Prairiehammer

Pucs, That is not a "filter" as you describe on the tank vent. It is a check valve, Yamaha calls it a rollover valve; meant to prevent fuel spillage if Tweeks were to lay on her side. One can still buy a new one from Yamaha; part number 25H-24180-00-00, about $14.

David, Google Maps address: 23714-23886 Minnesota 200 Lake George, MN 56458 47.226323, -94.874409 Mighty long ride for you for an expanded Meet and Eat, but if you want to stay at my place on the way up, you can and then we could ride together to the PIP.

YES! And just like that...problem fixed.

Starting with the 1985 Venture, Yamaha added the louvered, adjustable open or closed side cover vent. Even if you find the louvered cover from a 1985 and newer, the vent will not mount to your 1984 side cover easily. You will want to get a 1985 and newer sidecover. There were aftermarket (Yamaha VentureLine and Markland Industries) suppliers for the "port hole" cover on the 1983 and 1984. The aftermarket covers were chromed steel. Most guys just cover that hole in the early sidecover with the material of their choice. Plastic or metal. Of course the solid hole covers are not adjustable.

Firing order: 1, 3, 4, 2.

Round trip: 869 miles according to the odometer. Round trip: 869 miles according to the GPS.

I agree. Yama Mama would not have spent the yen to produce and install those shields if they were not needed. I believe those shields are heat shields, protecting sensitive components (TCI, coils, fuel filler neck, rider's balls, etc.)

Another major ground point on the FIRST GENERATION VENTURE (1983-1993) is on the left side of the coil rack. Not easy to get to, unless you remove the left main fairing and the left inner fairing. The ground point is for all electrical other than the battery ground.

On the First Gen the normal jacking procedure is to jack up the bike while supported on the exhaust headers. I have found that I cannot jack up the First Gen while the bike is on the centerstand. Moving the jack forward of the centerstand in order to jack it up causes the bike to be front heavy. Put the bike on the sidestand and place one of the jacking points about where the centerstand bracket is and the other jacking point will contact on the forward headers.

Merlyn, the "old wives tale" you so quaintly describe, is not urban legend. I too used to blindly follow the herd and just dump in 4 quarts of oil after an oil change. The crankcase oil level window was completely filled but oil would drip from the air box drain tube (when it used to come out under the stator cover). And the "early" Ventures have always had a 3.5 LITER oil capacity when changing the filter. Never has 4 liters been specified. I have been changing oil on my Ventures since 1985 (a 1983 Royale) and until I performed the Yamaha recommended diversion of the air box drain tube to the crankcase vent tube, I would experience the oil drip if I filled to the crankcase with 4 QUARTS of oil. When I picked up my 1991 from the dealer in Iowa, the crankcase window was full. I don't know how much "full" since the oil level was above the top of the window. Perhaps it was very much too full, I dunno, since the window was filled. Anyway, on the 250 mile trip at Interstate speeds to home, the oil indeed "blew-by" and I actually had a good quarter inch of oil in the rear portion of the airbox (since the air box drain is forward and higher than the rear of the air box. I drained the crankcase and replaced the oil filter and proceeded to refill the crankcase. When I had added but 3 quarts of oil, the sight glass was filled above the top of the window. I started the engine and let it idle and the oil level dropped to below the bottom of the window. I added one pint (1/2 quart) of additional oil and the oil level was right smack dab in the middle of the window. So, one can choose to just dump in 4 quarts and be done with it and perhaps experience blow-by into the air box or one can actually adhere to the "old wives tale" and just add enough to place the oil in the crankcase to the middle of the window. No harm either way.

If you rode your Venture like you parked it in the garage, it is small wonder you slipped and slid in the rain. Windshields and trunk racks don't have near the traction that a rubber tire has. Just sayin'. (That is a Soutern States saying.) How did the IPad fare in the rain and did you have chrome IPad guards protecting the IPad from the "Slip 'n Slide"?

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Rod, Does riding the First Gen cause you pain? If not, measure the pull back, rise and spread of its bars (the location of the grips in relation to your shoulders), then find that same location on the RSV and determine the optimum pull back, rise and spread from the handlebar clamp. Using that information, start shopping for 1" bars that match the desired dimensions. Use the adjustable bars of the First Gen as a test mule to find what position works for you. BTW, I think (not sure) any 1" handlebar can be adapted to the RSV. And since 1" handlebars are the norm for the Harleys, there are all kinds of configurations available.

I do believe Cowpuc will jump all over that gear. It would be a perfect match for him and Tweeks.

NOW! You tell me. We rode all the way across Indiana on US6 and passed only 7.5 miles from you, Darrin.

Most all CB antennae are coiled somewhere. Unless you have a 102 inch whip. So if we were to unwind a Venture front spring, who knows, it might by 102 inches long.

With the exception, that I used an aggressive, but very sharp jigsaw blade made by Bosch that has "Japanese" saw type teeth with a fairly wide kerf. I used my Bosch jigsaw set at a fairly slow speed and masking tape to protect the windshield from possible scratching by the jigsaw foot. High speed blade action with a narrow kerf jigsaw runs the risk of melting and closing off the kerf with a resulting binding of the blade. If the blade of the jigsaw binds in the kerf, then blade breakage or windshield breakage can occur. Cutting plastic is very similar to cutting a hard wood. One wants to remove as much waste material as possible in as short of time as practically possible. This removes the hot "chip" (and the heat caused by friction) from the body of the object before the material can burn (or melt). When I say "aggressive" I do not mean an cheap, ordinary, coarse, cross cutting wood blade that will potentially chip, crack and vibrate the plastic. I used the Bosch T101D, 6 TPI, with ground teeth. I used a Sharpie pen inserted into a crude carpenters scribe or compass to follow the original top profile. Cut to the line and smoothed the resulting edge with sandpaper.

For whatever reason, Yamaha made the STANDARD Venture shock with an internal spring (similar to the Second Gen) and the Royale with the external spring. One presumption I have is that the Royale being heavier had to have a spring (with more capacity) that would not fit within the shock body. Contrary to many comments over the years here, the rubber booted shock on the 1983-1985 Standard does indeed have a spring, it is just not visible since it is inside the shock housing. Rick Butler Shock Diagram.PDF

That's the way I would have done it initially and only THEN fiddled with the wiring as desired. Why did you do it the way you did? Did you not have the adapter harness from Dingy? You could have just unplugged the old TCI and used the OEM connectors to connnect to Dingy's harness adapter and then just cut and extended the OEM coil primary wires to the COPs, utilizing the original yellow coil primary connectors to plug into the COP.

You will be "good to go" as you say (no danger of running with too low of oil level in the crankcase), but even with a filter change, the crankcase will be too full. Yamaha's specification is 3.7 US quarts with oil filter replacement. That extra .3 quart will put the oil completely covering the window and probably blowing into the air cleaner.

Damn straight!

Will one be able to adjust the SWR with a 17mm hex socket? Perhaps we can use one of my old springs as a CB antennae...IF you bring the proper 17mm tool to remove my old springs.

I will bring a SWR meter. Does anyone know how to adjust the SWR?