BlueSky

A very loud backfire sounds to me like intermittent ignition. I would check the ignition components for that cylinder. Just wild guessing here.

What a toy!

Most car engines compression ratios were reduced in 1971 and at the same time, they changed the hp ratings to crankshaft hp so the 302V8 that came in my 70 Mustang that was rated 220hp had a hp rating of about 145hp in 71. In the 70's and 80's I was continually buying and selling old cars. It was a disease! Most of the cars I sold for a small profit or the same as I paid for them. Some I forgot were 1966 GT Mustang which was a special edition with the "pony" interior and chrome exhaust tips coming out the rear valance, another 59 chevy Impala 4 drhdtp ($100), 64 Buick Wildcat, nice low mileage car, 65 Dodge dart 2dr hdtp with the 273 V8 and 4 speed (death trap), 73 Mercury Cougar with the 351Cleveland V8, 69 Mercury Cougar that was the donor car for the 351W engine FMX trans, and 9" rear that went into my 70 Mustang. I put the Mustang drive train in the 69 Cougar and drove it about a year before selling it for more than i paid for it. I used to say that I wish I had all of the cars I've ever owned stored in a warehouse. But, I can't afford it and as far as driving them daily, I'm very happy with today's vehicles. My dream car that I never was able to buy was a 65 - 67 Corvette.

I test rode a 2002 Voyager that had 34k miles on it back in 2010 before I bought a big bike. It also has a loud whine problem. I since have read that Cowpuc bought and resold a couple of these and he adjusted the "balancers" if memory serves and got rid of the gear whine. Anyway that loud gear whine kept me from buying it. I later test rode a 2006 Goldwing and it was so much easier to ride due to the low cog. Loved it but didn't love the price. The owner of the Voyager sold it, bought a Harley Glide, later sold that, and bought a RSV.

Some ingenious people out there with too much time on their hands!

I owned some neat old hot rods such as a 56 Chevy Convertible, 59 Chevy Impala 2 hdtp with the 283 4barrel V8 and 3 speed manual with electric overdrive. The OD rear that year was a 4.11 ratio and that car was surprisingly quick. I bought a new 65 Chevelle with the 300hp 327, 4 speed, posi rear and put 100k miles on it in 4 years a lot of it 1/4 mile at a time. I owned a 69 SS396 Chevelle 4 speed posi, 70 Mustang fastback that I exchanged the 302V8, C4 automatic, 8" rear to a 351 windsor, FMX auto, and 9" rear after owning it 7 years. 79 V8 Mustang 4 speed, 82 TransAm, 86 Monte CarloSS. Later I owned a 95 Mark VIII Lincoln with DOHC V8 and now a 2005 Dodge Magnum with the Hemi V8. I can truthfully say that I would not want any of those old cars today. The 79 Mustang was the first of the bunch to have AC. I like the modern cars much better. Out of all the cars I have owned the Mark VIII Lincoln is my favorite closely followed by my Hemi Magnum. The newer cars are better in every way. They are more powerful, get better fuel economy, handle better, stop better, more comfortable in most cases, and last longer. The new GT Mustang, Camaros and Dodge Chargers/Challengers with the 392 V8 will blow the doors off any of those old cars.

Futher googling reveals more about the nova: "Harley got so far down the line as to have built 30 engines, 12 complete bikes and the die-cast tooling for the production crankcases. .."

So, I googled harley nova engine and read that Porsche developed the engine. I can't find out who if anyone they sold the design to.

Seems to me that raising the forks in the clamps would decrease the rake and make the steering less stable but at highway speeds the lowering of the bike's front end should make it more stable aerodynamically.

As I remember Harley had to get Porsche to design the high hp V-twin engine in the Vrod. I wonder who they would get to design a V4? Maybe Yamaha since Yamaha seems to be determined to abandon all the V4s.

Seems parts would be scarce but it definitely is a cool bike! What size engine does it have? Never mind. I just googled and found out more about it, 600cc.

Lean burn may be one reason Ford is using so many turbocharged small engines in their vehicles now. The 2.7L turbo V6 F150 has the highest mpg ratings of the full size gasoline powered trucks I think.

I and my buddies cut out those warm up butterflies. We didn't want the resistance in the exhaust to keep us from winning our drag races.

That's hard to believe. I wouldn't believe the oil was changed unless it could be proven. Maybe if the oil was the old Quaker State? If that is true, my truck and car are building up a lot of sludge because I change the oil every 5k miles and sometimes I only drive them 3k miles in a year. 150k and 111k miles on them.

At least one engine that I am aware of, a Toyata V6, tended to sludge up with the engine failing due to too small cooling water passages in the heads. This was done to promote clean burning for emissions reasons. But, the oil got too hot, turned to sludge and the engine failed. Toyota denied engine warranty claims for a while even though owners had receipts for their oil changes until they finally realized it was a design problem. Engineers push engine designs trying to achieve lower emissions, better fuel economy, and more hp and sometimes it causes problems. Way back when 1976, I bought a used 74 Ford Stationwagon 400cu in V8 with about 40k miles on it from the chevy dealer. I talked to the second owner who said he bought it with 29k miles and changed the oil every 3k miles. He said the only complaint he had was with the gas mileage, 9mpg. I recurved the distributor centrifugal and vacuum advance and it got 16mpg on a trip. Anyway, it started smoking on startup not too long after i bought it. I thought, no big deal, I'll replace the valve seals and fix it. But, when I removed the valve covers, I found lots of sludge as well as worn out valve guides. I assume the original owner did not bother changing the oil the first 29k miles. After that when I looked at used cars, I tried to look down the oil fill tube to see how clean the head was.

It seems some are using Rotella in their autos too. If I remember correctly?? the reason auto oils don't have zinc any more is because it is not good for the cats and rotella has zinc which a high revving motorcycle engine needs. Auto engines can get by without zinc now because they all have roller cams that don't have as much friction. In fact if you fill a newly rebuilt flat tappet engine with modern oil, it will wipe out the cam. You have to use special breakin oil to avoid that.

From what I've been reading the last few years, Pennzoil is one of the best oils. There is a guy on the F150 forum who works in an oil co. lab and he thinks it's one of if not the best. A member of the LXforum has a 2005 Dodge Magnum Hemi with 375,000 miles on it and he uses Pennzoil Platinum and runs it 20k miles sometimes. He has it tested along the way. I suspect all modern oils will do the job these days.

Way back in 1971, I bought a 59 Chevy Impala 4 dr hdtp 283 cu in engine for $100 mainly to have a car to work on and as a second car. Anyhow, when I bought it, it smoked like a freight train. It had about 105k miles on it and the PO had used non-detergent oil in it the last 50k miles. Then he switched back to detergent oil. He said it leaked oil at the valve covers and he had not been able to stop the leak. So, one of the first things I did was to remove the valve covers in order to replace the gaskets. Oil gushed out when I removed the covers. The valve cover was almost filled up with sludge from using the non-detergent oil. And the oil drain holes in the heads were plugged causing the oil level in the valve covers to get higher than the valve guides and run down the valve stems into the combustion chambers. Switching back to detergent oil had started breaking up the sludge which caused the plugging of the drain holes. I removed the intake manifold and removed a bucket full of sludge from the heads and under the manifold. Afterwards, it didn't smoke any more. I highly doubt that any modern day oil will not keep an engine clean if changed regularly.

My first wife's father was a mechanic and if you mentioned quaker state oil, he would go on a rant about how it sludged up engines. I'm sure it isn't that way now but I've heard about quaker state sludging up engines many times in the old days.

According to my 07 RSV owners manual, there is 0.92 gallon of gas when you hit reserve, 5.94 gallons when full. However, you can't fill it all the way easily. Like I said, mine held 4.5 gallons after going to reserve and riding about a mile.

One reason I buy old bikes. I can't rationalize the money for a new one with the expenses that go with it. I just buy liability insurance so if I crash it, I dispose of it if it costs too much to repair. But, I'm also not a serious rider like some of you.

Yep, bleeding would be the first step to determine the problem. Also check the brake lines for swelling.

there is about a gallon of gas available on reserve.

I don't remember the details but I remember Condor posting information about a bleedback hole in the master cylinder that if clogged the pressure on the slave cyl can't be relieved. Might be worth checking.

Just don't make a spark when you punch the holes or it might be a bad day.