Russ

Alright, so that '77 XS750 that I bought... I was tinkering with it this weekend and all said and done, I got the old girl to fire up. I traced my prior electrical issues to a faulty ground wire... specifically the one running from the battery to the ground on the engine. I'm thinking the connection at the battery is to blame, but as there isn't much slack in the wire unless I re-route it, I think I should just replace it.. so my first question: What guage wire should I use to replace the ground? And is that something that would generally be easy to get? Next question: Whoever owned this bike before me... I have no clue what this guy was thinking when he worked on it... but the airbox was in pieces, parts of it were missing... and there was no air filter. So I opted to remove the air box completely and go with the clamp on style pod filters. This left me with my new problem... the bike has a hose that ran from the back of the engine into the airbox... The shop manual states that this hose routes carbon emissions back through the carburators to be reburned. the original air box had a spot where this connected, but with the pod filters I'm stuck with leaving that hose hang loose. When I had it running, I was getting some nice smokey exhaust coming up out of this hose. Anyone got any ideas on what I can do with this? Should I just plug it or should I try to fabricate something to cycle it back into the carbs? Final question: once again, no clue what the previous owner was thinking, but the wires to all the lights (brakelight, headlight, turn signals) have the grounds all spliced together into one ground. And the guy evidently didn't know what to do with it, so he wrapped it in electrical tape and left it hanging loose. I jury-rigged a wire to it and connected it to ground and amazingly enough, all my lights that I thought were dead came to life! so now for the question: Do I just ground this to my battery or should I run a new wire down to the engine ground or just ground it to the frame? Thanks in advance for ya'lls help. I really appreciate it!

I came across this tonight and felt I should share it with everyone here. http://www.hit-air.com/ I got a reply back and it looks like their North American Distributor is Airprotek. http://www.airprotekgear.com/ They look a little pricey, but for the protection that they offer... maybe it's worth it.

Ok, so some of ya'll probably remember I bought a '77 XS750 for $50 a month or so ago. I pulled the carbs off and cleaned 'em.. put 'em back together and figured I'd see if it'd turn over. I toss a charger on the battery and after a few hours go to take a look. I got lights to come on (neutral indicator and oil light) and when I hit the starter it clicked. I pulled the charger off and checked the battery.. bone dry... Not surprising as it sat for 3 years before I got hold of it. So I bought a new battery. Installed it and now I'm getting absolutely nothing. No lights, no pleasing click... nothing. I checked the fuses and none of them appear to be blown. I cleaned the connectors on the wires to the battery... I've poured through my shop manual.. I can't find anything. Any ideas?

When I purchased my '86 VR it had a K&N filter in it. I have no clue if the carbs were adjusted after it was installed. I've complained about it before, but for those that aren't up to speed on my problems, I can't get over 95 MPH regardless of gear and THAT has to be going downhill with a good tailwind. generally my top end is around 85 mph. My gas mileage is crappy, generally around 31 miles per gallon. All other possible problems with the bike aside, do ya'll think that there's a remote possibility that replacing this K&N with a stock air filter would fix my performance problems? If so, I can pick up a filter on my way home today and see what happens.. I just want the opinion of ya'll first 'cause I'm grasping at straws at this point.

I think this may be what a lot of my problems are... 93 Venture mentioned that he could smell gas pretty strong when riding behind me.. and seeing as how I can't get over 90 mph going downhill with a good tailwind, I'm wondering if my stuck screw is causing more problems than I previously thought... never really thought about it until you mentioned that yours was running rich at idle... problem is I"m a little scared of doing much to my bike... I depend on it heavily for my daily transportation and I really don't want to make it unridable. don't suppose anyone wants to make a weekend trip to Central Illinois and help me fix this thing do ya? I'll make sure there's cold brews in the fridge and somethin' burnin' on the grill.

Alright folks, I know you've all scoured the internet for parts for your bikes. Lots of 'em hard to find, most of 'em you get outbid at the last second, sometimes even costing you more than the bike did by the time the auctions are over. Well, I just found this ebay store that I think may get a lot of you excited. http://stores.ebay.com/PinWall-Cycle-Parts-Inc_Yamaha-Venture-Royal-Star_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ4QQftidZ2QQtZkm 704 Items. 24 pages of 1st and 2nd gen parts and accessories. ALL OF THEM WITH BUY IT NOW!!! And from looking at the prices, looks like some really good deals. About the only items I didn't find on there were trailer hitches and Carbs. It looks like these guys are based out of Ohio too, so maybe if we ask nicely we can get Don to take that nice new trailer he got and pick up parts for us.