Jump to content

6m459

Expired Membership
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    384

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by 6m459

  1. 6m459
    Hi, There are two #3 Phillips head screws that go through tabs on either side of the TCI box, holding it to a plate which is bolted at four corners to the frame. The screws are head down so you have to reach under the plate to undo them. There isn't a lot of room for fists or tools under there though and seeing what you are doing while you work is impossible. I wound up removing the battery mount plate and then undoing the 4 mounting bolts at the corners of the TCI mounting plate, so that I could pivot it about 45 degrees off horizontal, to make more room to work. I had to use a box end wrench with a pivoting and ratcheted box end to get the bolts out, as they also are rather inaccessible. Watch out for the grounding wire on the forward port side bolt BTW. Once the TCI is free of the frame, you can access small Phillips head screws at the corners holding a lid onto the TCI box. Once the lid is off you are presented with the foil side of the circuit board. That is as far in as I have been in so far. Apparently the circuit board can be removed from the box but I have yet to do this so cannot advise you as yet. I understand that there are 8 or so fragile glass body diodes that, 25 years on, are good candidates for replacement with a set of 1n400x ones. I'll get round to that some day too as and when it seems appropriate or, knowing me, unavoidable. Hope this is of interest. Cheers, Brian H.
  2. 6m459
    Hi, The problem you describe sounds very much like the intermittent, heat related misfire under load at 3k rpm's and above, that I have been experiencing for the last couple of seasons. It started small and got worse over the course of a couple of seasons. Recently I could stand it no more so, having satisfied myself that other areas like those enumerated in the previous post were not my problem, I set to and dug the TCI box out of its stock location and relocated it on top of the air box as per VR.org lore and advice . I found that the TCI connections were a bit crusty so I gave them a rudimentary clean up. Seems to have the problem 90% fixed. I still get a brief band as the engine comes up to operating temperature. Its quite abrupt and goes away completely now by the time the temperature is up. I think more cleaning / tightening of connections and possibly a look inside the TCI box for cracked broken or cold solder joints, will eventually rid me of the problem completely. I am encouraged. Moving the TCI box is not a 5 minute job. It took me both days of a weekend, by the time I got things back together. Now that I have it relocated for better accessibility, I can work on the TCI and its connections at my leisure. I think that changing the fuse box is another area that you should definitely look at regardless of its involvement in your current problem. The OEM one is a piece of junk and needs to be replaced with a more modern one that accespts ATC type fuses. See other posts on how others have tackled this. Hope this is of some interest & good luck! Cheers, Brian H.
  3. 6m459
    I had a stator from RM stator. It lasted just one month, I think it was in 2006, May to June. All I do is commute to work and back, maybe 80 miles / day so a month would be say 20 x that so 1600 miles max, assuming no rain days. It just quit working on the way home one day. I was ticked at having to do the job twice! I found out that RM stator is re selling product from electrosport in the US. I phoned electrosport and they honored their warranty on the stator no arguments. I shipped it to California, they tested it and then shipped me back a new one. Good service but it took a month round trip. My bike would have been off the road all that time, had I not had a used OEM stator that I'd bought on EBAY for $15. Actually I bought the stator cover and the stator was included condition unknown. I put it in and crossed my fingers. I got lucky. That old OEM stator is still in service and doing fine. (fingers are still crossed, knock wood yada yada yada) If and when it happens again, I am going to buy an OEM one I think. I never noticed any advantage to the supposedly High Output aftermarket one. I've not ruled out having my failed one rewound and did stirke a deal with RM stator to rewind it for me for $125 Cdn but I havent sent it in to them yet. I sold the replacement Electrosport unit to a member here who was in a jam. Full disclosure of course. Hope this is helpful and of interest. Brian H.
  4. 6m459
    That's just what I wanted to hear! Thanks. The bike ran like a champ all the way home this afternoon. She was like a new bike. Brian H.
  5. 6m459
    OK folks, a couple of worry wart questions from the dirvers seat: I moved my TCI last weekend. The job was the expected PITA but its done now. I took the bike for its first ride to work since the relocate today. I find that the original problem, a misfire under load at 3k rpm's and above was still there but less frequent than I was used to before. The problem always did seem to be temperature related. It was much more apparent on cool mornings than warm afternoons. Today, the engine was rock solid when I set off from home but as she warmed up there was a short period where she would mis fire and then she seemed to get through it and ran flawlessly again. It was as though there was a troublesome tempreature band she went into and then out of as she warmed up. I have yet to open this TCI but I am prepared to do so if necessary. I suspect that I'll find an iffy solder joint somewhere inside that is sensitive to thermal expansion. Meanwhile I am trying to characterize the fault and the effects that the TCI move has had on the situation. While riding, I was wondering / worrying about the reasoning for Yam's engineers to put the TCI where they did. Do we know anything about their original thinking? Does the TCI actually require some cooling from the air flow in its stock location? If so am I damaging it by running it up top? What sort of miles have folks here got running bikes with relocated TCI's ? Is there any indication that the TCI's are more prone to fail after a relocation? Thanks, Brian H.
  6. 6m459
    Hi and welcome fellow xj'er! Have you tried SEAFOAM on this bike yet? Can't hurt. Your fault description certainly does sound electrical in nature. Suggest you move the TCI as mentioned above, and trouble shoot from there. I just dug the TCI module out of my '84 last weekend and relocated it onto the air box. I was having intermittent mis fire issues that I needed to get a handle on. Cleaning up those 25 y.o. connections seems to have helped but its early days yet. I found the job to be a bit of a pain and thought I'd post some suggestions for you in hopes they make the job easier for you. You have to remove the battery, the battery box and the air box to get down to the stock location of the TCI which is under the battery. The air box is the biggest pain when it comes time to reinstall it. There are 5 connections to the air box. 4 to the carbs and 2 vent hoses, a small diameter one port side forward and a large diameter one aft amidships. The large diameter vent hose is the big PITA to reinstall. There is just no room for hands and tools to connect things as you reassemble. What I did was to follow the vent hose down to the first joint, just above the oval crankcase vent thing in the V between the cylinders. I undid that joint and pulled the whole 6 or 8 inches of vent hose out but I tied a string to the bottom end of it before I pulled it out from above, so that I could pull it back in again easily with the string, when the time came. (learned this the hard way last time I re & re'd the air box) Then I re connected the large diameter vent hose to the air box and as I lowered the air box back into place, I pulled the string to get the hose to follow its original path back into the depths of the plumbing in the V. Its still a bit*h to reconnect at the joint but its the best way I have found of reinstalling the air box. Also getting at the #3 phillips head screws that secure the TCI in place is another PITA! They are a devil to shift as they are upside down and there's not a lot of room for tools or hands in that space. The best solution I found was that with a pivoting head box end wrench, I could undo the 2 bolts that hold the battery bracket to the frame and then remove it. Then using similar technique, undo the 4 bolts that hold the TCI and boost sensor plate to the frame. Then I could pivot the plate around about 45 degrees and get a proper driver onto the screws and fist on the driver. Worked like a charm but its a bit fiddley, and I have small hands! If you try this, beware that there is a grounding connection under the forward port side bolt head. Don't let that wire fall down into the engine cavity, I tied mine off with a twist tie until I was ready to re insert that bolt. Other than that, its just a lot of stuff to re and re. I cannot imagine what its like on a Royale! Hope this helps, welcome to the world of the xvz. Cheers, Brian H.
  7. 6m459
    Hi, Today's project was to service the blue '84's TCI connections and in the process, to relocate the TCI unit onto the top of the air box, as per accepted VR.org practice and advice. (I was motivated to do this as my heat sensitive, intermittent, 3k rpm and up misfire under load has become intolerable lately. Cold mornings she'd be miserable / hot afternoons she'd work fine but lately she has been increasingly unhappy even in the afternoons unless its extremely hot. Seemed obvious to me that it was some thermal expansion at a connection somewhere. Likely at the TCI.) Ok so, after a long struggle, I got the TCI free of the bike. In triumph, I sat down with it and a spare unit, bought on ebay a year or so ago, to compare the numbers on the two units. All numbers printed on the silver label match exactly. However the numbers embossed by numbered punches differ by 1. My original has 310 punched on its label and the spare unit has 311 punched onto it. Originally I assumed that the punched numbers were a serial number but ,considering the numbers of these bikes manufactured, it cannot be that I have s/n's 310 and 311. (If that turns out to be the case I'm off to buy a lottery ticket!) Can anyone tell me what these punched numbers represent and if its significant, should I ever need to swap the ebay unit in as a replacement on either of my '84's? Thanks, Brian H.
  8. 6m459
    Hi, I would suggest that you also replace the upper bushings in the fork tubes while you are doing this job. I hope that this doesn't come too late as you seem to be making good progress, congrats on that btw. The part cost is not much and it might prevent premature wear on your new seals. As I understand it the bushing takes the major bearing force of the weight load. As they wear the centre tube is allowed slightly off centre, inappropriately putting more load onto the seal which distorts it. I believe that the part number is 3JJ-23125-00-00 On advice from someone here, I did this the second time I replaced my blue bike's fork seals and it has been clear sailing since. Hope this is of interest. Cheers, Brian H.
  9. 6m459
    My blue '84 came with a rotten collector. I bought a better one on ebay and installed it to replace the rotten one. I used a combo of gaskets that came with the ebay one and ones recycled from the original. I have several years of riding that bike now with no exhaust leaks at the collector so far as I can determine. Mufflers also have to come of for rear wheel removal. They go back on with the old gaskets no problem in my experience. My current exhaust leaks are at the ports on the rear cylinders. Still working up a strategy to tackle that one, as I don't see enough space to get tools in there. So far I have been lazy and just put up with a bit (ok quite a bit) of noise but I will repair this soon as life & other responsibilities permit. Hope this is of interest. Cheers, Brian H.
  10. 6m459
    Well I defer to the wisdom of the group on the logo. Obviously its just me being a grumpy old curmudgeon again. I certainly recognize that a lot of work has been put in by folks to get to this point and I'd like to say thanks and good job to one and all! Let me know when to order the shirts. Cheers, Brian H.
  11. 6m459
    Don't get me wong, I like the idea of a Tee shirt or two and I am all for a pocket and choice of colours! I will be ordering a shirt or two. I'd also like to emblazen my bikes with some VR.org endorsement since it is the reason the old gal's still go. I have to say however that I am not a big fan of the logo. It doesn't visually suggest anything to do with motorcycles, its too dark and the type face is too small and in distinct to even get the URL across to the casual observer. With my membership renewal, the other venture site sent me stickers & badges with their logo on. Aside from the fact that their's has more visual 'pop' to it, it features profile / silouettes of both gen 1 & 2 bikes which make it un mistakably about motorcycles. Sorry to be negative but can't we do better logo wise? Brian H.
  12. 6m459
    Thanks Todd / tvking63, for pursuing this and for sharing the info with us. Please keep us updated. I think its the way to go, 25 y.o. eletronics aren't a long term solution as you so astutely observe. I, and my two old tugboats, thank you for your efforts! Cheers. Brian H.
  13. 6m459
    I have very similar mileage on my blue daily use bike, so I am also very glad to have this info! Thanks one and all. Brian H.
  14. 6m459
    Hey Wayne, how many miles / kM's on that bike ? Thanks, Brian H.
  15. 6m459
    I almost bought one of these but decided against it when I couldn't think where I'd keep it. http://www.princessauto.com/components/com_virtuemart/shop_image/product/8228215.jpg I used to have one similar to this but it gave me the willies having my XJ up on it, I couldn't even imagine using it for the Venture. It just didn't give me confidence that it wouldn't topple off onto me. It didn't accommodate bikes with exhaust pipes lower than the frame very well at all. There were some adaptor brackets available but I felt it was good money after bad. http://www.canadiantire.ca/media/images/products/images/Automotive/AutoRepair/CreepersJacksStands/0091015_160_CC_v1_m56577569830565557.jpg I sold it at a loss to regain some garage space. Hope this is of interest, Brian H.
  16. 6m459
    I did something similar but more temporary for my tire change earlier this year. Mine is based on a pallet that I brought home from work as fire wood. http://www.flickr.com/photos/37150672@N02/sets/72157621124594915/detail/ I like your work bench and am tempted but where do you keep it when not in use? My lash up version went back to the wood pile once I was done with it. Hope this is of interest. Brian H.
  17. 6m459
    My blue '84 has a sound that might be described as a whine. Seems common to the Yamaha shafties. Some one over on the XJ site described it as sounding line the noise from the Jetson's cartoon space cars. Brian H.
  18. 6m459
    I'd check the kick stand and kill switch with an ohm / continuity meter first, in those circumstances. Keep us posted. Brian H.
  19. 6m459

    MightyPutty

    6m459 posted a topic in Picture Folder

    http://www.powergate.ca/~bjh/pix/DSC00275-600.jpg Brian H.
  20. 6m459
    How many miles ? Brian H.
  21. 6m459
    Well Red isn't licensed or insured yet so she's only out on occasion, quite unofficially you understand. Blue has some issues I want to take my time over, exhaust and TCI issues. My plan was to get Red up to my specs and then transfer plate and insurance over from Blue to Red while I do some work on Blue. I am thinking now though, as Red gets closer to completion, that I'll just bite the bullet and put lic & ins on them both for the duration of the season but haven't done so yet. One to tinker with and one to ride thats the plan. What could be better ? Cheers, Brian H.
  22. 6m459
    Here are my two. http://home.powergate.ca/~lah/pix/DSC00281-600.jpg Still working on Red's bodywork but she's coming along well. Hope this is of interest. Cheers. Brian H.
  23. 6m459
    You are right. Better safe than sorry. Brian H.
  24. 6m459
    Thanks! PM coming right up. Brian H.
  25. 6m459
    I have tried Simple Green in the past but was disappointed. You really spray, wait and hose ? How long do you wait? I 've been to visit my locall Wally to look for some Awesome to try out. No luck. I have wondered about EasyOff oven cleaner but then my conscience kicks in again. I wound up using this stuff from a local farm equipment store. It worked OK but I still had to use the toothbrush to shift the worst of it. It left a greasy mark on my driveway where the run off had been flowing under the bike so it must have been shifting it! Ironically when I got the bottle home and read the fine print, it said "don't use on glass or motorcycles". Odd combo so I pressed on and all seems good. I kept it off the plastic. Some of the clear coat on the engine covers seems a bit more yellow than I remember but WTF, she's no beauty queen. Thanks for the tips, keep them coming. Brian H.
×
×
  • Create New...