luvmy40

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.

The one still on mine seems to be held on with a spring from the extension to the lower rear skirt assy. I don't see any screw or clamp.

Ha! No idea! I haven't even looked at mine yet. I'm still getting the top end back together.

Any chance you have an extra turn down you can sell now??? I'm looking for one. Hint, hint, hint...

Outside to inside: Screw(needle) spring flat washer o-ring

I'm not sure how close the carb set up is between the '83 and the '86 models but it just occurred to me that, on my carb bank the bracket you are missing is not the same as the one in place. It incorporates a spring retainer for the throttle linkage and has a cut out for the push-pull throttle cable. It may not be that easy to fabricate.

Yamaha part # 12R-14105-00 is what I got for my '83 The air screw should be that same for any model year/model with these carb bodies the differences should be in the jet sizes.

I just got four sets from my local Yam shop for $6.00/ea. Screw, spring, washer and o-ring.

Check with your local R/C hobby shop for the small e clips and bushings. I picked up a variety pack of clips from one for $3.00 and it had clips for the enricher circuit linkage. That top bracket should be easy to fabricate.

I've got to get her back together and running again, but it sounded like she was only hitting on 3 cylinders at idle and low throttle but every thing sounded good at WOT. I had spark at all plugs and got a good sync but was still missing badly at idle. Three of the coils tested bad on the bike but then tested good at a later date off the bike. I have another set of coils and caps and new wire. I'll put together a set with the best numbers I can. I cleaned the carbs(twice) and got new air screws as the o-rings were in very bad shape and one was missing the spring. The diaphragms all looked good and they pass the swish test. All but one of the 16 valves were out of spec. A couple were severely out. One is near zero clearance. I have the shims to bring them all back to the max speced clearance(hopefully). The TCI connections were hideously nasty. It looked like it had spent a good bit of time under water. I cleaned them up as best I could and will probably revisit them before I put everything back together. My past experience with the Yamaha CDI/TCI boxes is that the bike either runs or it doesn't. I see that may not be the case with the Ventures. I hope to have everything back together for a test run later next week.

Shakin'

OK, the shim removal tool for these bikes is officially the biggest PITA I have ever had to deal with. The Yamaha XJ shim tool is close but there are some very simple work around methods that make it obsolete anyway. The Suzuki GS series shim tool is an exercise in simplicity comparatively speaking. A simple shepard's hook with a cam milled into the sides that can be used in nearly any cam position and rotated manual without turning the crank. Anyway, enough whining. Thanks to Flyin fool for straightening this old dog out on a simple matter that I refused to see! I got all my clearance measurements and a good start on documenting the shim sizes in place. 5 of the sixteen are within tolerance but 2 of those are on the extreme tight side of spec so I will probably change those shims too. One intake valve on cyl. 2 is I'm done for the night, I'll pick it back up tomorrow afternoon.