GaryZ

Update 2: Removing the rubber pads seems to have cured the dragging problem. After 4 tanks with Sea Foam it still seems to be dropping one cylinder when the throttle is wide open and close to wide open. Bucks like a bronco in first gear, farts and stops pulling in all other gears. It will hit red line if I ease up to it. Any ideas from the crew?

Seems like the perfect opportunity to upgrade to MkII forks and brakes!

This is great news! I was wondering where you were hiding . . .

I saw a Yamaha service video recently that discussed how to set up the carbs on a Venture in your garage. It said to back out the low-speed screws 2 full turns. After syncing the carbs you should adjust each low speed screw for maximum idle. This often requires redoing the sync a few times. When finished they hooked up an exhaust gas analyzer and found one cylinder was set correctly while the others were not. The point was that the analyzer is better. The VR has small analyzer ports on each header pipe. Anybody know of a wide-band Oxygen sensor that might fit these ports?

The Vmax uses a different cam with more duration, same lift. It has 1mm larger valves with smaller stems and stronger valve springs for a 9k red line. The rest of the engine and heads are the same (I think). I put Vmax cams and springs in my 1300 engine and when I get the carbs figured out it should run pretty good. It runs good now, just not as good as I think it should. This forum has suggested my mods should be cranking out around 120HP versus 140HP for the Vmax. The "V-Boost" is the missing piece of my puzzle. V-Boost has two carbs filling each cylinder when you are above 5k rpm. This has the effect of kicking in the secondaries of a 4-barrel on a V8. Of course the exhaust will need to be opened up, and this makes more noise. I recently bought a stock '92 VR and it sure runs good. It makes me think the best mod for a Gen 1 could be a Vmax differential

Got down on the ground and looked for the hard part(s) that are dragging. It looks like the center stand has scrapes on the rounded ends. Seems to be held low by a rubber bumper on the aftermarket mufflers. I guess I will try to replace the thick rubber bumper with something else.

Bleeding my '85 after de-linking took a couple of days. I had to pump up the brakes, tie the brake handle and leave it overnight. Then I loosened the banjo fitting at the front master (highest point in the brake system) and bleed a little air. I pumped it up again and let it sit overnight a second time. Then I had enough brake to pump fluid through the system and bleed normally.

My '85 has Progressives on the front and could sit a little higher. With only 28k original miles on the '92 I was hoping to save the cost of new springs. I recently built dog-bones and raised the back of my '93 ZX11D. Maybe lifting the back of the Venture about an inch? Better "turn-in" would improve low-speed handling.

OK . . . Here are a couple pictures for everyone to drool over. I had to remove the leather pouches that hang where my knees need to be. Although the brakes (de-linked) on my '85 are OK, these are a little scary. It could be that my '85 was put on a diet and is easily 50 - 75 pounds lighter. I will likely de-link, install separate braided lines on the front, and swap to a more aggressive brake pad. The pipes sound incredible! One cylinder wants to cut-out at WOT. This suggests a blocked high-speed jet. One Sea-Foam treatment done, a couple more should clear it up. I have had it out three times since Christmas, riding double. I seems very easy to drag hard parts on the left, even with the air set "high" and rear-shock damping on "4". Yes, I ride a bit aggressive sometimes. My '85 has lots more ground clearance carrying the same passenger. Any suggestions as to what could be the issue?

I bought Masterguns' 1992 Venture and picked it up yesterday. Although it is still in my trailer in the driveway, I wanted to thank Herb for taking incredible care of this beautiful machine. My future plans will be to continue to modify and hot-rod my '85 while riding the wheels off the '92. I will have pictures to share when it warms up a little . . . Merry Christmas to me!

I have successfully used metal staples and a soldering iron to reinforce cracks and broken tabs. I trim the staple so that it will not go all the way through, hold it with a small needle nose plier until I get the soldering iron on it, then heat until it melts into the plastic.

I am using the original front master routed to a coupler and separate braided brake lines down to each front caliper. At first the brakes seemed lacking, however, I found my '85 front master has an adjustable plunger under the handle. I turned it in to increase stroke and the brakes work pretty well. Not as well as my ZX11 Ninja, but, it weighs 200+ pounds less and has dual-pot brakes with larger rotors. The Ninja better work better! The rear brake master is gutted and plugged and feels very wooden. I'm not sure why. I have never felt my Venture's modified brakes were not up to the task . . .

Update: Checked compression and leak-down (sort-of). All good The problem must be carbs again

My 2 cents: Everyone should re-read the comment above and understand the standard insurance scam; If they have your vehicle, they are in the driver's seat. Do not let them have it. If the vehicle cannot be driven, tow it to your house or a friend, or a storage unit. Sometimes the police will even insist that you must have it towed to a storage yard. Generally this is not true and the cop is simply being lazy or feels challenged. Charge the insurance company for storage and demand a rental car. The insurance company does not want to spend money and they will be more willing to meet reasonable demands of value. They will always lowball the first offer. As someone else has said, prepare documentation that supports your claim of value. KBB, NADA, Craigslist, newspaper . . . local value is best.

Mine had the rear screw tab broke off when I got it. I made a metal tab and screwed it to the cover. Seemed to rattle around and I figured this was normal, until it came loose and flipped up in my face at about 70mph. My fix was to glue a square of foam rubber underneath the cover and force it aft before tightening the screw tab. It no longer rattles around and has not came loose since . . .

Definitely looks like a home made V-Boost set-up. A comment on a Vmax forum says that some guys have the V-boost always engaged for better performance. However, the carbs cannot be synched. Combine this with air leaks and I think we have all of the symptoms listed . . .

Really good stuff . . . Thanks! I usually think the worst (valves? oh no!) and I will definitely do a compression and leak-down test. The carbs have been a continuous headache on this 1985 machine, and I was hoping someone else would agree that the carbs could be at-fault again . . .

My #1 carb is spitting enough fuel to make the air box wet. I removed the air cleaner to verify which carb. It does not seem to spit at idle, only above. Ideas and comments are welcome . . .

Bought one. Tried it. Not very impressed

There are lots of opinions about how to go about de-linking. I gutted the rear master and plugged the outlet for the front disk. The rear brake is a little "wooden" feeling, but, serviceable. On the front I installed a Kawasaki coupler on the lower tree with new stainless brake lines to the front calipers and disconnected the anti-dive units (Progressive springs are used on the forks). The front master has plenty of juice to run both front calipers (there is an adjustment to increase the stroke under the handle). In the near future I will install two stainless brake lines from the front master to each front caliper. PS . . . Tinkering with the Beast is my new normal:whistling:

I de-linked my '85 for a couple reasons, some of these can apply to your situation; I have my VR and a 1999 ZX11 Ninja and I wanted the same type brake function on both bikes. The stock system (linked) offered a very poor front brake feel and I have 45 years of front brake use. I was not comfortable with the linked front brake action when going downhill on my daughter's gravel driveway. The de-linked brakes on my VR work well. The front has OK stopping power, considering the mass it has to slow. I will also recommend stainless brake lines to improve the braking power and feel. The only downside seems to be that I have accelerated wear of the front brake pads (probably my front brake bias).

Anyone???

Friday rode to Eureka Springs with girlfriend on the back; about 300 miles. Saturday rode the Ozark National Forest chasing some friends on sport bikes. Raced home on Sunday and arrived in my driveway when the strong storms were only 45 miles away! Great weekend . . . 60 psi in the rear shock and 10 psi with Progressive Springs in the front. Dragged hard parts twice. Here's a picture of how hard we were riding the Beast; I have no "chicken strips" and the edge of the tread is feathered.

Well, I finally reset the TCI to TPS last week. The bike seemed to run smoother and crisper. Rode 300 miles to Eureka Springs, 250 miles in the Ozark National Forest, and 300 miles home. The first 100 miles were event free. Then I started seeing an occasional tach drop-out. Then I started getting actual drop-outs around 4200 rpm. Gas mileage is around 30mpg. The original symptoms were drop-outs around 3200 rpm when others had them around 4200. Now I have the 4200 rpm drop-outs. Coincidence? I think not. Who has a file that seems to work and wants to share???

I guess I'm ridin' right!