Prairiehammer

Does this help?

Port/front (left front) is number 2 cylinder. The most common fault is an obstructed pilot circuit in the carb. I recently worked on a 1983 Venture in which TWO cylinders were cold and it still idled and ran good enough to load onto a trailer (and it was burdened with a sidecar!). Owner commented that "it was running fairly good and but WOW! when it "got on the pipe" it was a rocket!" That reaction is another tell that the pilot circuit is FUBAR.

The easiest and surest way to determine a 1200 from a 1300 engine is by looking at the engine number. BTW, care to submit your VIN? And build date?

The stock antenna folds. Unscrew the chrome knurled sleeve, lift the sleeve and the antenna folds forward.

I have two of those VentureLine tank bags. They were made by Eclipse for Yamaha. One of my bags was a NOS find, the other is only slightly used but is missing the mounting straps. The bags are not large and are not water/rain proof. But, is large enough to contain my travel bike cover, a can of Pledge, a microfibre cleaning cloth, log book, LED flashlight, pens, calculator, wire ties, spare fuses, etc. The clear map holder snaps on or off and has a ZipLoc type closure on the map holder. The mounting system consists of a harness with straps and hooks that attach under the front of the faux tank cover and a loop that slips over the fuel tank door latch striker plate. There is Velcro hooks on the straps and Velcro loops on the bags underside.

Yep, rougeray is correct. That braided cloth over rubber hose is a low pressure supply line from the rear brake reservoir to the rear brake master cylinder. Factory installed hose clamps.

Coincidentally, just yesterday, I found that there is a minor mistake in the Yamaha wiring diagram (and in Dingy's schematic). Yamaha shows the wire color from the connector to the coil to be either gray, orange, yellow or white along with the common red/white wire. In fact, the wire color from the coil connector to the coil is orange (along with the red/white) on all coils.

Here is a pic of the coils and connectors:

The plate you call "free floating" is the "cover oil baffle" and is not free floating. It should be captured between the crankcase cover and the "cap cover 2". See below: M84-025 Stator Cooling Kit Installation.pdf

Getting to the ignition coil connectors is fairly difficult. One may remove the main fairing(s) and the inner fairing(s) to gain access to the coils and their connectors. Or one may remove the battery box/holder. Removing the battery box usually requires inner fairing removal, however. One MAY be able to access the connectors from the top, in front of the battery, but I suspect not. There is a lot of electrical bundles, fuse block, etc in the way. Check out this pic of my Venture with all fairings and plastic removed, revealing the coils and the coil connectors. Notice what has to be removed to access the connectors?

Well, it DOES look like gelled chicken broth.

Just in case the compressor piston is worn and won't pump up enough air, one can "shim" the Teflon piston ring: CLASS System Overhaul.docx

I've got a set of those, called Hippo Hands. I've had them for decades, but they don't fit the Venture well.

OK, Orlin. I've given you several days to voluntarily cough up the information, but noooo. Now I have to denigrate myself and publicly ask for the VIN and build date. SMH.

Yes, the link takes me to MY profile. Of course, I'm always logged in to VRO. If I log out, the link takes me to a "log in" script.

Just a little easier to read:

And all the techniques and procedures are pretty much applicable to the Royal Stars.

All First Gen Ventures enjoyed the same microphone/headsets made by J&M, sold by Yamaha as Part Number 26H-W0774-00 for full face helmets or 26H-W0773-00 for open face helmets. Here is one for full face helmet, complete with installation booklet. Seems a bit pricey even for NOS. And the foam has degraded. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-Full-Face-CB-Headset-XVZ1200-XVZ12-Venture-Royale-26H-W0774-00-/121832931912

While my trunk lock tabs were not completely broken off, they both were exhibiting disturbing cracks; each was barely hanging on. I fixed them by applying ABS cement to the fissures, gently pulling the chrome bits to allow the fractured plastic parts to receive the ABS cement. To strengthen the plastic to which the chrome parts were screwed to, I added ABS plastic to the holders; cut pieces of one-eighth inch thick ABS sheet and applied those pieces as reinforcement utilizing more of the ABS cement. After those reinforcements had cured, I used a Dremel abrasive drum to clean up and sculpt the repairs. When you go to the neighborhood home center to get the ABS cement (NOT the ABS/PVC all purpose cement), stroll over to the paint section of the store and procure a quart of MEK solvent. This solvent will clean and even bond minor cracks in ABS.

Don is there a way to make it easier for a prospective member to find the site enrollment page? I just went through an ordeal with a person who wanted to join and even submitted $5 via the "Donations" tab and thought he was a paid supporting member. Of course he was not. FINALLY, he figured out how to pay the $12 to join. But I have to agree with him, it should be simpler. Can not the "Paid Subscription" be part of the "Donations" or "Contributions" tab? Can the "Settings/Paid Subscriptions (search, scroll for it)/Cost (menu dropdown)/Pay $12" be easier to find for newbies?

Since you have the early final drive, it behooves you to pull it and grease the driveshaft splines. Unlike the later final drives, where the rear driveshaft splines are lubed by the final drive gear oil, the early driveshafts require manual greasing of the splines, usually whenever you pull the rear wheel.

Positive. The '83-'85 finals are distinctive in appearance. I call it the "rising sun" look. Compare the '83 final to the '86 and later final drive:

Did you put the '83 final drive in your '88 or did you get the bike that way?

Which of your three Ventures is this pic of? I'm thinking it is the '88, but the MKI final drive made me wonder.

I didn't know Garmin was still supporting MapSource. I thought BaseCamp was the only supported app.