Condor

I've heard about vinegar too, but vinegar will only get rid of calcium deposits and scale. Oil residue needs a degreaser... The last Purple Power I bought was at Walmart in the auto section. And since all I have is a spritzer bottle of the stuff I will need to go shopping. Auto Zone is just up the street.. :-) Worked pretty good on cleaning oily micro-fiber towels. Let'm soak overnight and they were clean in the AM...

Thanks for the info. Was wondering what kind of a mix would be OK. 1:1 should get it out.... I still haven't drained the cylinder jackets yet. Probably do that in the AM... It's getting hot around here in the afternoons.. Gonna have to price compare the purple to the green..

Well, to bad I'm not a Texas Oil Man or the owner of a malt shop. Unfortunately I ain't. Finally got around to taking the drain plug out of the radiator and this is what came out. The first 5 seconds or so it was bright green, but then the oil mix started coming out big time. I'm getting worried that I may have deeper problems then a bad water pump seal.... I'm thinking about flushing the radiator with Purple Power??

Picked up all the seals and 'o' rings needed for the service yesterday. No bearing. I'll address that if needed. They didn't have a kit listed... I think?? The slop in the impellar is rotational not lateral. So I suspect the nylon drive gear or the pin may have been chewed up..

That looks like a very weak battery to me. At Idle the stator isn't butting out any amps, and any electrical load will be handled by the battery. A new AGM battery and that will go away. I recommend DEKA...

Before going for the juggler and replacing the clutch you need to bleed it since the fluid looks dark. Empty the reserve, but before bleeding, take one of those twist ties you find in the grocery store and strip the cover off it, and use it to clean out the expansion hole in the base of the reserve. In the bottom of the reserve there are two openings. The one on the left, or toward the front of the bike, looks like there isn't a hole in it. There is. Take the wire twist and run it through the micro hole. There may be crystals that have blocked the opening. What happens is with the hole plugged the fluid expands when the engine heats up. With no place to go it starts to apply pressure to the slave which in turn pushes the rods again the pressure plate and it acts like you're pulling on the lever...and you're not. The clutch will slip... It gets worse as time goes on. On a 2006 bike your clutch shouldn't need to be rebuilt. Not yet anyway....

All the diagrams are available in the tech section which is a pita to get to, but I also have them saved to my computer. The parts manual actually has the diagram. The Chilton has a great water pump pic. I think it's better than the OEM manual.

Good advice... That's the plan. Thought I'd also run a mix of purple power and water thought it and drain to get the oil residue out of there as well. Sometimes a mix of white vinegar and water will dissolve silicon. In the Chilton's Manual they actually suggest coating the pump housing side with Yama-Bond against the gasket. I haven't removed the pump body yet... Waiting for parts to come in. I have found that the impeller is sloppy when turning it. Shouldn't be. There might be damage to the drive gear?? We'll see...

Yes the billet covers flake, as it seems all chromed aluminum will do after a time. Easy fix. Strip the chrome and polish out the aluminum. Did that to a pair I picked up from Freebird and they turned out great. They also haven't been available new for years, just eBay used if you're extremely lucky.. And yes they require the K&N's. I also didn't experience any performance increase, but they do look good. Which is probably the main reason for getting the billets and K&N's in the first place. You'll see them all the time on bikes being resold, but new....nope. Speaking of the K&N's... did you know that the K&N's have a life time guarantee on them. So it's the last filter you'll have to buy. I had one off a 1stGen that had an oily foam seal and it started acting like a limp noodle, called K&N to buy another, and they shipped one out No Charge. I have seen a few made by members that, with a little tweeking, really look good. See attached...

Good eyes.. I would have missed that totally. It should do the job, and should clean up nicely...

Don't think it's a Condor Brace, but someone elses. Notice how the corners are beveled on the Condor and rounded on the eBay brace. Also it looks like the bolt hole is a little closer to the edge on the eBay?? Attached is a pic of the Condor...

Even as heavy as I am I cut the preload PVC's in half, and still used the CLASS. Worked great for me.... I bet if I had not shortened them the '83 would have rode like a brick??

Oh Geeze!!!!! It was a real pleasure meeting Mel at VW-Shasta. Great Lady.. Why is it bad things happen to really nice people. Prayers up.....

If there are any hairlkine scratches on the fork tubes they will loose air when riding. Take a new microfiber towel and wipe the front tubes. Any scratches should be noticeable. On the rear it may be a leaking shock. Or.... break out the spritzer bottle with mild soapy water, and start spraying...

K&N makes a set....

She did assimilate my gremlin bell somewhere... :-) I think it was the tub and tile variety. I've use RTV on a few things, but mainly vasoline to hold the "o" in place. A little dab'll do ya.... I just hope that the stuff hasn't sluffed off and blocked some of the passages... The stuff on the inside was pretty slimy and loose....

I posted on my 'where do I go from here' thread to what I found when I removed the water pump cover. Pics and all.... :-) However.... it looks like a P.O. had been into it before. Why? No telling.... I do know it was a mess of silicone. As far as rebuilding the water pump? I've never heard of one having problems either and go with the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' position.

So this morning I went out to start draining the coolant and oil from the system. Pulled the cover off the water pump and found this mess.... Silicon all over the place. Aparently who ever worked on the pump in the past chose not to replace the cover 'O' ring with a new one and slathered on a good portion of silicon sealer instead. Arrrgh!!!

The cause is still up in the air George. In Yreka I had a fluid trail off the exchanger and down the stator cover. It was running blistering hot before I pulled into the motel. Ask my ass and calves about that one. Started it the next morning to put it on the trailer started and ran fine but it wouldn't go into first from neutral. Zzsyx got it fired in 2nd and on the trailer, so I think I might have fried the slave?? Wanted to creep forward after taking it off the trailer in 2nd. Got home and found oil in the coolant, none in the crank so suspect seal in the water pump?? Going to re-seal it anyway... So it's the old scenario with me... Change light bulb.. re-wire house...

Same thing happens on 1stGens when the drain valve is left in the 'on' position. Coolant circulates at a faster rate and doesn't allow for heat transfer and then runs hotter.

A replacement will need to be rekeyed unless you can find one being sold with a key??

That explains it.... I thought it was because you were Canadian...... eh??

There's two things that were said and they seem to counter each other. #1 the bottoming out, and #2 the 'tippy toe' issue. On the tip toe. These 1stGens do sit higher than other bikes and shorter folks do have problems keeping it upright at stop lights. The only way that I'm aware of to get it a little lower is to modify the seat.. Also since it does sit high there should be plenty of room between the road and the side stand. Bottoming out may be caused by weak fork springs or the seals leak and the forks are low on fork oil. And.... if someone has been in the forks and not replaced the pre-load springs it will bottom out easily. Cure?? Pick up some Progressive Springs and install, and take some of the padding out of the saddle.

Not yet... Figured since I was doing the water pump, I might as well replace the thermo too. Going down to my Y dealer today to order the seals and 'O' rings. Will get the 'O' for the thermo housing as well. I did do a search on the NAPA thermo for the price and found some feedback with folks having problems with their operation...?? Same thing with Auto Zone. Apparently these cheaper Chinese made thermo's ain't all they're cracked up to be.... So I'll do the hot water on the stove bit and check it before installing....

Thanks Mike.. That would have been plan 'B' if I hadn't gotten a reply with a part number.... And...... Thanks Dion, $5.99 ain't bad either... :-)