winston66

Winston 66. From down under in Australia. I was just wondering if there was anyone out there that could help me with a replacement ,Low fuel level sender that would suit my 1996 XVZ 13ATH Royal star. I believe that the OEM part No is 4NK-85752-01-00 A working used one would be acceptable. I did come across A used one on Pinwall cycles e bay site but the price was too high and when added to the shipping of US.$36.00, It was too much for me, A new one seems to be priced any where from $80.00 to $120.00 plus shipping I have here a set of 4 carb. slider diaghprams . Keyster SD1 Marked Suzuki SSX7500/1100, Yamaha XS1100 .I purchased these new from Sirius Concolidated last year but have found that they will not fit my smaller 28 mm carbs . They said that they were the correct ones . They measure overall diameter of 72 mm with a hole for the slider of 29 mm. Rough measurements. the fitment on my 28 mm carbs cover plate is about 63 to 65 mm. So these ones are no good to me They are still in their original unopened plastic packing and have been kept in the refrigerator since I received them. Perhaps a swap or something could be arranged. I would be happy to pay some reasonable amount for shipping etc. If anyone is interested my email is meontop@hotmail.co.uk Cheers to all, Winston 66

Winston 66, Western Australia. well hello again everyone. it has been great to see your comments and get the feedback, it certainly helps me to clarify my thoughts about this idea of mine. Today I have ordered a stand alone automotive rev .counter as well as checking out the Venture Virtual Tach. Redlined and now I can see How running in fourth could help with getting into a better load range for the motor. It will be most interesting to see how this exercise works out. My rudimentary reckoning tells me that give or take a little bit that with the V Max gearing that at 4000 rpm my road speeds in the various gears would be something like this. I have not taken into consideration any differences between the standard Royal Star gearing, And or what the Mk11 Venture has , I believe that there are some small and subtle differences between different models. 1 st 30 mph. 48 klm @ 4000 rpm. 2 nd 44 mph 71 klm. 3 rd. 63 mph 100 klm. 4 th. 77 mph. 123 klm. 5 th. 96 mph. 155 klm It seem to me when looking at those figures that the poor old motor will still be struggling along even at 4 th. gear at 60 mph. or otherwise 100 klm. Per hour, when it will be doing something like about 3500 rpm. I had noticed that before ,when the RS as still a two wheeler that it did not feel properly comfortable until the road speed was above 65 or 70 Mph. Then everything just seemed to smooth out. Now after all that, I am even more interested in doing the 32 mm. carburetor swap that was mentioned by Skydoc 17 in a previous post. I will just have to try and source the necessary parts which will be one heck of a job over here. Well that's all for now folks, so until. the next chapter, Cheers to all, winston66

Winston 66, I have read that a four into four is possibly the worst type of exhaust system to have as it is a power robber etc. Now this is what I have on my 96 Royal Star and when towing the gas used seems to be very high , on my last trip I averaged only about 25 to 28 Mpg US this was computed by dead reckoning, It is a little difficult to be precise as I have to adjust all the figures from liters , kilometers ,to miles, and USA. gallons. But for the metric minded how about an estimated 9.5 Klm. per liter, or otherwise about 10.5 liters per 100 Kilometers.That should be close enough for this example. Now my question is this, what if anything can I do with he present 4 into 4 exhaust system that i have and does anyone have some insight as to any possible improvements could be expected by changing some stuff. Lets hear your views and opinions. Cheers , Winston 66, Western Australia

Winston 66 Western Australia. I dont know if this will interest anyone out there, but My thoughts were much the same especially about the safety factor with my Royal Star' My solution to an upgrade was to search E bay and I found a suitably shaped and the correct fitment replacement mirror, The big difference was the ones that I wanted had LED turn indicator lights integrated into them which I felt would add tremendously to the visibility of the ride for any on coming traffic from an oblique angle from the front. if and when I was turning and using the indicators. I could not get OEM. lookalike ones so the chosen ones have a black carbon fiber appearance but IMO they look ok and with the added flashing signal lights i am happy and I do feel there is an improved safety factor. Wiring them into the existing harness was easy and only took a short while. Cheers Winston 66, Western Australia

Winston 66, Thanks for your comments Earl, This is the sort of feed back that I am after, In the past I have studied Lynn Nichols write up of the 32 mm. cab. swap etc. I have even printed it out and I was seriously impressed with it and did consider doing it. Unfortunately here in Australia getting a suitable set of carbs. would be impossible these machines are rare beasts here I dont think that I have seen any other Royal Stars let alone any late model Venturers. Also because I am so isolated here in the country good technical and or mechanical help or back up for something like that is non exhistant. I guess that could also be said for the proposed EFI conversion, except that every car these days has an efi set up and parts would be a lot easier and economical to source. There are plenty of small cars to choose from, and a CPU from a Holden(GM) V8 would be suitable as we can reprogramme it. All that being said , if I could easily source the suitable set of carbs. that have been rebuilt and properly set up for the job, as well the other needed and necessary carburetor parts at a reasonable price I could go that way. I dont think that I would be interested in the cam and valve spring mods . I am not an aggressive rider and I dont think that the extra rev. range or higher cruising speed ability would be of use to me. Thanks again for your comments. Incidentally also thanks for sourcing the new clutch slave cylinder ,and the master rebuild kit .the are in and working great. You will also remember supplying the replacement front discs and the R1 calipers etc. Cheers Winston 66, Western Australia

Winston 66, Hello everyone, Thank for the comments, Firstly about the trailer,I got the idea from seeing picture of The Idaho Bedroll camper on u tube and this was my modified concept. The idea is that it is towed only when the the two halves are pulled in together, the body then only measures 1150 mm. long, and the camping gear (esky,matress,sleeping bag , tools,spares,clothes etc, are packed inside, Then when stopped the two halves are separated, (pulled apart) by extending the front ,(it slides forward up the draw bar, The body then measures 2400mm, long. and then there is no need to have to erect a tent because there is a full size bed with a good comfortable foam mattress the opened floor area measures 2050 by 1020 and then at the rear there is a separate storage area (galley) for the other small odd stuff. The total weight with all supplies loaded up is just a shade under 200 Kg.which is quite easy to handle and this includes a full esky with ice and beer. When towing with either of my two bikes it tracks beautifully and the extra weight on the towing bike is hardly noticeable . One of my previous trips I covered 450 kilometers in six and a half hours including two 15 minute breaks .I was using the Honda ST 1300 as the ride that day I arrived home feeling quite fresh and unstressed, Incidentally the fuel used that day averaged out at 15 kilometers per liter. which is about an increase of another five kilometers per liter over what the Royal star uses , So perhaps this might explain somewhat the reasons why I am thinking about the EFI. mod for the Royal Star. Please keep the comments coming. Cheers to all,Winston 66, Western Australia

Winston66, from down under in sunny Western Australia. I have just gone around the block on my modified XVZ 1996 Royal Star (I recently converted it to a four wheeler ) whilst towing my newly constructed teardrop camper trailer the distance was about 144 miles. When I checked the fuel consumption I was concerned that I had used approx 6 Us gal. this gave me about 24 Mpg. Now I feel that that is not good, especially as our fuel price here is around USD, $6.00 a Us.gal. So now I am contemplating a fairly ambitious modification IE. changing the Mikuni carb. set up to an EFI. set up. Hopefully in order to drastically reduce the fuel consumption which at the moment I feel is quite excessive Now I know that this is a pretty radical thing to do. But at the present time the RS. is running real well ,it starts on the first compression, idles and runs great, no flat spots or backfires and pulls like a train,With an awesome exhaust note from the four separate exhausts. I pulled the plugs today and they looked perfect.,no burning or oiling or discoloration and they were identical in colour etc so I am stumped as to why the hefty fuel usage . My other mods so far have been to change the diff. to the V Max ratios ,Installed the Dyna 300 Ignition mod.presently on curve 4, I have today dropped it back to curve 3 .There is no dragging, from the brakes, and my speed was limited to a maximum of 60 Mph,(100) Kph. because of our road laws whilst towing. I must admit that for part of the time There was a bit.of a head wind maybe 15 to 20 Mph. Now my question is ,has anyone experimented with an EFI set up for these bikes, and or do you have any relevant knowledge that I might find relevant or useful, I really don't want to attempt to reinvent the wheel ,so to speak.So is there some one out there that can pass on some gems of wisdom. I do hope that some of you great bunch of guys can have some input and offer me some guidance in this idea of mine. I will attempt to add some pictures to this post so that you all will can possibly get a better idea of where I am coming from, as well as what I am trying to do. Cheers to all. Winston 66 Western Australia

Hi Spear, If you are in Oz .you will be able to get the small slime 12volt pump most likely from the Auto One outlet I have ssn several different models there, one even had a rudimentary pressure gauge as part of the casing , the whole thing was very small ,I have the model shown purchased from the local stock agent here in Northampton in West Aus. Bot if you want a really good repair kit I recently purchased from the USA the Stop and Go Pocket tire plugger kit. But you will have to do an internet search , Stop & Go International inc. Crystal Lake Il. I have not had to use it yet but it is the best repair outfit that I have seen and is very compact, and it has a superior way of plugging the tyre with an easy to use adapter and mushroom headed plugs. Of course you will also need to have the slime compressor or something similar in order to inflate the tyre. Cheers, Winston 66 Western Australia

Winston 66, says, I dont know if your model has the same parameters as my 1996 Royal star , but my Clymer Manual on page 65 states that 9 blinks from the diagonstic trouble code for . the XVZ TF Models. Says Emergency stop switch error.Perform perform the procedure described in EmergencyStop Switch Test (chapter 9) Hope hat this helps . Cheers ,Winston 66, Northampton , Western Australia

Winston 66 From down under in Australia, Says. Hello TIP 650. I do hope that you get your handle bar problem sorted I know how you feel as I also have a problem with arthrithris affecting my thumbs. Now as far as the mid life crisis goes, I recently turned 69 and mine has lasted for the last 22 years, that is since I managed to give the ball and chain away. I guess that I was lucky in that eventually omeone else came along that she was able to dominate more than me. The only problem that I had was that it managed to get all of my precious stuff at the time , so I had to start all over again , but I don't have any regrets. Chees to all. Winston66, Australia

Winston66, Western Australia, I can not get the Ride on Tyre Sealant stuff over here, Can anyone tell me if the stuff that is known as Green Slime will do the same job and or is as good. As this is readily avaliable at most of the Automotive Parts stors that we have, Or is there another product that anyone would recommend. Cheers, Winston 66, Northampton, Western Australia

Winston 66 1996 Royal Star with outriggers Now I dont want to start a discussion but would like some feedback as to what works for you if you are a darksider. I have just finished the outrigger mod on my 1996 Royal Star and looking at the relativly new Dunlop 404 159-90-15 on the drive wheel , I feel that as the mod works so well for me , it will not be long before it needs replacing, (due to a lot of use). I need to know what C/t will fit and work on my rig , I think that a bigger contact patch is a must in order to help with traction for both accel. and de accel.Including heavy brakeing in an emergency type stop. I am cautious because I am not sure about the side clearance for the swimg arm etc. so any one that has fitted a C/T to a similar Royal Star please let me know what worked for you, The outrigger tyres are a pair of new Pirelli 205-65 -R 15, 94 H I chose these because I had a nice pair of Mag Rims complete with Hubs and stub axles, also the price was right at $100.00 each delivered which id pretty good fore here in the outback of Aus. Cheers, Winston 66, Northampton , Western Australia

Winston 66. My solution for this problem would be simply as follows. Two or three litre soft drink bottles aer easy to come by and cost nothing. They appear to be very resilent to gasolene. I use them all the time when I need to make any sort of a funnel for motor oil, petrol etc , I just cut the bottom off and invert they do a great job. For an occasional use as a fuel cell I would just drill a tight fitting hole in the cap to take the respective fuel hose , this should prove to be seepage free , if not some five minute araldite or silicone sealant will seal the hose to the top. Then I drill a very small hole in the bottom of the bottle to act as a breather , a temporary seal can be made with a piece of masking tape as you fill it then attach the top with the fuel hose attached and with its free end crimped over with a pair of locking pliers , hang it up top down in a suitable location adjacent to where you want to use it , attach the hose to the carb. or whatever, remove the temp seal of tape from the breather release the locking pliers and away you go. To monitor the fuel usage / consumption I just weigh the devise before and after, the difference will tell you close enough the amount of fuel used , In grams if a metric kitchen scale is used. Hope this suggestion works for you, Cheers , Winston 66, Northampton, Western Australia

Winston 66 , From Down under in Australia Hello, everyone, If possible i would like to be included in obtaining as copy of this especially as I have the 1996/1997 XVZRoyal Star and parts and information on these machines is almost non exhistant over here. I am happy to make a suitable donation and front , and pay for any shipping etc that may be necessary, if someone could let me know what is needed. Cheers to you all, Winston66 Western Ausralia.

Winston 66 I have just converted my 1996 Royal Star to an outrigger style trike conversion. It is my own design and construction, has an independant style trailing arm type suspension (air over spring Shocks) and an antisway bar accross the back to give stability.I am running Pirelli 205/ 65/R15 94H tyres on the outriggers. Inflated to 20 lbs gives good results. The system works extreemly well and is very stable at all speeds even up to120Klm Per hour (approx 70 Mph) I have not tried any higher speeds. My question is this, I find that the ride is very stable but as so many have stated the handling is totally different a standard two wheeler, I find that at speed one realy has to put some effort into musseling the thing around when cornering.I dont find that this is such a detrimental thing ,but if anyone has any relevent experience in this regard I would like your opinion please. For instance will adjusting Ie. lowering the front forks in the tripple trees,( I have yet to find out how to do this), Help with lessening the effort requires when cornering at speed. Any tips or suggestions are most welcome and wanted. Cheers to all, Winston 66, Northampton Western Australia. WhenI can figuer it out will post some pics.

Winston66, The computations that I am talking about are the ones that the advertiser uses when the FAQ question and answer section is accessed from the main advertisement. Cheers to all, Winston66 ,Northampton Western Australia

Winston66, Please check the maths as quoted in the advertisement. There is a balls up in their computations as regards how they calculate the room sizes when they convert from sq feet to sq yards and I think that they very carefully omit to tell any prospecrive customer what the relative heat output is as a ratio or conversion of electricity used to heat produced in the standard of the yardstick of BTU's. So as to give a client some idea of what is happening. Cheers to all. Winston66 Northampton , Western Australia

Winston66, I do not know what parameters are important to you guys over there. For me when considering this sort of thing, and everything else being equal, I consider that efficency Ie. operating cost versus heat output to be the important thing to consider. That said here in Australia Inverter type of split airconditioners (the reverse cycle type) which have a dual heating and cooling function are the most efficient operating cost wise of any type of system that is readily available. For instance when considered that they work and act as a heat pump their efficency for the heat or cooling that they put out, they are about 100% more efficent than the old fashoned radiant infared type of electrical resistance heater. This coupled with the fact that the main motor unit is isolated outside the building and that the air cooling and circulation unit is fixed inside the room and the only noise is from the small and very quiet air circulation fan, most of the time you can not even hear the system operating. The only con that I can think of is that it is a fixed installation and can not be moved around and that it will cost considerably more initally than the moveable style that you are considering. I can only suggest that you do the sums and compare the heat output/running cost over the estimated life of the system that you are wanting to use. I hope that this does not confuse, Cheers Winston 66 Northampton, Australia

My best christmass ever was last year. When 20 years after a very messy divorce. Myself and my two sons ,now aged 33, and 40 years were reunited when they both came to live with me. As I was establishing a new home for myself after climing out the morass of a moneyless money pit. The last twelve months has been a tremendous time and a very steep learning curve for me.and I would do it all again. Cheers Winston66, Northampton, Western Australia

Thanks everybody for the input , It is great to get that feedback, Earl, I tried to PM you yesterday but it looks as if I stuffed it up, so sent another message this morning. Thanks again chaps I will procede as you all have suggested , and will endevour to do it properley and take it slowly so that plenty of the mandotary Beer Tasting can be indulged in at the same time. Cheers to all, Winston66, Northampton Western Australia

Well it has happened , My poor old trusty 1996 XVZ Royal Star only 72000 kilometers or 45000 of your miles had started to consume clutch fluid and is starting to drag the clutch and sometimes is hard to change gear and to select netural. From what I have read on the forum it appears that slave cylinder maintainance is required. there are no apparent leaks visable. Because I am isolated here in rural Australia and there are no local dealers close by I would like some input from you great bunch of guys as to what is involved in this job as well as a reputable supplier for the necessary parts. I guess that it it advisable to change the slave out as against rekiting it. I am also thinking that a re kit of the master might as well be done at the same time. any thoughts about this please, Can the slave be changed out without dismantling any of the gearbox. Cheers to all, Winston66, Northampton , Western Australia

Winston 66 wonders Does your unit rely on a positive water pressure flow as an active interlock to be there before any gass flow will be available foe the burner. I believe that this is what is required for the safe operation on many of the household domestic type water heaters. Cheers Winston66 Northampton, Western Australia:fingers-crossed-emo:lightbulb:

Winston66, From down under in Western Australia, Well everybody, this is it, For some time now I have been considering a trike type conversion for my 1996 Royal star, something like the Wedgetail outrigger set up would be suitable. Unfortunatley here in Aus. the base price for the Wedgetail conversion starts at around $9,000-00 then there is the extras for the various options, This makes a factory bought item financially totally out of my reach. So I am forced to consider the viability of a home built conversion. As I do mot want to reinvent the wheel, so as to speak I would like to ask any one of you my fellow bikers that might have gone down this road, if you would like to make any comments or suggestions. Any and all of your input will be greatfully appreciated. I am prepared to consider any design parameters that are relevant and any comments and suggestions, and or links to other web sites I will rearly appreciate. Fortunatly I have a shed full of tools and stuff and I quite like building stuff.(have just finished a trailer build), and one fo my boys that lives with me, and who is realy very competant with mechanical ,stuff this project has caught his immagination , has said well why not do it as a fun thing over the next couple of months while the winter season down here is upon us. If anyone has any ideas etc. please let me have them as I have not built anything like this before and I need some good ideas. Hoping to hear some good feedback. Cheers to all. Winston 66, Northampton, Western Australia

Its a new thread. Some of you will remember that a few months ago I asked for your impressions in comparing the FJR 1300 against a Honda ST1300. Well just a few days ago I came across a ST1300 with 108'000 klms up for a fairly good price for here in the outback of Western Australia. Took it for a blat and got caught with my hand in the old hip pocket. Could not resist it. What a difference from the Royal Star You can not compare the two machines in any way at all, except for the fact that they are both excellent machines and do their intended jobs perfectly. So now I am spoilt, and the envy of all my riding buddies They were envious before when I would turn up on the Royal Star, With its awsome note and the four exhaust pipes and all the extra crome as well as the four cylinders, But you should have seen them this morning. It certianly gave me a big smile . And now none of those HD. riders have any hope of making me swallow their dust. What a great feeling. I appologise for no photo but as soon as i learn how to take a photo and post it I promise that I will Cheers to all Winston66 (western Australia):rotf: