Venturous Randy

Be careful now, this is a PG rated site. RandyA

So Brant, you bought a fixer-upper and you are up in the middle of the night trying to figure out what to do and where to start, hummm..., sounds familiar. First of all, welcome to our little group and if you join, it will be the best $12 you will ever spend on the bike, plus you may also get a bit of entertainment to go a long with it. Secondly, I did not see anything that you mentioned that has not been addressed on here multiple times and the best way to find out is to do a search on each specific item. I think you can do a search without being a member, so find the search button in the header above you and try it out. You may have to weed through a lot of stuff, but as I said, everything you noted has been addressed and is somewhat common, but not necessarily at one time. My first question to you is do you have some basic mechanical skills? I ask this because we do have some members that are basically limited to being able to put gas in their bike. I will try to lightly touch on some of the things you have questions on. 1st. Fuse box needs to be replaced with modern, blade type fuses. You can pick up a multiple strip at an automotive store, or one of our members on here, Skydoc17 has done most of the work for you and offers a great fuse panel kit. 2nd. Any icon on the panel that stays on will cause the red light to blink. It may be because you have a problem in the system of the icon noted, or it may be a problem with the computer monitor itself. 3rd. the battery light is usually associated with the battery being low on water, or if the battery does not have the water level pickup, you can do a bypass to fix that one. Many of us on here have a DEKA battery that does not have a water level and we have an easy fix, just search. For the brake fluid levels, the one on the handle bar should be in the middle of the sight glass, but I suspect your bike is in need of a fluid replacement anyway and should be flushed. The foot brake applies fluid pressure to the left front caliper and rear caliper and if you bleed the brakes, don't over fill the reservoir, which is inside the side cover at right above where your right ankle would be. Be careful taking the plug out as these reservoirs are easy to break. Also, don't fill it to the top and take off down the road, or you will be dealing with brakes locking up. On the headlight, make sure it is working or not and we will go from there' 4th. Sounds like you need to do a good cleaning on the carbs. Many on here swear by using Sea Foam, a gas additive, and it does help a lot, but does not fix everything. Sometimes a good carb cleaning has to be done. The gas smell usually indicate a float bowl valve may need cleaning or adjusted or replaced. Each carb has an overflow and you need to determine which one is giving you a problem. With the gas mileage you noted and the popping, you may also be running off of three cylinders. 5th and 6th. There are several plastic epoxies available to help with the plastic repair and many of the plastic parts show up on ebay or are still available from the dealer. Many of us have painted our bikes as mine was Burgundy at one time and several years ago I painted it purple. Brant, without a doubt, you will have some time and money invested to make this bike back like it needs to be, but in fixing it,it is like "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time." Once you get your bike running good, you will be amazed at how strong it will run. In a good state of tune and some carb tweaking, these bikes will get in the upper 40's for gas mileage running 40 to 60 mph. 70 and up on the interstate will bring the mileage down some. Things these bikes are a bit sensitive about; Spark plugs. A fresh set of cheap Autolites from the auto store works fine. Spark plug caps. there is a resistor that can corrode in the cap. You can take it a part and check them. Carb diaphragms. They get pin holes and this will affect lots of things. Easy to check. Search. Carb sync. Not a big deal if you know how to do it or have a friend that has a manometer or gages or go to one of our get-to-gethers like Asheville and someone will do it for free. Carb pilot jets. These are small jets in the carb that can get clogged and about the only thing you can do is take carbs apart and clean them. Sometimes Sea Foam will help. There is another inherent problem with the 83 thru mid 85 and that is associated with 2nd gear. Not a great big deal with some mechanical skills. Computer control panel. these things sometimes need a re solder job. This can cause a multitude of problems. Not a big deal, just a bit of work. Be real careful of dealers. If you find one that will work on your 29 year old bike, they may not know much about it. Most folks do a lot better addressing problems on here and fixing it themselves. Tell us about your bike and a little about you and I am sure you will get some help. RandyA

Why not bleed a little out of the rear or left front caliper? RandyA

I bet it was the beer that was cold. RandyA

Throwing marbles or ball bearings toward some people is just like pulling a gun. Some people would take you down in a heartbeat if you don't get away from them. I did take the lid off my water bottle once and slung it all over some girls car. As I have matured, I am a lot more likely to wave my hand indicating them to move back or wave them around, even if it is a rural two lane and double yellow, if it is clear. If it is bad enough, I will almost come to a stop waving them around. I also do the weaving thing and a lot of times that works. Yes, I will also say that a lot of bad tailgaters are young women. I also like to wave them around when my radar detector is going off. RandyA

That guys got a death wish. If I had a snake crawl out on me, the last thing I would do would be to take off like he did at about 70mph plus on the rear wheel in traffic. RandyA

To me, as long as they were still in the building and still had a weapon, you keep firing, even if they are running in the other direction. RandyA

When my 83 was knocked over a couple of years ago, Nationwide, the trucks insurer, gave about $3,460 for it and I bought it back for $200. RandyA

I have it on my cable and watch it often. Yes, they do some crazy things, but also drive some really neat cars. RandyA

One other thing, put some grease on the nylon strip where the headlight adjustment contacts. It should just push back from the top once you put the pins on the bottom of the headlight into the grommets in the bracket. Yes, it can take a bit of force to push it in place. RandyA

Speaking of camping at Asheville, I have a three room tent I can bring with me if anyone needs or wants to use it. I am planning on staying in my little camper. Just let me know. RandyA

If not switch, it sounds like a loose or corroded battery cable to me. RandyA

How about CRBN1? Yes, DenDen is a great guy and Vicki is a sweetheart. The first I met them was at the Country Inn north of Knoxville during the Honda Hoot. I was there meeting the Venturers group. They took me under their arm and I spent the whole day with them. When they were in my area and had the crash in Boone, NC, I was able to go there and help them get the motorcycle out of storage and just try to help. That was where his riding ended. When I told him about my plans to put a 2nd gen trans in a 1st gen engine, he gave me a V-Max rearend and would not even let me pay him for the shipping. They are really great people and I wish he was still active on this site. RandyA

One second at 45 mph is 66 feet and that would be the distance behind a bike in the lane beside you and about 130 feet from the one in front of you. Theoretically that is about 2,000 feet for 30 bikes. I remember a ride to Dillard house several years ago at Vogal and we must have been strung out for way over a half mile. I think we were around 30 bikes on that ride. RandyA

To go along with Eck's question about blockers, I have a question about group rider spacing. I am not a fan of everyone bunched up real close, but I have been on several group rides that got very strung out, even without any cages mixed in. It has appeared to me that the first three or four bike tends to set the trend, even if there are 30 or more bikes in the group. If the lead bikes run closer, the rest seem to ride closer. I know that when I am riding where there is good scenery, I am not comfortable looking around while in a group. But it also irritates me for the group to get strung out when there is 200 to 300 feet between bikes. I think this also irritates cagers when they would prefer not to pull out into the group, but being so strung out makes them inpatient. When riding 40 to 50 mph on a nice two lane, is there a preference for spacing? RandyA

Is a 2nd gen headlight not adjustable as you are riding down the road like a 1st gen? RandyA

K&N filter(S)? Are you using the stock air box? As far as the carbs from Pinwall, I would definate go though the carbs and clean them, especially the pilot jets in the little manifold under the rubber plugs. RandyA

My 83 runs fine at 40 to 50 mph in 5th and is not lugging. In fact, unless I am going up an incline, my bike will accellerate fine from 25 mph in 5th. I have put 132,000 miles on my bike and if I had a buck for everytime it has seen 8,000 rpm's, I could probably buy a 2nd gen, so it has been ridden at a lot of different rpm's. As far as tire pressure, I run Elite 3's and 40 psi on the back would be low. Also, how good is your pressure gauge? RandyA

I have had an overflow one time and I took the inlet line loose from the carb and used compressed air and blew into the fuel bowl. It immediately solved my problem and has not occured again. It appears I had something in the float valve. RandyA

If your 1st gen is running right, you will not feel it is holding back, you will be holding on. What brand of tires do you have and what pressure are you running? My bike, and a lot of other 1st gens tended to have a tail wag at 70mph and up with an Avon Venom rear tire. If you stick around here, we can help you with most anything. I also wish I was closer to you and I would be glad to help you out and have you ride my 83. RandyA

Just like a Hardley wannabe with parts falling off. RandyA

With so many systems going at once, I would suspect a loose ground wire, as that is the common link. RandyA

No matter how you still feel about it, you did the right thing. RandyA

I have an 85 that I need to put some plastic back on that I need to sell. It is serial # 5000+ so it is after the factory 2nd gear fix. I am in Johnson City. RandyA