My Vmax performing like a 500cc

[radley]

thanks for the input fellas.... i'll keep that pic in mind for the next carb rebuild...
i'll toss some seafoam in there... sucks if jets cloggin up, dang, just rebuilt that thing perfectly..which makes me wonder... maybe i got crap in the tank?
i dont think it's ever been cleaned/emptied out. after carb rebuild, could have been suckin up some crap... guess i dont know for sure...
pretty cool how a spark plug can tell ya all those things. the cut plug, dang. maybe if i was racing but very cool nonetheless. reminds me of a cut shell for shotgun, the poor man's slug.

anyways looks like i got some tinkering to do. keep ya'll posted. thanks again fellas.

 

[D-Max2012]

maybe i got crap in the tank?

Maybe this is TMI and long winded, but if I can help someone from my misfortune, I'd take that as a plus.

4+ years ago, I spent over 300 hours trying to clean out my fuel system.
I picked up over 5 coffee cups full of shit the tank, at the pump.
The tanker was at the station, but I did not see it right away because it was hiding behind another large truck.



Of course the manager at the pump told me that it must be rust from my tank. I showed him how much was in there, and explained that if you complexly shredded my tank, it would not be this much. I had this stiff tested and it was NOT metal. It was actually a polymer. Under a microscope, you could see it was cracked up crumbled plastic. (Underground Tank Liner). I was too PISSED off.. SO, instead of doing something, then heading off to jail, I decided to work on this myself.

The max still had some surface rust in the tank, But, no matter how many times would siphon, filter, re-fuel, break down carbs, UltraSonic Cleaned, rebuilt, etc., carbs would still get dirty.

So I finally decided to attack the problem at the source.
Picked up the KBS 3-Step Tank Sealer Kit and went to work.

Arms were aching after shaking around window chain inside the tank, to get any surface rust off. (Learned the hard way, not to used nuts and bolts, because something can get caught inside. (PITA to get out).

When it came to dry out the tank, it was a real PITA, because it kept showing tiny water areas while inspecting. It must be BONE DRY. (I had to blast my heat gun thru the neck opening, for almost an hour, then, blast cool air for around the same time. Had to inspect the inside of the tank with my endoscope to make sure there were no hidden places that water was hiding.

Made up some seals for the tank's openings. 2" PVC seals nicely with a rubber glove stretch over the mouth. and a rubber seal over the fuel sensor opening. (using the mounting bolts to secure it..

After applying the sealer, and constantly rotating the tank for over an hour. And re-rotate every 15 minutes till there were no signs of flowing sealer, I let it sit for a week to make sure it was fully cured.

During that week, I broke down the pump, fuel lines, and carbs again to give everything that fuel touched, a good cleaning.

It's been 4+ years now and my fuel system still clear as water.

Its a real PITA to do all of this, but it was worth it.

 

[42Below]

And its the only way if the tank is rusty.
You wouldnt keep making whiskey is there was a big crap in the stream...
Good write up.

 

[radley]

Omg no way... so you picked up all that crap from the pump? shit.. scary there hey..

i guess there is no other option though, impressive to say the least. dang..

I went to cabelas to pick up my new 9mm buddy, and dropped in a half can of Seafoam to see if i could cure that 4500rpm stagger... i had 3/4 a tank and took off, gotta say, so far so good... dunno what or why it was staggerin like that but post-seafoam, seems to run through those rpm's just fine.. the bike ran pretty well, sounded decent.

now i know i gotta fine-tune it, and it's not like I'm power-wheeling at all or if that's even possible with the vmax.. but i hope there's room for more power and acceleration and fun. dont get me wrong, i'm happy she's running and well enough to take out the 50 miles to owatonna and back.. battery a bit weak on starting but anther thread i'm workign on that.

so fine tune it, gotta fix the slipping clutch, wouldn't mind doing the upgrade mentioned in that thread.

gotta fix Vboost. when i gassed up, calculated 33.3 mpg.

gotta rebuild forks but they aren't leaking from what i can tell, but got progressives and new oem parts so maybe a winter work-week type project.

talked to co-worker and gonna try to stay away from 87 gas and spend a little more and get ethanol-free stuff. see how that goes, otherwise i'll be dropping half can of sea-foam every few fillups..? it only took 15 miles to start acting weird after carb rebuild, but there was plenty of stationary tweaking, syncing etc running gas through. filter looks clean so assume tank is good inside, no nightmares like above... omg.. i'd give up for the year..

so yeah, that's it for now. must-do is probably the big battery mod.

Also should i get serious about COPS?

 

[Traumahawk]

Omg no way... so you picked up all that crap from the pump? shit.. scary there hey..

i guess there is no other option though, impressive to say the least. dang..

I went to cabelas to pick up my new 9mm buddy, and dropped in a half can of Seafoam to see if i could cure that 4500rpm stagger... i had 3/4 a tank and took off, gotta say, so far so good... dunno what or why it was staggerin like that but post-seafoam, seems to run through those rpm's just fine.. the bike ran pretty well, sounded decent.

now i know i gotta fine-tune it, and it's not like I'm power-wheeling at all or if that's even possible with the vmax.. but i hope there's room for more power and acceleration and fun. dont get me wrong, i'm happy she's running and well enough to take out the 50 miles to owatonna and back.. battery a bit weak on starting but anther thread i'm workign on that.

so fine tune it, gotta fix the slipping clutch, wouldn't mind doing the upgrade mentioned in that thread.

gotta fix Vboost. when i gassed up, calculated 33.3 mpg.

gotta rebuild forks but they aren't leaking from what i can tell, but got progressives and new oem parts so maybe a winter work-week type project.

talked to co-worker and gonna try to stay away from 87 gas and spend a little more and get ethanol-free stuff. see how that goes, otherwise i'll be dropping half can of sea-foam every few fillups..? it only took 15 miles to start acting weird after carb rebuild, but there was plenty of stationary tweaking, syncing etc running gas through. filter looks clean so assume tank is good inside, no nightmares like above... omg.. i'd give up for the year..

so yeah, that's it for now. must-do is probably the big battery mod.

Also should i get serious about COPS?

Um the Vmax was designed to be run on 87 octane fuel. You wont get any more power from higher octane fuels.....you actually could lose a bit, because higher octane fuels burns slower to resist detonation. Just stay away from ethanol fuel.

Cops offer no hp increase, or mileage increase. If you have a coil going bad, then they are a good replacement. They are almost as powerful as the stock coils, but not quite. Anything else can be fixed. Bad plug wires, clip 1/4 of an inch off the ends. You can rebuild the spark plug ends and remove corrosion....etc

If you picked up some trash......do a heavy duty shotgun, and see if you can dislodge the junk out of the passages.

 

[radley]

Ok I'll keep 87 in there. I'm just assuming there's more crap in 87 that will gum up the carbs sooner than not..? That or I'll supplement a tank with more sea-foam as needed. only reason i say this is cuz i had that stutter at 4500 rpm and per Dman or whoever, put in Seafoam and it went away yesterday.. so..... maybe keep seafoam on hand then? we'll see how long

 

[D-Max2012]

If I read you correctly, you're going to try 87 Non-Ethanol? If so, GREAT.. I wish I could find Non-Ethanol for my max, but they spike all our stations around here with that crap. Like Trauma said, since the bike was designed to run on 87, that's what I would use, (unless you had a modded engine that used extra high compression or something). Other than that, its a waist of money and lower performance on a Gen1. 33.3 MPG is NOT BAD AT ALL.. Of course if you're a Hooligan Throttle Junkie, it can be way worse. Trying to manipulate Manhattan, in terrible traffic, I got about 56 miles to my ENTIRE TANK. That's about 14 MPG, but that was doing about 5 miles per hour/ for a 3 hour ride. Won't be doing that again any time soon. Best I've gotten so far, "and this was tried on purpose", was nearly 45MPG. Rode in 4 and 5th gear, every chance I got, keeping the RPM's low - mostly highway. GLAD to hear the SeaFoam is doing its thing for you too. For my engine, it kicked in at after 1.5 bottles, split between 3 fill-ups.

 

[radley]

alright sweet man. 45 mpg dang that's sick. unbelievable how much the Vmax can vary, if you want it to... As far as the fuel goes, I am not sure, gonna clear up with co-worker. he said to look into filling with small engine/cycle/ etc that they sell at specific gas stations.. i dunno, he said he did Sea foam (does lawn care) but switched to different fuel afterwards and didnt have to spend money on sea foam but spends more at the pump.. i dunno.. i'll just keep some on hand and see how it goes.

33 mpg yeah i'll take it. we'll see. gotta do the big battery mod but other than that, glad to be able to get on 2 wheels again. i'm gonna run a multimeter across battery and see what i'm getting on that realm, maybe look into the R/R stuff. just researched what that was and charging system in general... kinda fun learning about the stuff you all have known forever i bet.

ok asking co-worker what he's talking about... ok he says its 91 octane no ethanol added premium recreational gas

 

[D-Max2012]

I'm just assuming there's more crap in 87 that will gum up the carbs sooner than not..?

87 from a decent source, (BP, Shell, Sunoco), Etc. has nothing to do with crap in the fuel. https://www.exxon.com/en/octane-rating

only reason i say this is cuz i had that stutter at 4500 rpm and per Dman or whoever, put in Seafoam and it went away yesterday.. so..... maybe keep seafoam on hand then? we'll see how long

It's been used on many engines over the years, to help break up (FM - Foreign Matter), that blocks jet openings. Also, it's been tested to loosen up carbon deposits on cylinders.

Since my tank is coated, I have not had to use Seafoam for a few years now, but I will drop another 1/2 bottle in there, this year, just to keep things flowing correctly. If your tank is still raw, you might want to use it more regularly. That Ethanol draws in water from normal air. When that water reacts with the steel tank, you'll get surface rust. Micro FM making its way, back into your engine. Remember, they did not take into account, the introduction of Ethanol into most fuels when they originally designed the V-Max. So now, we have to do things to protect our babies. :biglaugh:

 

[Donny Daughtry]

Omg no way... so you picked up all that crap from the pump? shit.. scary there hey..

i guess there is no other option though, impressive to say the least. dang..

I went to cabelas to pick up my new 9mm buddy, and dropped in a half can of Seafoam to see if i could cure that 4500rpm stagger... i had 3/4 a tank and took off, gotta say, so far so good... dunno what or why it was staggerin like that but post-seafoam, seems to run through those rpm's just fine.. the bike ran pretty well, sounded decent.

now i know i gotta fine-tune it, and it's not like I'm power-wheeling at all or if that's even possible with the vmax.. but i hope there's room for more power and acceleration and fun. dont get me wrong, i'm happy she's running and well enough to take out the 50 miles to owatonna and back.. battery a bit weak on starting but anther thread i'm workign on that.

so fine tune it, gotta fix the slipping clutch, wouldn't mind doing the upgrade mentioned in that thread.

gotta fix Vboost. when i gassed up, calculated 33.3 mpg.

gotta rebuild forks but they aren't leaking from what i can tell, but got progressives and new oem parts so maybe a winter work-week type project.

talked to co-worker and gonna try to stay away from 87 gas and spend a little more and get ethanol-free stuff. see how that goes, otherwise i'll be dropping half can of sea-foam every few fillups..? it only took 15 miles to start acting weird after carb rebuild, but there was plenty of stationary tweaking, syncing etc running gas through. filter looks clean so assume tank is good inside, no nightmares like above... omg.. i'd give up for the year..

so yeah, that's it for now. must-do is probably the big battery mod.

Also should i get serious about COPS?

Actually Yamaha recommends 86 octane regular unleaded or research octane of 91 or higher (as it states in the manual). Really depends on where you are buying your gas.:confused2:
It sound like you need to run 2 filters if your carbs are often clogging and you are taking them apart constantly. One in the original position and one after the fuel pump going to the carbs.
From what i have read about COPS on this site I have had problems with mine and i'm running a Dynatek 3000 ignition. It turns out the harnesses i bought from a '92 Vmax had too high resistance and i found a guy on facebook vmax site that built me a set that are exactly the same as the stock coils.
Happy to say this monster is running exactly like it should now-:clapping:
I have also never heard a bad word about someone running COPS on their Vmax as i personally think it is an upgrade from the stock coils that should have been replaced looooooong ago.:ummm:
Also yours being an '85 model i'm sure you are overdue for a new set. This is where i got mine---
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-2007-Y...ash=item2f0710cce6:g:dwMAAOSwuAVWwqjT&vxp=mtr

 

[D-Max2012]

Question about your battery issue. Did you ever get the chance to inspect, clean, and re-assemble your current R/R, using dielectric grease?? Since the negative connection is the bikes' frame, you MUST make sure there is a good connection between the R/R and the frame. When I pilled mine out, it was heavily corroded. I used my Dremel tool with the wire brush attachment to really clean it up good, then, used dielectric grease on the bolts and the surface of the R/R, before re-assembly. If your battery needs replacing, do it (they don't last forever), but, don't forget about your R/R cleaning.

 

[Traumahawk]

This might help answer your question about gasoline. A snippet from the service manual.

 

[D-Max2012]

ok he says its 91 octane no ethanol added premium recreational gas

Don't take that as a RULE OF THUMB.
Maybe the station he's referring too, has this option. Check it out for yourself.
Many pumps over here, has it written in small letters, "This fuel May Contain No more than 10% Ethanol".

They use legal word trickery, "MAY Contain". What do you mean "May"? Either it does or doesn't.

You can best believe, these money hungry people out here, will substitute animal piss if they could get away with it. They'll pay less per tanker, while charging you the same, if not more per gallon.

 

[radley]

alright, cool man, thanks for clearing that up...haha.

 

[radley]

Question about your battery issue. Did you ever get the chance to inspect, clean, and re-assemble your current R/R, using dielectric grease?? Since the negative connection is the bikes' frame, you MUST make sure there is a good connection between the R/R and the frame. When I pilled mine out, it was heavily corroded. I used my Dremel tool with the wire brush attachment to really clean it up good, then, used dielectric grease on the bolts and the surface of the R/R, before re-assembly. If your battery needs replacing, do it (they don't last forever), but, don't forget about your R/R cleaning.

Sorry responded before i saw all the responses. ok battery issue..

To be honest guys, I learn about engines etc, cars, my vmax whatever, as I fix things. I only know what I have worked with... carbs being one and I am pretty confident in regards to them, but only after ya'lls help so thank you. I didnt grow up wrenching on toys or have a dirt bike or anything like that. It's tough being in company of all the masterminds from time to time, lol. So in this case, I didnt' know what an R/R was or what it meant as of yesterday. I didnt know anything about the charging system on a bike... I spent some time yesterday researching it. Now I just gotta see how it applies our Vmax.
I watched a couple vids on charging system and foudn this too.
http://www.electrosport.com/technic...articles/how-motorcycle-charging-system-works

Soooooooo, no. I haven't gotten to the R/R, I dont even know where it is. I plan on doing some of this stuff in sticky provided to me previously.
http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=19108
He must have COPS cuz the rear coils are gone? or is the R/R there anyways. I simply haven't looked or gotten into it yet. I'll have to find that ground wire and make sure it's clean for sure.. but that's where I'm at with the chargins system stuff.

 

[Bill Seward]

If you're still using a regulator that is grounding through the frame, and don't plan on upgrading to a MOSFET or Series unit, you ought to at least add a wire running from one of the mounting screws for the regulator - A GOOD connection. Run this directly to battery negative. Then detach the RED wire from regulator directly to battery positive. For safety's sake, put a 30 amp fuse inline on the red wire. Connecting directly to battery, you get the benefit of all the power the regulator is passing. If you didn't do this already, check the connector between stator and regulator. If you have any signs of heat or melting in the connector, remove it, and hard wire the stator to the regulator. Solder and insulate these wires well.. From ground, AND each other.

Personally, I'd toss the whole original regulator and get a Series unit, wired as I described.
Be sure it's a genuine Shindengen.. Lots of fakes on EBay.

 

[radley]

YEAH after learning about this R/R stuff, I'd like to upgrade.

I got that sticky up.. looks like I should be looking for a zx14 R/R. and order it Ebay..

Sure couple guys on here sell stock fit MOSFETs i guess they're called...
but a better R/R from zx14 sound better.
the Ra warrior mounts it above battery, but he has room, cuz he has cops. i have no cops, so can't do it there, but i wanna upgrade. hence a location issue.

but dont let me get ahead of myself, i have NO experienc wtih charging systems or anything else i'll be doing to upgrade my bike. thing is, I definitely gotta do these things cuz she won't be going anywhere.

so one step at a time here but dang.. ugh lol.

 

[DRWard]

YEAH after learning about this R/R stuff, I'd like to upgrade.

I got that sticky up.. looks like I should be looking for a zx14 R/R. and order it Ebay..

Sure couple guys on here sell stock fit MOSFETs i guess they're called...
but a better R/R from zx14 sound better.
the Ra warrior mounts it above battery, but he has room, cuz he has cops. i have no cops, so can't do it there, but i wanna upgrade. hence a location issue.

but dont let me get ahead of myself, i have NO experienc wtih charging systems or anything else i'll be doing to upgrade my bike. thing is, I definitely gotta do these things cuz she won't be going anywhere.

so one step at a time here but dang.. ugh lol.

I feel your PAIN! Been doing some charging issue lesson cramming for the past few days. Mine went down Friday night. Glad to have all the help from the forum here. Bill has been exceptional! I am struggling about location issues also. I have the parts on order, maybe they will be here today. I do have the COPS, but looking at trying to mount in the original location of the OEM Rectifier/Regulator (R/R). If you haven't found it yet, the stock one is mounted on the back side of the left passenger foot peg holder. If you pull the left VMAX side panel it is real easy to see. (See Picture)

Pay no attention to the Blue wire nuts on the STATOR wires, Previous Owner (PO) had done it this way, I will clean this up when I get the parts in.

Hope this helps

 

[D-Max2012]

Maybe it's just my way of thinking.
This is why I came back and asked the question again, since I did not see an answer till today.
So you haven't checked the R/R ground. So your Charging / Starting (low bat), could be something as simple as cleaning things up?

This was the same reason I sent you my results on Seafoam. I could have spent hundreds, sending my carbs out to be cleaned and adjusted. Get them back, and not having ANY knowledge of what was done to fix my issue, providing the issue was fixed, once remounted.

I was never one for just throwing money at a problem, hoping for it to be removed. 1st, I always look into why I have the problem, and then, if there's something I can do to remedy it with the existing equipment. I would take the time to investigate IF my device actually has an issue. Like checking to see if the device falls withing specs or not.

As you can see from the hijacked picture, Sorry DRWard, just trying to help another brother out..:biglaugh: It's really not that difficult to clean your mounts to see if you really do have a R/R problem.

 

[DRWard]

Maybe it's just my way of thinking.
This is why I came back and asked the question again, since I did not see an answer till today.
So you haven't checked the R/R ground. So your Charging / Starting (low bat), could be something as simple as cleaning things up?

This was the same reason I sent you my results on Seafoam. I could have spent hundreds, sending my carbs out to be cleaned and adjusted. Get them back, and not having ANY knowledge of what was done to fix my issue, providing the issue was fixed, once remounted.

I was never one for just throwing money at a problem, hoping for it to be removed. 1st, I always look into why I have the problem, and then, if there's something I can do to remedy it with the existing equipment. I would take the time to investigate IF my device actually has an issue. Like checking to see if the device falls withing specs or not.

As you can see from the hijacked picture, Sorry DRWard, just trying to help another brother out..:biglaugh: It's really not that difficult to clean your mounts to see if you really do have a R/R problem.
View attachment 56431

No problem on the HiJack. Mine actually has the large ground wire running from the R/R to the Neg battery terminal, not shown in the picture. I will clean the corrosion anyways to help in grounding.
Thanks for the hint.