Venturezach

Hi all, been doing some research on upgrading the brake calipers and rotors on my ‘83 beast and I’m wondering if there are any aftermarket parts to do this? Was reading about R1 and R6 caliper upgrades but from what I have read that will only work on 2nd gens? Just thought I’d ask and get some idea bouncing going. The brakes work now, but the rotors do have some grooves in them and I could only find used rotors on eBay and I’d really like to replace them with new or better. Brakes are still linked and I plan on keeping them linked, just curios about the rotors and calipers.

Took the ‘ol faithful 83 to the town grocery outlet today, about a 10-15 mile ride round trip. Had to get pure cinnamon cause the darned ants got into the pet food. The ants have been terrible this year and no matter what we do they still keep coming back. Neighbors have said that even with an exterminator coming out the ants still show up. We’re doing everything we can to stop them from sprays, traps etc. and I’ve found that Lysol spray actually kills them on spot so it’ll clean and kill at the same time. Well come to think of it, maybe the ants aren’t so bad after all as having them led to a reason to go for a little ride today. Guess that’s what life’s all about enjoying the little stuff. Have a great Sunday y’all!

Hey all, man oh man has it been a busy time for us. Me and the mrs. decided that it was time to settle into a place of our own and get out of playing the rental game. (Made this decision before all the covid stuff started happening) So, being that there were no houses around discovery bay within our price point and wanting a little bit of land for some breathing room, we started expanding our search radius. I’ve spent a good amount of my childhood growing up in the valley springs area and thought it was a good place to look into. Well, one thing led to another and next thing you know we’re in escrow! The process did take a little longer than expected but it paid off tremendously! We are now at a 3 bdrm 2 bath 2 car garage on 1/2 acre. It’s amazing how different it is over here vs the Bay Area and Central Valley being that it isn’t too far away. And while we were in escrow, found out that we’re expecting too! I’m finding the saying “great things happen all at once” to be true! We are abundantly blessed by God and all glory goes to him! Now to finish unpacking and getting settled in. Almost forgot to mention, the 83 is still running beautifully and I think she likes her new home. Prayers up for everyone’s health and safety.

I can’t find the specs on the intake manifold. It only came with installation instructions. I’ll try reaching out to the seller to see if I can get the information on the intake manifold. As for the compression, the numbers were between 170 and 175. I don’t remember exactly what they were being that I did the compression test about 3 or 4 years ago but I do remember the compression was within spec. If I do find the information on the intake manifold I’ll be sure to share it here.

Hello all, it was suggested to me to start a thread on the topic of the single carb setup. Thank you patch for the suggestion . So, to begin I will start from the beginning describing the issue I was having. I acquired my ‘83 venture xvz1200 via trade for a half-rotted boat. Being mechanically inclined, I’ve always loved wrenching on things and having projects going (good for keeping sanity intact too) . That being said, I knew I was a bit over my head when I discovered dry rot in the rear of the boat by the engine. Original plan was to pull engine and outdrive, gut and remove all dry rotted areas and rebuild the hull. But this was going to be very costly and at the time fate and my conscience decided it was time to hand off this project. I came across an ad on Craigslist where a guy was looking to sell or trade his motorcycle. I already had my M1 license and owned other motorcycles before, so I contacted the seller and he agreed on a straight across trade. We were both upfront and honest about what the issues were. I informed him about the dry rot, and he informed me that the bike did run, just not very well and he even trailered it to my house when we made the trade. So here I was with my new project and excited to get it road worthy. First thing I did was look everything over (repair receipts, condition of components ect.) and made a to do list. Being unfamiliar with the venture scoots, I started searching on the web for any information I could find and whalla! I found this site with as much information anyone can ask for and met some great folks on here too. Now for the problem which is the topic of this discussion. Bike was darn near impossible to start when cold (had to spray starting fluid in airbox opening every time) and lacked power with popping and stumbling. I ran sea foam a couple times through the tank, inspected diaphragms and peeked at carb internals without pulling off carbs which I know is not a full and thorough inspection. I replaced the spark plugs as well and tested ignition system using inline spark tester. Ignition system checked out good so I eliminated that as the source of the problem. I knew I was looking at rebuilding the carbs. Unfortunately parts can be hard to find for these old bikes and it wasn’t until recently that I had found a source for the parts necessary to rebuild the carbs. Another thought that I had was maybe the carbs were out of sync which is very likely. Anyhow, I knew a rebuild was necessary and was on the hunt for parts. I came across a vw manifold conversion kit with a solex pict 3 carburetor. The flow rate of this carb is 200cfm and the flow rate of the original carbs are 180cfm combined. 45cfm/carb. I knew it would work in theory, but I wanted to gain more information and see if anyone else had successfully done it. I found that some have attempted this conversion using their own custom made intake manifold and various 2 barrel carbs. I did not find anyone that used the vw carb and manifold that I found. It looked like a good solution to my problem, as it came with instructions and the number of the seller who offered installation support over the phone. I also thought that 1 carb was much easier to deal with than 4, so I decided to go for it and got it on order. When it arrived and I was installing it, I had to run a power and ground wire for the electric choke as per the instructions provided. It took about half a day getting everything tuned and dialed in. Once that was done, all that was left to do is put the covers back on and enjoy the ride! I’ve been running this setup for almost 3 years now and I am very happy with it. Worth every penny spent in my opinion. Please feel free to share any input or questions. Cheers!

Excellent suggestion patch, I think it will be an interesting topic of discussion.

Thank you for the advice Condor, was gonna do that just figured I’d let folks on here know first before I listed on eBay

Since I’ve had much success with the single carb conversion, I hate to see the original carbs and airbox I pulled off to go to waste. Keep in mind that these carbs will need to be rebuilt. EBay’s price for just the carbs in the same condition as the carbs that I’m selling here are $175. I’m looking to get $150 for carbs and airbox with filter. Pm me if interested and we can setup shipping and payment. Also happy to answer any questions as well.

All is well! Got the new slave cylinder in and had a local hydraulic shop make the hose I needed. Got it all back together and works great! Bled a few times to be sure all the air is out of the system. After I test drove it and was sure everything is working the way it should, took a weekend trip up to the hills and when I got back noticed the water pump leaking coolant out of the weep hole(small amount luckily) and decided to replace the front tire since riding season is about done and the local cycle gear was having a sale. Got everything taken apart and parts ordered. Got the gaskets, seals, bearing, o rings and new elbow tube from partszilla and a new upgraded metal impeller off eBay. Old impeller wasn’t in too bad of shape, just a crack right under the seal. Speaking of seals, same thing happened to the water pump seals, extremely brittle! I’m surprised at the minuscule amount of coolant leakage due to the condition of the seals. All the seals came out in pieces. Cleaned up the water pump cover and housing while waiting for parts to arrive. Wasn’t too hard of a job to do, just followed what it said to do in the manual and watched a couple YouTube videos. Parts for the water pump and the new front tire took about a week to come in. Got everything put back together in a few hours and went for a 20 minute test ride. No leaks and everything works great!

Good ol’ Faded blue is down due to clutch slave and clutch hose replacement. Got some good riding in this year, went up to Murphy’s and Old Town Sacramento. Got parts on order and while I’m doin’ that I’ll do the oil change too. Kill two birds with one stone. I usually give her a good inspection over the winter cause that’s the best time to catch a problem before it catches you! Ride safe out there everyone! -Zach

Got the slave cyl out and removed the hose that connects to the slave cyl. Looks to me like both were leaking, the hose right at the banjo fitting and the slave cyl was showing signs of leaking and the rubber parts were brittle and cracked. Wasn’t too difficult to remove, took me about a half hour to take everything off. Thought it was going to be harder than it turned out to be. It’s nice when things happen that way

That’s a good idea about replacing the hoses while I’m that far into it. I sent skydoc a pm asking about it. Oil is changed on a regular interval so I donut it could be old oil causing this. I suspect the slave cyl is leaking but won’t really be sure until I take it out. Perhaps it is leaking internally past the seal and I cannot see it until it is removed. Anyhow I think nearly 40 years of being worked finally took its toll on that slave cyl. Than you everyone on your input, I’ll keep you all posted on how things turn out.

Thanks for the info spencer! That is the correct part number and partszilla has it new. I’ve heard of others bleeding air out by tieing the lever. Not sure if it works but you’re right, not like I’ll lose anything by trying it. Now to get that middle gear cover off and get that old bugger out.

Hey all! So I’m fairly certain on what my clutch issue is, just wanted to run it by you all and hopefully I’m going in the right direction with my troubleshooting. So first of all, the issue is hard shifting, bike rolls forward in gear with clutch lever pulled in. Recently replaced both clutch and front brake master cylinder and handle assemblies. After replacement, bled the brake and clutch with no issues. Bike worked great for a little while, then noticed it was hard to shift from 1st to 2nd and dang near impossible to get into neutral. My thought at first was maybe there was still some air trapped in the system, so I bled again at the master cylinder and at the slave cylinder. Holy crap there was a ton of air in there! Seemed like the bleeder screw on the slave was having a bit of axial play possibly letting air in while bleeding which could be why I was getting so many dang air bubbles. So with that being said, I am suspecting a bad slave cylinder based on the symptoms. Perhaps someone on here knows where I can get a new slave cylinder? I would feel much better about replacing it versus a rebuild. It’s a bit of a pain to do which is why I’d like a new one rather than rebuilding it. Thanks all!

Good ‘ol eBay for the win! Found a universal 7/8” throttle kit that worked perfectly! Thankfully I changed it out before the 36 year old handle and cable took a dive as they were looking a bit worse for wear upon disassembly. Just thought I’d share for anyone in the same predicament as I was. Cheers!

I don’t think a push cable setup is possible with the solex, it has a good spring return when you let off the throttle and worse case I could always hit the kill switch if I needed to

A few things I would check are: fuse block- an upgraded blade style fuse block is available for the venture as the glass fuse holders tend to break down stator- is the stator supplying the specified voltage? Also check the plug where the stator plugs into the harness as this is a common fail point(mine was actually sparking inside the connector) starter clutch- the OEM style clutch is prone to cracking and slipping. Bit of a bear to get the rotor pulled off, but in my opinion it is best to do the stator and starter clutch at the same time so you don’t have to go back in when one or the other fails. Saves some work there and Dano has the best setup around for the starter clutch that has been dubbed bulletproof. I am running this and it works beautifully, no issues whatsoever and will never have to worry about it again. 2nd gear- there are articles on the 2nd gear issue that is easily found in a quick search. Some models have the issue and some do not. Not quite sure where the line is but hopefully the gurus will chime in with that info. The issue being that under load, 2nd gear will produce a slipping symptom. These are some things I’ve dealt with which is why they’re on the top of my head. Hopefully this helps and if you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out, this is a great informative site with great people. Looking forward to following your restoration. Cheers!

Hey all, so I’ve been wondering about the possibility of a single throttle cable setup as I am now running the single solex pict 3 conversion. When I installed this, I used the pull cable to work the carb and I just tucked the push cable out of the way and it’s been working just fine up until the push cable came apart and the throttle got some play on the handle. If I have to just replace the pull cable I am okay with that too, just trying to see what’s out there and get some ideas. I’d like to get this replaced before I lose throttle on the highway . Thanks guys, I appreciate you all!

Praying for Bob!

Okay I see where you’re going with this. I don’t see why you couldn’t do it, just watch your clearances and make sure it fits under the false tank cover. Also make the runners and connections as smooth as possible. Love to hear how it turns out and good luck with your design!

Mantree91, to answer your question I really like the single carb. Now about the log style intake, the ‘wings have an opposing 4 cylinder engine and our ventures are a v4 so I do not believe that a log style intake manifold would function well on the venture. Here’s the link to the kit I installed so you can see the what the intake manifold looks like. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F254289566865

Thanks for posting this link, not sure why I was unable to find it before but I did find the flow rate for the solex 34 pict 3 carb I installed. 34 PICT w/ no mods & choke plate held fully open (as on all tests): 114.9CFM at 25".

Steven G, I was referring to how it ran before the carb swap sorry I didn’t make that clear and to answer your question I seriously could not find a rebuild kit for these carbs, I’ve searched high and low but would you happen to know where rebuild kits are available? I’m sure it would help other members if they knew. I’d really like the opportunity to put my scoot on a dyno to see what it’s puttin out, if I ever do then I’ll be sure to post it on here as I’m sure many are curious.

Hi there neighbor! I’m just a hop over the hill in disco bay and I’ve experienced a similar issue to the one you’re having. My 83 sat for awhile also. I’d have to squirt starting fluid in the air box just to get it going and after I got it going it would run like crap, almost spot on as to what you’re describing with it spitting back at you and all. What I did to mine was after some pretty intense troubleshooting, found out it was the carbs causing my issue. Hopped on the eBay and the googler to try to hunt down a rebuild kit. Well no luck on that, but I did find the solex pict 3 carb conversion kit. I pondered and ran it through my mind a dozen times because it ain’t cheap(about $500) but if you were to take it to a shop that will touch a near 40 year old bike(good luck) then you’d be lookin at about double that. I am happy with the single carb. Great power, mileage is about 33 on average and it starts on a dime every time. Although I need to give some credit to Dano for helping me out with the starter clutch upgrade (highly recommend this upgrade). All that being said with what you’re experiencing and from what I’ve experienced I would recommend the solex carb. Would’ve hopped on here earlier to help you but life has been nuts here lately but looks like it’s startin to settle down(knock on wood). Let me know how it goes and maybe we can meet up to check out your bike and get her runnin right. These things are a blast to ride!

Six hours south eh? Must be in the Orange County/Los Angeles area. I will definitely let you know if I’m taking a trip down. Thanks beastwood!