skydoc_17

Ebay Link for spark plug wires http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem=&item=220293209576 They worked really well for me. Ride Safe, Earl

If you do get it out, a rap of teflon plumbers tape will keep this from happening again. Earl

Hi Cliff, What a beautiful bike! Your wife is one lucky gal! Here's the deal about cutting thru chrome, Think of chrome plating as a "skin" which covers the entire part. If you have a dremel tool or an air driven friction blade grind thru the chrome plating all the way around the part, When you have exposed the layer of copper under the plating or go below it you can then cut thru the part itself with a hacksaw, or just continue to cut thru the part to be removed until it comes off. Here lies the rub, the base metal is going to be most likely carbon steel, and is going to rust. Problem 2 is now that you have exposed an "edge" on the chrome plating, you run the risk of the plating peeling off of the rest of the part due to wind, moisture, etc. I have had pretty good luck buffing up the exposed end, and clear coating the end. It is not going to be as shiny as the chrome but it will be covered and will not look any worse then it did from day one. Another option is to get a can of "cold galvanize" (Tractor Supply) and dab the ends with a brush. It is silver in color, covers the base metal, prevents rust, helps with the peeling somewhat but looks just awful! If you decide to use the clear coat method I have found that the poly coatings have a tendency to "fish eye" (little circles) on chrome plating, I use the Rust-Oleum Specialty Lacquer, (Wally Mart) A few light to medium coats as apposed to one heavy slogging coat works really well, you should be able to feather the Lacquer pretty easily. I use brake cleaner on metal parts to remove the wax before I clear coat. DO NOT use brake cleaner if the plated part is plastic! You could melt the entire part! Lastly, I have a milling machine and would be happy to mill the ends off for you if you do not have adremel tool or air grinder with a cut off blade. You mark the part, send it to me, I mill off the ends, buff and clear coat it, send it back to you, you install it, and it's a done deal! Any questions, Please ask, Oh yea, I have been a machinist for 36 years, In case you were wondering. Ride Safe, Earl and Jean

Thanks Mtman, I picked up one today at Advance auto parts, went on a little tight but worked like a charm! No more coolant comming out the overflow tube! Life is good! Earl

Mtman, Thanks fo the info and thread on the rad. cap. Earl

Hi All, Has anyone found a place to get a radiator cap from besides the stealer for an 87' VR? Thanks for any help you can provide. Ride Safe, Earl and Jean

Hey Dan, Try this thread, It should point you in the right direction. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=493 It worked for me. If you are not to friendly with a souldering iron, the electronic tech. at Lockheed-Martin souldered mine, you send me the board, I get it repaired, I send it back to you. Just postage! Soulder Safe, Earl and Jean

This first part of my post is for Dan Schepp or any other person who has tried to use the search feature. I have had little to no luck with the search feature myself, I'm not saying it isn't a nifty feature but I don't seem to have much luck with it. Here is what I have done to solve that problem: I created a Doc file in My Docs called "First Gen. Tech. Links" Then when I find a thread with useful info, I open MS Word, create a blank doc and type the name of the info I want to be able to find later. I go back to the VR site, copy the link from the address bar at the very top of the window, go back to MS word, paste the link onto the doc and then save it in the file "first gen. tech. links" in my docs. I then have the ability to search that data base much better. This second part of this post is for Kevin Putney or anyone else who has a sticking front or rear caliper on their VR. When I first purchased my 87' VR in march of this year the left front caliper and rear caliper were sticking badly. I took them off removed the pistons cleaned them like new lubed them and when the left front froze up a second time about a week later, it fried my left front rotor! In my honest opinion, don't even kid yourself into thinking that cleaning these 21 plus year old calipers is going to be a long term solution for your breaking problems! If you don't do a complete rebuild on these 2 piece calipers you will be buying new rotors shortly there after. Not to mention when it freezes up you will be stuck where you stand! I could not get that caliper to release for love or money until I trailered the bike home. That being said, I chose to replace the 21 year old calipers on my 87' VR with calipers from a 2002 R1 on the front and a right front caliper from a 2001 R6 on the rear. I also chose to delink the breaks at this time due to the ENDLESS brake bleeding that you must do to get the air out of the brake lines. But I will add that you can upgrade the calipers to the R1-R6 calipers and still have the linked system. And you will still have all of the fun of the endless bleeding from the old system. I did find that my 21 year old master cyls. were not up to the task of powering the new calipers and I had to rebuild both of them. After that, with the addition of speed bleeders to the three new calipers, I bled all three calipers and their lines in 8 minutes. NO BS! The new breaks are WAY better than the stock system but I will leave it up to you to make the final decision, but by all means either rebuild the old or replace with more modern, but please don't "banaid" them. The total cost for all of the good used parts and the rebuild kits was $150.00 give or take a few bucks, and I sold my old stuff for around $50.00 Check my profile, I have pics and a description, and am happy to answer any questions about the VR to R1 brake swap! Just My 2 Cents, Ride Safe, Brake Safe, Earl

I have polished many cast aluminum parts from my cars and motorcycles over the years and if you try to clear coat them with polyurthane the poly will "fisheye" on the surface. There will be little "circles" where the poly appears to repell from the aluminum, I assume it is something leaching out of the casting and not allowing the poly to stick there. I have had great luck with Lacquer clear coat. I use the Rust-oleum Specialty Lacquer clear coat. It comes in high gloss and matte finishes. It doesn't last quite as long as the poly(3-4 years) but there are none of the issues related to the poly. I use a few fine to medium coats as apposed to slogging on one heavy coat. The lacquer clear coat is quite a bit thinner than the poly so if you are heavy handed with the spray can you will be sanding out a bunch of runs. It dries much faster than the poly so it is easy to spray a few lighter coats,plus the finish has a much brighter lustre than the poly. I practiced on a "test" part first to get the right spray pattern and amount down pat and had no trouble with my parts going back on my bike. Give it a try, it's kinda' fun once you get the hang of it. Also when you do get it right, you'll say "WOW" Paint Safe, Earl

Hi All, I posted this once before, I have no connection with this company, It's just a good place to buy batteries that fit the VR's. The Koyo has the sensor hole. The Odessy is $123.00 I thought that was a pretty good price. http://www.bohannonbattery.com/html/motbat/18lbs.html Hope this helps, Ride Safe, Earl and Jean

One of the many things I enjoy about riding a motorcycle is the fact that there is one seat for me, and one seat for Jean. If Jean and I decide we want to go fast or slow, Stop or go, It's our decision. If the people we ride with wait, I thank them very much, If they don't, I know how to get home. I do ride differently when Jean is not on the bike, But I try very hard NEVER to out ride my abilities. I can show you a spot on my hide for every time I wrote a check my abilities couldn't cash! I would like to think I closed that checking account a long, long time ago. It's a no brainer... RIDE YOUR RIDE for yourself and your co-pilot ...no one else. Just my 2 cents. Earl and Jean

Boy! So do you guys stand on street corners and kick the cane out from under old people in your spare time? Or put crazy glue on the wheels of their walkers at the old folks home...or WHAT! Ride Slow, Ride Safe, Earl

O.K. guys and gals I wasn't going to say anything about this...to anybody, I don't think second place is all that big a deal. I will say that the "roar in the mountains" was a great event! Both Jean and myself had a great time, met a lot of great people and got some really good riding in. There was really good food,(my personal fav!) and live music both nights. There were bikes of EVERY type and style. I entered the bike contest as a lark and was really suprised when they made such a fuss over my bike. The winner of my class (antique, asian) was a 1979 honda 750 that looked like it just rolled off the showroom floor! Needless to say the old guy who owned it brought it there in an enclosed trailer and to my knowledge the bike never ran the whole time Jean and I were there. Not even to load it on the trailer. I thought bringing my daily driver there was a really long shot! I have attached some pics of some of the better looking bikes. Like I said the winning part caught us both off guard and Jean doesn't know squat about our digital camera. The trophy is off to the engraver and I promise I will have Jean take a pic of me, the bike and the trophy as soon as it returns to us. The last thing I will say is I didn't want to make a big deal out of this is because as Squeeze said, the trophy looks like a second gen. or even worse, a harley and both Jean and I laughed when they gave it to us. So please go easy on me, this was not my idea to shoot my mouth off about coming in second and getting a trophy that looks like a Second Gen!! THANKS ALOT DAVE! Thanks for the kind words, Earl and Jean

A brother VR member, DavePa has one on Ebay as we speak. Here is the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/yamaha-Venture-royale-CB-Radio-antenna-mount-Cable_W0QQitemZ170266209680QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170266209680&_trkparms=72%3A727%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14 The last time I looked the bid was $10.00 It is a direct replacement for your antenna. It also comes with the cable. It might not be as slick as the "firestick" but it's a lot cheaper. Just my 2 cents. Ride Safe, Earl

Hi there muffins, I hope the ride gets better for you Mini, It sure does look cool on your VR! Jean has been asking me about some other way to take long trips lately. She is due for back surgery in Jan. and can't get comfortable in the saddle for long trips. Please keep us posted as to how the ride is as it may be our next option. Passenger Safe, Earl and Jean

Hey Randy, Great Job on the blinkers! Why aren't more items repairable like that?!?! Would you think the MK2 has the same repairable unit, Randy? :clap2:I can remember being just a sprite, sitting on the curb watching my dad sand, clean, and blow off spark plugs, replace brushes in starters and generators and rebuild carbs. with a screwdriver and a pair of pliars. My dad's car always ran like a top and never left us stranded. As far as the blinker fluid goes, I will never forget being 16 and pulling up to the auto parts store and sending my highschool sweetheart into the store for a Rad. cap for a 1963 Corvair! By the time she got back, I was rolling....She was NOT! It was a week before I could eat solid food! Ride Safe, Earl and Jean

I pay $109.00 yearly for my two bikes, 86' V65 Magna and 87' Venture Royale. Libility only. Ride Safe, Earl and Jean