Venturous Randy

There is no doubt to me that someone has done some welding on it. The trick is how much penetration did the welds have? If I were in your position, I would still weld the rods in to do a better triangulation to add a lot more resistance to flex. I used 3/8 rod, but even if you used 1/4 inch rod, it would make a big difference. If you go back and look at where my failure points were, it is not in the gussets where most of the welding on yours has been done. And to me, when I look at the comparison, I highly suspect that frame has failed and has been pulled back in place and re-welded. Again, take a close look at the pictures I posted and compare them to yours. https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?1521-83-Broken-frame Randy

You have to keep in mind these bikes have about 300 pounds of wiring. Randy

Well, you never know until you try. You might be surprised............or get nauseous. Randy

No, I think with your views that you are stuck with the mirror forever. I think you should polish it up real good and put in a special place, like maybe on the ceiling over your bed. Randy

After having a slight clutch slip, I replaced the stock discs and went to the heavier duty six springs and I never had a slipping problem after that. There was a slightly harder pull on the clutch, but it was not bad. Randy

Hey, made2care, I am going to throw you one more BIG curve to think about. With the engine out of the bike, it would be the perfect time to permanently fix all your transmission problems. There are actually two problems with these transmissions, one being a soft thrust washer causing the 2nd gear problem and pins that come loose on the shifting tumbler that will only allow the gears to be shifted so far until you can get them replaced. What Yamaha did to fix the pin/tumbler problem was to make a solid unit that replaced the pin setup. This was part of the change when Yamaha went to the 2nd gen transmission and it works great in a 1st gen engine, especially if you add a V-Max final drive that is about 10% lower geared. Comparing this setup to the stock 1st gen, you will have about a 10% lower 1st gear, a 5% lower 2nd, with 3rd and 4th being the same and 5th being about 5% higher geared. It is the ratios I feel Yamaha should have put into the bikes to start with. If you are interested, I have a complete 2nd gen transmission with everything that you will need to do the changeover. This includes all gears and shafts, forks and upgraded shift tumbler. To make this work right, you will need a V-Max final drive and here is one on ebay right now for $83 and it includes the driveshaft, which is also a problem on early 1st gens if it was not lubricated routinely and most were not and the splines get stripped. Been there done that. The reason I am suggesting all this to you is not only to fix your problems, but when you get this thing together and running right you will be addicted to the acceleration and you will be so mad at yourself for having to skip 2nd gear when you could be lifting the front wheel off the ground instead. I have been thru these transmissions from one end to the other and I can absolutely assure you that you will love this setup. Let me know if you are interested. One more thing I may be able to help you with is some solid motor mounts that will help stiffen up the bike and make it handle better. Link to V-Max final drive; https://www.ebay.com/itm/91-YAMAHA-VMAX-V-MAX-VMX-1200-Final-Drive-Differential-1FK-46101-01-00/202487048050?hash=item2f252b2772:g:XKAAAOSwIUVb2OEQ:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!37604!US!-1 Randy

made 2 care, Tim, I suggest you need to take a step back and put your priorities in some kind of order. Right now your #1 is fixing the frame either by replacing it or repairing it. I did respond to your PM and hope it helps. Randy

How about putting your camera or phone on the ground and taking several pictures of the area where the bottom of the shock attaches to the frame. Also, if your frame is broken as bad as mine was, the rear tire would be rubbing the inside bottom of the rear fender. Also, the bike will not sit on the side stand on level ground. Randy

I can agree with Bob on his last statement, I hope your Venture brings you as much joy as mine has me. I think this is about the last pic I took of my bike. Randy

This has been a very interesting read for me because I wish so much I could find someone with this enthusiasm for an 83. I really need to get rid of my 83, but I have not tried because I don't want it to go to someone that does not know or care about an early Venture. I know, they are special, but mine is real special, at least to me. If you will read the following previous thread, I noted the upgrades that I have done to mine; https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?133824-I-have-got-to-do-something One of the biggest concerns I have about made2care's 83 is you need to know what the options are is fixing the broken frame right and for it to be stronger than what Yamaha ever did, even their upgrades. It is not an easy fix and you can see what I did in the following thread and I suspect yours will probably need what I did to mine. https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?1521-83-Broken-frame Again, I love your enthusiasm and wish you all the luck in the world, but you do have some challenges to deal with. Let me know if I can be of any help. Randy

The two tabs that stick out the sides of the TCI with the holes that are used to mount the TCI. I found that with the TCI laying on the airbox with the connector pointing to the left, that by cutting off the mounting boss that is closest to the battery and sliding it back more against the battery will give it a bit more room for the cover. You would want to mount it with the connector pointing to the left because that is the side the wiring harness will need to be pulled up through. Randy

Miatas are almost as seasonal as motorcycles. With top down weather coming, the price of Miatas go up. I split my daily driving between my Miata or Infinity and I have put a bit more miles on my Miata in the last four years. We have not put many miles at all on Linda's Miata, but we did loan it my daughter in law while she gets her transmission fixed. That should put some miles on it. For those that just do not want to go the trike route, a Miata is a great option. Randy

Well, I missed the soft top. So you are telling me that he sold the car with a hardtop for $4,000. I bet he made somebody happy. It will hurt trying to sell the car without a soft top with a frame though. Randy

Yeah, he could have probably done better on the sale of an 06 with 81K miles for $4,000. You should probably be able to sell the hardtop and at least get your money back on it, especially if it is down in Texas, as in hot weather people put the HT back on and run the A/C. You can go on Miata.net and check out what you can do about listing it there. Randy

This would be a really good time to take the TCI off and move it to the top of the air box. You will not have to lengthen any wires as you can move the wiring harness around the side of the airbox and have enough room to plug it up. The hardest part is getting the screws on the TCI to break loose as they have been in a pretty bad environment for a long time. It also may help to cut one of the TCI mounting bosses off so you can mount the TCI a little closer to the battery to give a little more room for the cover. Given that there seems to be a bit of voltage loss by the time the current gets to the TCI, I mounted a small relay next to the TCI with fused power coming from the battery and the power that was to go to the TCI was used to power the relay. There is probably only about 9 or 10 volts that goes to the TCI after everything goes thru ignition and safety switches and the CMU. Randy

My 83 had about 170,000 miles when I swapped the engine and the only reason I did that was I had a 30,000 mile engine that I put a 2nd gen trans in. Since we are talking about various vehicles, this is my 96 Miata that now has about 265,000 miles. These pictures were taken last summer at 250K. It runs great and still looks good. A 100K Miata is considered a low mileage car. Randy

Thanks, PM sent. Randy

Have you got any contact info? I love my Time Out camper. Randy

It is supposed to be 76 and sunny Thursday here in NE TN. Randy

Just out of curiosity, did you plastic wire tie the wire bundle to a bar above it to take the weight off the connector and the board? Randy

Right now they are talking 72 degrees here in NE TN by Thursday. Randy

Of those 1,000 folks, how many have you given a ticket to as a State Trooper? Randy

In the 5+ years that Linda and I rode together, we both loved it. She was a great passenger and we had a lot of adventures and fun together, even towing the camper. About a year before we quit riding, we were on a narrow paved railroad bed that had been part of the Tweetsie Railroad many years ago. When the pavement ended, I was barely moving and touched my front brake and did not realize I was on some fine gravel and it caused us to do a slow tip over. Neither of us got hurt, but when I picked up the bike, and being type II diabetic for 30+ years, I ended up having a massive vitreous hemorrhage with half of my vision black in my right eye the next morning. I had surgery, that turned into a detached retina and then more vessel problems that ended up with a small window of distorted vision. But, we still rode for another year. Then one day Linda told me that as much as she loved to ride, she was just not comfortable being on the bike. Not from discomfort, but just being with traffic with so many people not paying much attention to their driving and having several close calls. I rode a few times after that, but just did not enjoy riding solo that much. I considered trikeing a 1500 Goldwing that I have, but for what is was going to cost, I added one more wheel than a trike and bought two Miatas. They have been a wonderful alternative to riding a big bike and for those that just don't want a trike or don't want to spend the money a trike cost, it is a good option. Randy

The vast majority of headlight problems on a 1st gen is the CMU or CMS due to two reasons. The first is cold solder joints and cracking around the solder joints. I suspect that a big contributor on this is when the wire bundle is hooked into the back of the CMS that it is somewhat heavy and it pulls down on the pin connections. You will find that when you disassemble the CMS and look at the solder joints that it will be one of the ones that go thru the board and has a pin that goes into the connector. You will usually see where there has been some arcing at the solder joint that is bad. Kind of the chicken or egg thing, did the solder fail or did the pulling down on the connector cause the joint to crack. Anytime I have fixed a CMS with the solder joint problem or even had the dash out, I have always used a good plastic tie to hook around the bar above the connector to pull up on the bundle of wires, taking the weight off the connection. In fact this is a good thing to do as preventative maintenance. Randy

My 83 was totaled about ten years ago when a 4X4 backed in to it and knocked it over. I ended up getting about $3600 for it and bought it back for $200. They had I believe, State Farm and when I talked to them and we were settling, she mentioned that they would not spend the time to brand the title on an older motorcycle. What was kind of funny was when working on my to be ex wife's van, I saw where she had dug out the paper from the settlement where it had been worth $3,600, which she wanted half of, but I guess her lawyer advised her that with a salvage value of $200, to forget it. Bad way to start the new year, but you just might come out better than you think and still keep your bike.Plus, you mostly came away so far with just some hurt feelings. Also, are you going to put some LOUD air horns on it now? I think that is probably the best insurance that I put on my bike and have NO DOUBT that they saved my life or at least serious injury on more than one occasion in the 150,000 miles I put on it. Randy