timgray

Wait, are out bikes supposed to have those? I have never seen a venture with them. Every venture I spot has nice shiny chrome like harleys do on the front forks.

No clue. I dont think it has ever been opened up, so the chances are probably 100%. Where do you get a metal impeller?

I think I recall I need to pull the water pump to replace that elbow, Other than the gasket, anything in there that I should replace while I have it off?

They list it as a Yamaha Boat engine part. Did they use that part on almost all the engines they made in the 80's?

Anyone have a source for these or a part number that I can order form an online source? It seems my weekend maintaince of replacing the starter is turning up more and more things I need to replace while I am in there.

I'm not having any problems with my fuel pump, but it is almost 30 years old. I am thinking that in order to be sure I dont get stranded 500 miles from home, replacing it would be a good idea. IS there a more modern unit that is the same or close enough that it fits well for the MK-I 1 st gen bikes?

If you are thinking of a headlight upgrade, you can't get any better than the Dual 90mm Hella projector upgrade I came up with a few years ago. http://venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32922&highlight=dual+hella Dingy here on the forums had came up with a cad design of the mounting plate, and even made some adapters. if you wire it right on high beam it will light both bulbs (but be at 130Watts) and utterly destroy any HID upgrade out there in brightness. Also the ECE cutoff of the projector bulb delivers a better "dont blind others" light output that honestly outperforms a HID bulb in the stock housing. Just some ideas to point you at what has already been done on the 1st gen MK-I

Yup mine is just behind the engine, but I used an aluminum strap from the local hardware store to make it a single bolt to mount or remove it. It does not get a lot of air flow there, but these dont need it, they are rated for 60 Amps and at Maximum with 4 sets of driving lights and every add on light you could think of, etc.... our bikes are doing 25 Amps which is OK for a no/low air flow location for these things. ON the FJR they are buried in a location that gets zero air flow. Also good luck getting the old one off. Several times I though of just cutting the wires really short and abandoning it where it lives on the bike. I finally got it off last fall in a final attempt. Lastly, if you really want to mount it at the stock location, you MUST get the $15$ set of waterproof connectors for the unit. Where the stock unit is located you get every single drop of water that is on the road thrown at it.

Yes there is. #1 install the cooling kit. #2 is to remove the stock Regulator and throw it in the trash. Install one from a Yamaha FJR1300 or other modern Yamma. Check here in the 1st gen forum about R&R upgrade. Works great, better than great. MY stator wires went from HOT after a ride, to cold. and I now charge at 13.5 volts at idle with the fan running. The Stock Regulator in our bikes is really poorly designed, It needs to be removed and thrown away. If you have any decent experience with electrical, you can upgrade it in and afternoon easily. I did mine and replaced the Stator with a hot Shot stator in a single saturday.

I found a used one off ebay for $55.00 off of a Royal Star from 2001 and it looks like new. Keep searching and dont pay over $55.00 shipped.

when you look into the R&R upgrade, let me know I have an extra one I am willing to let go for the old cheap price we were getting them for 2 years ago.

Michigan requires a plate, and it's a full size car plate.

Your bike is a wet clutch, so clutch material get's in the oil every time you use the clutch, I strongly suggest oil changes on the short side because of this. Think of it this way, every time you shift you are throwing dirt in your oil. Do you really want to ride 5000 miles on an oil filter that is getting overwhelmed like that? the stock filters do NOT have a bypass valve, so when they get clogged you get a engine starved of oil. Everything on the internet about car oil needs to be thrown away when talking about it's life when used in a motorcycle with a wet clutch.

Mine has this punch and a failing 2nd gear. This punch mark is not a good indication that it was done. I am thinking this punch is there for "oil cooling kit installed"

The 2nd gear problem will happen eventually on an 83. Yamaha saved 12 cents by using a soft washer that will slowly wear. If you really get on the gas and jam through the gears you will wear it faster than driving like a grandpa. So if the previous owner was They did not fix the problem until the middle of 1985 model year. Stator cooling kits show up on Ebay time to time. and old bike barn used to have them. if you pull the stator cover plate (small plate on the left side of the bike with two screws you can look at the end of the stator bolt. if you see a hole and a metal baffle plate ring around it, it already has a cooling kit installed. I attached what the stator cooling kit looks like.

Replace the springs in the front forks with progressives. Remove the Rectifier and the Stator coil. Finda stator cooling kit and a Ricks Motorsports Hot Shot stator and install both. then install the FJR1300 Regulator (there are articles here on how.) IT solves 90% of the electrical problems. the last 10% is to replace the fuse box with something that fits and uses blade fuses. You NEED the stator cooling kit no matter what. even if the stock one looks brand new, it will burn up after a while without it. Oh and lastly start saving about $2500 for a 2nd gear transmission repair. when you hit 35,000 miles 2nd gear will start going out. This is guaranteed to happen on an 83.

Last time I had the fairing split I ripped out the useless air duct from under the headlight to the vents on the dash. Mounted mine inside the fairing on the left side. without the air ducting in there it has a TON of space to fit one. Completely hidden.

When you want to upgrade further, Look at the Wolo Bad Boy. A super compact air horn that will scare a BMW driver with the windows up. Watched him throw his phone in fear as he swerved back out of my lane.

"I realize it would cost America thousands of jobs, but still. " Harleys have not been made in the USA for quite some time now. Most of the parts are from China and many bikes are assembled in Mexico.

If your Regulator failed and dumped 16V + some AC components into your electrical system, I know what happened. At that point it fried several systems on the bike because the reading of 16V is what that meter could read, it was probably around 40-60Volts AC This will boil the battery as it tries like heck to get rid of the AC voltage, the TCI will probably start losing components and a lot of other things will start going. Did you notice the Headlight getting very bright? That is usually the first tell tale that the Regulator went as all lights will get insanely bright and typically start dying as they pop from over voltage.

If they are around $40.00 a set I am all in. Is this all three cables? The ground cable from battery, the short one from the battery to the starter Relay/solenoid and the long one to the starter? And has anyone a source for a new Starter relay/solenoid? Considering mine is 30 years old I'm thinking replacing it is a good idea.

from the article about ABS on bikes.... "and adds only a few hundred dollars to the price of more basic bikes" A few hundred dollars as in, $999 is only a few hundred dollars. Every single bike I look at that has ABS is $1000 more than the non ABS version. And yes, I want ABS, I have seen it's advantages first hand. Bubba Blackwell, the motorcycle stunt guy was playing around on a BMW with ABS before a show and was upset he could not get it to skid no matter how hard he tried. and seeing someone do a full boat panic stop leaning int oa turn on wet roads and not end up eating trees is what sold me. But it's still a highly expensive option.

Only way he can do this is to disassemble the whole bike. No chance of getting an impact wrench anywhere near any of the sparkplugs.

I would love to try this and redo my seat cover. How do you sew this?

I had the same problem until I replaced the fuse box. the old round fuse holder fell apart in my hand when I removed and reinserted the fuses. The Brass holdesr in there are incredibly brittle.