Geobob

the bike looks as good as it needs to in my book. There are guys that restore to the smallest detail but that is not me. I know I am going to ride the bike and things happen and things break. The biggest issue is will the inevitable failure leave you stranded on the road or in the garage. I dodged a bullet the other nigh with the radiator leak manifesting itself in the garage when we got home. Someday something will happen on the road but so far after 30 years and 90K miles it has not. I left a few blemishes simply because this bike as almost always had something wrong. The repaint about 8 years ago was the best restoration step. It cost $2000 but it makes a huge difference. The paint looks new so if 90% of the rest of the bike looks good I am happy. After all it is how it rides is what keeps me owning it. If it was something collectible like my CBX I would look at it differently but I have taken this bike on many week long trips with my wife over the last few years without too much concern. She does ride another touring bike so if we really have and issue we can jump on her bike and ride home and get a trailer. Last summer we almost had to park her 2009 Vision. I was so proud of my old Venture. It is about to get relegated to second string since we are buy another newer bike. It will be interesting to see how much it gets ridden. Likely it will get ridden because when ever I work on something it takes a month to finish it. For example the 09 Vision just when up on the stand and will be there for weeks since I got so far in that I might as well do this and that ext. Not as easy to replace O2 sensors as one would expect.

I was thinking about upgrading my sound system and was wondering what options people might know about. I really want to keep the stock console in place simply because it looks like it belongs. Every aftermarket stereo looks obviously like that. I really only listen to music or maybe starlight radio via my cell phone so all I need is something that can wirelessly connect to my phone. I was thinking maybe someone makes a unit that mounts out of site with not requiring a dash mounting. The other option would be to upgrade the amplifier since it is a stand alone unit. I have replaced the speakers twice now it has not helped enough. I also considered getting a set of rear speakers off an old Kawasaki Voyager. I think they sit right in the luggage rack. Four speakers would help but more watts will likely be required.

Not sure where I left off with the posts about this winters rebuilding but here are some of the photos. I ended up refinishing many old clear coated parts and a lot of plastic damage. A lot of epoxy and fiberglass. Put on some small 2 inch driving lights under the highway boards that worked great ($20 from Napa). Did not paint anything since the damage was so minor. Just had to replace the radiator hose from the thermostat housing to the radiator. The Advanced Auto part number A71651 worked perfectly after cutting off an inch. I still have a cold night drip that I cannot find but it is a small amount and I really have no idea what to change next. I found a new thermostat housing and o rings that I must have purchased some time ago. I think someone said that might be the problem but I have still never done the replacement since it requires some significant disassembly to get to it. I am very happy with the way the new finish on the metal parts looks. I don't think the bike has looked this good in 10 years. Looks like I will be keeping it even though we are getting a new 2018 gold wing later this month. That one is for the wife. The Venture is too top heavy for her taste. Oh ya, the original problem of an oil leak and low voltage has been corrected with the new parts and probably a little copper washer.

I managed to get mine all back together a couple of weeks ago and got most of the bugs worked out. It does not look as good as yours is going to look but there is only so much detail I can manage. It always has me saying "dam I love the way this bike rides" when I get on it. Along with appreciating the look even after all these years, this bike is not going anywhere soon. Maybe someday they will be worth more but I am not holding my breath. I think I will be dead by then.

Dam that is looking way to nice

Got close to putting the last parts on and found an old repair had failed. My headlight cover had one of the fastening locations repaired with a small section of sheet metal glued to the back of the plastic with the clip on it. Decided to go with epoxy this time instead of the Gorilla glue. Sanded the plastic back side and bead blasted the metal. We will have to see if it holds. I thought the clamping of the glued part in place was rather cleaver. There are a lot of plastic repairs on this bike. Maybe a backing of more epoxy and fiberglass would help this one stay in place

You are definetly getting down to the details. I did see one that had all the lettering on the dash redone. It looked good and really made them look brand new. I made some progress over the last few weeks but also slow. I have had a nagging air leak on the front tire probably ever since the local shop put the tire on. I have always changed my own tires but thought I would give the shop some work. It ended up costing $200 by the time I was done and it was apparent that they did not clean up the rim before putting the tire on. I have always done that and never had a tire leak around the rim. This one was and the rim was a mess. It was probably a little more of a mess because I tired so fix a flat out of desperation last summer. I spent a little time and cleaned it up to a really nice shinny finish and so far no leaks. I also bead blasted the rotor bolts and took them to the wire wheel before putting them back on. I am finally getting close. Put a new head light plug after buying a new pair of lights from Supperbright. Turns out I did not need a new light let alone a pair. I just needed a new plug. I also wired up a pair of 2 inch led running lights. I will have to send some photos of that. They fit under the highway pegs/boards nicely.

Really, that is uprising. I would have never guessed that Yamaha made them for trim. They so obviously serve to hide the inevitable fairing damage if the bike falls over. I look at it like the mirror placement that eventually found it place to shield the hands. This bike falls over and hits the engine guard and then just keeps going until it ends up on that point of the fairing. The amount of damage that occurs is like the old bumper on my 71 mustang. I can probably identify 12-24 plastic fastener points that potentially crack from dropping the bike at parking lot speeds. Just poor engineering. Maybe Yamaha realized this and made the edges to help cover up the problem.

Does anyone know where you can buy the chrome edge trim that goes under the mirror. Yes I have a damaged edge that needs covered. I have seen them on bike but never for sale.

Don't ask me why after 10 mg of zolpiden/ambian and a couple of oz of run I would want to share what I managed to get to get done today. Please excuse the pile of photos, they all dumped in at once as zip file from Icloud photos. I will try and explain what each photo documents The first shows how I glued one of the pins back on. I have done this before but it did not last. This time I wrapped some fiberglass around the epoxy and later sanded things down to a better shape. I think of it as bandaid. The next is just a shot of the oil filter cover after sand blasting and painting, then a coat of black paint on the black plastic covers. I put some velcro behind the headlight cover since something is missing that keeps it snug. A body man and painter made some other repairs about 6 years ago that are holding up well. He did the same thing with epoxy and fiberglass. So far I have had good results with the fiberglass backing on the epoxy. Pretty much everywhere I have just used the epoxy the repair eventually failed. I dropped the bike a couple of years ago and got the upper fairing damage that is so prevalent on most bikes. I repaired all of the contact points and sanded this scratch down for the painter. As I mentioned the painting was so expensive that I decided to leave it. I am now looking for the chrome corner covers you see on most of these bikes. The saddle bag cover finally flew off a year ago but fortunately it only got superficial scratches. As with the fairing it was just too expensive to repaint. I may sand the scratchs down with some 1000 or 1500 paper but only rubbed them out for now. I guess I am scared to take sand paper to the painted surface even if its very fine grit. The one larger repair on the fairing that might show is going to get some fingernail polish. The painter suggested that pearl white is difficult to paint and expensive so he often recommends shopping for touch up paint in the drugstore. I got most of the clear coated parts off and polished. While I really like the black paint job that John is doing, since I am not painting the block that option would not look right. I had to repair many of the holes in the dash panel on the right side since the crashes over the years have opened all of them up. I did the same thing with the epoxy backed up by a small section of fiberglass. I tried to level off the glue in the holes with super glue but it did not work as good as I would have liked. Looking at it now I think it could have just leveled the holes off with epoxy and drilled them down a ways and then put the mounting hole right down the center. I don't ever expect to find the caps that went in the holes but I am not that concerned. Hopefully today I get time to put the left side dash back together and mount up some running lights. I would love to get it all back together today but I suspect that is just wishful thinking. Especially on Valentines day.

And just a heads up. There is a bolt swallowing void somewhere in the area. I lost one of the bolts holding the fuel pump in place and for the life of me I could not find it. I think I looked for 15 minutes or more with a light and magnet. I looked real good in the exhaust because I suspect that will make some serious noise if that is where it ended up.

Who ever said the fuel filter was best ordered from Yamaha might be right. I have now tried two different ones that were cross referenced to the correct ones and both were the wrong size. I made the second one work with some rubber hose and electrical tape. The first one was too big to fit into the clamp. I suspect the clamp is not really needed but at least this one is in the clamp. I assume it will flow enough.

Bad news from the painter. The one faring panel and one saddle bag lid needed touched up. Well there is no such thing as touching up. The two parts were going to cost 7-8 hundred dollars to repaint. I said yes but then changed my mind. They were not that bad so I am passing on that expense. Money will get spent on another bike project. My Vision needs some cams

Not trying to steel hijack you thread John just thought this was a good place to talk about general restoration issues. There are so many old threads on here it gets difficult to find what you are looking for. If anyone thinks it is best to start a new thread or put these photos someplace else just let me know. So I got motivated today to make something look better and pulled the clutch and water pump cover. The photos show a before and after cleanup. I learned two things today. That fancy chrome plate in the middle of the clutch cover is attached by a screw on the inside (why why why would they do this). It was really tight and required heating to get it out. Scary since there is a rubber grommet under the screw. Probably could have left it on but I was sand blasting and thought it best to remove the cover. The other thing I learned was the water pump cover does not have a gasket it has a big rubber O ring. Anyone have an idea what size that thing is. I hate to order it from Yamaha. I suspect it one can be purchased on line someplace so long as you know the specs. This bike is going to look way better than it has in a long long time. I guess i am going to have to keep it even if I don't ride it as much

Oh I did not need to see this thread. I think subconsciously I have been avoiding it because I did not want to get sucked into never ending project. Too late for that since I just dropped off some body parts at the painters shop. I did not really need to have them repainted but since this and that was getting cleaned up I figured what the hell might as well have the body panels looking good again. This project just makes my head spin with all the detail. Every time I have something on this bike off I find myself thinking about restoring it. Taking it down to the frame scares me because getting thing back on where they belong on these V4s is no simple project. My other problem is how much work and money do I want to put in a 32 year old bike that is not worth more than a couple of grand even in great shape. Last summer I found the larger windshield and had the seat restored so I told myself I owed it to the bike to clean up the body work again. Well in the process of replacing the stater and R/R parts that needed polished are getting cleaned like the covers and passenger floor boards. I like the handle bars John did. I might have to do that since they look easy enough to get off. I was scrolling through the thread and saw the photo of the polishing wheel and had to laugh at the comment about the rubber mats. I have resorted to old comforters on the floor and against the wall since I have shot many a small part off into floor or wall. I find is safest to wear an old full face helmet also. My problem is the 4 hp compressor motor I am using that is spinning way to fast and I have to unplug the drier every time I want to use it. The next task for me is the clutch and water pump cover. I found a great vendor of gaskets "Gasket King" He makes his own gaskets and you will get them much faster and cheaper than the OEM ones. So John are you refinishing your console panels. I meant to ask the paint shop about it but forgot. I am thinking a simple coat of black paint but would like to know what others have tried. I will get some photos

I picked up some Sta-Lube. I think both products will work better than the honda molly past. I also found out tonight that you can pry like hell for a good 15 minutes and they splines will not lift off the wheel without removing the snap ring on the top. Lube up the pins and got the wheel ready to go back on.

So here we are again. Glad to find the thread again. So last summer I had to replace my differential and maybe the drive side because again it looked worn. This thread documents my previous drive side replacement in 2018. I can say the Honda Molly paste or what ever it is technically called does not work. Maybe the poster was correct that this product is an assembly lube and not spline grease. It was recommended by my local shop owner whom I trust but clearly it is not cutting it (see photos). I am going to try the Sta-Lube product this time. It is very interesting to learn of the heat build up. I never gave that much thought but it looks to me like this grease is getting baked. So the conclusion is that some differentials run cooler than others and age or wear and tear might be the cause. This make sense since this problem did not present it self when the bike was much newer. So maybe I should look at rebuilding one of these differentials to remedy the heat build up problem.

I love and hate this bike. I figured I do some winter maintenance since I had the bike up on the stand. Pulled the rear wheel to see how my molly paste was holding up on the differential and this is what I found. I don't think there was more than a few thousand miles on the grease since you can see from the tire with the screw in it (dam it) that I had it off recently to put the tire on. Middle of last summer I think I put the new differential on since the old one was toast. Greased it up with some of Honda's ridiculously expensive molly paste and this is what I get maybe 5 thousand mile later. Something causing more heat build up than it should or something. Both of these parts looked good when I put it back together. I have cleaned them up and they don't look bad enough to need replacing. Curious what others are finding. Could this grease be the problem. It was highly recommended.

Making progress. I looked for a place for the new voltage regulate (Mosfet). Won't go where the old one was and really did not look like under trunk was great. I pulled both front fairing panels off (some plastic repairs were needed anyways) and I could not find any room there either. Did not like the nose cowling either so I went looking around believe I found a good place for it. I also am curious what the two holes with rubber plugs in them are for on the inside rear fender. It worked out perfectly for the plate that came with the Mosfet and from what I can tell the whole thing will close back up with out any problems. Not a great deal of air flow back there but neither would there have been inside the fairing. We will have to see. I also posted some photos of the refinishing of the passenger floor boards. They had looked bad like the engine covers for years with the clear coat making impossible to refinish. I got the paint remover out and cleaned them off and started sanding with the 220 girt. What a pain. Went to Harbor Freight and finally purchased a sand blasting box. In 5 min I had the one cleaned up and took it to the buffer. The other I had sanded with the 220 for maybe an hour or it seemed that way and it did not look great. Polished both on the monster buffing arbor they both came out looking way better. I am working on the plates. I am going to try sand blasting followed by sand paper down to 600 grit. I think it will be easier after sand blasting and they should shine up nicely. I don't plan on taking this bike apart every winter to clean it up but minor or major repairs seem to be making this an annual job. By the way. I have been waiting a long time for a gasket and wonder if there is not a better source. I gave up on waiting for the middle gear cover gasket and used the one I made. It was not pretty but I think it will work. Don't let anyone tell you it is easy to make your own gaskets. If you have to it can be done but I am going to order a clutch cover gasket and water pump gasket now. Those covers are coming off sometime in the future when I get around to shining up that side. You don't see much this motor but those are the parts that you do see. I think cleaning them up will make a big ascetic impact.

I decided tonight was the time to get some parts back on. I tried to seat the stater and cover but it rocked back and forth. I looked closely at the new socket head bolts I used to replace the screws and decided to take them out one at a time. First thing I noticed was the blue locktight did virtually nothing. The bolts turned right out. I also decided that the cover was not seating because the rubber grommet holding the pick up wires was a little higher than the cover. I took all the allen head bolts out and cleaned out the holes again with break cleaner, dried them out and put red lock tight on them. Put the cover back on and then found the ring on the work bench. I doubt it was really needed but yes I took it all apart again because I thought that red lock tight might work and make it difficult to remover the bolts later. I also could not remember if the shift shaft went up or down. I looked through the shop manual and eventually found a diagram showing it up. We will see how this works.

I like this idea. I determined that Earl was correct and while you can get the bolts to line up, the Mosfet will not fit where the stock one was located. I almost pulled the truck off today but since the lower cowling is off maybe that is the place for it. I guess you had to drill a couple of holes in the cowling to get it attached?

I like the idea of mounting it under the trunk. I will have to look and see what kind of room there is under there. My mosfet came with the mounting bracket that looks like it might mount to the two holes the stock regulator was mounted to. Then you mount the the mosfet to the plate. I suppose the stock location is fine but it is tight and does get some road dirt. It also looks like pulling the muffler off would be necessary to really get in there. We will see. I would say the underside of the trunk is not some place I want to drill holes but if I remember I had to make a significant fiberglass repair in there a few years back when the bottom came apart. So many repairs over so many years. How can I ever part with this bike. We have been through a lot of life together. I really feel for guys that are selling their's because they are finally having to give up riding. I suspect I will be there someday. Maybe I can just ask to be buried with it.

I looked at installing the new Mosfet R/R last night and even using the universal mounting plate provided I have my doubts about it mounting in the original location. Anyone have a photo of where they relocated theirs. The photo is the new stater installed and ready to get mounted.

I got this far with the project. new stater installed and bolted down with new hex head bolts and blue locktight. Looked at the new voltage regulator rectifier (mosfit) and universal mounting plate and don't think it is going to be all that easy to get it installed where the old one sat. Love to see where others have relocated theirs.

I have been cleaning up surfaces which was no easy task. I suspect that a little remnant material on either surface is not going to result in a leak but I scraped and scrubbed down to as smooth and clean as I can get. So the question is do I really need any gasket sealer on these to covers. I put the primary cover back on my Vision without gasket sealer and it seem fine. Anyone have experience with this that can chime in. I am close to re-assembly. I also pulled the two retaining screws and the voltage regulator/rectifier dropped right out, sort of. Not sure if the new Mosfet will slide up in there without pulling the muffler. I ordered a kit of electrical connectors off Ebay (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CDNTSLF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) if anyone is interested. I also picked up a criping tool and removal tool. Pulled the kickstand switch while I was in there today and cleaned it up. I cannot see anything wrong with it and have no idea why it stopped working. I think I will put a connector on the wires and plug it back it. Right now they are cut and twisted together. And yes I have ridden away from a stop several times with the kickstand down. Not fun.