bongobobny

The '86 VR is a different engine. Owl, you may be right on that; I'll go out to the garage and check, however, I agree (somewhat) with TX Venture in that 10:1 compression is a little beyond 87 octane without knock sensors to retard your timing...

As long as you are not geting any spark knock, and are happy with the slightly less fuel economy and performance, then you will probably be OK. The biggie is the spark knock, or predetonation. If you are getting the explosion before your piston is up to TDC, you can, and will, have detrimental effects on your engine. The choice is yours, for myself I use high test... If you read the sticker on the inside of the engine cover, the 1200cc requires 91 octane.

No, I certainly would not use scrubbies on plastic or fiberglass, as they are about the same hardness and will indeed screatch, but with metal (Not chrome plated plastic) I haven't seen any scratching yet. Of course we are talking about older chrome that is already pitted from rust... Dan, fo the most part I agree with you on the Turtle wax, but sometime spring the extra for Blue Magic metal polish. To me it seems to work just a slight bit better but that's just my opinion.

That's why I'm a firm believer in using 3M plastic scrubbies!! That combined with a good metal polish usually does the trick. One of my favorites is Blue Magic. Lately I've been using Eagle's Nanowax for metal as a final coat which also cleans as you polish but leaves a smoother and more noticable shine...

I tend not to blame the air filter unless it needs cleaning. About the only thing the K&N may affect would be the idle speed due to the increased air flow but that's stretching it a bit. The idle and the syncronizatrion are all internal to the carbs regardless of air cleaners. The carbs require a sertain volume of air for wherever the throttle puts them at. The free flow of the K&N allows less restriction to the change in air flow, which results in better acceleration, but does not affect the mixture ratio once the air is in the carbs. That ratio is determined by the mixture jets. Another way to look at it is a normal vacuum cleaner that develops less suction as the bag or filter gets clogged. Nothing has changed with the motor or the suction turbine, but due to the fact that the path of incoming air is reduced, the less the suction. So, keeping the air input unclogged is the secret to better performance. K&N has larger pores for air to pass through so more volume of air is available for the carbs. Keep in mind that the carbs are only going to take as much air as they need which is really determined by the piston in the intake (down) stroke. The carb's main function is to mix a precise amount of gasoline into the airflow as it passes through. This is done by the oriface size of the metering jets and works on a principle that Mr Ventura developed from Mr. Bernouli's studys. Now, the downside of a K&N is that it does allow larger particulate matter to pass through it which means more contaminants entering the carb and engine. Not big enough to cause damage, but it will dirty a carb faster than an air filter that won't allow as large of particles. Such is the price you pay for performance. As far as fuel economy, the K&N filter will, in some cases actually slightly improve fuel economy. What really affects fuel economy is driving habits...

I replaced my stock speakers with some aftermarket Kenwood coax speakers and it does improve the highs, but with a full face helmet it still lacks something. Yes, standard 4" car speakers fit right in. As far as the rears go, I'm looking for a set of weatherproof small boxes to mount alongside the pasenger backrest, but havern't come up with any as of yet. I have a pair of metal box ones but they are a little big. As far as kicking up the bass a notch, well, if you don't use your trunk, that would work as a subwoofer box (I use mine for cargo), or you can try out whatr is called a ribbon speaker but you are not going to get earyth shaking lows out of them... I have thought of hollowing out the seat bottom and mounting an 8" subwoofer firing downwards, which should at least vibrate my butt a little... Best bet is a good set of stereo headphones that you can mount inside your helmet...