Jump to content

Snaggletooth

Supporting Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,545

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Snaggletooth

  1. Snaggletooth
    Dang! Twice in the same day! I'm going back to bed.
  2. Snaggletooth
    1st gen 1st gen 1st gen 1st gen 1st gen, Ya'll gettin' the hint yet? PM sent
  3. Snaggletooth
    Dang! I'm awake and it's something I don't need.
  4. Snaggletooth
    Gary. That is a nice fix. But you know what excited me the most in those pics? The Green Grass!!!!
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Snaggletooth
    Try to get back the hour it stole from me last night.
  9. Snaggletooth
    What Dan meant was the CDI off the '83 will work fine with the '87 carbs. The trick is the '83 CDI (26H) has a different boost setting on it that '84 thru '89 (41R). The vac line from the sensor will hook up at a different port on the carbs is the only change. Now if I remeber right there was a thread on that and where the line could be tied into. But for now D'oh! I can't remember. Somebody will jump in here shortly I'm sure.
  10. Snaggletooth
    I can't find the specs on that lamp. Is it a 4 1/2 inch bulb?
  11. Snaggletooth
    You ever ask yourself that? How many times? Once in while or everytime another chance to improve it comes up? I bought my '84 back about three years ago. It had been stored for nine years by the original owners son. His Dad had passed away and he kept the bike as it was all that time. He finally posted an ad and I found it. It had parts off of it stacked in boxes and it cranked but would not start. But looking it over I saw a bike that I would have for years to come. I liked these bikes when they first came out. They were the Victory Vision of the day. Big, different. weird looking with the Star Trek dashboard. Loved or hated them. Sound familiar? But I stuck a deal the son and he trailered the bike and all it's pieces (and a service manual thank God!) the next week. My daughters jaw dropped when she saw it being rolled off the back to the trailer into my garage. "You paid money for THAT and it don't even run?" She thought I'd lost my mind. For a while there I had my doubts to. Until I got her fired up. Over the last three years of ownership I have brought the old girl back to life and enjoyed a lot of miles on her. Things have been changed ... improved .... repaired ... replaced .... or in some cases created to make things right. I have depended on this club and the "Junkyard of the Future" our beloved eBay along with the few guys here that supply parts for these bike of their own creation to find the answers and pieces to get this done. I've got Ford parts, Toyota parts, Honda parts and now even an item that originated from Germany I believe. But today I was going through my records and found, not too much to my surprise that I have spent about the same amount on the things I have done to the bike as I spent for it the day I bought. Now that includes new tires, oils and the everyday stuff along with the odds and ends of used and NOS safety chrome, parts, upgrades and mods from this site. So therefor the Question? Is this worth doing? IMHO.....Hell yes! I don't think I have hesitated more than a few seconds when a chance to impove this bike has come up. A good mod, or a NOS part that is needed, or something that made the bike more comfortable to ride on those long trips. I've had bikes in the past that I ground my teeth dull deciding if I would spend a few bucks on it. Not this one for some reason. It just gets done. So seeing this club and the loyalty to these bikes...MKI...MKII...and even the 2nd gens, I know I'm not the only one out there to feel this way about these bikes. Thank God I'm not alone on this. I would sign myself up for a headshrink if I thought I was. LOL! I've been eyeballing the 2nd gens myself. But even if that happens soon the '84 will stay in the stable. It's going to be around for a long time. Even my daughter says they will have to build a ramp into my grave. So that said.......why have you guys hung onto your bikes and for how many years? Won't even go into the amount of bucks spent. We all know the answer to that. Mike The pic is from spring of '09. Still have some SS and aluminum at the fabricators. More to come.
  12. Snaggletooth
    Hey Steve. You're going to be happy with the AGM. They are tough. But if you have had hot start problems like so many guys have had with these bike and you haven't had your starter out yet........give it some thought. Mine was a bear when it was hot when I first got it. Even with a new battery it just wouldn't crank worth a dang until it cooled off. I pulled my starter and stripped it down. It was the usual dirty, gungy stuff. I cleaned it up, filed the grooves in the armature and lubed the bearings, I did install new brushes as they were about 1/2 gone. Stuck her back in and it worked way better than before. After that I did all the other improvements with better results after every one of them. With the AGM battery, the heavy cables and upgraded fuse panel all my starting problems are gone.
  13. Snaggletooth
    If you are looking for an easy change out on any other bulbs to LEDs check out this company. http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fmini-wedge.html I just did ALL my 194 bulbs and next are the instrument dash lights.....then the tail lights and I'm considering doing the turn signals with an electronic flasher. These folks have EVERYTHING for LED conversions and not to mention they have an incredible customer service department. I had a small problem.....they made it right in 48 hours. They are out of Missouri to. I've changed 20 bulbs so far and haven't spent $50.00 yet. Good enough for me. Won't ever have to spend that money again. MIke
  14. Snaggletooth
    Dang! I guess my Vetter full face will get retired.
  15. Snaggletooth
    Hey a1Bummer, This is an older thread where the battey situation was covered pretty well. Check out the post by Jbo24 at the top of this page. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33375&highlight=deka&page=4 Jbo is Joshua from Bohannan Battery and he is a member here. He gave us some pretty good test results on the available batteries like Odessy PC680 and the DEKA ETX18L. With that info I purchased the DEKA ETX18L a year ago and have NO REGRETS at all. It's AGM and fits like the OEM. Extra side posts to help with additional power feeds to. Heavy duty casing and just feels and looks tough. You can't beat the CCA on this thing. I have started mine at 20 degrees with no hesitation at all the the hot crank issue is non existant. But I have a rebuilt starter and heavy cables to. The CCA's......you can never hurt the system by having too much. These batteries will crank longer than any lead/acid battery that I know of. But the price was the kicker. At that time it was $82.95 including shipping and arrived a few days later showing 12.8 volts out of the box. A year later.....still shows 12.8 volts every morning. Consider it and take a look at their site. www.bohannonbattery.com Good people and a great battery. Ask the guys here that bought one. Been a few that I know of. Mike
  16. Snaggletooth
    Most excellent news my friend. Glad to hear it. Best of luck!!!
  17. Snaggletooth
    Had a young service tech at a local shop tell me last year that my bike didn't sound right for a V-twin. I reached down and pulled off two plug wires and restarted the bike and asked.."How's that?" Kid was stunned......running with no plug wires!! This is why I do my own work. And I get at least 35 mpg around town and 40+ on the highway.
  18. Snaggletooth
    Well there ya go. Now I see my problem......The dang frame is in the way.
  19. Snaggletooth
    Yeppers......that's already done. More concerned about making some extra room to get them back in.
  20. Snaggletooth
    Ok.....I'm at that point. Got all my other stuff done and pulled the valve covers to replace the seals and gaskets due to a seep on the rear head and check the valve lash. Thought I was being the bright guy and removed the "hard" one first. The front. Only had to remove the bolts from the radiator and pull it ahead a bit. Pretty much slid out except for a little drag across the chain sprockets. Then the "easy" one....the rear.....oh yeah! Not so easy. Hung up pretty good on the sprockets and was a bear to work out of there. (Should have done this when I had the gas tank out) Now I got the covers all cleaned up.....got the 2nd gen gaskets sealed into the covers....got all 16 of the plugs on the bolts replaced. So.....any advice on what else I can do to give myself a little more room to work the covers back into place without scraping the gaskets back off? Bike is naked.....fuel line and overflow lines are out of the way. Do I need to pull the coolant lines to the heads? Maybe take the coolant hose off the top of the radiator to give me more room? Suggestion? Just trying to avoid a fist fight with my sweety. She does give me a hard time now and then. LOL! Thanks Mike
  21. Snaggletooth
    And pick up a tube of High Heat Sealant for around the rubber plug the wires run through. If you're gonna have a leak......that is where it will come from. Coat it inside and out. Mike
  22. Snaggletooth
    The first pic is the rack I took off. You can see why I wanted to change it. Then a few shots of the Venturline rack for the MKI. Keep an eye on eBay. They show up pretty often. Search "motorcyle trunk rack". That's how I found mine.
  23. Snaggletooth
    One of my winter projects was to convert all my running and marker lights to LED. I've got my front fender marker and then four double sets in the rear light bar and then four mini Barons on top of the light bar. That's fourteen 194 bulbs alone. I can see the drop on the volt meter when I turn them on. Wanted to get that down a bit. I stopped at about every truckstop and and independent bike shop I came across looking for housings and light assemblies and never really found anything that would make a clean mount or look like it belonged there. Then I found these guys a while back. www.superbrightleds.com Right out of Missouri, USA! I bought a few LEd bulbs with the 194 type wedge base to try and liked what they did. In fact, I had one out of the first batch that was a bit intermitant and I shot them an e-mail and they sent a replacement the next day. No problem at all with their customer service people. These LEDs have voltage range from 5-14.5 volts depending on the LED type and a full selection to cover about any application. You can select the beam pattern, how wide, on most of the styles and luminous intensity for your application also on most. So I ordered everything I needed to do the markers and will get to the dash lights later on. For under $45.00 I got enough to do everything and that included shipping. A whole $5.00 for that. But I took a pic of the rear bar with only two LEDs in the Barons. Should be able to pick them out easy enough. Brought the red back out instead of that orangish color. Betting that my volt meter won't even flinch when I kick all these puppies on. I paid about .96 cents each for the stock 194 bulbs and $1.99 each for the 5 bulb LEDs that went into the Baron. Just read the spec sheets on the LEDs before ordering. The LEDs are bit bigger depending on the application. I ordered three different types for mine to get them to fit. Now if that ain't a poor man fix......what is? Mike
  24. Snaggletooth
    I had a rack on by '84 when I bought it that was small, about a foot wide. I wanted a stock rack and finally found a NOS on the Bay. I was concerned about the cracking also as I wanted to run with a trunk bag also. I made a set of brace supports for the inside of the trunk to help spread the weight and used some heavier bib washers on the outside. Kind of raw looking so I ended up covering the inside of the trunk with trunk liner. Feels solid and no flexing. I don't know about the MKII trunks but some GW racks are supposed to fit well. Mike
  25. Snaggletooth
    Oh Damn! I see a trend coming on here! It's nice being all fuzzy inside ain't it. Nice job to.
×
×
  • Create New...