Snaggletooth

Had a similar problem couple years ago on my '84. An annoying seep on the upper corner. Pulled it off, pressure washed it and took it in to an old radiator shop to have it pressure tested. The shop owner called me later in the day and said all was good. No problem found. I stopped in to pick it up and talked with the owner. He said it was one of the best constructed radiators he had seen in years. He seemed surprised at what it was out of. He had combed out the fins already so I had him go ahead and dip it. Still in the bike today with no problems. Turned out it was only a minor pin hole in the upper hose. Only leaked a bit when the bike was hot and the spray was blowing away at highway speed. The coolant was almost dry when the bike was stopped. Ended up using the strobe light from a timing light in a dark garage just to see the mist from the leak. A quick clip on the hose at the nipple and a new clamp ended the problem. Like you, the weather here has been great. Got some miles in over the last couple days and enjoying the sunshine. I can deal with the 40's and 50's. Don't sound like it's gonna last long. Talking snow in the next couple days. I got my fix for a little longer. Tent is checked and cleaned, sleeping bag is washed and trailer is packed and ready to go. I'm read to get on the road.

Man, this thread kinda threw me. I've been around here for quite a few years myself and have never seen Don take a jab at any rider or the machine they rode. Even after his "transition" to one of the "other" brands he has always been there for this family. I have to give big points to Don for his loyalty, affection and dedicated care of this bucket of nuts he looks after. Over the years I have seen a few members wander away over misconstrued comments but some of those have returned over time, and still remain. I hate to see any member walk away with dents in their feelings but that's the way life is. It all blows over or blows away over time. But the fact remains the Don built this group to last. And it will. Thanks Don, and don't let this one keep ya up at night. No reason for that.

So who trusts those guys? Back in Omaha 40 years ago this month the radio said "Slight chance of flurries today". Took me 3 hours to get across town to get to work and 5 days to get back to the house. Spent most my stranded time in the shop office calling the radio station and asking to speak to the moron weatherman without a window. After the second day they actually started connecting me. Flurries my butt.

PUC! NO! NO! NO! The "other" booty.

Or the easy way.......... PM Dingy. He's got the fix.

+1 on the Super Bright LED site. Been using them as a source for a fews year now for my bike and several others, cars and trailers and about any other application I can plug them into. Of all the lights I've purchased from them only had one fail and they replaced that at no charge. Great products and better customer serve than I've seen with other companies. They offer a wide range of bulbs for each application for light intensity and array pattern for what your need is not to mention the tech info on each bulb so you can be sure it will fit where you want it to. The bulbs I used in the lightbar and bumper on my '84 have been in there about 3.5 years now without failure at that's a tough place for bulbs.

Done

I don't know what to tell ya about a new Die Hard AGM but I can tell you about my experience with the DEKA's I've been using. For the first 4 years I had mt DEKA in I never used a charger or tender. Always had a solid read on the volt meter. But I pulled the first DEKA at about 5 years to replace it with a new one due to summer trip plans. Now mind you, I had it load tested before I pulled it and showed 25% battery life and dormant at 12.8 volts. Put it aside on the shelf and there it sat until a couple months ago. Been about a year on the shelf. Without charging or a tender for that time it still showed on load test at 25% battery life and 12.2 volts. Dropped it in the bike and it fired right up. I'll leave it in there for the winter storage and change back to the new battery in the spring. But with that said I'd say fully charge the new battery and check it on the shelf for voltage once in awhile. I would not worry about a tender. The AGMs have an extremely low discharge rate and a tender probably won't keep it at peak anyway.

As much as I love blue, it just isn't my shade. I've been running the green. Pretty easy on the eyes.

The gasket its self is absolutely required on that cover for fit tolerance. Without it parts will bind. A thin layer of silicon on at least one side of the gasket will help hold it on place during install and help in the in case you have to remove the cover again in the near future to make any "adjustments".

Hate to hear that Scott. Just lost my dad a couple months ago. Thoughts are with you and family.

I'm likin' it!! Good work Don

Change is inevitable. The concern you expressed early on was support in the future. Might as well go for it now and get it done. Maybe save some headaches down the road.

Very nice Wayne. Eases the pain of parting with your blonde....a lil.

The question is where can you go these days to feel safer?

I've only been with the site since early '07 but have seen it constantly evolving into the finest "Care & Feeding of a Venture and It's Rider" manual available anywhere. Many people out there never give a thought to the effort and thought that makes a site seem to operate so seamlessly and offer such great support. Your effort and dedication is much appreciated, by all of us. Change and adaptation are the ways of the world these days. What ever needs to be done to keep this site operational and as user friendly as it is fine by me. In my eye retaining old posts and current users is the focal point. Any and everything else can be dealt with in time. Whatever you need to do to keep this site intact for the future has my full support. Do what you need to do. We got your back Don.

Several years ago I caught a couple young neighbor kids letting the air out of my front tire on my bike in my driveway. Caught red handed and too scared to run I had one simple one simple solution for them. Fill it back up and we won't have a problem. Or....... I can talk to your parents. (Who I knew pretty well) They thought filling the tire back up was a pretty reasonable agreement. Walked into my garage past the air compressor and my air bubble and snapped the air pump off the frame of my mountain bike. The kind you use with two hands. Took them three hours to get the tire back to a reasonable pressure to where I was happy with it. Don't know how they explained to their parents how they got the blisters on their hands. They were just happy when I turned them loose. I called to a "Life Lesson" to young butt holes to be. Don't sound like your friends buddies got enough "Life Lessons" in their youth. Can't kill them. No fun in that.

I'd have to go look to be sure as I've had mine on my '84 for about 4 years or more now with no problems. Haven't paid much attention to them since they were installed other than a tap now and them to make sure they are still working. I think they were Fiam Freeway Blasters rated about 130db each. Both hi and low. Butt ugly flat black styled like a car horn but very effective. Mounted similar to stock horns but each facing away from the bike to the sides. Been in service through heavy rains, sleet and even been packed with snow a couple times. Used to joke about wanting to display a scratch sheet like the fighter pilots do for direct hits on oblivious soccer moms, gray hairs and inattentive motorists of all kinds that attempt to share my air space. Like I said, butt ugly but that wide eyed look I get from intruders into my space isn't because they're pretty. They got the message loud and clear.

Yep. Cleans the key. Bought my '84 at about 30K miles after being stored for 9 years. Sea Foam got it running but needed some TLC on the carbs. Had rust in the tank, couple floats were saturated and needles were iffy. After an epoxy tank reseal, complete carb rebuids and all new fuel lines from petcock to inlets along with fuel filter its been a problem free setup. I've got about 74K miles on the bike now. It's pretty much a daily rider and that's year round. Other than an occasional peek inside the tank to keep and eye on the reseal, change the fuel filter when I mount a new rear tire and an annual tweak on the carb sync it's been a non issue. I do still add a dash of Sea Foam once every couple of months just out principle but in my case I don't usually have the same fuel in it long enough to gum up. As stated, if you keep an eye on and control whats going into and through the carbs you shouldn't have many issues other than wear and tear over time.

This will give you an idea of what you will working with when you start your carb project. There is a lot of useful info in the Tech section forum here. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54

Oh yeah. But I'm not going back into that story again today. My bike is still laughing at me over my Dano Engage mod. After a frustrating afternoon of several attempts to remove the rotor with no progress I gave up, had a beer and walked away for the night. When I woke up in the morning I found the rotor and puller laying a couple of feet away from the bike in the pile of packing quilts I had left on the floor. Apparently I left the puller cranked fully down when I gave up. The temp that night had dropped considerably over night and I suppose that and the pressure on the puller played the Ace card while I had my back turned and it just popped off. Nobody ever bought my "Garage Gremlin" story so I'll stick with simple science. None the less....... progress.

Long ago rolled on the edge of a small town up north. I think was MN, maybe WI. Not sure any more. Late in evening, light rain, not a soul in sight. Just one of those creep places that looked like a scene for a slasher movie. Headlight flasher across the town marker sign as I was slowing down to stop for a break. Sacred Heart POP 666 First thought............Moving on

I felt like you do when I came here back in 2007 starting to revive a '84 Venture I had purchased after being stored for 9 years and partially torn down. I had a project ahead of me. The questions were the same. Where, what and who. It turns out the site is like the Field of Dreams. You build it, and they will come. After reading many of the posts already made and the tech section and asking a few questions I received many answers from members that were extremely helpful. Back then the site was a freebie operating only on donations. When the issue was brought up that there was going to be a need for a small fee to maintain the site for the future I ponied up the $12.00 and am still doing it yet in '14. Best investment ever made for the return. Gained much needed information on the bike, and other models, a place to share info with others of common interests and still enjoying the same bike I brought home as project in '06. It's my daily rider and enjoying many upgrades, improvements and modification dreamed up, created and produced by members here. Hang around. I'm sure you'll feel the same way before long.

Congrats on the 25th!!! Enjoy your stay in pineapple land.

check info on this thread. Sirius is the product most of us turn to. Quality product for less than $100.00 for a set of four. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=48445&highlight=carb+diaphragm+replacement+sirius