Great White

I've been in too many high priced hotels and low rent dives to remember either the best or the worst hotel/motel.... Wait, scratch that. Th ebest was the pacific terrace hotel in San Diego. Ah, I miss san diego....Sun, sand, boardwalk, drinks and roller blading women.....mmmmmmm....

1. just makes the format more mobile friendly and no extra displayed bits (IE: extra data) 2. Dunno, I only have the "paid" version 3.Only works on forums that have the tapatalk option enabled (IE: the forum owner has to enable the option). Does nothing for regular websites. Even though I have tapatalk on my phone, I seldom use it. I prefer the full website. What I absolutely despise is being asked all the time if I want to use tapatalk or given a flash ad page for it if I'm using a mobile devise....

You can also use an "electronic" flasher unit. Basically, the flash function is independent of the load. I used one on my 98 K2500 when I converted to LED.

Ah, top draw pickup is a different story. You'll need a balance tube on the bottom of the tanks. You'll have to "loop it" so the line is the lowest point. You can have a "hump" in the balance line, but it will still have to be lower than the level of the tank. The other problem is if you get an air bubble in the "hump" part your balance line will be ineffective. The bubble won't move out of the hump and the line won't level the fuel...

The idea is that you can look over the screen if it becomes obscured. On my 83, the screen is horrible at night. It also fogs on and off driving through highs and dips around here. No fun to have the screen fog up on both sides at highway speeds. You definitily want to be able to see over it when that happens. Sometimes it is also better to have your helmet out in the air stream. I wear a modular (flip up full face) and when I know I'll be bombing around town for a while, its better to have my cut down sheild on the bike. Get my helmet in the air flow and most importantly, get nice air flow to the helmet vents for heat control. The shorty buffets a bit on the highway, so long distance running get the tall sheild, which is just above my eye level. I'm actually working on a motorized compound sheild for my first gen so I can have airflow around town and then extend it up for smooth highway running. Lots of other projects to finish before that one gets some time on the bench though.....

So far we've tried HTZ and now ramipril. They think there's also a psychological component making my genetics predisposition worse. I'm diagnosed PTSD.....

As long as the "y" (or preferably the pump) are the lowest point in the system, it won't suck air. At least not until both tanks are empty. The "Y" will allow the levels in the tanks to equalize. When one goes dry, the other will at the same time. It would be best to have the pump at the lowest point. Pumps push fuel fine but have to work harder to pull. Harder yet if they have to pull and push. If it's the lowest point, you'll always have a positive pressure at the pump inlet. This will make the pump very happy! Same thing we do when we put a lift pump in a diesel fuel system. It's best to have the pump as a low point so it doesn't have to pull hard and self primes. I prefer to sump my tanks instead of pulling from the stock fuel pickup tube and I use a pureflow raptor to feed my diesel (IE: expensive heavy duty lift pump). Gassers mount them in the tank so it only has to push and can use the fuel as a cooling medium for the motor. I also haven't seen your "saddle bag tank" system, but I would suggest you look at putting a baffle or two in the tank if it's just a big open container and you don't already have some in there. This will keep the fuel from sloshing away from the pick up point on acceleration, braking and turning. Important when you're getting down to lower levels in the tank and on a bike where these forces have a large effect on "undamped" fuel.

The line will have to be the lowest point in the fuel system if you want it to level the fuel in the tanks to empty. I would suggest you run a sump line from each tank to a "y" connection and then to the fuel pump. It should level the fuel before the "y" and it will draw from both tanks....

164/107 today. Been struggling with it for several months now. I don't drink or smoke. Have even cut coffee out of my diet. They keep trying meds and I seem to drop to around 135/100 ish for a while and then start the march back up the scale. Worst so far was 174/114. Already have one chest pain scare. Its a big scare for me, runs in the family. Grandfather died from malignant hypertension at the age I am now. Uncle blew out his kidneys from it. Other uncle and my father also fought with bp although they died of other causes. Just can't catch a break....

From what I read, the tissue paper was only used as a clearance measuring tool. I didn't see a "fix"....

LOL! my "light" around town bike is an FJ1200.....

Ditto on finding it. I had a buddy drop a needle bearing from a wrist pin set once (RD400). I insisted we tear the engine back down until we found it. He insisted it wasn't in the engine. His engine so he won and we put it back together. We only got about 25 miles before his bike made a big "BWAHHHH" sound and he dropped back into my two stroke smoke wake. It kept running, so we made it back home. On teardown we discovered the subject needle bearing was indeed in the engine and had found it's way up into a cylinder bore and jammed the bejebus out of the piston and bore. Suffice to say: you didn't need a measuring tool to know the bore was buggered. Welcome to another fresh rebuild.....

Nothing impressive about that at all. Top speed 90 mph. Doesn't accelerate (builders admission on tape), Waaaay overfueled (black smoke), longer than a battleship (handles like a turd), probably weighs as much as a battleship too, under-sprung badly/not damped (visible when he goes up driveway) and so on.....

Based on what I think your plug looks like in the pic, I'd probably try the 135 and then do a plug chop and read again. If it looks too fat on the 135 you can always drop to the 130. I'd rather run a little fat than lean. All this is assuming you're starting with a 125. You probably won't have to move many sizes. Even the Vmax only runs about a 150 main jet. I think i read that Dingy's hybrid vmax/venture only runs about a 140. The main jet isn't as important in day to day riding as people think. Far more influential is the needle shape and settings: http://www.jba.bc.ca/JBCycle/Resources/jet-chart.jpg Do your pilot circuit first at the stock settings. You can tweak it if you want and get it so the bike doesn't dip or hang on throttle blip, Then on to the mains and the plug chop. Get that dialed in and then move back to the pilot circuit to make sure it still behaves properly. Finish with fine tuning the needle height for any surge or hesitation in the mid range. Sum it all up when you're done by the idle check and plug chops again to make sure you're sitting where you want to be. At least that's the way I do my bikes. If I'm changing needles, that's usually what I do before any of the preceding since the needle effects such a large throttle range. Alway scheck your plugs for lean or rich. Rich isn't so bad other than emissions, carbon and MPG. Lean can take out a valve....

Check around locally before buying off ebay. I found a guy parting an 85 locally on kijiji (IE: same idea as craigs list) and got all 3 boxes for 60 bucks an hour away. They weren't the right color, but were in even better shape than my low mileage 83 boxes. I was only after the bigger top box and the lock mechanisms for the side boxes. It will all get painted anyways this winter when I put the 86 side boxes on. My spare Venture boxes are going to be adapted to the FJ1200. They look really nice with the bikes lines.

Hard to tell from a picture, but I'd say you're pretty close. A little lean maybe. Might not be a bad idea to fatten it up a bit for a little bit more "brown" on the tips....

Problem with getting the jetting right on bike carbs is you have to run it to determine the right settings. It's not as simple as install a jet and you're good. You have to determine where it runs best on the pilot jet. Then it's a matter of the needle needed and jet. Then the main jet is mostly wot. What you do is determine the best idle. Then you run the bike at part throttle settings and pull the plugs. They will tell you rich or lean and you shim or change needles and try again. The main jet is another testing regime again. Add to the complexity that you've changed both intake and exhaust. Putting "ram air" in there is going to add another layer of complexity. The CV carbs also may not respond well to no air box. Every time I've put pods on CV carbs they have always been very fussy for me. Hopefully, the guy who chopped a Venture similarly to what you're doing will chime in and give his experience with any carb issues. You're not out on a limb by yourself, but it is pretty unfamiliar territory (ie: chopped intake/exhaust and CV carbs)...

In my case, a po (The Pile bike) had lied to me, taken the compressor apart and lost one of the metal Reed valve inserts. The compressor was exhibiting the same behaviour you are describing. It would pull air in, but there was no discharge. This was because after pulling the air in it could only half seal off the intake port on the compression stroke. The air was leaking back out the intake port, but slowly. If I stuck my finger over the intake hose/filter, it would suck the hose shut but still no real discharge air. I got it working by making my own Reed valve insert to replace the missing one, but finally ended up buying another used compressor. Not saying its your problem, but the symptoms a very similar....

Anything can be fixed, but I would just replace that bag. Problem is it's not just plastic damage, but the frame is distorted. You could hammer it back, but it will be a bugger to get it right and seal properly. The plastic is also messed up in a hard place to fix back to original strength. You can fix it, but I'm not sure you would want to fix it....

Couple options for fixing plastic. It's actually abs. Some have used and glue, which melts a fuses it back together. I personally plastic weld it. Others have used fiberglass to fix and reinforce it. Obviously, I prefer to plastic weld....

Remember the stories of idiots throwing chunks of concrete off overpasses? This is the same type of moron except he used a gun. We seem to be completely desensitized to the suffering of others these days. Interested only in the individual "cheap thrill". I'm not really a disciplinarian, but these people need to be held to the consequences of their actions. I'm not advocating vigilante style consequences, USA and Canada are countries of law, which is what separates us from most of this lawless and violent world. But the courts need to start showing the public they mean business with sentencing and closing all those legal loopholes. Even more so these days as we're now seeing 20-30 year old "man children" more and more.....

It comes apart in pieces. Ie: left side, right side, headlight surround, fairing panels, etc. Kinda like a big puzzle....

VMax heads going on this winter and the RSV transmission going in. I've seen kits in the $200 range that look to have everything I need. Seems a little pricey, but I guess that must be what they go for...

Anyone know where I can find a complete engine gasket kit for the 1200 that doesn't break the bank?

Take it apart and have a look at it. There's not much too them and they come apart very easily. It's really just a couple contacts and a spring IIRC....