Southernlightning

The head gasket job isn't that tough. I just did the front head on an 84 1200 with the engine still in the bike. I think the toughest part was getting the cams set right for timing and then the valve cover gasket.. LOL... The rest was pretty easy and just followed the service manual. I cleaned the carbs while I had them off and it runs like a champ.

Thanks guys for all the help!! He loves the bike!!

It looks like at some point the PO dropped a screw or pin or something into the intake and it made its way down to the valve and somehow part of it got into the cylinder. It beat the crap out of the seat for the #2 intake and part of it got into the cylinder and bounced around in there as well. We never had any of it apart so I know it wasn't us. I just wonder how long that had been in there before we bought it.The piston and cylinder were okay. I could have tried to fix it but, for 40 bucks I got a head on EBAY with 10K less miles than the bike has on it. It looked perfect when we got it. Now I have everything I need to replace anything else that may happen. It really wasn't that tough to do this exercise either. Removal was easy once I got everything else off. Carbs, radiator and YICS chamber. Checked the compression when I was all done and they were all within spec. The bike was running when we looked at it but not very well.

Oh a whole lot of s words, f words and some c words too. We just did this and what he said is exactly right. The inside is really hard and it took both me and my son working together to get the boot on. Then it took both of us to get the spring stretched and hooked together. Patience really pays off. I really like the wire idea we just used 2 pair of needle nose pliers and my daughters tiny hands to get the spring wrapped around the boot.

Well guys. You can take the front head off in the bike with the engine in. I got it off and just replaced the head. Ordered one off Ebay and it was low miles. This forum and technical library are amazing. I cleaned the carbs while I had them off, new tires, changed the brakes, dumped the final drive oil and changed it, changed the oil. synch'd the carbs, cleaned out the gas tank, new fuel filter, moved the TCI, fixed all the broken plastic, polished the windshield and buffed out the paint. Can't thank you guys enough for all the help to get this going.It runs awesome.. These are great bikes and I made a good choice after seeing all the stuff on here. He is riding it now and I am very comfortable with it being a good choice for him. Thank you very much. Best $12 bucks I ever spent!!!

Thanks for all the input guys. I am in the process of pulling the head off now. I looked too and couldn't find what I needed to make the swap to V-MAX heads. I am going to just go with a Venture head if I need to. I read through the service manual and it is a bit confusing. I am going to go by what you said in the previous post. I am going to pull it apart and see what the problem is. If I need to there are some low mileage heads on e-bay. Already ordered the head gaskets. I will post pictures of what I find. I may throw together a post on doing the front head removal. Might as well go through the carbs while they are off. Had it running before this happened.

Great idea... What else do I need to change to make the VMAX heads work on the Venturr? I know they are the same motor but will the everything else work for it. Thanks for the reply. Going to start tearing it down now.

Hey guys.. Getting an 84 venture running for my son. I am looking to pull the front head off. I am getting blow back through the vacuum port and carburetor on the number 2 cylinder. It looks like a intake valve has failed, broken cam or valve spring.. Something is wrong. I just wanted to know if anyone has pulled the front head without pulling the motor and whether it is too much of a pain and should just pull the motor. I am looking at getting it out and just picking up a low mileage head. What do you think guys? I have the service manual and can do the work. Is there an article on here about doing this? I couldn't find one with the search tool. Chuck