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I've posted about this before, and there is even a tech article I wrote under Engine and Drivetrain on how to do it. But I continue to be amazed by how screwed up and WAY OFF the factory settings every RSV seems to be! So I just gotta keep proselytizing about it . . . At Don's maintenance day I just reset the floats on three more RSVs, and out of the 12 carbs, only ONE (one carb, not one bike) was even remotely close to the factory spec! And that was the first carb from ANY of the RSVs I have done that wasn't set unbelievably high. Too-high float levels cause rich mixtures and excessive fuel use at speed. Up to now I have only been able to report on the 10% improvement in fuel economy I got from my own bike by properly setting the fuel level. Others for whom I have done the work all said it seemed better, but they didn't go to the trouble of having detailed before and after comparisons. Well, now I have another. Four of us on RSVs rode together from Texas up to Don's in Ohio, about 1,250 miles. I paid attention to how much gas each of us took at each gas stop. Since we were all riding in the same conditions and the same speeds on the same roads, it was an ideal way to get some side-by-side comparisons. I generally took less gas at every stop, and Ponch took the most - every time. And the difference was quite significant. I never tried to calculate the MPG for each bike, but I know he was buying a lot more gas over and over again for 1,200 miles. So that is the "before" state. On Friday morning while I had nothing else to do, Ponch and I pulled his carbs and reset the float levels to the specs from the Yamaha shop manual. The only other change we did was to put in new plugs while we had things apart. To be completely open here, there was some evidence that Ponch's RF plug was not fireing as well as the others. After maintenance day, Ponch and I rode together on the way back to Texas. This was another fantastic oportunity for us to get a real life side-by-side comparison of two RSVs under identical conditions for many, many tanks of gas, and now with Ponch's bike having the floats properly set. Guess what? Ponch and I took virtually the exact same gas at every single gas stop, no matter if we had been doing 50 in the twisties or 80 on the superslab. That is a HUGE change from what he was getting on the ride up just two days before. Actually, I tell a little bit of a lie - while we weren't trying to compare exact fill levels by looking inside the tanks, Ponch generally took just a tad less than I did at most stops - probably just 0.1 gallons on a 5 gallon fill. So Ponch's bike went from being the worst of four in MPG (by a long shot), to actually being the best. We have no way of being certain how much credit the new plugs get for this, but I'm betting the float levels were the biggest piece. OK, I'll stop for now. But if you haven't had the float levels checked on your RSV, your really should think about it. Even if it is brand new. By all means, do not assume the factory got them even close to the right level!! Ride safe, Goose -
Just got a text message from Ponch. He send me some pictures from a place, restaurant or something, named "Freebirds". It was pretty cool. What was REALLY cool though was just hearing from Ponch. I sure miss that guy. He included a message that he misses all of us too.
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My name is William Little, "WildBill1", and I want to extend a word of thanks to all the members on this site and how fortunate it is to be a part of such a talented and innovative group of people. Matt Strickland, "Foyerboy" gave me the opportunity to work on his 99 RSV recently--- without the vast amount of information from this site its doubtful this task could have been completed. I want to especially thank Kent, "V7Goose" for all his excellent Tech Threads and bike knowledge he so freely passes on to us. Thanks John, "Jlh3rd" for having the courage too toss that lame cassette player and replace it with useful gauges. David, "Ponch" you inspired us even more by flush mounting them with even more options. We miss you, "Ponch" hope your recovery is going good. Thanks to Don, "Freebird" for all the countless hours you must put into this site too keep it going and us happy.
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I spoke with Ponch today, he sounds like he is doing pretty good, still having problems with his eyes, so said he doesn`t get on the site very much as it hurts to read. He asked about some of the folks on here, but has a problem remembering everyones handles, but I know he misses each and everyone of this fine Family. He is still going to OT, and seems to be doing very good with all that they have him do. Just wanted to let ya`ll know, Please continue to keep Dave and Kathy in your prayers. Thanks, Kreg
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OK folks,I heard from Ponch and we talked better than an hour. First let me say he remembers some things and some folks but has a hard time with it. We talked about our last visit with him In route to Cody and while we were there. Bottom line..He doesnt remember much of it at all. The one thing that I feel everyone needs to know, because he told me, is that he appreciates everything ALL of you folks did with the Prayers and thoughts. He can not get on here to Thank all of you because he cannot see that well and has trouble getting the words from his mind to come out on here so it has been frustrating. Whether or not he stays on the site will be totally up to him and his progress..he is having trouble focusing, He said it hurts him to get around motorcycles..I dont know if he misses it or it brings back bad memories. I do know he asked me to relay this message to all of you for what you have done,with that he really teared up and I knew it was heartfelt. I only hope I got this message as he wanted it...If I drifted to far the bottom line from Ponch is "Thank You All ! "
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Haven't seen anything on Ponch's recovery in a while. Any news??
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We are asking for prayers for Ponch!! All we know right now is that he went down this morning. The police officers would not tell us nothing other than they picked him up in a helocopter and took him to Memorial Herman Hospital. They were not sure of his condition. Brad is on his way to Ponch and Cathy's house to let Cathy know, and get her to him! All I know right now is that he could use some help, if ya'll could keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and we will keep you posted as we find out anything! Thanks!! This one is for Ponch! -
I haven't seen a thing about what Ponch's status is lately. Especially since Dano went down. Anybody??
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After I saw Ponch's gauge package, I knew I wanted that for my scooter. I wanted mine to be molded or formed into the dash to look sort of factory. Well after I crashed and totaled the scooter last year I figured I had my chance to do this while I was rebuilding the scooter. I settled with the insurance company so that I was able to keep the scooter. Every piece of body plastic was cracked or busted. The front upper fairing, inside dash and lower left fairing were demolished and unrepairable. I bought some parts on e-bay and some parts through the good members here that were willing to sell some extra parts they had. The pieces that I was able to salvage from my scooter, I repaired with Plastex. After I acquired a front upper fairing and dash, I got started on the gauge package. * On the dash, I took a dremel tool and cut from the bottom of the cassette door opening on each side down to and around the cruise switch opening (sorry I didn’t think of taking pictures until I had it all formed together and painted, just use your imagination). * Then I measured the opening to get an idea of how big a piece of ABS plastic I would need to do this. I salvaged a piece big enough from the busted upper front fairing above the headlight opening. * I used the measurements and drew the design I wanted on a piece of 1/8" flat aluminum plate. After I cut it down to size I used a 1 5/8” hole saw and drilled two holes for oil pressure and water temperature gauges. I used a 1 7/8” hole saw for tach. I bought a set of Sunpro mini gauges from Advance Auto and a Drag Specialties tach through H.D. dealer. I used this piece of aluminum for my pattern to mark my piece of ABS. I later used it for a backing plate to strengthen and support the dash gauges. Picture #1 shows drawn outline. * After I had cut my piece of ABS for my gauges, I cut three more pieces 1” x 2 ¼” to use as fillers to cover space between gauge base and where the cruise switch was. After all pieces were test fitted, I used a soldering gun to spot melt the plastic together in a few spots. I then used Plastex to fill and weld all the connecting joints. After the Plastex had hardened, I used sand paper and smoothed the edges and corners. Pictures #2-3 show underside of dash. * Pictures #4-9 show dash after it was painted. * Pictures #10-13 show test fit of gauges. * Pictures #14-16 show finished dash on scooter. As you can see (pic # 15) I would have had enough room to mount the cruise switch above the tach in between the water and oil gauges, but opted to move it down behind key switch in front of gas lid. I also used a 1/8” stereo cable from Radio Shack to extend aux. plug out onto handle bars. I know Ponch was in a bad accident (I have been keeping up with the thread) and is in rehab and has a long way to go. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as they deal with this. I wanted to give him credit for his ideas and help that he gave me, as I had contacted him a few times with questions about the gauges and fittings he used. Thanks again, Ponch C.R.
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Ok Ponch, thanks again, the gauge light is now working.
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I ordered the gauge set that Ponch designed and sells to replace the cassette deck in our second gen Ventures. I just want to say to anyone considering it, ORDER IT NOW. It is a well thought out quality package with EVERYTHING you need to install. It comes with awesome instructions, should be a straight forward install. Thanks Ponch! Ron:bighug:
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We are having a Mini Carb Float adj / Carb Clean Clinic, Instructed by VRO`s own " Ponch" June 18th @ 0900 This will be held at Kregerdoodles house. 18222 Blinka Rd. Waller Texas 77484 You will need to bring your Carb cleaner, and hand tools, I do have tools, just not sure if I have enough to go around. Please RSVP as I may through some grub on the pit.. Hope to see ya`ll here, and want to thank Ponch for his time and expertise. Kreg -
Thanks Goose for the carb sync. I bought a can of Sea Foam at Wally World in Mansfield that very evening. Put in two ounces and filled up to start home Sunday morning. Ran that tank low and filled up again and added two more ounces. Buy the time I arrived at 23 in Circle-ville,Ohio I could feel the bike smooth up some and everything is perfect. The bike wasn't really running rough enough to notice for me. But after I felt it smooth up, that is when I become a big fan of Sea Foam."""Thanks Ponch for the center stand, and installing it. I really appreciate it. I purposely came home through some twisty road to see if the stand would drag. It worked fine and no problems. I need to cut myself a piece of 2 x 4 9 1/4 " long to keep in my saddle bag. Now if I am on the road and have a flat. I can plug it and air it up with my Wally World portable 12 volt air pump. """"Thanks Freebird for letting me and Ponch use your battery drill and bit."" ""Wonderful helpful people, thanks to all for information about these bikes and all your help.:cool10:
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Hey Squid and Ponch....Ponch and Squid... I need your snail mail addresses guys....got a little something here that I know y'all are just gonna have folks begging you for. P.M. or e-mail me, and I'll git 'r done! gunk:whistling:
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I finally finished up on my assorted projects, and doing my best to get some pictures up. The main project was the gauge set from Ponch, but I decided to add a twist, and try to put a digital voltmeter where Ponch had the cruise on-off switch located. I tried to eliminate that switch, but wasn't able to feel confident that it was a good idea (though it seemed possible, maaaaybe). Eventually went to looking for a place to re-locate the switch, so the voltmeter could be in the gauge cluster. I wound up with the cruise button mounted in the plastic cover ahead of the gas cap. So far very satisfied with the whole set-up. My biggest worry is that some wire will be in a bad spot and get pinched in the neck area of the frame as the handlebars are turned, or just wear through from rubbing somewhere. We have LOTS of snow here as yet, and this will have to remain un-road-tested for some time yet. My projects included a repair of a broken bolt in the saddle bag rails, changing the rear-end lube, changing and re-locating the fuel filter, changing oil and filter, checking air filters, and wiring in a relay for the ignition switch. The bike looked like a bomb went off in it for a while there, but it's all back together now. My thanks to Mike E (eusa 1) for the bag rail bolt and cap, and to Ponch for a well designed and well made set-up for the gauges. I think it's a fine addition to the bike.
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Ponch sent me a chrome oil fittings to replace the ugly brass fittings. Thanks Ponch, looks good to me.
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Well Ponch has done it again..Came from Houston to my place,(Appx 200 Miles) and installed a few more accessories on my GoldWing..I cant tell colors that well and am afraid to mess with electrical things. We took the Wing apart installed the Aux swith on the brake reservoir then connected my "ring of fires" front and back the installed the harness to make my spoiler a running light and brake light. I could not have done it without his help..Thank You Ponch! I always feel like a guy sould be recognized for their willingness to go out of their way even though he doesnt really care fr the attention. Tom
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My thanks to Ponch and Monty...or Monty and Ponch, either which way. These two guys took the time to install the gauge package on our bike yesterday at MD in the heat.....and doing so cuts into their time to wander around and do other MD things. Words can't express how much that means to me. The gauges look AWESOME, they work AWESOME, and Beth has said how much she likes them and how GREAT they look. Thanks again to two of the best.....Monty and Ponch, or Ponch and Monty, you will not be forgotten! gunk and beth:Laugh:
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I am confused, baffled, disappointed and so on and so on. Got my gauges installed and must admit, they look awesome. I was sooooooo careful with all the wires, the oil line and the temperature cable. No kinks, or sharp bends. Routed everything like a pro, well, at least in my mind. Everything hooked up, gas tank back on, fired her up. Lights come on, volt meter works and that's it. Temp gauge doesn't register anything. Oil gauge,,,,,,,,,,,nothing. Although I used the black tubing from Ponch to cover the oil pressure line, I can see that oil has started up the line however I can not see how far. I do know that it hasn't reached the gauge. Is it supposed to? Just turning the ignition on for power, not started, the oil gauge goes to just over 20 and that is where it stays when running the bike. WTF????? I was so careful. The only thing I did different is that I used the Equus 1.5" gauges. I think they look better and they match the speedo better than the white face gauges. I do want to say that Ponch's instructions are fantastic. There is no way in hell I would have been able to do this without them. THANKS PONCH! HELP!!!!!! Any idea what I could have done wrong? Wouldn't surprise me if it was somthing obvious. Go ahead guys/gals,,,,bombard me with your wisdoms. I will get all your replies on my blackberry so fill me with a pile of stuff to check when I get home Friday. I WANT TO RIDE! Do I sound desperate enough. Greg. (AKA Thor)
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I finally installed my gauge set from Ponch. The actual install went pretty smooth, and took me about 5 hours. My hat is off to Ponch for his great work on this kit. First, I didn't want my needles to be orange, so I decided to disassemble the gauges and paint the needles black. This turned out to be a hassle, but I prevailed. Upon taking them apart, I broke one of the glasses. http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3819.jpg You can't buy the glass by itself, nor did I want to purchase another set of gauges, so I went to Lowe's and bought a small sheet of glass, and a glass cutter. It wasn't easy to do, but I did it, and you can't tell the difference. Here are the gauges after I painted them. http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3821.jpg Here are some pics from the install. I won't go into all of the details, as several writeups have already been posted here. Yes, cutting the dash has a pretty large pucker factor...lol. http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3822.jpg http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3824.jpg http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3825.jpg http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3827.jpg http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3828.jpg http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3830.jpg So far, I have no leaks, and everything is working great! Thanks again to Ponch, for making it easier. I made one additional mod that I really had to think about, before cutting another hole, but I went ahead and did it... http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/IMG_3831.jpg
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Thanks to the excellent instructions that Ponch provided with the set of gauges he sent me, I was able to successfully get them installed this weekend. I still need to finish getting everything together, but I did get the bike started and was able to test for leaks. I would have never attempted this mod without the encouragement and knowledge I receive here. This was a big job for me. I think the chrome looks great against the unique color of the millenium. Thanks again Ponch!
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Today I replaced my Metzlers with new Dunlop WWW tires with the help of Ponch. Recieved the tires yesterday so, today I took the day off to remove the tires and work around the house. I was able to get a local repair shop to swap the tires in 3 hours so forget the house LOL. I was able to get the front wheel on by myself and Ponch came over about 2pm and showed me how to grease the splines etc. Then he helped me install the rear, torque everything correctly and reinstall the brakes. Got it all done from beginning to end in about a total of 3 hrs. I thought that was not bad for a newbie who had never done this. I really want to thank Ponch for his help and encouragement. Guys like Ponch make this site a wonderful experience. Kbay offered to jump in on Saturday to help me but, now instead I am going to assist him. Now Saturday Kbay and I will attack hit bike and see if we can get his splines etc greased As soon as I get the bike washed up a little I will post a picture of her with the new WWW's. She looks good now!
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Thanks to "Ponch" for making a 400+mile round trip from Houston to Blanco I think I can now be seen from the rear....MAYBE. Again, Thanks Ponch! This is my first time posting on you tube so it may not be that good but you will get the idea. Tom ..OK added Pictures as some requested. In first photo,the LEDS are from CycleGadgets.com ,the Bracket was made and machined by our very own "Ponch". (Handicap Tag by State of Texas,for Debby,however I may need it one day!) Second pic shows the ChromeGlow light bar,$29.95,3 functions,running lts,brake lights and turn signals. Both units come with what you need to install. The saddlebag Rail lights are from DiamonRaccessorries.and the tailight from Custom Dynamics. Hope this helps out. It definitely looks better in real time and at night it is AWESOME! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_cN3bvUTxg]YouTube - MC Lights[/ame]
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Here are a few pics of the work that got done on Gunboats ride this last Sat. Ponch installed a great set of gages and Don and myself ( Ponch helped also ) mounted up his new Kumho rear tire...balancing these will make you pull your hair out... http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b230/kbay116/Gunboat%20gages/
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Ponch, I just wanted to tell you I really appreciated what you did, taking a trip to make sure my Mom and sisters were OK!! OK....so what kind of cheesecake do you want when we go to Houston for Christmas this year!? I owe you BIG!!
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