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6m459

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Everything posted by 6m459

  1. 6m459
    Hi, I'd like to see this. Could you post a picture or two of the bike's front end assembled and the clearance issues? What springs have you got in the fork tubes, OEM or Progressives? Just a thought. Cheers, Brian H.
  2. 6m459
    I have never thought of either of mine as particularly tall or top heavy, as 800 lb m/c's go anyways. I have no troubles at parking lot speeds. I wouldn't have bothered repacking the front wheel bearing, I'd have replaced it. Its cheap peace of mind. Brian H.
  3. 6m459
    Well according to my records it was '06 when I did the forks last, so perhaps I am due after all. I have looked at the forks and felt them but don't find any burrs. When I raise the dust cap out of the way and mop up all the oil in the seal cavity, I find that there appears to be some sandy / rusty crud in the bottom of the seal cavity between the oil seal and the dust seal. This is a bit mysterious and has me puzzled. The forks themselves look and feel fine. I did hit one mother of a pot hole / road wrinkle the other day. Wondering if that had anything to do with my sudden massive leak. Brian H.
  4. 6m459
    How long should fork seals last? I thought I had them licked on my blue bike from back early in the '08 season, or perhaps it was '07. On the way home from work this evening though, I noticed that my port side fork is leaking again big time. I also changed the bushings when I last did the seals and I only used genuine Yama parts. They have both been clean as a whistle ever since, up to today. Would gators help, or do they just mask the problems? Brian H.
  5. 6m459
    As I understand things, the Venture's mechanical speedometer cable is not a problem and could be removed. The Vapor unit has its own speedo sensor that counts the rotation of the front wheel with a fork mounted sensor and a hub mounted magnet. If I made the switch, I would likely take the core of the old speedo cable out and leave the outer sheath in place. Brian H.
  6. 6m459
    Has anyone any experience with a unit like this on a first gen Venture? Could I retire my 26 y.o. dash board instruments en mass with one of these? Thanks, Brian H.
  7. 6m459
    As is often the way, I soon had it resolved after some lunch and a sit down. When I got back, I loosened the banjo bolt at the reservoir and squeezed the brake lever. Then I held the lever down as I re tightened the banjo bolt. Once the banjo bolt was tight, I released the brake lever again. I repeated the above about 3 times and all was good. Thanks for the ideas. Brian H.
  8. 6m459
    Hi, I have had the front brake lever / master cyl assembly off my red bike to fit a new sight glass. The brake worked fine before this, so I know all is well except that I have let a bit of air in up top. After re assembly, I have air in the system and soft lever action but I know its all up top at the reservoir end. Whats the simplest way to re prime the master cylinder in this case? (Sorry for what might be a well addressed question, but I am under the gun a bit as my temporary permit for this bike expires after tomorrow and I have to get it to the inspection station before then or legally it becomes a paper weight. They seem to think front brakes are important.) Thanks, Brian H.
  9. 6m459
    Well I have to report that one of my repaired sight glasses is leaking after a ride today. I haven't had time to do a full post mortem on this yet but am suspicious of the silicone product I used to bond the glass into place and the size of the gap, as I used a slightly smaller than optimal diameter glass disk. I'd like some suggestions from others about the known good epoxies to use. Thanks, Brian H.
  10. 6m459
    I am considering one of these, as I have lost my winter storage space. http://www.thebikebarn.net/images/tourer_new2.jpg Expensive, but very cool! Brian H.
  11. 6m459
    Hi, When I did my stator replace; I put some gasket silicone on the stator wires, when I pulled the last inch of wire into the rubber grommet, to draw it into the grommet around the wire to prevent any possibility of a leak there. Seems to have worked. Hope this helps, Brian H.
  12. 6m459
    Hi, I soaked my carb boots in hot tap water for 10 or 12 minutes to warm them up, so that they'd be nice and pliable before I installed them. Worked well for me. Not recommended method: On a previous bike I used a toaster oven to warm them a bit. This didn't work well as surfaces close to the heating elements got more heat than they needed and burned a bit. Hope this helps, Brian H.
  13. 6m459
    Check THIS post in the tech section with some pix and info on a repair I did. Hope this helps, Brian H.
  14. 6m459
    I have been enjoying reading the exploits of a couple of insane guys from Norway riding two 70 y.o. Nimbus side car rigs around the world. http://kccd.no/chronicles/2006/part2/x175.jpg As of March 23, they were in Huntsville Alabama. Unfortunately I didn't learn about them till after they passed through my neck of the woods. Check it out HERE if you have some time on your hands. Brian H.
  15. 6m459
    Hi, I have lost count. How many of us are running the Ignitech box now ? What do I ask them for when I order one? Thanks, Brian H.
  16. 6m459
    Hi, I find that often when I go to the dealer with a part number, from these old bikes, that the counter guy, after some head scratching, says 'Oh that number has been changed to this other part number'. Even simple parts like a bolt to mount the front brake caliper triggered one of these episodes. Now if I go to the dealers parts counter, I say here is my part number and btw its an old number and may have changed. That seems to shorten the process. Hope this helps, Brian H.
  17. 6m459
    Hi, Body plastic, the perennial problem for these old tugboats! I have done quite a lot of plastic body panel repairs using fibreglass. I find it is hit or miss whether it sticks well or not. I have some repairs that have lots of miles on them and some that failed quite quickly. Adhesion to the plastic seems to be the issue. On the whole, I have come to the conclusion that it is not the best strategy unless one is building a complete part from scratch as I did with the piece across below the radiator which was missing on my blue bike when I got it. Recently, I have been using, of all things, Mighty Putty for some repairs even to high stress areas like mounting tabs. Seems to behave better than the f/g so far. In many repairs, I have combined the mighty putty with the fibreglass drywall mesh tape for strength reinforcement. I mix a wad of mighty putty about big enough for the repair and then split it in two. I apply the first half and smooth it into place, then appy a piece of the mesh so that both sets of strands go diagonally across the crack I am repairing. I smooth that in till the mighty putty squishes thru the mesh, then I put the other half of the batch of mighty putty over the top of that and smooth it in well. Surface prep seems important for both f/g and m/p adhesion. I clean the OEM body plastic on the back side with Acetone prior to application of the repair material. I sometimes also rough up the area with an exacto knife blade in a criss cross pattern to aid adhesion. http://www.powergate.ca/~bjh/pix/DSC00275-600.jpg Mounting tab formed of Mighty Putty There is also a 2 component product called PLASTEX that is very good. I have used this to rebuild missing pieces in the black dash panels and have managed some quite intricate repairs. Its also available in various colours. The Plastex kit comes with a 'silly putty' like substance that you heat up and then spread onto a good part to take the shape. This 'silly putty' then retains the shape when it cools down so you can transfer it to the same place on another identical part that has a piece missing. This forms a mold into which you can pour the actual plastex which bonds into the broken part complete with the surface pattern! When the Plastex has cured, you peel off the 'silly putty'. Its really quite amazing, but a bit fiddly and it takes time to develop the technique. I am not sure I can claim to be an expert, but I have achieved some nice repairs none the less. Hope this helps. Brian H.
  18. 6m459
    I take it all was working fine before the tip ? Have you done simple things like check the fluid levels in the clutch reservoir yet? A tip like that might have introduced some air into the system. Perhaps a bleed is called for. Let us know & good luck, Brian H.
  19. 6m459
    Hi, I did similar glass replacement on my red bike last fall. This bike came to me with severely deteriorated sight glasses. One was actually breached and the other was quite swollen and ready to breach any moment. I used a gasoline proof gasket silicone as my bonding agent. I checked with the mfg first and they said brake fluid would be no problem for this product. I did the job while the reservoirs were still on the bike. I think I loosened the fixing clamp to rotate the reservoir around the handlebar a bit to get gravity onto my side. I cut my own glass disk for the first one but that was enough of that! I bought a bunch from a jewelers supply house in California. This was well worth the price given the difficutly of cutting my own. The ones I bought are a bit smaller diameter than I would have gone for with the benefit of hind sight. I bought them based on measurements I took anticipating not removing a metal insert that holds the OEM ones in place. For some reason I had to remove this metal insert which made the available diameter of the recess a mm or so bigger. All in all though, the ones I have worked fine just aren't 100% optimal. It was a bit fiddly getting a neat job but it turned out OK. I cleaned out the recess where the glass sits and put the adhesive in there with a small spatula. Then I pushed the glass in and let the silicone displace to take up the gap. I wished I had used slightly less than I did as there is some excess on the inside but I am OK with it. Holding the glass while I did this was the fiddly part. The solution I found was to use some clear shipping tape to fashion a flap that I could hold on to. To do this I took a piece of tape and folded it over on itself for about 3/4" but kept the sticky ends free which I stuck to the glass with the flap protruding at the centre line of the glass. I then cut the excess around the circumference of the glass. This worked very well. I hope I have described it clearly enough. Its been standing all winter with brake fluid in and no leaks so far as I have seen. I still have several glasses left over so give me a shout if you want a pair. Hope this is of interest and helpful. Brian H.
  20. 6m459
    In cases like this, I have had good luck with using my dremmel tool and a fibreglass cutting disk to cut a slot across the top of the bolt head in which I can use a wide conventional screw driver blade. You might want to soak some penetrating oil like Kroil into the threads overnight first to help out at the back end. If that doesn't work, I continue and grind the head right off and then drill out the shaft of the bolt once I have a flat surface to centre punch and drill on. Hope this helps, Brian H.
  21. 6m459
    I decided not to proceed with this bike purchase on the basis that I already have 3 bikes and have lost my winter storage after this spring. It took some serious soul searching but I think its for the best. Thanks for all the good ideas and advice. Brian H.
  22. 6m459
    Hi, I have a top box from my blue '84 that is physically in good shape but has badly sun beaten paint and is missing the lock and hinge covers. I'd like to know if anyone wants it? Free to good home, you pay shipping. Can do some pictures if there is interest. I guess it'll go to the dump if there's not. Thanks, Brian H.
  23. 6m459
    I bought a pair locally last year for $10 ! Found them on Ebay, Craigs list or Kijiji or similar and picked them up on my way home from work one evening. They're in perfect shape! Guess I did ok huh ? Before that, my old blue just had gaping holes where the vents should be. The P.O. had spilled crazy glue into her vent louvers while doing a hamfisted repair. They were irrepairabley stuck and worse looking than the gaping holes so I chucked them. This looked ugly but somehow never bothered me till I bought the red bike which had the vents in tact. Win some loose some I guess. Cheers, Brian H.
  24. 6m459
    I find that a local retail chain stocks the Shelter Logic products. I am looking at a 10 x 10-ft Shed in a Box as it seems a better fit for the area I have in mind and still seems to offer a good amount of space inside. Customer reviews of the GIB and the SIB's seem mixed, I'd also like to get a sense of how the door / end panels are fitted, so I'd like to find a store in the area that has a demo one set up to view but have not found one yet. I guess its a lot of retail floor space to tie up. Cheers, Brian H.
  25. 6m459
    Thanks Cougar, for the GIB suggestion, it is a good idea. I am wondering about such a structure and local bylaws though. I will need to ask some questions at town hall first I think. (I was recently cited for having an improperly stored tent trailer on my other side yard that had been there at least 10 years so presumably either some fascists have taken over or a neighbor got pissed at me) Anyways, I did a quick bit of measuring last evening when I was at my dad's place and it seems that 2 bikes side by side is doable within the 72" width. Each bike measured 32 inches across the widest part of the fairing and 37 from mirror tip to mirror tip. Cheers, Brian H.
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