zagger

OK, so here is a hot weather phenomenon that might be hard to dress for: rain with big hail! Was thinking about going for a ride this afternoon, but a narrow line of rain made me stay home instead. Good thing too! The rain clouds got much bigger and when they got to my house it absolutely poured and dumped big hailstones. A picture of a couple of typical ones is attached. I wouldn't want to be trying to ride through those! Glad that everything was parked in the garage. zag

Well, thanks! I originally made a frame for the headlights out of steel bars but I had so many Harley riders ask me about the bike I eventually decided that I needed at least one Harley part - so I made a new frame using an old Harley primary chain (it's only two links wide so it's from a panhead, I think). It was supposed to be kind of a joke, but the joke was on me since I discovered that very few Harley owners even knew that they had a primary chain! When I pointed to the chain and told them that I had used one Harley part, most would say "You used a Harley timing chain?" I was forced to point out that Harley engines use long pushrods to operate the valves, not timing chains! Geesh! I originally figured that the lights surrounded by the chain would be my "high beams" and a pair of smaller lights mounted a bit lower would be my "low beams". The high beams had fairly high wattage bulbs and could light up the road like aircraft landing lights. That is pretty useful around here where deer by the road at night are a serious concern. However, a cop pulled me over and gave me a ticket for "not having my headlights on" even though the two lower lights were burning brightly. I pointed to them and was told that they were "running lights", not headlights. What can you say? I just shut-up and put lower wattage bulbs in the upper headlights and aimed them at bit more to the right so that I wouldn't blind oncoming cars. I guess I deviated a bit too far from "typical" and had to be brought back into line! zag

Geesh. I cannot remember. It was a used one from an old Yamaha - mostly with the hope that the cable and housing would match. Since I have extended front forks, I had to add an extension to the drive cable. Even though I tried to get one from a similar sized drive wheel, the speedometer reads about 10% faster than I'm actually going. Not too hard to do the mental math to figure out my actual speed. I guess that the main thing is to find one which has compatible threads and internals on the cable connection. zag

All the gear, all the time. Whatever the temp, I wear kevlar long johns under my jeans, kevlar socks, armored jacket, leather gloves, and full face helmet. Total overkill until something happens. FYI - I've been riding for 46 years with no smashups. As a bad example of what can happen, about a year ago my sister-in-law's brother was riding in a rural area when a truck pulled out of a field just in front of the bike riders. A few guys went down, including him. Leg and foot ground down and eventually amputated. Just got to see him and his new metal leg a couple of weeks ago. Kinda limps along with a cane. He was a professional truck driver and never wore anything special for riding his bike. He felt that it was under control and with his driving record, it was obviously true. Right until it wasn't. Was out riding this afternoon with some friends and the road was blocked by cop cars and an ambulance. Bike down a few yards off in a field. No idea of the cause. Ya just never know. I suggest that you find gear that you can live with. And then just use the stuff. zag

I understand your logic, however rejetting the carbs is a common necessity after the exhaust is changed. An exhaust system which has less resistance to the flow of exhaust will require jetting which increases the amount of fuel entering the engine. I guess the best way to understand this is that the exhaust valves require time to open and close and during their closing period the intake valves are starting to open. For a split second there is a direct path between the intake and exhaust. If the pipes allow gases to flow freely, then the loss of intake charge is increased. It is extremely common that carbs need to be rejetted richer after changing to more open exhaust pipes. A big pain, but true. For most commercially available pipes there is an "accepted" rejetting suggested by other users. If you get into totally custom stuff, then it might be necessary to get an air/fuel sensor and gauge so that you can actually measure what is going on. Not trivial since it requires a threaded connection to be welded into the exhaust. I had to do that with my bike. zag

All of the wiring in the picture was identified and then removed. I just put back what was necessary to allow the bike to run. Not having big plastic fairings to hide wiring meant that the final wiring needed to be routed carefully. zag

Nothing special for sealing. It just has brass connection points with threaded holes so that you can clamp down a cable with a metal tab. http://www.batterymart.com/p-odyssey-pc545mj-battery.html Keep in mind that none of this works simply with stock venture components. Everything is custom made to suit the installation. I just liked the feeling of a lower bike weight due to the heavy stuff sitting low in the bike. Here is a picture of the area which would typically hold the battery.

It gets wet! But it is a sealed battery and doesn't complain about its dirty and wet life down under the engine. zag

Here you go. I used existing threaded connections to the frame, which is why the hinged frame has strangely shaped attachment arms. zag

One of the simplest ways to reduce the apparent weight of an early venture is to relocate the heavy battery to a new position which is lower in the bike. I put mine below the transmission on a metal rack which hinges downward for access to the battery. From a riding perspective, my venture feels like it weighs less than another bike I own which is actually a couple of hundred pounds lighter. Just a thought. zag

Looks good! What is under the cover that looks like a standard gas tank? zag

I guess that kloppenberg's method would be as good as any. Of course, the single filter will load up with crud four times faster than having four individual filters (which I used). Depending on the complexity of the manifold, I would assume that each carb would need a separate and unique flow restrictor. If each carb is connected to a filter in the same way, a single flow restrictor design would work for all of them. zag

Hey Bassett, I certainly agree on ditching the airbox. If you go to individual filters for each intake, they will make your carb unhappy since it is expecting a larger pressure drop on the intakes. Perhaps things have changed over the years, but I wasn't aware of carb jets, etc. which might have been used to help with the loss of intake pressure drop caused by removing the stock filter. I made airflow restrictors out of steel washers. The ID of the washers has to be machined to the correct dimension. This has the effect of putting the carbs back into their normal operating range. zag

You might just think about the option of completely removing all of the plastic and not trying to repair it. I bought my bike after someone had crashed and rolled it - pretty well removing any thought of restoring it. I had intended to strip it down anyway, so all of the smashed plastic wasn't a problem for me. Just thought I should toss that thought out there. zag

After years of not messing with it, a year ago I suddenly had a bright thought that I should be turning off the gas before storing it for the winter. Trying to turn the little plastic shaft, I promptly snapped it completely off and was forced to drain the tank and install a new valve. I've gone back to my original operating procedure of just forgetting about it! zag

I've done the 2nd gear repair. If you do the work, it isn't very expensive but it does require plenty of effort. I certainly can understand why a shop would charge quite a bit for the work involved. Enough years have gone by since I did the work so that I don't really remember the pain! The two little retainer thingies which have worn grooves made a nice addition to my shop mobile which contains all of the really nasty/stupid/crazy engineering failures that I've fixed. The latest addition is a brass Y plumbing fitting connected to my washing machine which recently broke in half and flooded part of the first floor of my house and part of the basement. Luckily, I don't know who was responsible for the design! The broken pieces will be added to my mobile of insanity. zag

No idea why your entire post didn't show. But replies have been pretty limited. So, does it run - sorry just joking - I'm gonna guess that it has a few issues. What do you have planned to get it back on the road? zag BTW, Google maps doesn't seem to know about Papillion, AK. Where are you?

VERY good! zag

FYI: The morleysmuscle link seems to have a problem.

Dave, I used a sealed Odyssey PC545MJ battery (http://www.odysseybatteries.com/batteries/pc545_series.htm) which lays on its side on top of a hinged metal rack. With the front of the rack resting on the floor, I strap the battery to the rack (the rack is designed to fit closely around the battery to prevent it from sliding around) and attach the cables. Then I lift the front of the rack up until I can thread in the two bolts which hold it up (located on each side). I used two existing threaded attachment points on the side of the bike frame but you could weld on whatever you like. When the battery is sitting on the frame under the bike (under the transmission section) it is flush with the bottom of the bike frame and cannot be seen without peering up under the bike. I used the metal jacketed version of the battery simply to add a little protection from road debris, rocks, whatever. Moving a heavy item like the battery to a very low mounting spot from the stock location where is sits up high does help to lower the overall CG. zag

It only looks dirty due to the lighting in the picture. These filters can hold quite a bit of crud and none of them are due for a cleaning anytime soon. Of course, since they sit out in the air right in front of the rider, it is easy to notice when they are due. I spray them with some cleaner stuff and the dirt easily rinses off. I blow them off with compressed air and let dry before reapplying the filter oil. Lot's better than just tossing them all in the trash! zag

Hey Dave, I checked my notes and calculations from years ago and decided I better pull off a filter just to be sure that I didn't give you bad information. The washer ID is 1" and each carb has its own filter. My filters are K&N and look like this one: http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?prod=RU-2580 I'm not sure of the K&N part number, but you would need to use one that fits your intake anyway. These filters are cleanable and need to be sprayed with a special K&N filter oil after cleaning. zag

Hey Dave, I thought that I should pass on one thought that you might want to keep in the back of your mind during your building process. The Venture engine is relatively "flat" compared to other motorcycle engines and its weight sits fairly low. Meaning that the overall motorcycle CG (center of gravity) can be quite low if all the other stuff can be removed. A low CG is very nice since it makes the overall bike weight seem to be much lighter than it really is. Compared to a Vtwin cruiser that I own (which actually weighs less), my Venture feels much lighter from the rider's perspective. So - my suggestion is to remove whatever you can and move anything heavy (like the battery) to a position as low as possible. For example, I moved my battery down below the transmission just to help with this. zag

It probably depends on what you plan to paint it with. I used rattle can Krylon flat black (ULTRA flat actually!) - this paint is both easy to spray and easy to patch up with new paint - but easy to damage with some solvents. Cleaning metal parts with soap & water and/or a solvent like acetone or MEK is likely to be good enough. I'm not an expert painter but I make up for it by using paints which are easy to touch up with fresh coats. Actually, it surprises me how well my crappy painting has weathered lots of outdoor exposure over nearly 10 years. I guess that the paint job on a "ratbike" should have a certain level of rattiness! Of course, I painted parts on a piecemeal basis - when the part was completed, I painted it. I cannot imagine trying to get a professional paint job done on all of the parts as you slowly complete each little thing. Just so you know, inhaling paint fumes is not good. For routine painting of small parts, I made a crude spray paint "booth" out of a large cardboard box with ductwork and a fan to vent the fumes out a basement window. I would spray a part, close the cardboard flaps, and let the paint dry while the fan vented fumes outside. zag

Dave, The inlet into the collection bottle is on the bottom of the bottle. Inside the bottle, the inlet fitting sticks up 2 or 3 inches above the bottom of the bottle. The outlet for gases is on the side of the bottle close to the top. The outlet connects to a hose which is routed down below the engine (to outside air). It is pretty easy for me to see the system work. I originally put a clear window over the clutch - just for the "cool" factor of seeing it whizzing around. When the engine is cold, quite a bit of visible blow-by schmutz can be seen on the window. After running down the road - allowing the engine to warm up and some air flow through the crankcase - the window becomes completely clear. The total amount of blow by collected in the bottle isn't huge. It can be easily wiped out with about 1/2 of a typical paper towel - I made a crude pair of metal "tweezers" to reach inside the bottle and hold the towel. zag