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6m459

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Everything posted by 6m459

  1. 6m459
    There is a tip over switch that kills the engine's ignition circuits if the bike is more than 60 degrees off vertical. Dropped my bike once and it did work. It resets itself when the bike was vertical again. I think that the engineers are way ahead of you. I have thought about bypassing my kill switch but have resolved not to unless I get stranded, then the gloves will come off. BTW, for folks who have had the kill switch go flakey and cause an intermittent misfire, can you elaborate a bit. Did the misfire happen at idle or only at roadspeeds? Cheers, Brian H.
  2. 6m459
    Yes, I think that #109 is it and yes I could probably make one and yes that's what I'll do if push comes to shove. I even have one on the other bike I could use to model for the copy. Meanwhile, any one got one to spare? Thanks, Brian H.
  3. 6m459
    Hi, I am short one bodywork bracket for my red '84. I wondered if anyone here might have an extra they'd part with? The bracket I need is the one that holds the bodywork piece just near where the front left lower faring turns to join the picece that goes under the radiator. It anchors the plastic to one of the mounting bolts for the LHS engine case guard. Its a small right angle piece that has a threaded hole on the bodywork end and an open hole at the case guard end. I hope I am being clear. Anyone got one that for a few bucks they'd put it in the mail to me? Thanks, Brian H.
  4. 6m459
    Hi, What do folks use to keep the visible portions of the first gen engine cases clean and presentable looking? I have cleaned mine on occasion but its a job I don't like much, so they get pretty dirty each time before I'll do it again. They are very grimey at the moment. Generally, I use soap and water and a tooth brush. I have used carb & brake parts spary cleaners but my conscience nags me about environmental issues. Is there an easier & safer way? Spray on, hose off & go for a ride is the kind of thing I had in mind. I don't think she'd like the pressuer washer though. What's the best way? Thanks, Brian H.
  5. 6m459
    A colleague at work recently put me onto this stuff. Frankly, I wouldn't have bothered but he insisted and even brought me a sample to try. Apparently they use it in the finishing dept where we work for polishing up plexi glass parts. I have to admit it seems to work well. I had lots of crazing and cracking of my speedo and tach dial face plastic. From the P.O. leaving the bike parked out in the sun a lot I think. A few applications of the Novus #2 and they have become much less noticeable indeed. The bugs don't stick to my windshield like they used to either and it shines up nice and clear but wasn't in that bad a state to begin with. I don't know if I'll buy more when the sample runs out, nor do I know how much it costs or where to get it but it does seem to do a nice job. Hope this is of interest. Brian H.
  6. 6m459
    Hey, From your description, sounds like a fuel pump problem to me. However, I don't quite understand what you mean by: My blue '84's fuel pump failed a couple of seasons ago. It failed intermittently and would work sometimes but not reliably. Left me stranded a few times before I figured it out, but mercifully close to home each time. I replaced it with a used one from someone here and haven't looked back. I keep a spare on hand now. When you first turn the key after the bike has been standing for awhile, you should hear a series of mechanical clicks for a few seconds. That's the fuel pump topping up the carbs. The first clue I had, was that I didn't hear that happening any more. Fortunately its an easy item to change. I also changed the fuel filter while I was at it on the basis that I didn't know when it was changed last. Hope this helps, Brian H.
  7. 6m459
    I'll likely do something like that temporarily but it will bug me. I'll fix it or replace it. BTW, I'll give you one guess what the sight glass looks like. Cheers, Brian H.
  8. 6m459
    Thanks, I have already done that. None found but re heated many anyways just in case. The problem IS isolated to the two float switches using a multi meter to measure continuity at their respective connection wires. There isn't any mystery about it the float switches are flakey. Cheers, Brian H.
  9. 6m459
    Holy Carp! there is 50 psi in there.
  10. 6m459
    Hi, One of the issues my red bike came to me with is an intermittent brake fluid alert on the dash computer display, regardless of how much fluid is or isn't in the hydraulic systems front and rear. (The P.O. had disabled the red flashing light by cutting a wire on the back of the dash but I can't live like that.) When it happened to me today, I had forgotten, that I had previously (last fall) isolated this to the float switch in the front brake reservoir. Sometimes it seems to stick open circuit and nothing will persuade it otherwise. After a bit of headlight removing, wire tracing, continuity measuring and head scratching, it all began to come back to me so I popped the lid of the res and lifted the float by hand. NOPE still o/c on that float switch even with the float held at top of its travel. I just happened to have a very powerful magnet, from a computer disk drive, handy. When I held it close to the side of the reservoir casting, suddenly I had continuity at last. Remove the powerful magnet and bob the float and the alert comes back. The lessons here I think are that: A) a powerful magnet is a good but not obvious trouble shooting tool. B) that my float's magnet is weak or the reed switch has become unreliable or both. Questions I have come away with are: 1) Can the reed switch portion of the reservoir be changed? 2) Can it be done without removing the brake lever assy from the handle bar? 3) Is there any way to get a more powerful magnet into my float or perhaps rejuvinate the one already there? BTW, I also have a similar thing going on with this bike's engine oil level switch. I have in mind to replace that next oil change but it seems odd that two float switches would fail on the same bike. Is there any history of this? Do you think I should ask the P.O. if he experiences other odd phenomena like crops circles that might also have had an effect on the magnets on this bike? Opinions and advice welcome as always. Thanks, Brian H.
  11. 6m459
    Well, I wound up putting the squeeze on the flanges as planned. It didn't seem to help much as the shoulder on the bolt would bottom out leaving the side stand pivot quite sloppy. I wound up putting a washer under the head of the bolt, on top of the top side stand flange. This kept the shoulder on the bolt from bottoming till the flanges were squeezed together by tightening the threads. Unfortunately a slightly thinner washer might have been better as before the shoulder hit bottom, the side stand pivot gets too tight to move. I slacked it off till there was free s.s. movement with a slight hint of friction. Then I tightened the lock nut at the back. I think I'll be talking nicely to my machinist friends at work Monday, to see if I can get a custom thickness washer made for this purpose. Better still might be to have them turn the shoulder on the bolt back about half the thickness of the washer. Oddly enough, even with minimal s.s. slop, the bike still tilts over a lot more than I am used to with the other bike. I have begun to wonder if this bike sits higher on its rear suspension causing more lean. I am still puzzling over that one. Cheers, Brian H.
  12. 6m459
    Surely until the engine starts, the stator output potential is academic. Brian H.
  13. 6m459
    I think it was a member called DonB from Windsor Ont. Hope he is still in the biz, 'cause I just might need his help too. Brian H.
  14. 6m459
    Hi, I was worried about the excessive lean when my red bike is on the side stand. I read all the old posts about 1st gen side stand problems. Interesting and informative thought they were, I don't see the answer I need. Looks to me like my s.s. is bent, I will try to describe it cause its all rainy out and I am feeling too lazy to get out the camera and usb cables etc. Please bear with me. The gap, formed by the two flanges at the top of the side stand, where it hinges on the frame flange, seem to be spread apart. I measure 9.5 mm at the bottom of the channel but 11.5 mm at the opening. It looks to me, like the two flanges have been bent apart, not that they have worn down. The P.O. didn't have the bolt done up very tight as it took almost no effort to undo it. The s.s. slopped up and down quite a lot before I took it apart. The pivot bolt also appears to be bent. It looks to me like the bend is right at the thin section between the shoulder and the top of the threaded section. Its slight, so to be sure my old eyes weren't playing tricks, I put the end of the threaded section in my drill chuck and spun it. There is definitely a bend there as the head wobbles about 2.5 mm off centre I'd estimate. The arm of the stand has a bend in it too but I think that is actually cast into it. I have confirmed it looks similar to the one on my other bike. So what to do, what to do? I am tempted to put the pivot end of the stand in the vise and squeeze it till the flange gap closes to a uniform 9.5 mm. Then re install, with some grease, and reef the bolt down tight and lock it up with the lock nut. I am aware that this is a cast part and cast iron is brittle and not known for being forgiving in this way. I am afraid I might snap a flange off. Even if it appears successful and I make it through to the reassembly stage, I am afraid that I will have introduced some fatigue in the metal which will come back to bite me later on, likely when parked next to a Rolls Royce or a Mazeratti. Any opinions on this? Anyone got a known good s.s. & bolt for sale? Other suggestions? Thanks, Brian H.
  15. 6m459
    I'll have to be a little more careful in titling my posts from now on I guess. Sorry for the confusion. I did compare the pedal position and free play between bikes. They both seem to look and feel the same now. Also, I did use a C clamp to retract the pistons at reassembly. Both seemed to move freely and didn't take too much force. Actually I was surprised how nicely they retracted as I was expecting a struggle. I made sure to push on the centre of the piston by putting a socket inside and using it as a spacer. Thanks, Brian H.
  16. 6m459
    Say what ?
  17. 6m459
    So nothing fancy then with prescribed ohms per foot and carbon cores or the like? Thanks, Brian H.
  18. 6m459
    Hi, OK, so I finally found some time to get down to bleeding the air out of my (new to me) red bike's foot brake front line. Despite all my worry about difficulties of the job, it went pretty well and I managed it without a helper. Took a bit of planning and required some odd contortions on my part, but not too difficult overall. I worry too much. The brake pedal feels nice and firm now and brakes work so much better. I notice though, that the rear brake pads drag a bit now. When I first took a road test, I noticed lots of dragging and hot rotors, so I returned to base and, as per advice here, took some fluid out of the reservoir to make a larger air space in the reservoir. No doubt about it I had overfilled it at first. Now the fluid level is below the bottom of the threaded plug channel btw. This helped and there is less dragging now, but there still seems to be some that I wonder about. (Unfortunately the bike is not licensed as yet, so I have to keep my road testing to a minimum and only on the QT cause I have neighbours who are policemen & women.) My driveway is on about a 15 degree incline. At the first test, the bike wouldn't roll back on its own when I had it pointing up hill on the driveway in neutral. After losing some fluid, it will now roll back OK. Also, originally I had high heat on both the rear and front left rotors but after loosing some fluid only the rear sounds like its dragging and the front rotor came back from road testing quite cool. With the bike on the centre stand, I can rotate the rear wheel with my foot but there is some resistance coming from the brake (I lifted the caliper up off the rotor to confirm this). My other '84 xvz12, with lots of road miles in my care, has very little resistance to the rotation of the rear wheel by foot. In the course of looking this bike over, as it is new to me, I have had the brake pads out of the rear and front left calipers to inspect them for wear etc. I cannot guarantee that the pads were re installed on the same side of their respective calipers, or if they are now swapped around. Thus presumably there could be some wearing in to do all over again. My question is, does this light drag seem normal, or should I be looking to improve it somehow? Thanks, Brian H.
  19. 6m459
    Hi, I want to replace the H.T. leads to the spark plugs on my '84. What do I need to ask for at my local auto parts counter? I notice that one local supplier (not usually my first chioce) has a selection of pre-made NGK wires on the shelf. Is there a ready made NGK part that would be a good choice? Prices across the range he had were about $22 Cdn / wire. Does that sound reasonable? Thanks, Brian H.
  20. 6m459
    I have 2 '84's. Both have all locks keyed alike so there is just one key to do all locks on each bike. But the blank for the keys are NOT the same from bike to bike. The key from one bike will not even slide into the locks on the other bike. When looked at end on at the tip, the profile of one key is the mirror image of the other. Seemed odd to me but one of my bikes is a US import and the other is bone-fide Canadian bike. I don't know what any of this means but that's how it is. Hope this helps, Brian H.
  21. 6m459
    Here is a question that occurred to me while riding along worrying about my blue '84's intermittent misfire and thinking 25 y.o. TCI. Does anyone make an aftermarket TCI that can be used on the First Gen xvz12 / 13's ? I subscribe to a few classic bike mags and in the small ads at the back there are often outfits that advertise electronic ignition upgrade kits for older, ie 50's 60's and 70's, bikes that originally had points and condenser (British mag) type ignitions. I realize that the first gen xvz12 / 13's would be a small niche market and so on but old bikes from the 50's 60's and 70's can't be that big a market either. I see, or think I see second gen xvz aftermarket TCI's on ebay from time to time. What about Vmax's they share similar engine type and they like to go fast, you'd think some enterprising somebody would have come up with an aftermarket Vmax one by now that would be the cats a$$. So it wouldn't really be that small a niche. Or maybe they exist but cost so much you can buy 10 first gens for the price so no one bothers. What do we know about this folks? Likely I'd have read about such a thing here already if it were a practical solution but, well I had to ask while I procrastinate and generally put off going hunting for my bikes intermittent ignition fault. Thanks, Brian H.
  22. 6m459
    Sounds like you are working on two things at once. I never like to do that, one problem at a time keeps the detective work more one dimensional when things go wrong. One of my cardinal rules. Where were the 4th July sparks coming from? Wiring, carbs ? Which wire, which carb? More info please. Brian H.
  23. 6m459
    I had my air box off once. Putting it back on is such a PITA that I decided not to do it again unless absolutely necessary. I've also had the fairings off, didn't like that much either. Resolved never to bother those 25 y.o. mounting tabs again unless it couldn't be helped. No wonder people move the TCI up top. Wish I had done that last time I had things apart. Thanks for the advice. Brian H.
  24. 6m459
    One detail that eludes me here. Can the air box stay put while you do this work or does it have to be re & re'd to do the TCI move ? Thanks, Brian H.
  25. 6m459
    Isn't the Kawi Voyager an in line 4 engine? For no good reason, I am rather partial to V engines like the Venture's V4. Just my $0.02. Hope this is of interest. Brian H.
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