anti-dive performed very well. So this is how a new front suspension is supposed feels, eh? Fantastic! I'm very pleased with just about every aspect of this job, including the service I received from Argyll Motorsport , the local south-side Yamaha dealer here in Edmonton. I ordered the parts last Wednesday, they called in the revised order last Thursday, and I received the all the parts today, Tuesday. Again, great service, Argyll Motorsport. Thanks again to everyone for helping me with this project. Sunday my wife and I will ride the bike (behind some friends' who are taking the same trip in their car) through the world-famous Icefields Parkway that runs between Jasper and Banff, Alberta. Breathtaking scenery and vistas. We'll stop for the night at "The Crossing" hotel, about mid-point down the Parkway. We took the same trip four years ago and it was fabulous in every respect. I hope that this weekend goes just a smoothly. Here is the bike as it sits in our garage tonight: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Tony1M/complete2.jpg