luvmy40

No, not a fiberglass guru! I do quite a bit of plastic fabrication though, Mostly thermo/vacuum forming. The repairs I did involved forming a backing of Kydex and cementing the broken bits to the backer with Devcon Plastic Steel epoxy. I've got a few more fixes to do but It's all together securely for now. I also took her out to my Yamaha dealership and their Venture Guru gave me a big thumbs up as far as the carb tuning and her performance. I guess I was just expecting it to sound more like the in line fours that I'm used to. He did say that I'd probably benefit from having them run it on the EGA for fine tuning. 1/2hr labor if I pull the plastics and make sure the probe plugs are freed up before I bring it in.

Well, I got it all back together as best I could. The parts are all in the right places but I'm missing a few screws and there are a couple tabs broken off that are critical. I think maybe something did break in disassembling it as the main left side panel was secure before and now has nothing holding it on at the top front. I took her for a test spin without the side covers and discovered that they are an absolute necessity! I'll have to dig in and see if I can fix them up somehow. I'm still not sure everything is copacetic with the ignition. The Colortune shows good burn at idle but there's a hesitance when accelerating and it doesn't pull as strong from 4Krpm to 6Krpm as I'd expect. Anyone have a known good TCI for swing test?

Four cylinders Color Tuned, just rich of perfect combustion. Four carbs synchronized to near perfection. The plastics are going to put me in an early grave. I gave up on trying to fix the broken bits. There's just too much busted and no frame of reference. It was holding together when I got her and nothing broke taking it apart, so I should be able to get it all back together in some semblance of correct, right???? I think I have the throttle cable linkage block in the wrong place. Outside of something instead of inside. The main fairing on that side won't pull in tight so it's coming back off tomorrow. I lost my light this evening so I had to pack it in. At least she's running right now! I'm celebrating with the first Dogfish Head 120minute IPA I've ever laid hands on. Delicious!!! Back at it tomorrow. Oh, BTW. I flushed the cooling system with distilled water and filled her up with fresh antifreeze.

^^^^^^^ What he said.

Got the carbs all back together and installed yesterday or so and finished up with the air box and cables and such this evening. Applied about 3/4 enricher, turned the key on, remembered I had the petcock turned off, turned the key off, opened the fuel petcock and tried again! Key on, "choke" on, fuel on. Hit the starter and turned her over for about 20 seconds when she caught and rumbled to life! It sounds much better but I only ran it for 30 seconds or so as I have absolutely no ventilation in my garage. I need to mover her back outside to tune the pilot circuits and synchronize the carbs. Then to button up all the plastic...I should have taken some pictures, huh? Been there before. I'll figure it out. BTW, the exhaust tips for a 1986 XVZ1300 are ever so slightly different that the ones for my 83 1200. Maybe it's because I have the big chrome rear skirt? I don't know. They look almost identical and the fit on the mufflers perfectly but the connection points for the spring retainers are different and wont work with the springs that came with them. I tapped one on as tight as I could get it without damaging it and bent up a couple springs. I got them to kind of fit but they're certainly not right. Hopefully they stay in place and keep the tip from falling completely off if it loosens up. They really aren't doing anything to hold it on though. I may just drill a hole from the bottom and run a self tapping screw up into it.

Just to keep the side line conversation going... The L is the red headed step child of the GS world. I've got mine set up with a Vetter fairing, GK Bag kit and a double bucket touring saddle. It's very comfortable but the limited fuel capacity is a major drawback.

I got a 1982 Suzuki GS850L for sale... Just sayin'...

Well, That's the part missing in the OP pic.

That's it!

Yep, Straight up, with nothing in the way. After removing the side panels and air box, both fairly easy procedures. The carbs just pop straight up. The installation is even easier. Once you have battled the airbox of the XJ and fought the re-installation of the intake boots on a Seca or Maxim you will laugh at the hurdles of the Venture. Now the inboard exhaust valve shims. That's another story. ;-)

These carbs are a pure dream to work on compared to the Hitachis on the XJs. Granted you have to get through a good bit more stuff to get to them but they come off easy, break down easy, clean up well and go back together easy. Aside from the diaphragms being expensive(and possibly a small PITA to install) they are a veritable walk in the park. Sylvester, Don't sell yourself short. If you can work through a valve adjustment, you can rebuild these carbs. You probably won't even need to truly "rebuild" them. Just clean them up, set the fuel level and maybe install new bowl gaskets.

emphasis added Well, you don't want to run standard motor oil in a wet clutch bike. It does booger up the clutches. The detergents and additives in diesel engine oils work well for us though.

Local dealership can order them but they're twice the price and I need the time to make the plastic repairs anyway.

Stop with your logic. That would have been too easy.

Set the old girl on fire today! I decide to test the compression now that the valves are back in spec. I have always pulled all the plugs and grounded them to the frame or engine case for compression tests. I read once that it wasn't good for the CDI or TCI systems to crank them without the plug resistance(true/false?). I still have the carbs off and the fuel petcock is turned off, so stuck the fuel line in a plastic cup and turned the key on. Evidently some fuel still splashed down onto the engine because when I hit the stater there was a swoosh and a ball of flame jumped up nearly singeing my eyebrows!. There wasn't much fuel cause it only took a good puff to blow it out but it sure woke me up! The good news is my compression readings are much closer now. 190psi on 1,2 and 3 with 185psi on 4. Still waiting on the new float bowl gaskets.

The Hong Kong gaskets fit perfectly. Hopefully they, along with the new cover bolt seals have fixed the seepage from the #1 cyl area.

1981 XJ750RH Seca http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/luvmy40/Motor%20Cycle/IMG_0049-1.jpg 1982 XJ750J Maxim http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/luvmy40/Motor%20Cycle/IMG_3743_zps85dd75a1.jpg Here she is with the Vetter fairing that a PO had installed. I took her back to stock(well kinda' The wife wanted a back rest so..) As she is today(still my daily commuter) http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/luvmy40/Motor%20Cycle/04db0359-6cd3-498f-90b6-e0a0c8af2db5_zpslhfzq7ib.jpg And, of course the latest addition http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/luvmy40/Motor%20Cycle/Resized_20160721_191008_zpscsubire4.jpeg I still own the '81 Seca but she's being parted out and looks like this today http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/luvmy40/Motor%20Cycle/Resized_20160907_120557_zpsfg3wjupb.jpeg

My '83 has the same oil drain bolt as yours snyper. I thought it odd too.

Actually, what was portrayed was them modifying the original engine in one night. Remember the first motorcycle they put together was just a motor strapped to a bicycle. Absolutely doable. I loved that they included, very subtly the tomato can gas tank of legend. It was there and clearly tomato can but it was never mentioned.

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-Vavle-Shim-08-0017/dp/B000WJC0D4/ref=pd_lpo_263_tr_t_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2EB9ZNGSQ2XG2H4RKQ29 Here ya' go! No way to make it work on the 83 Venture anyway. No room on half the valves even if there was a round shaft to work with.

Great mini series! I wonder when Harley-Davidson lost it's soul? In my youth, I was a die hard Harley man. The first street bike I owned was a HD FXST and it lead to several more over the years including a very short stint with a Knuckle Head. You couldn't pay me to take a Harley today. Well, I could be talked into a true vintage Harley of the Pan or Knuckle Head variety, maybe. They sold out and started stepping on the working man who kept the company alive during the AMF years and the HD Stealerships became RUB hangouts and Yuppie cafes. Meh.

Valves are all in spec, top end put back together and two bowl gaskets are leaking. Glad I checked them again before reinstalling the carbs! 4 gaskets on the way from parts-n-more. The wait continues.

Nice, listed as a choke cable bracket!

Welcome Home!

This may be the one you're thinking of. http://www.regulatorrectifier.com/catalog/1984-1985-1989-Yamaha-XVZ12-Venture-1200-CDI-Ignitor Not exactly cheap either.