Looking for a Good Starting Point

[parsonsm]

All,

 

Hey I just joined the forum today after looking around here for some time. I recently inherited a 1984 Venture Royal from a friend and am looking to fix her up. She does run but my friend laid her down and i have some fairing work to do. As he did not have great records, i wanted to get her up and running the right way so am asking if you have a recommended check list of things I look for, fluids to replace, and other items to check. I am going to have a local mech come over and check it out as well but also wanted to get some direction from the experts. I really look forward to learning from you and sharing the successes of getting this bike road ready. Since she only has about 32K miles, I figure there is a lot of life left.

 

Any help and direction would be appreciated, as would pictures as I am very new to all of this and want to make sure I get it right.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Mark

[bongobobny]

You are right, PLENTY of miles left in it! OK first change all the fluids, brake fluids, clutch fluid, radiator flush, rear differential, and of course oil change. Next, buy a can of "Seafoam", half a can to a tank of gas, and drive it like you stole it! After that then you can start to pay attention to necessary things to fix, as well as a whole bunch of "mods" you will find about here on the site.

 

Welcome aboard!!

[KIC]

Heres a list that was given to me when i first joined looking at an 89: Cut and paste this into a Word document and you can print it off:

 

Oh Yea...WELCOME !

 

Checking out a Venture

You can check that the coolant is topped up and clean before you buy. If it is low, or gone, or brown then you have a neglected pile of iron, and bid accordingly. Be aware that coolant leaks can all be fixed, at a price. I know this because mine leaked coolant everywhere, and it cost me to fix it. O-rings at $3 apiece are a minor purchase, until you start counting just how many of them there are!

 

If the cooling system is in good order then the fan will fully control the temperature within the green zone in any weather, at a standstill. Some early bikes had poorly calibrated temp. gauges and they climb nearly to the red, but they should never actually get there. If the gauge reaches the red zone, then a cooling system rebuild will be needed (and some of it should be done anyway). Draining, flushing, cleaning out the radiator and physically cleaning the smaller pipes is a must. Sediment gathers there and flushing won’t shift it. Once that is done, regularly changing the coolant and flushing will keep it clean.

 

Before that the oil and filter need changing, and the air filter needs cleaning and/or replacing. K&N make one which can be had for around $50 with careful shopping. You will never need another. If your bike came with one, have a beer to celebrate.

 

When you change the oil for the first time, what comes out will tell you much about the bike’s history. Firstly, about three quarts should come out! It should not be black nor have any metal bits in it. Any “foam” … like mayo, around the filler, filter or anywhere else tells you that water is going where no water should ever go. Waterpump shaft seals, headgaskets and the frail cylinder head connectors can all leak and cause this. About those plastic pipe connectors. There are two of them. They do not come out in one piece and are about $20 each. Each has three of the aforementioned o-rings. Do the math.

 

So the oil should be plentiful, free of slivery streaks and wrist pin clips, and dark but not too black. It should not have gasoline in it either (rare). If it is like that then change the filter and fill it up. Do not overfill it. About halfway up the sight glass is plenty. Anymore and it will be spraying through the breather and all over your beautiful new air filter.

 

Leaks around the valve covers are common and not a big issue. Oil pouring out is a big issue. The original gaskets were poor but better replacements can be easily sourced. If any of the sixteen bolts holding the covers down is leaking, replace the rubber. If you try to tighten them down to fix a leak you will, over time, simply make it worse. If you are going to replace these gaskets then that is a good time to check the valve clearances. If they are uneven, especially if they are “tight”, then they need adjusting. This is fiddly but not hard and you can borrow the tool from members here.

 

Replace the plugs and, if the plug wires are original, remove the caps and snip ¼” off the wire. Check the cap resistance. It should be 10k Ohms. Trying to fix dodgy caps is fraught with difficulties. I would get new ones.

 

Moving on to the fuel supply. There is a hard to get to filter behind the fuel pump on the lower left of the bike. Change it. Cut the old one open and inspect the contents. A little bit of brown deposit is to be expected, but brown sludge or obvious rust means that the tank is suffering. Most of the tank can be cleaned on the bike there is enough access through the various ports. You did look down the filler for heavy rusting before you brought it home? It takes about five minutes to get the tank off my Triple, and about four hours (if you know what you are doing) to get the tank off the Venture.

 

The petcock is likely to be stiff. Move it to “reserve” and leave it there. Use the gas gauge which is accurate, and carry a small MSR Fuel Bottle in the side case. That will get you a few miles if you run out. Be aware that leaking petcocks are a nightmare. Rebuilding one with new filters and seals will cost around $40. A new one can be had from about $54 up to $75, depending on where you buy. While you are down there, the gas pipe has a very sharp bend and could be quite close to needing replacing.

 

While you were doing all of that charge the battery. If it looks old it probably is. Have it load tested or replace it.

 

So …. We have fresh oil, fresh gas, new plugs and no obvious signs of distress. The coolant is clean and topped off and the battery charged.

 

Turn the key, wait a couple of seconds and hit the starter. Unless it’s cold you will need little or no choke. Leave the throttle completely alone until the engine is running.

 

Run the engine for no more than fifteen seconds then shut it off. Now feel each of the exhaust headers, carefully. They should all be warm. If one or more remains cold then the respective cylinder(s) are not firing. If they are all warm, then start it up again. Go quickly around the bike as it warms up looking for anything amiss. What you do not want to see are oil, fuel or coolant leaks. There will be a bit of smoke as it warms, but not much. There should be none from the exhaust.

 

While we are on the exhaust …. One in poor shape will cost. Just the gaskets in the system add up to a hefty $100 if you need to replace them all. The collector can rot out, and it can rattle. The rattle can be ignored or fixed later. If the joints around the collector leak then it will need fixing. This is one to check before you buy because it’s a good negotiating point.

 

Check out all the electrical components while it is warming up. Lights, flashers, horn etc. With luck they all work and the motor will warm until the fan cuts in. Let it cycle a couple of times before you shut it down. Check again for leaks.

 

Tires should be less than ten years old (they have a date code) and free of any cracking. You are pushing 800lbs down the road on them and they need to be good. It goes without saying that they should have sufficient tread.

 

Check the brake pads for thickness and freedom from oil. If the fork seals have blown then fork oil easily makes it onto the calipers. It’s obvious and needs fixing before you ride. Check rotors for thickness and that they are not binding. There should be no signs of brake fluid leaking anywhere, and the fluid should be changed. Check that the steering bearings are not obviously worn. While we are on the subject of hydraulic fluid, change the clutch fluid too J

 

Now you can go for a ride.

 

Just a few careful miles is enough. Check that the handling is not too strange … it should track true and not meander. The suspension should be compliant and not induce nausea causing your lunch to end up all over the instruments. The brakes should stop you in a straight line and the gears shift fairly smoothly

[cimmer]

If you haven't found it yet, here is the link to the post with the service manual site one of the members put together for us.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3384

You can download a PDF of the service manual for your bike and that will help you figure out how to do some of the items and where they are located at on the bike.

And if you arent sure of something... Ask away here all you need too.

Rick F.

[KIC]

If I can give you a recommendation, get a 3-ring binder and start copying and keeping the info from posts. I can't keep up with all the good information on here.

 

Oh yea... and you HAVE to give 2nd Genners a hard time or you'll get kicked out of the secret 1st Gen club...

 

Here's a document I made for my 87 when I got it.

 

I also just included a list I was given from here when I was looking at my 89:

Edited April 24, 2012 by KIC

[parsonsm]

Thank you all for the great information, I guess my weekend is full already. I know there will be some follow up, one I will post later. Thanks again and GO First Gens.

[Dano]

Huh, your WEEKEND???!! How about the REST of your LIFE!!!!!!!

[parsonsm]

Yea, good point. But am sure it will be well worth it when it is done. Hey, do we have any FaithRiders on the forum?

[Shorty]

Aside from all the above excellant advise, you stated that you needed to fix up the Fairing..... so my advise is this; go to your nearest Auto Zone and purchase several tubes of Plastic Welder. It's quite cheap but really works good. My whole bike is held together with it. I use fiberglass fabric with it.

[frankd]

One important thing that I didn't see listed was to lube the drive shaft splines. On the 1986's (MkII), they added a seal on the rear spline hub, but the 85's and older (Mk I) the hub is open on one end. Every 10 or 12,000 miles, I would take my 83 apart and lube this and the rear wheel drive coupling. The MkII and 2nd Gen don't need the driveshaft splines lubed quite that often because the seal keeps the grease in better. If you look where the drive shaft tube goes into the shaft drive unit, you will see a Zerk fitting. Ignore it....it doesn't do a darn thing. Before the internet, I wore out the drive shaft and shaft drive unit hubs because I was greasing the zerk fitting and the grease wasn't going into the right spot. Do a search here for greasing the drive shaft and if you have any questions afterwards, you'll get a lot of help. Pick up a container of molydenum disulfide grease for the drive shaft couplings. As you will find out when you do a search for the proceedure, that a lot of people here suggest the Honda (car) grease. I don't use that, I bought a container of thick molybendum disulfide grease a long time ago and I'm still using that.

 

Welcome,

 

Frank D.