Great White

The oem calls for both a resistor cap and a resistor plug. I won't get into the discussion on whether or not you need both, as the oem calls for both. That being said: The original spark plugs are NGK DPR8ES-9. Yamaha lat r recommended the platinum plugs to help eliminate misfires -DPR8EX-9. You can use those or go with the "upgraded" iridium version DPR8IEX-9. (Stock number 2202). I run the iridium plugs and will never run the original plugs again. There's just that much of a difference in how my bike runs. You can refurbish the oem plug caps, I have (mor to prove I could more than anything else). But I don't recommend it to the average joe. Better to just go out and buy the replacement caps: NGK XD05FP. That number might just confuse the parts guy so give him the NGK stock number 8641. When you install the new plug caps, take some end cutters and nip about 1/4" off the plug wire to give the cap fresh insulation/wire to thread in to and make good contact. if you go to the Canadian NGK web site they have a parts finder application that will give you both the numbers for plugs and caps. cheers

interesting. Cheap and available in a multitude of colours. Machine washable, easy to dry and easily made to a custom shape/size. Wouldn't add any significant height to the seat and could be "layered up" if more thickened wanted. Wouldnt fair well in the rain though....

Thing about sheep skins is that you can be in and out of rain without warning here on Canada's East Coast. I'd rather a solution that is more "wet weather friendly". i also have freind that owns a sheep farm. Getting a skin of whatever size I want wouldn't be an issue. I'd just have to tan the hide and maybe dye the wool (would want black to make it less obvious). hmmm, I wonder if you can treat wool skins to be "waterproof"? Time for another Google...

Prob not what you want to hear, but in my experience 9 times out of ten fork seals fail prematurely do to a defect in the fork sliders. Rust pit, rock chip, etc. that's why I like fork gaiters. Can't stand the look though so I usually buy/make a "stone deflector" like you see in some modern bikes: Im actually a big fan of those as they protect the runnig area of the seal. Pressure in "air forks" doesn't help either. As you "air up" the seals get a death grip on the sliders and this usually also accelerates wear. I usually prefer to set up forks with preload and oil levels/weights. But air sure is handy and fast for diff loads. However, if yours has been running in an oil/grit environment, that will also kill seals in short order. When you take it aparts, inspect the seal running area for grooves and scratches from the rust action. i know lots of guys with older hacks that just rebuild thier forks every couple years rather than buy new tubes....

My 83 oem seat is sure comfy, even on a 5 hr ride. But the stock vinyl covering, while attractive and period correct, does very little for helping deal with heat, sweat and humidity. I'm sure that big v4 pumping heat into the still air passenger area isn't helping either. Enter: swamp "A". So, how do you deal with it? I've been using Google to search it out and have read about beaded seats, sheepskin, Alaskan sheep skin, monkey butt power, gold bond, gel seats, leather seats, custom seats, air hawk covers, sweat wicking bicycle shorts, spandex underwear, "manscaping" and all manner of other ideas. Personally, I'm good for about two hours (wearing Levi jeans, normal "boxer breifs" underwear and making use of the highway pegs) and I'm not really looking to change how I dress (except eventually buying Kevlar jeans) nor am I interested in "manscaping" or powdering my butt before a longer ride. That at leaves the seat itself. The big funky sheepskin covers don't really speak to me (just looks weird) and seat beads just didn't sound comfortable at all. The air hawk seems to get good reviews, but finding a retailer would be challenging and I'm not even sur eif it works with a 1 gen seat (looks to be for separate pilot and passenger seats). Then there the "Harley" connection, which means it's probably stupid expensive for what it is. I'm just wondering what most guys do to deal with "sweaty bottom" on long or hot rides....

I hear that! my 83 is running strong and solid. This winter I'm planning to swap on a venture royal wiring harness. But the bike is running soooo well I'm having second thoughts....

Nothing wrong with solid state electronics. pretty much bullet proof, when given even the most minimal care (even neglect) and they're pretty easily repaired when they do go down as opposed to surface mount components on today's stuff. When surface mounts craps out the average joe is throwing it out. I just pull out the multimeter and start troubleshooting on older stuff. not to mention they go 30-odd years before they even start giving you trouble. Hard to beat that kind of service record. theyre not without thier drawbacks though. "State of the art" in thier time, there are options with far better resolution these days. You're also limited to what they are. Ie: you're changing components (or burning chips) to adjust things. Main attraction the ignitech box has for me is the customizable ign curve, adding the vboost control and more compatible with coil on plug.

Not at all. jetting is very subtle. It may "feel" fine, but the carburation is off unless jetted to the pipes. Regardless, free country. Do as you wish.

Horrible idea IMHO. How the heck do you ever get the jetting dialed in? I guess fuel injection could get you around that one, but scavenging is going to suffer too. All I see is noisemakers. More noise doesnt mean more power; it usually means less. Same as stuffing the pipe up. It has to be built to all work together. But I also look at this stuff from a "mechanic" point of view. I don't have much time for modifications that put style over performance. To each thier own I guess...

Google "seafoam" and "shotgun". popular with the vmax guys....

You will have some expense with any used bike. They all need work somewhere. Doing carbs is not a hard job. Can be done in a Saturday afternoon of lazy work. And it's cheap if you do it yourself.nassuming the parts are all still good it just the cost of cleaning solutions. or, you can do the "sea foam shotgun/ peashooter thing" which is very popular. dont pass up a good deal on a decent bike just because it has gummed up/ dirty carbs. Very few used bikes are NOT going to have gummed up/ dirty carbs. It's just part of the used bike game....

Hard to say with just mileage to base advise on. Depends on how the bike was taken care of. 86+ don't have the second year issues. Really, after late 85 it was fixed, but you need build numbers to know if looking at an 85.

I did an initial "hold it up and look" fit. Looks ok holding it in place. Turn signals would have to move though...

Trailer brakes would be easy enough. simple electric drums and and inertial controller would do it. controller could be mounted on the trailer or, if you're "crafty" enough, put it on the bike and you can have access to the manual brake function. That's great for settling a trailered load down when it gets a little "bouncy".

That would be, what they call on this forum,a Gen 1 MKII. Decent price if as described. figure on a carb pull and clean/rebuild if it won't idle without half choke. bad spark plug caps are another culprit for bad running. believe it or not, the big Yamaha v4 will actually seem like it's running half decently on 3 cylinders. If it misses at idle and needs half choke, guaranteed you have a dead (or weak) hole at speed. It's just masked by the other three. Good news is carbs, plug caps or spark plugs usually cleans it up. If not, you're chasing corrosion in the wiring harness plugs somewhere (not hard to do, only a couple in the spark circuit) or the TCI needs work/replacement. thats all relatively cheap stuff except the TCI. $100-200 will get you a used one, $300-400 will get you an aftermarket replacement one. the brief description you've given here leads me to believe either carbs/plugs/caps are the problem

Bought frog toggs. Toad version from a local cycle shop. 100 bucks.

I'm on blood pressure meds right now and it make it worse. Loosing water all the time it seems....

As the "jap scrap" bikes sit quietly waiting for the Harley to pull it back together for another couple miles..... Is is that an old 30's style roadster siting way back there waiting for them too?

Replace the slide is the best option.nthe slide is plastic and the carb aluminum so they shouldn't be a "wear fit", or at least a new slide will wear to the carb not vice versa. repairing the slide is pretty much a recipe for frustration. however, you've also got not much to loose shaving the end of the slide (assuming you're taking about the diaphragm end) as if you ruin it you'll be replacing it anyways. Some have used silicone or crazy glue to hold the diaphragm slider sleeve in place. Don't use silicone that smells vinegar-y as it will attack the diaphragms and I've never been comfortable with the crazy glue idea. Could be nightmare if it ever has to come apart again. The diaphragm tab is to align the diaphragm and the slide should have the larger hole in the end at the bottom. The tab (in theory) should hold these parts in alignment. Although, I've run mine with the slide hole out of position with no noticeable effects so maybe it's all bs....dunno.

Auugghhhh! Stupid spellcheck. I'm on my iPhone. Should have been DISconnect....

And this is what I woke up to this morning: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/E345FE51-D1D0-478A-8505-4DEF8603DC25_zpspjpnhhpr.jpg http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/2C8B9767-95BC-46F2-8532-2E594FFE1C17_zpsx24prgeg.jpg if there's a better place to be on this earth I can't imagine it.....

Headed out for the cottage yesterday. It's about a 5 hour straight run, but took me about 7hrs. Took off around 10, and stopped for a decaf and Danish about 1.5 hrs out: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/B28D955A-1A40-4E80-8617-F26109281595_zpscqkabmxs.jpg Bike was running good, my bladder not so much! Stopped in Halifax at freedom cycle and picked up a Road Toad rain suit and bought some Icon Patrol riding boots. Jeremy gave me a good deal, tell him BJ sent you if you drop in. All packed up again, I continued for the cottage. Gps wanted to route me over the bridges, but I elected to go around the basin instead. Didn't want to bother with traffic and digging in my jacket for bridge tolls. I was getting voice nav through my smh10 headset (Bluetooth to iphone) and boy oh boy does that chick in tomtom really get po'd she you don't go where she says! A sample of the scenery along the way: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/CCF4DBC8-EA26-4FD4-8C35-E3C6FCC03BAF_zpskhmokm1q.jpg I dont have a lot of scenery pics. For one I was riding and the road is 6 hours of constant turns and for another my iPhone 6plus is mounted on the Rh fairing panel (in a mount I made) and running my tomtom program. I plug it in to the oem cig lighter with one of those 5v USB adapters so the phone stays 100% charged. A waterproof life proof case keeps it safe in all weather. About 2.5 hrs from destination, I stopped for a stretch, drink and a sandwich and a pit stop for the bladder (bladder thing is far to common for me these days!): http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/90822CC9-7A8F-47CB-9141-2CA8454B0DF6_zps1f2bngis.jpg Sorry, couldn't resist a gratuitous bike pic. Looks soooo good though! http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/8385BC89-7A89-4EA5-8988-8A157D173625_zps30bcqhpj.jpg Finally, at the cottage: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/ECF0D4E4-146F-45B0-BD19-97E682016E62_zpsgyos7ht5.jpg Job done, the bike is washed, fed and put to bed under it's nice, thick, cozy cover: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/A1BB64D7-8B63-4BF7-B7CB-F412FD5CD669_zpschrk9kco.jpg The cover took up pretty much a whole side bag, but worth it to be able to cover the bike. Cover came with it when I bought it and the guy went all out. It is one quality piece of kit! Heck, it's so plush I think I could wrap up in it like a sleeping bag if I ever broke down somewhere! All settled in it was time for a couple cups of tea with my mom, sis and niece on the front porch. After a nice sit and talk watching the harbour, it was off to bed for what turned into a good 12 hr sleep. Was a large day followed by what was probably the best sleep I've had in a long time.....

I've alays been taught to reconnect battery on all vehicles when welding. takes 5 seconds, why not? once of prevention....

If it's been sitting several years with fuel in the carbs its probably best to just yank 'em, clean 'em and then synch them....

If the 2nd gen is like the first gen, then the DC port is wired direct to battery. Main fuse can blow and not effect it. If 2nd gen is different, carry on....