What a stroke of luck!

I love my Vmax. When I first met her is was love at first sight. Her previous owner had loved her just as much, but they had grown apart. She is a beautiful example of a Vmax and has been kept in absolute tip-top condition. Her previous owner had modified the exhaust system and removed the internal baffling and I was never happy with the way she ran. Getting her to idle properly or achieve her 'full power' was difficult. The original system was showing some signs of wear and tear, well, she is an '86. There had been a few weld repairs to the collecter box and to a few other places. Now, I will point out that I live in the Philippines, which is a Third World country and a Vmax is a very rare bike to find over here. Finding parts for them is almost impossible. The other day I just happened to stop by a small motorcycle repair shop, taking care not to kill a few of the chickens that were running around. The shop was more like a wooden shack with a tin roof. The mechanic was cutting out some homemade gaskets from a sheet of paper. I pulled up outside and the mechanic says ''Wow, you've got a Vmax...I've got an exhaust system for one of those''. Unbelievable, I think to myself, but he led me to the back of the shack, through an obstacle course of small scooters in various stages of being dismantled and there, hanging on the wall was an almost new, original Vmax exhaust. Apparently it had been hanging there for more than three years. He cleaned it up and the chrome was immaculate, as was the collector box and the gaskets. I asked him if it was for sale, which it was.(everything here is). He removed my old exhaust and fitted the new one for me. He even reset the carbs to the stock settings. Total cost was $100. She now purrs like a contented pussycat and runs like dream.

That is quite the stroke of luck, glad to hear she is back to her former self.

WOW! I miss those days of searching the junk yards for parts. I think you my have come across one of the best barn finds every, considering your location.

100 bucks! Wow that is a steal of a deal. Just the labor to swap your exhaust for that around here would be at minimum double that.

He probably nailed you to the wall in Philippines cash:eusa_dance: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I had friends that would go to the Philippines doing dental missionary work. This was probably 20 years ago. They told me, you could live like a king in the Philippines, with the income of a decent paying American job or retirement. It may be different now. Good for you though. It's like finding a needle in a haystack.

tothemax93 said:

...They told me, you could live like a king in the Philippines, with the income of a decent paying American job or retirement. It may be different now...

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No, you can still live like royalty in PI on an American retirement. I worked with three guys (Filipinos) that were retired Navy, became Navy contractors and were building compounds in the Philippines for when they finally retired. They would show pictures of the progress and the staff that were already employed and taking care of the completed buildings. One of them has already moved down there. I have a standing invite...

That is lucky! Glad too hear its running well. Did he tell you how he ended up with the pipes?

Zeus36 said:

No, you can still live like royalty in PI on an American retirement. I worked with three guys (Filipinos) that were retired Navy, became Navy contractors and were building compounds in the Philippines for when they finally retired. They would show pictures of the progress and the staff that were already employed and taking care of the completed buildings. One of them has already moved down there. I have a standing invite...

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Both my step daughters are in colllege in the PI near Cebu and the cost is miniscule compared to educating a nurse and a rad tech here in the he USA. Its paid for from wifes wages and some left over. From what I see the USD has way more buying power there than here.

I've been living here in the PI for about nine years and I am married to a Filipina. Believe me when I tell you life is sweet. It is a lot cheaper to live here and I have many American friends who live comfortably on $1000 a month retirement, when you consider that the average monthly salary for a Filipino is only around $250.
A beer in a bar costs less than $1 and packet of Cigarettes $1. Two people can eat at a restaurant for $10 inc drinks. And, if you are a 'single' guy........wow, this place has an abundance of the prettiest and 'friendliest' girls in the world. the USD is strong.
The exhaust I found had come from a Vmax owned by an American guy who had replaced them for an aftermarket system and simply left them behind. Mine was only the 2nd Vmax the mechanic had seen in the last 3 years.

kalbo said:

I've been living here in the PI for about nine years and I am married to a Filipina. Believe me when I tell you life is sweet. It is a lot cheaper to live here and I have many American friends who live comfortably on $1000 a month retirement, when you consider that the average monthly salary for a Filipino is only around $250.
A beer in a bar costs less than $1 and packet of Cigarettes $1. Two people can eat at a restaurant for $10 inc drinks. And, if you are a 'single' guy........wow, this place has an abundance of the prettiest and 'friendliest' girls in the world. the USD is strong.
The exhaust I found had come from a Vmax owned by an American guy who had replaced them for an aftermarket system and simply left them behind. Mine was only the 2nd Vmax the mechanic had seen in the last 3 years.

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Man, if I were single and over there... I cant recall dating an American since I moved to Seattle from SD in 89. I married my Ilonggo sweetheart a few years ago and Im not sure what good deed I have done to deserve such excellent treatment.

caseyjones955 said:

Man, if I were single and over there... I cant recall dating an American since I moved to Seattle from SD in 89. I married my Ilonggo sweetheart a few years ago and Im not sure what good deed I have done to deserve such excellent treatment.

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I had to look up "Ilonggo". Never heard of that before. I did a google search, images. Quite a colorful and festive group.

tothemax93 said:

I had to look up "Ilonggo". Never heard of that before. I did a google search, images. Quite a colorful and festive group.

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I love my Ilonggo queen, shes the greatist ever. Divorce lawyers would all be flipping burgers if more were like her. I consider myself lucky to an extreme.



Heres another. Ilocano (first wife) not nearly as sweet but damn that girl could cook!:rofl_200:

There is a Facebook Manila Vmax group. I've been here for six years and see a few. With ebay and cheap shipping costs, its not that difficult to find parts.

BTW, Kalbo, is yours a Japan spec or have the vboost? Most in the Phils come from Japan so would not have the vboost. I added it later but now run a supercharger.

caseyjones955 said:

Man, if I were single and over there... I cant recall dating an American since I moved to Seattle from SD in 89. I married my Ilonggo sweetheart a few years ago and Im not sure what good deed I have done to deserve such excellent treatment.

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It's the best kept secret in the World...Boy, do these girls know how to treat there men. Without sounding sexist in this modern day, here, a womans first priority is her man. This is a cultural thing. My wife comes into the shower with me and washes me and does my manicure and pedicure.

Lets not give too big a boost for the male ego here. When it comes down to it, as we say here, its all about the peso-nality. As is the rest of the world, no money means no honey. And if you dont have money, please dont come to the phils. I know too many guys who come here and are scammed by the girls and drink themselves to death. Trust no girl you meet on the internet.

KDIMD said:

Lets not give too big a boost for the male ego here. When it comes down to it, as we say here, its all about the peso-nality. As is the rest of the world, no money means no honey. And if you dont have money, please dont come to the phils. I know too many guys who come here and are scammed by the girls and drink themselves to death. Trust no girl you meet on the internet.

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Trust no girl you meet anywhere, especially American born. That takes time. I met my wife here in USA already. Never had one imported, then you never know if its about papers. Its a very well kept secret here in SD where choices are Caucasian or Native American, but in Seattle I didnt know too many American men that dated American women with all the other choices available. I speculate that we can blame shit like MTV, Jersey Shores and Kardashians for significantly damaging the behavior and attitudes of our American women.

What Kalbo says, its the same treatment I get, even though she pays her fair share of everything. I know there are a lot of trouble women in all countries and we still have to be selective. I have had great luck and really enjoyed women from Korea, Vietnam and Japan as favorites but there is something extra special about how those PI girls are put together! Damn, life is good!unk:

KDIMD said:

There is a Facebook Manila Vmax group. I've been here for six years and see a few. With ebay and cheap shipping costs, its not that difficult to find parts.

BTW, Kalbo, is yours a Japan spec or have the vboost? Most in the Phils come from Japan so would not have the vboost. I added it later but now run a supercharger.

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Mine is a U.S. import. Full-Power with Vboost.:biglaugh::biglaugh:
I look up that FB group and send a request. thanks

Here's one that's available, about age 34 and "she knows how to treat her man!" :rofl_200::hmmm::surprise:



“I know what you’re thinking,” Dalia Dippolito told an undercover police officer seven years ago. “’What a cute little girl.’ But I’m not. I’m a lot tougher than I look.”

These were the words prosecutors repeated in 2011, at the start of Dippolito’s first trial for a caught-on-camera plot to kill her then-husband, Michael Dippolito. They say it exposed the heart of a woman a judge called “pure evil” as he sentenced her to 20 years in prison. A new trial begins with jury selection today, more than two years after an appellate court threw out the Dippolito’s first conviction and sentence. Jury selection will start with a pool of 200 prospective jurors, and the trial is expected to last about six days after the jury is selected.

Dippolito was working as an escort when she met her now ex-husband Michael. Dippolito was recorded on the TV show "Cops" asking an undercover Boynton Beach police officer posing as a hitman to kill her then-husband. She now says it was all part of an acting showcase cooked up by her husband and her former lover in hopes of landing them all acting jobs. Dippolito’s 2011 conviction and 20-year prison sentence in the case was overturned on appeal because Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath should have questioned jurors individually instead of as a group about what they knew about the case.

Another south Florida gold digger just a bit more ambitious than most to cash-in. I see women arrested after drugging older men and robbing them, after picking them up, and proposing to 'go back to your place and party!'. Haven't these guys heard of a "Mickey Finn?" There was a chain of young women, the police and press called them the "Rolex bandits." They targeted men wearing flashy jewelry and Rolexes.

http://keysnews.com/node/55779