Jhavens' 1985 vmax project

VMAX  Forum

Help Support VMAX Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
So, did you ride her? How did she do? Any issues? and maybe pics or a video of it running.
 
Haven't gone for a ride yet, the weather has turned sour. Haven't noticed any issues from running it in the driveway.

Here is a video of her running for the first time in 9 years. Carbs haven't been synched yet. There is a higher pitched noise prominent in the video(you'll know it when you here it) that I don't know what it is, but maybe its normal. The noise definitely isn't as loud as the video makes it out to be. Other than that though, man, does it sound good. As a heads up, the audio quality isn't that great, taken with my phone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzlX0bBNuaA&feature=youtu.be
 
Maybe an exhaust leak? Hold a feather by the pipe joints and see if it flutters. And of course the opposite-an intake leak such as an unseated airbox rubber tube to the carb airhorn(s). It probably wouldn't idle that well w/that though.
 
How long does it take, normally, for the engine to heat up? I'll let it run for a solid 5 minutes and the temp needle will move maybe 2cm.

I took this video after shutting off the engine. Is that amount of smoke normal? I understand that there is probably some exhaust gases that didn't get pushed out when the engine gets turned off, but, this seams like too much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTMRNvbr2D8
 
That smoke coming from the muffler makes me think you have a mouse nest built in there which may be the whistle noise you are hearing also. After getting it going and hitting the Vboost a couple times your whistle will probably go away..........
 
Hey Brother, What ever works
And it looks like your makin the best of your space, take a look at mine and what I've done with it. In that first pic the bike had been sitting since 94 and is up-right but in pieces, note the rust on the discs. The bike was completely rebuilt in that old shed during the winter, started in 2011 rebuilding the motor and just kept going.
 
Last edited:
Hey man I listened to that clip of your idle sound (squeal) and saw the smoke (steam).
During my first attempt at starting the bike shown in my pics I got the same thing, it was part of why I went ahead with my rebuild. The Vmax motor has a crank case/coolant breather system below the vboost manifold, in my case old coolant and oil had built up on the diaphragm and made a wheezing sound while idling and you could smell anti freeze in the exhaust but no head gasket or cracked case issues caused it. The coolant had backed into the breather over the time it sat from '94' to when I tried to run it in 2011. This was confirmed when I took apart and inspected my motor to see what I was in for. Email me for a lot more info if you still need it @ [email protected].
 
Last edited:
Interesting...thanks for the info. I've put about 200 miles on it since starting it for the first time(September) and I still get squealing on idle, but it's definitely not as notable as it was the first few starts. I didn't even think to smell the exhaust, I'll need to do that. I'll email you to get more info on it for sure, I appreciate it.
 
Back
Top