Ipleedthe5th

UPDATE!!!!! Over 6,000 miles, 30-110 degree rides and its still going strong! I also wanted to announce that I have simplified being able to get one of these through my new Etsy shop. Anyone whose interested can purchase it here ( https://www.etsy.com/listing/872563342/first-gen83-85-yamaha-venture-specter? ) and it still comes with the 2 year warranty! Happy Riding!

Hey all, I'm looking to get out there finally and do some motorcycle camping with my lady. Anyone have any good recommendations for a good tent? I've been eye balling this one ( https://redverz.com/atacama/?utm_medium=googleshopping&utm_source=bc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvpbl8-a37wIVEhvnCh1_ewcfEAQYAyABEgKLC_D_BwE ) Also, any tips on how to gear up the bike for a long trip like that? I tried before and had way to much weight on the back, wondering how I can maybe put some gear (tent and tarp at least) on the front end. Stay safe out there! -Zach

You can check your wires first but it sounds like it probably is the TCI, my bike did something similar and it got progressively worse. Would definitely recommend doing the relocation and upgrade to the Ignitech replacement. Its a couple hundred bucks but worth every penny. Being a "boom" dead instead of a puttering out sounds more like sudden stop of ignition rather than the puttering out of low fuel pressure.

Thanks for that great advice Puc! I was hoping you might chip in here. The videos are a huge help to see it in action. I dont have any bike off roading experience so I think i'll avoid actively seeking out those trails this time but feel much better about the prospect of accidentally ending up on one. I do have great gear and will be riding mostly empty as I'll be leaving my gear at a base camp and ill be going single, dont wana try doing all the for the first time with my lady on the back and risk her getting hurt. I also have survival skills and day gear to survive a few days should something go horribly wrong, Though I hope the SPOT satellite tracker I just got will allow my family in the area to come get me if I need a hand. Would you recommend airing the tires down as well? Thats a common practice for me when 4 wheeling. I'm not to worries about getting a puncture from doing so since I put "Ride-on" tire balance and sealant in my tires when I replaced them a few months back. And thanks to everyone else for your input, its great to hear all sides of this idea and is making me cautiously confident that I'll be alright out there next week. -Zach

Its kind of hard to tell, it almost seems like a mix, I do think my pump is a little high so I'll check for that. Thanks!

That would make a lot of sense, I do get quite a bit of oil in the box, been meaning to do some kind of upgrade to keep those gasses from ending up there. I have the oil about half way up the sight glass when on the center stand, is that right?

Hey everyone. So I've been noticing that one of my carbs (the left rear if your sitting on the bike) and only that carb seems to be wet from the airbox down. I cant figure out for the life of me why that is. Anyone have an idea? Will post a photo later today. -Zach

Hey All, I'm about to take a trip up in the the Yosemite area (wild fires permitting) and am looking at some mountain peaks I want to get up to, but there area lot of fire roads up there and google maps does not differentiate between what is paved and what isnt. So I am wondering what you all's experience is with riding on dirt roads and if you have any advice should I decide to make a go at it, or more importantly end up on one I don't want to be on. Thanks, -Zach

I was thinking $30 + shipping and I'll back them up with a 2 year warranty.

Hey all, Its been a few years since I put this up, but after doing some overhaul work on my bike this weekend I decided to take a look at the adapter plate I made and am happy to report that it is still in just as good of shape as the day I put it in 2 years and over 5k miles ago! I've already cleaned the filter twice which has been great and keep my 83' purring like a kitten. If anyone is interested in getting there hands on one, shoot me a message

Hey all, So a few years ago a took a shot at prototyping and making an adapter plate to use an inexpensive and readily available Specter 8166 air filter for the first gen venture since the original filters are hard to find and the K&Ns are pricey. After 2 years of service with over 5k miles in all weathers from below freezing to well above 100 degrees and long duration of hot traffic idling I feel confident in putting it out there for the rest of the community. It has not affected the performance of my bike at all and has not warped or deformed since the day I put it on. See pictures for what it looks like and how it fits in. The part is 3D printed using PETG which handles the high temp and oil just fine (I even have PETG printed parts that have survived multiple years in my 87' Ford diesel engine that are in direct contact with heat and oil unlike this air filter plate) If you have any questions, would like one, or would even like to see if I can make other replacement/adaptive parts just shoot me a message.

Thanks man. Just the perk to having a 3D printer. I'm going to be making a lot more parts for this bike for sure. I know making some custom storage doors for compartments under the handlebars are on the list for sure.

FIRST UPDATE: OK, so I got the prototype adapter printed out and put in. Needed to do a little sanding on it because it looks like I was about 1mm off on the large curves. Regarding air flow restriction, my super rough measurements on the factory filter came out to 54sq inches of surface area and the specter filter has roughly 45sq inches. So I think given the superior air flow of the specter, the two filters end up being equal (someone who is more patient and better at math than me please dig into these measurements so we can all be sure)! Pardon the sloppy print, I did it quickly to make sure it works and fits and also had to manually drill the screw holes. It mounted in great and WOW what a difference in performance. Bike no longer smells rich and the power is great. I already have the updated version printing out with the screw holes designed in this time and more top layers so it is more solid. Will update again once that's out. Otherwise the images are as follows. (1st: Original air filter mount, 2nd: prototype mount, 3rd: mount with specter 8166 filter, 4th: prototype mount and filter in factory air box) The air box cover also mounts on with no obstructions or need for modification.

Injector lines on an 83'? I may need more coffee in me to see those. At any rate, shoot me images and if you could use a caliper (avalible at harbor freight for $20) to give meaurments in mm, I'm sure I could make something up. I print almost exclusively in PETG which dosnt melt till 400 degreed. And if that happens let's face it, you got bigger problems. Lol

Wow this thread really blew up! But I love it. It's great getting down into this technical stuff because I think it will allow the community to come up with solutions to parts that that are hard to find before they are impossible to find. As a note to everyone, I am keeping the original air box. I am simply replacing the small plastic peice that the filter itself sits on. So from what everyone has said. I think it should work just fine. I got the prototype printed out last night and will mount it today along with posting pics. From there we can fine tune for airflow (if needed). Otherwise I'll just go straight to adjusting print setting to get a cleaner looking final product.

I have looked and K&N does have a replacement for $81. And need to be special ordered. It would be nice to have the ability to go to the local parts shop for such a simple part. Given the air restriction requirement (does anyone know the exact mesurment for that?), I would think the extra air flow from a K&N might mess things up anyways?? I have 2 specter air filters I'm looking at now. One is slightly smaller in surface area so I think the trade off should work. Worst case I just redesign and reprint with a manual air restrictor built in (God I live 3D printing). Perhaps with some help from the community we can even come up with a mechanically self regulation restrictor that is built in and possibly works based on vacume pressure? Idk, the possibilities are endless.

Hey everyone. I didnt see any posts about air filter mods (maybe im just lazy and near sighted) but, I decided after realizing that my running rich and afterfireing is likley due to my air filter looking like the original from 1983 and having the airflow (or lack there of) to match. I'm sure you all know its kinda hard to find these filters and there are a few DIY tricks to keep the case and replace just the filter medium. Which was the route I was going to go until I remembered that I have 3D printer!!! (insert evil laugh here). So I am going to create an addapter that replaced the little coupling inside the airbox to accept a specter cone air filter. I will update this post as soon as I have it printed out and tested, after which of course I would me more than happy to sell them out to eveyone here. Wish me luck!

So Another update. I have not yet plugged my laptop into the computer but I did install the software with the disk they provided which also included the profile that is currently loaded. Here are the screen shots of it. Pay close attention to the green boxes in the upper right hand corner of the first image. This is how it reads the boost sensor. And while I know that the kPA settings are off (the yamaha manual refrences 5.3 - 27ish kPa), the voltages are correct for what a 1983 venture boost sensor gives off (or at least what the 2 that I have mesure at atmospheric pressure and under vacume. So it does in theory work and it feels like it works. I will, (once i finish with tuneing carbs and such) try and get some DYNO time like the guys earlier in this post did to post more scientific results. But as I see it now, it looks like IGNITECH has got a pretty good handel on the required programing for these bikes to get the most out of them with no modification. So for any of you having TCI issues, I highly encourage you to just bite the bullet and get one of these units. The amount of time and energy you will save will make it wel worth the cost and get you back on the road much quicker than trying to repair a TCI that just wants to RIP. [NOTE] If anyone has one of these units running on an 83' (I'm not sure it works on newer models but you can try at your own risk) and wants this profile, PM me and I'll send it to you.

It should work. As far as I understand it, its the 83' that is hard to get working right because it has a different boost sensor than the 84's and up. But it seems like they have gotten it figured out. I can defnintly notice a diffrence when running the new sparker with and without the boost sensor connected. That said I do think that it needs to be advanced just a little more as I get some afterfireing. But that is also likely due to the fact that I am running premium non-eth fuel and also needing to burn out all the crap in the system from it sitting for 5+ years and running like garbage before now. It does seem to bet getting better with more miles. Just be sure to let them know the exact year and model of your bike and you should be in good hands. Later this evening I will plug my laptop into the new sparker to get a better idea of what the programed curve is and how its reading the boost sensor. Will repost once I have results. But at any rate, defnitly get it. Even it it required a little tweeking or the MAP sensor mod that has been mentioned earlier in this thread, it is completly with the $$ to have a reliable sparker that you have the option to custom tune to YOUR bike (as all motors wear a little differently and can sometimes benefit from a custom advance curve). And it cant be beat with a 2 year warranty. Try finding a stock TCI with that!

So it looks like the TCI was the only real problem on my bike! I got the new sparker form IGNITECH (check the "aftermarket TCI avalible" thread under this first gen tech talk colum for details about that) and the bike is running great now. A little rich it smells but I am sure a good dynamic carb sync and maybe some timing adjustments to the new programable sparker will smooth that out. But for now I'm just happy to hear her purr.

Hey All, So I got the new sparker for IGNITECH and it seems to have done the trick! Bike runs solid (could use some minor tuning/dynamic carb sync) but it looks like that was the real hangup. I think final step for it is to get the cooling fan working and do the blade fuse block swapout.

UPDATE!!!: Hey everyone, so I ended up getting the IGNITECH TCI. Here is what I found! The company was very quick to respond (you must contact them via e-mail) they responded multiple times in the same day. But take note that they are on the other side of the world so it is easier if you can dedicate one night to saying up till 5:00am to get all the communication you need with them taken care of in one day. Otherwise you'll be playing e-mail tag for a week. Ordered the TCI on Monday and it showed up this (Friday) morning on west coast. So very very happy about the delivery time. The unit came with the TCI, pug addapters, as well as the software and PC connector to custom program the unit for $200 landed. The unit does appear to be truely plug&play, including the ability to read the 1983 boost sensor. When I dropped it in the bike it fired right up but had some after fireing when I hammered the throttle, I then realized the boost sensor was not plugged in. After I plugged the boost sensor in, she ran like a champ and as far as I can tell runs just like the stock computer does under load. They do offer discounts for multiple units bough so if a group of you all (10+ people) are looking to get some of these units you can get them for around $150 landed I belive. Sorry for the lenghy post but I would just like to do a quick shout out to the original poster and those who pitched in on this thead as I never would have gone this rout and probably would have sold my bike had I not seen this thread. You are a fantastic group of people and I hope to be able to meet some of you at the rallys.

IGNITECH Sparker for 83' XVZ12 UPDATE!!! Hey everyone, after having issues with my TCI and cutting it open to find it more of a hassle to fix than its worth, I saw this thread and decided to get a new sparker for IGNITECH. I wanted to post because it looks like some thing might have changed over the last few years, in the posts here I see it mentions that the sparker does not come plug and play ready to accept the 83' boost sensor. I asked IGNITECH and they said that they would have it programed and ready to do so. I should have it by the end of the week (fingers crossed) and will update as soon as I know if it really works with the sensor or not since I know there are probably a few other 83' guys and gals out there and to come who are going to need this fix some day.

Hey bongobobny. I am aware that the brown stuff is put there by the factory, but I could see through it that there was a fair amount of corrosion underneath it. This was confirmed as I started to peel it away and lots of white power was underneath it. I did find the diodes, but unfortunetly the 4 main transistors which look like they are going bad on my board are nearly impossible to find. I had some idea about the #2 coil being the real driving force behind the TCI and tach but wasnt certain, so thank you for clearing that up for me. Everything on the bike tested out good except the boost sensor and TCI. I am pretty sure the circut that runs the #2 on the board is in the worst shape. After doing some reasearch on how hard it is to find the trasnsitors and diodes along with some horror stories of TCI repairs being a bottomless pit to hell, I decided to take the high road and just purchase the IGNITECH sparker. Cost all of $200 delivered and includes the serial-USB addapter and programing software. There is another post on here that talks about the IGNITECH not having the boost sensor ability, but that was back in 2009 I think, they told me that they would have it programed and plug&play ready for my 83', boost sensor and all but there is a bit of a language barrier so we shall see. Should show up by the end of the week fingers corssed and we'll see what happens. I'll be sure to update this post as I go along as well as update the post IGNITECH post as I think some things have changed.

I am starting to see that now. I have already contacted the company that makes the aftermarket ones to get some info on it and get that going in case it turns our that my TCI is completely SOL.