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Snaggletooth

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  1. Snaggletooth
    I'm not even going to try to do this one myself. Most certainly not in my current skill set. No desire to experiment on mine. LOL! Not a fan of sealants either unless it's a crisis situation and need to get a vehicle home. Kinda want this one to be right the first time.
  2. Snaggletooth
    Ok......nice afternoon......sun came out.....time to finish up a few things and check over some of the work I've done on the old girl before I put the bodywork back on. When I first pulled the lower chin off a while back there was a LOT of antifreeze in there. OK, not a biggie, check the bypass valve. Not bad I figurered......drips every winter a bit. I put in a new o-ring last year and thought that would take care of it. Not the o-ring. I got her outside and let it warm up pretty good. Everything was looking good. No oil leaks, running smooth, it's a good day. Then I see the steam coming off the left side of the radiator. Not bad, just a wisp. Not acceptable. Got to looking and saw a wet spot at the bottom left corner. Tighened the hose clamp at the top to make sure it was dripping down the side. Nope. Pressure checked it and it's seeping at the lower corner alright. If I didn't have the bodywork off I never would have noticed it. It's not dripping, just boils off. So.........rather than scramble on eBay for another radiator....which may be better or worse than mine......I'm looking at pulling it and taking it to a radiator shop and have them go through it. Anybody had good luck with this type of approach? Or does anybody have a good radiator they want to part with? Man I was sooooo close to going for a ride.
  3. Snaggletooth
    I would have give my left lugnut to been in on that! Around here they know what corn is......guess why?......but they get mad at me for cooking what's in the bait bucket. The last time a local grocer had live crawdads in stock I was getting a couple of pounds and the guy behind the counter actually asked me was I was fishing for. "This is my lunch" I suppose he figured that was normal, after all, I was wearing a leather jacket and carrying a helmet.
  4. Snaggletooth
    Not me! But years back I worked for a man that had a similar service for cars and lite trucks. We had a step van fully set up for full service and minor repairs. Even had a gal that did the detailing while we worked on the vehicles. It was not cheap by any means. It amazed me what people would pay to have the work done while they were at work, or sitting on their porch drinking a beer. Roadside repairs were a huge money maker. Better than a tow truck I suppose. I figure the guy will do well. As a lot of riders are used to stealership prices and going without a bike for days.....or weeks at a time, they will see it as a bargin.
  5. Snaggletooth
    Oh yeah.........temps dropped from the 60's the other day to 29 degrees again on Friday and it started snowing again. I love the midwest!
  6. Snaggletooth
    I use about a 1/4 can to a tank about once a month. For a new purchase with issues running don't be afraid to run a 1/2 can to a tank. The stuff works best when you get it into the fuel system and let it sit and work on the varnish. Then ride it like it was stolen and let it clean itself out. If you do a heavy dose it will throw some vapor. Don't freak! It goes away as you burn off the Sea Foam. All the claims you hear about Sea Foam are pretty much true. Great stuff. As for the backfire.....I'd be looking at the exhaust system. A bad gasket or loose connection can cause that. A good run through doing a carb sync will help to.
  7. Snaggletooth
    Hey Cap'n, Does superbrights have a walk in store down there? Might be time for a road trip with a grocery sack. I could have fun it there. Ya know....been looking at the bike....again, and I have put a lot of chrome acorn nuts on the thing. superbrights has the 11mm single LED stud that would replace them nicely. That could kick up the light count by quite a bit. Humm.... Here we go again. Sounds like you are happy with the new engage clutch. Makes a big difference in mine for sure. I fought the chatter and slip most of last summer. Later. Mike
  8. Snaggletooth
    Hold on.......read this thread first! http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33375&highlight=deka&page=4 Then check this website. http://www.bohannonbattery.com/html/deka/etx20l.html The ETX20L is the battery for the 2nd gens. The Deka out performs the Odessy in overall performance. It's an outstanding battery. I bought the ETX18L for my 1st gen as did several others here and I think over the last year they have all been happy with them. AGM, 12.8 volt. HEAVY DUTY case. Extra side mounts. But check the price. Can't beat it for the quality and the realiabilty the battery offers. Jbo24 is a member here and helped with a lot of information on the batteries in side by side tests as you will see the the first thread. Check it out. Worth doing. Oh yeah, and it's American made. Mike
  9. Snaggletooth
    Thanks Todd, That is good info. Something else to do before I button the old girl up again.
  10. Snaggletooth
    BOO......think radiator......LOL! Good advice though.
  11. Snaggletooth
    If your missing the screw that would more that likely be helping the leak. Nothing there to hold it all in place. I'd be surprised if the valve assembly hadn't worked it's way out a bit. As far as the gasket for that.........lost me. Just the o-ring is the only thing that seals anything there.
  12. Snaggletooth
    Yeah! Weird huh! Kinda like Windows......Push Start to end. It's "On" to bypass the thermo and drain the system. The "Off" position is for running the bike. You can also set it to "On" if your thermo would stick to get by until you can get it fixed. A bandaid only. Not for long term. Turn the valve to the "On" position. There is a small screw in the out side (right) side of the valve. Remove that and wiggle the valve handle back and forth a bit and it will work it's way out. Hold a rag under it to catch the parts coming out. There is a ball bearing in there that is the detent for the two position. Hard to find once it's rolling around on the floor. The o-ring should be easy to match up at a parts store. These bikes have this happen all the time when the temps drop. Most will leave a puddle all winter and then once the weather warms up...it quits. If it's dripping pretty good a new o-ring is cheap.
  13. Snaggletooth
    Now that looks good! Yammer should be here shortly.......it's blue......he'll be here!
  14. Snaggletooth
    Ok...ran into this tonight. I know the LED conversions on the turn signals on the 1st gen require a load (resistor) on the bulbs to create the proper load to avoid the computer warning and convert to the electronic flasher to create the proper flash timing. Got that! My question is when I removed the stock 1157s for the brake lights I got the light signal warning on the dash. The bike knows there is no light there now. Fine. If that because of the loss of a complete circuit? The LED 1157 bulb will complete that circuit or is that system sensing the load created by the bulb? If so then I would need the load resistors installed. So is it just sensing the loss of circuit or the load itself? Mike
  15. Snaggletooth
    Condor!!!! Yikes!!! Ya'll got some bulbs there buddy! I only had 16 to deal with. I just finished up installing the last of them in mine. I flicked the switch and the digital voltmeter barely flinched at all. Now that alone is worth the change over to me. I spent a lot of time checking specs on the LEDS as they are a bit bigger depending on which bulb you choose. For the bulbs that mount from the side I ended up using the WLED-X5 Wide Angle LED-R5. ($2.99 each) It fit well and looks fine. I just went ahead and ordered the tail/brake light bulbs with the 1157 mount tonight to. That should do it for now. Yeah.......Right. Dano..... You gonna be getting a PM in a bit.
  16. Snaggletooth
    Good folks to deal with to. Found the gas tank epoxy there and been playing with the buffing and polishing stuff a bit. Their forums are a great source of info when you get into the stuff. Kinda like this place.......ya need an answer......somebody has got it. Good luck with the project. er....and the backrest deal. LOL! Mike
  17. Snaggletooth
    You been hanging around the Caswells site have ya? http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/index.html
  18. Snaggletooth
    They are good folks to work with. They replaced the bad bulb I got without a problem and N/C on shipping. They answer e-mails same day and I get my orders within a couple of days. Hard to beat service like that and the prices are decent. I was considering replacing the four Mini Barons on my light bar with new LED bullets at $80.00 a pair. Got the same affect for $1.99 per light with their bulbs. Good enough.
  19. Snaggletooth
    Dang! Twice in the same day! I'm going back to bed.
  20. Snaggletooth
    1st gen 1st gen 1st gen 1st gen 1st gen, Ya'll gettin' the hint yet? PM sent
  21. Snaggletooth
    Dang! I'm awake and it's something I don't need.
  22. Snaggletooth
    Gary. That is a nice fix. But you know what excited me the most in those pics? The Green Grass!!!!
  23. Snaggletooth
    Ok......there are a lot of them. And most of mine were bad when I got the bike. Either cracked, split, broken off or just plain gone altogether. I found that using the different thicknesses of the ABS sheets I got the the best results by layering them where I could creating a laminate. Where I had the broken off pieces I trying to use then if they were not cracked too badly or simply built a new tab if they were. The beauty of this bike is most all the tabs are pretty well hidden by other panels. You can get away with a lot because of that. Build the layers up and don't worry about the holes for now. I cut new holes with a step drill in a low speed drill as I lined them back up. No binding with a step drill that might crack the new tab. If you use the process of layering and you run into clearnace problems because to the thicness simply sand it back down. After I fitted all mine I "painted" them with a coat of JB Weld to harden the surface and help prevent future cranking of the new tabs. The gray of the JB Weld blends in to the background pretty well without standing out. You see them if you're looking for them. I just posted the pics rather than explain each one. You guy know what you are looking at. Just remember to get the best bond ..... clean it .... rough it up .. clean it again .... epoxy it .... clamp it (not too tight) .... LET IT CURE!!! So I hope the helps somebody along the way. Mike
  24. Snaggletooth
    Ok...this is common and easy to fix. If the pin is broken off at the base just using epoxy to stick it back on just doesn't seem strong enough to hold. Some guys have drilled out the top of the pin stand and inserted a bolt with a nut on each side to hold it in place then cut the bolt to the proper size. That works and it is strong. I drilled out the top of the pin stand and cut a section of fiberglass rod to fit. Inserted it into the hole and ground the bottom to match the shape of the side panel. A dose of epoxy inside the stand and a coat on the new pin and hold it in place for a few minutes until the epoxy begins to set. When the first coat cures you and apply epoxy to the top of the new pin and shape the head to match the ole one. Again.....make sure you rough up the surfaces to bond and clean well with alcohol. And then come the tabs...... And make sure the new pin will align with the grommets before it sets up.
  25. Snaggletooth
    Like this hasn't been dicussed before! Ha! Last December when I stored my bike I removed all the plactic and bought it into my basement shop with the intention of making all the repairs needed on the tabs and broken or missing pins. Oh yeah! And the headlight cover .... or replace it. So a good cleaning and a long look at everything showed me I had more work to do than I thought and I needed stuff to do it right. A really good epoxy and some ABS flatstock to replace or create new tabs and build up cracked areas on the fairings. Ok..... a couple of things. I tried 5 different epoxies over the winter. All dual chamber, 2 part dispensors for hard plastics or ABS listed on the package. I bought one "quick set, short cure time" and well, not worth it. All of the ones I chose were about 24 hours cure time. But from what I found, and tried a lot of different ways of testing the end repair, that they all seemed to have the same result with proper prep of the plastic to be repaired. As for repair materials.........you find things in the strangest places some times. I found all kinds of ABS flat stock at a grocery store. For FREE!! The store was doing a reset in the pop isle and all those plastic bin and shelf sliders are plastic......ABS plastic. Got to talking to the manager and they had ordered all new signage for the isles and displays and had stacks of sheets of plastic on the back waiting to be thrown out. Checked it out....three different thicknesses of ABS sheets. Some were 3 ft square. That should hold me through the testing process. But anyway I wanted to share some of my ideas and the way repairs were done. I know the head light covers suffer from cracked screw holes on a lot of the bikes and mine had really gone South so I'll start with that. The mounting holes in mine had given out and were missing pieces. So I tried this. Grind or sand out any rough edges and rough up the remaining surfaces with sandpaper. I wiped it all down with alcohol to remove any loose particals and oil. Next I packed the areas I wanted to keep open with modeling clay. Better than trying to reshape it later. I wrapped the front of the head light cover around the repair area with wax paper to shape the outer side of the repair. Attach it firmly with masking tape and create a cup for the epoxy. Fill the area with epoxy and let it cure. It's going to be thick so a couple of days would be plenty of time. Peel off the tape and wax paper. Most the paper will peel off and what sticks is easy to sand off. Remove the modeling clay and you will see the basic repair. I used a Dremel with a sanding drum to shape the epoxy rough and then used a sanding block to final shape it. Mask off the corners again and give it a light coat of primer. You will see any defects that need to be fixed. A light sanding and another thin coat of the epoxy to fill the defects and after curing it's ready for the final sand down, primer and the new paint. The paint is the tricky part. Still waiting for the color matching to work out and then the air brushing will be done. So far......installed it......and it took a good tightening with no cracking. So much for the head light. Next......the side panel pins.
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