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Snaggletooth

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Everything posted by Snaggletooth

  1. Snaggletooth
    Hi ya Bill, Now you're talking stuff I've been through. OK, best way to check floats is weigh the danged things. I'm not kidding. I had problems with a couple of floats absorbing gas and sinking....causing the carb to guess what.............over flow. Got my hands on a scale that weighed in grams and checked them. Yup. Soaked one was heavier. D'oh! Look for soft spots on the float. I mean press your fingernail right into it soft. If it gives easy it may be breaking down. Check closely around where the brass tang attaches to the float body for coming loose. Ok...simple solution. Find the bad float. Hang it in the sun and let it dry for a few days. Then a single light coat of airplane dope to reseal it. Not very thick as too much will make the float heavier and harder to adjust to the proper fuel bowl level. Or...order a new float from an '85 V-Max. Same thing as the 1st gen carbs, Perfect match. I got the part number somewhere off mine. I think I paid like $28.00 per float on mine. As far as the needles....can't answer that one. Odds of the seat being bad......next to none. Unless somebody went to digging in there with a drill bit or pick. Not likey. Even guys that rebuild carbs for a living usually only replace the needle. And Yammy only sells them as sets. Like $37.00 per set if I remember what I paid for mine. Now replacing the seat it a neat trick to learn. Then you would understand why they like to only replace the needle. More info on that if you want it later. Later Mike
  2. Snaggletooth
    I bought all my wedge bulbs from superbrightleds and spent more than $1.98 each on most of them to get the brighter, wider field of light. No regrets. It's been all season and I haven't had to replace any of them. Great brightness, long life, duarable......it's worth the little extra $$ to do it once and be done with it. Mike
  3. Snaggletooth
    I bought a VR that wasn't running and kinkered with it for a while and then found this site. Been three years now and put a lot of miles on that bike. Wouldn't of happened without these folks.
  4. Snaggletooth
    I'm 285 lbs and I run the rear at 55-60 lbs most the time solo and dampner at 2. I'll go to 3 or 4 if I think I'll be chasing crotch rockets through the twistie stuff. Mike
  5. Snaggletooth
    I just hate those lil red X boxes!!!!
  6. Snaggletooth
    Yep...The HH pads and SS lines will be a huge change. I can lock front and back if I whack 'em hard. Just the front brake alone with the SS line will will be such a different feel it will surprise you. I got my set from Rick at Buckeye Performance custom fit for the 1st gen. That included the front bleeder for the metering valve on the back of the tree. Big help in bleeding. http://www.buckeyeperformance.com/p04.htm I think Skydoc_17 here is involved in making lines also. I had an incident a couple of weeks back that proved to me that the brakes are more than effective. Mike
  7. Snaggletooth
    Hi Chop.... Lets try this. Ok. you have an '83. I think you may have found the petcock by now. On your bike it will be UNDER the right sidecover, right by the rear foot peg. Make sure that is turned to "ON". Ok. with all the fuel lines in place, does the fuel pump click for 3 or 4 seconds after you turn the key on AND set the kill switch to the run position? These pumps are "demand only". They pump only when fuel is needed. Once the carb fuel bowl is filled....it stops and won't click again until the bowls requires more fuel. That said.....it does not click all the time. If it clicks, disconnect the fuel line from the rear side of the fuel pump. If the petcock is clear and filter is not clogged you will get a good flow from the line. Be prepared for it. If not....the follow the line up the bike and the fuel filter is right behind the fuel pump. If it looks like it might be dirty.....change it. HEck change it anyway. Not real easy to do but it can be done. If it looks good...which I doubt....pull the filter off the line and see if fuel flows from that line. Try that and let us know what you find. Mike
  8. Snaggletooth
    Well....maybe this time. Only because I used to drink a bit and I remember hanging onto that "hand grip" a few times myself. Now if I could just remember if the bike was moving or not. Ok...as you were helping Chop........10 Points. As you made me crack up...............25 Points. Now if Chop is still looking under his handlebars he may want to deduct a few points. Mike
  9. Snaggletooth
    Sorry Bkuhr......had to do it. A simple error but it made me chuckle. Thanks for that. Nice looking monkey....wasn't he in a movie with an X-President?
  10. Snaggletooth
    The Victory dealer here is just the opposite. They greet you at the door and listen to what you are looking for in a bike. Attentive, informative and helpful....every time. I've been offered test rides three times in the last year on different bikes. A customer that was in the store even offered to let me take his out for a spin once. The local Yammy dealers.....man you could set up a picinic in the middle of the show room floor and they wouldn't notice you. Harley, depends on what ya ride in on. I show up in the Lincoln they spend time on me. I ride the Venture in and it's like don't park your bike out front. BMW......class act all the way. Right to ya as soon as you look at a bike. Not much for test rides but very helpful.
  11. Snaggletooth
    Hey Bkuhr, I got to ask......can you post a pic of you sitting on your bike? I'm sorry man but it sounds like it would be rather uncomfortable from your post. Just funnin' ya buddy but if you don't have some really low clip-ons......... Mike
  12. Snaggletooth
    Ah, but my Grasshopper Trader......one must not look into the light...but be able to see the light. And these puppies let you do that real well. Makes a heck of a difference in the middle of the night and you get an extra hundred yards on Bambi waiting to ambush ya. Not saying they are for everybody but I wouldn't give mine up for nothing. Mike
  13. Snaggletooth
    Hey Andrew, I'm taking no credit on that idea. It's been around for many years but hardly anyone I know ever did it to a bike. As far as on mine, the PO was the creative one but his method was a bit bizarre. A little too complicated. But it worked. I just simplified what he had done. Dingy was the one that brought all to light with a simple way to make the mod and posted the pics to explain how to do it. He's good at that. The subject had been discussed several times around here but when Gary posted the pics you could almost hear the collective "BING". It made sense then. As you saw there isn't all that great of a contact area on the brush plate to create that needed ground. It does help a lot. Such a simple thing to do. That is.... once you have the starter out. LOL! But glad it helped and hang around. For the cost of membership......the info here is priceless. Not to mention....this crowd can be rather entertaining at times. Mike
  14. Snaggletooth
    Nice......very nice. Been looking for another bike and I keep running into Valks. Not what I had in mind when I stated but they have a lot going for them. Might happen yet. Ya never know...ya know. Enjoy Mike
  15. Snaggletooth
    You got that right. Quality and durability are things of the past. I have had a few chances to revive some old furniture.....dressers, chairs and end tables that my daughter thought I'd fallen out of the tree over. Brought them back for another hundred years of service..I hope. She saw them a bit differently when I was done and I hope she will enjoy them all of her life. Don't even get me started on guitars today. Mike
  16. Snaggletooth
    From my experience, and I have had a LOT of problems with over flowing carbs, I'd look first at the fuel filter. Mainly because of the liner in the tank. If it's latex stuff, as mentioned, it may well not of bonded and is breaking down and getting into the system. Seen it too many times. Then again, as mentioned if the fuel lines are original they may very well be breaking down internally and particals getting into the carbs. However I would think the net filters in the carb bodies would clog before the bowls overflow. Now I have to ask...did the rebuilder set and check the fuel bowl levels once the carbs were redone? If the floats are not set properly that will cause the needle to not seat and fuel will still overflow. As far as leaking more at idle......more than likely. If the bike is running under power it is using more fuel so less will be running out the tubes. Another quetion that comes to mind was did the rebuilder do a bench sync on the carbs? If he got the carbs way out of sync one or more carbs may be farther open that the others. Probably not but asking anyway. Just some thoughts.....I got mine to quit making puddles. Mike
  17. Snaggletooth
    Dang!! I know who's bringing the pony keg.........
  18. Snaggletooth
    I know where those air horns are gonna end up......yep....I do.
  19. Snaggletooth
    Yep it is safe. These things are really nothing more that an overgrown jewelery cleaner. Just make sure the lenses aren't against the bottom. The first time I cleaned my flexible watch band in one I was wishing I could find one the size of a 5 gallon bucket. LOL!! Boy did I have plans.
  20. Snaggletooth
    Ok.....let's look at this way. The starter is not going to come out until the black thermo cover is removed. It's in the way of the bolt and the starter need extra room to slide out. So forget the stripped screws in the cover for now, they are still tight. BUT....it you remove this bolts for the housing and slide it all forward without completely removing it, perhaps that will give you enough room to get the starter out. I can't say that for sure as I did remove my housing all the way before pulling the starter. All you need it a little more space to get that done. There is not a lot of spare space in there as you know. Mike
  21. Snaggletooth
    Throw in some dirty bolts and run the cycle. There should be grit and grime in the bottom when your done. I've run Simple Green in my small one and that does pretty well. I've been looking at big model at HF but I don't think it would submerge a carb body completely. I've been getting a bit of carb work lately and it would be nice to be able to clean the carbs that way. What did you get? Mike
  22. Snaggletooth
    Ok...you opened a can of worms now. The drain plug you are talking about is not a plug...it's a valve. You only turn it to the "On" position to ALLOW the coolant to bypass the thermostat to drain coolant. It gets set to the "OFF" position to run the bike. You don't need to remove it unless you are going to replace the o-ring on it. Not to worry about that now. The drain for the system is under the water pump housing on the right side. Remove that plug and it will drain completely. The phillips screws in the thermo housing are a bear and do strip easy. The one in the back gave me nightmare. I replace both with SS Allen heads and still had problems later. But, at this point....you will need a new approach. You can see the bolts that hold the thermo housing to the block. You are going to remove those. There is the 90 degree elbow pipe that runs from the thermo housing to the water pump. You are going to need to pull those bolts, and pull the entire housing forward, sliding the elbow out of the pump at the same time. Not easy, but doable and remember the elbow is plastic so no hammer please. The other smaller cross pipe can be worked out of it's mounting also. You will be needing to replace some o-rings before reassembly doing it this way. The whole thing can be turned and worked out of its position. It's going to feel like you're working on a Rubiks Cube to get it done. Take your time and watch what you are doing. Once you get the housing off and onto a work bench you can deal with the stripped screws. I take it you did loosen the hex caps on the exhaust studs to work the header back a bit . Did the header pipe break off? Was it rusted out or what? But if the header on the right side is completely off you will have more room the work in there. So that will get you started. It's a PITA to do it this way but once those screws are stripped out it gets a bit tricky. Mike
  23. Snaggletooth
    Looks good. Nice job on it. Go ahead and brag and post some more pics. I'm up for it. It's kind of like I said when I started on mine. "I'm not rebuilding a bike, I'm building a new one." Don't ya think? Mike
  24. Snaggletooth
    A strong second on the Epoxy from http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/epoxygas.htm I had major rust issues on my '84 last year. I lined the tank with this product and it's tough as nails. The interior of the tank does not need to be perfectly clean and it bonds better to the remaining rust. I've had no sign of any rust flakes or particles in the filter since I did it and inspecting the interior of the tank this spring the coating looks flawless. I'm not a fan of the latex treaments at all. I've seen some go bad very quickly after treament. This product seems to be the fix all for tank problems. Mike
  25. Snaggletooth
    Hey Cap'n, The thing I kept running into when I was looking for a 4 brush unit on eBay with the listings for the V-Max starters, was about every single seller admitted....when pressed with the question of how many brushes came back the the answer...2. One seller even went as far as to tell me he wasn't going to open one to find out. If ya don't asked....some ain't gonna tell ya. I thinks some don't even know...or care. As always...It's Buyer Beware. Mike
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