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Venturous Randy

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Everything posted by Venturous Randy

  1. Venturous Randy
    I have found that a half ounce of extra oil, using 15w oil, works best for me without having Progressive springs and air pressure at about 10 pounds. I have not had a problem bottoming out with this combination. RandyA
  2. Venturous Randy
    He's got a floater in his tank!!! RandyA
  3. Venturous Randy
    I spent last Sunday morning in ER with Laura with her having her first kidney stone. I did not know what was wrong with her, but we both were scared. Sherry, we keep thinking about you and your family. My suggestion on the BIL is to just respond to his suggestions(directions?) with "I will consider that," and just let it go for the time being. I am not much of a sueing person, but there are times when it is the RIGHT thing to do and I suspect this is one of them. Good luck, RandyA
  4. Venturous Randy
    I bought one off ebay for about $11 that was perfect. RandyA
  5. Venturous Randy
    The one thing I did like about the Dunlaps was the availability of the raised white letters. I thought that looked good on my bike. RandyA
  6. Venturous Randy
    I have had my 83 for eleven years and have put over 80,000 miles on it. Right after I got it I put a set of Dunlap Elites on it and it was a lot better than what I had. The next set was Metzler 880's and I felt that was an improvement over the Dunlap's. I just put on a set of Avons and so far feel they are better than any. I was impressed with the front tire wear on the Metzlers as I put 22,000 miles on it and it still had a lot of tread. but I went thru two rear tires and wore both out. Part of the rear tire wear was related to running some at less pressure for awhile due to screws in the tires. On these Avons I am planning to keep a close eye on pressures and see how well they wear. So far, I really do like how they feel. RandyA
  7. Venturous Randy
    Hey bob, the diaphragms are what pull the slides open from vacuum above the throttle plates, which is what you open when you twist the throttle.. If there are holes in the diaphragms, you will end up pulling more gasoline into the engine with less air. In other words it will run more rich. It can also run rich to the point of fouling spark plugs. Holes will definitely bring down gas mileage. I suspect that the majority of these bikes with age and mileage need the diaphragms fixed or replaced. RandyA
  8. Venturous Randy
    Not too sure about the plastic dip. Richard tried it and he said gasoline/fumes desolved it, or at least the stuff he used. Also, you want to make sure whatever you use stays very plyable. RandyA
  9. Venturous Randy
    Gerald, I believe this is a one step cooler plug. If you are going to run the bike hard, this plug might even run a little better. If you are going to lug around, a hotter plug will probably perform better. I usually run the Autolite 4164 in mine and it seems to do good and I can put a set in for about $6. RandyA
  10. Venturous Randy
    For those of you that just can not seem to let go of a couple of hundred bucks to replace your diaphragms, even though you know they need it, there is an alternative. Over the years I have tried several things to fix the existing pin holes to get me through one more season of riding. I have tried Yamabond, Seals All, silicon and maybe even something else. Last year I bought a set of carbs off ebay and even though the diaphragms did have some pins holes in them, they had been unmolested. I had heard from someone on here about a product called Liquid Tape. Well, as an update of about a year later, I want to say that it works very well. I took my carbs apart and in particular looked at the diaphragms that I patched last year and they looked very good. There was only one small hole that I needed to repair and either it was new, or I missed it last year. The great thing was the Liquid tape was still sticking real good and was still very pliable, much more than a little bit of Yamabond. I believe the trick to it is to make sure you get the hole area prepared before putting the Liquid Tape on. What I do is spray the area with brake cleaner and then clean it good with alcohol. After blowing it off a bit with compressed air, I will smear a little Liquid Tape over the area where the hole is. Then I will let it dry over night before I put it back together. I have seen Liquid Tape available at several places, but I originally bought mine at a NAPA store. It is made to be put over wires or connections to seal them. It also must have some pretty good resistance to gasoline. For those of you that want to get a little more life from your diaphragms and make your bike run better and get better gas mileage, this will sure help. RandyA
  11. Venturous Randy
    Thanks Dennis, It would probably be a fluke if the primary side was near the correct range, but I will check it out. These things may not even fit into the required area. I will let you know what I come up with. Thanks, RandyA
  12. Venturous Randy
    I have a set of six coils off a Nissan Maxima engine that have the coils right on top of the sparkplug boot. I was wondering that if they would fit on top of the plugs on my bike, could I bypass the coils I have and run the respective wire that goes to the coil to the spark plug coil. I believe they only require a hot wire and a ground wire. Has anyone done this? I don't see why it would not work if the room in the plug area is suffient. Any comments? RandyA
  13. Venturous Randy
    I upgraded to them last summer as I was getting ready to pull the camper and they work a lot better than anything I have had in the past. They will definately stop my 83. I have not noticed any wear differences on the rotor yet. RandyA
  14. Venturous Randy
    I took the numbers Freebird posted on replacement u-joints to Advance Auto and had them cross referenced. I ordered one for about $10 and picked it up today. When I tried to install it, I found it was slightly smaller than stock. The diameters are the same, but if you measure the distance between the grooves that hold the c-clip, in the generic I had it was 35mm and the stock is 37mm. Does anyone have a generic one that they can measure between these grooves? You can install it, but when you pull the caps outward as far as they will go there is play in the joint. RandyA
  15. Venturous Randy
    Try this post for some pictures. RandyA http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2348
  16. Venturous Randy
    I bought my little camper last summer and it weighed in about 370#. I would say loaded up it was closer to 410#, at least. I loaded it to have about 20/25# tongue weight. I was surprised as how well my 83 pulled it, but when it came to stopping, I really tried to be careful to have plenty of room. I upgraded with better brake pads and always felt the bike had plenty of power to pull it thru and over the mountains. RandyA
  17. Venturous Randy
    I just mounted two Avons last evening and had them balanced today. I have a tire break-er-downer and mounting is no big deal. I did take it to the shop this morning for balancing and one took a 1/4 oz and the other took 1 3/4 oz. It cost me $6 to get them both balanced. RandyA
  18. Venturous Randy
    For the first six to eight years with my 83, I always ran at least mid grade and sometimes premium. I then dropped beck to reg 87 and felt no difference. But, if I am going to be pulling the 400+ pound camper thru the mountains, I will at least run mid grade or better. If you think about it, it averages out to about .40 to .50 cents per fill up to upgrade. RandyA
  19. Venturous Randy
    Do you mean interested in fixing it for you, or helping you fix it or thinking of it as a parts bike? At 54K miles, that should be a good candidate for the undercut program. Unless it has just been beat to death, that should be an easy fix. What are you thinking about doing to it and how do you feel about your mechanical abilities and do you have a place to work on it? Fixit, I am tickled for you on your bike. You will have a much closer feel for your bike than ever before because now you are part of it. RandyA
  20. Venturous Randy
    There is just something so neat about real loud horns on a motorcycle. RandyA
  21. Venturous Randy
    I believe you can get the 30 amp relays from places like Auto Zone or Advance Auto for about three bucks. Tim, that is a good idea about using relays to run trailer lights instead of running all the load thru the bike light system. I went with LED lights on my camper trailer, just to cut down on overall load. RandyA
  22. Venturous Randy
    you are pulling on the throttle cable, I have seen in the past a few of my bikes that would not start if I gave it any throttle. Full choke only. Hope it works out for you, David This is a good point David made. My 83 is one of those bikes that does want to start if you give it much, or in some cases, any throttle. Especially when the system is somewhat compromised to some extent, like with a fouled plug or something. RandyA
  23. Venturous Randy
    Given that the new thrust washer is harder and thicker and causes more engagement, that should fix it for good. But for me I would still want to consider the undercut, even though you will probably never need it. Hey fixit, to find your leak, clean the area good with Brake Parts Cleaner and then spray some powder type anti-fungel spray on it, like for athletes feet. It is supposed to show up the oil leak better, or at least that is what I have been told. RandyA
  24. Venturous Randy
    Fixit, I am real glad you are getting it back together and it appears you have had good success with the undercut program. I have about 65,000 miles on mine since I did the undercut and even with pulling a camper and a lot of wide open 2nd gear runs I have never had another problem. I just wish I had put in a few more new parts, like the thrust washer, rather than just flip it over. But, when I did mine, I was winging alone. I was not aware of any Venture sites, plus I did not have a computer at the time anyway. I have really tried to get more folks to take the plunge on fixing 2nd gear. I know a lot of folks are just not willing or able to put the kind of money in these old bikes that has been quoted to get this fixed. But as you said, "our way" is not that costly. It is a lot of work and would be a mechanical challenge to some, but it is really not that hard to do, and there are a lot of people on here that would help anyway they can. It is a shame that so many of the early 1st gens have the second gear problem because these are one of the sweetest bikes that I have ever seen to go thru 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears wide open. I would love to see the smile on your face the first time you get the chance to do it!!!! Tim, I have yet to understand the problem you are having with 3rd gear. Did you ever give us a good discription on what the bike is doing? If you did I have missed it. RandyA
  25. Venturous Randy
    Hey fixit, I am glad you are at least this far along. It is just a matter of working out a few bugs and you will have it running. I am waiting for that post where you tell us how you did a wide open throttle run thru second gear and it felt so good. That's the one I am waiting for. RandyA Hey, one more comment, do you still have the rear section off and if you do, how hard would it be to replace the rear motor mounts to solid mounts? I am thinking about taking my rear section off instead of removing the engine to replace the rear motor mounts. Do you think it could be done?
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