1st Gen V-Max 1986 V-Max

[1955marine]

VMax Year

1986

This was my brother's bike, he passed last year so I bought it from his estate. The engine was built by PCW Racing in New York (no longer in business). It has a Magna Supercharger and nitrus. Front end is off a Yamaha R1 (unknown year). Converted to chain drive and has an 12 inch overstock swingarm.

 

[Fire-medic]

Sorry you lost your brother.

The bike has a lot of mods, take good care of it. A good-lookin' bike.

 

[one2dmax]

Condolences on your brother. You have a very nice bike that he has left you for his legacy.

John (PCW) is still around though working off the radar so to speak.
See pics of the fork lengths and design. The 98-01 uses an axle that threads into the fork leg. The 02-03 uses an axle that is hollow that has a threaded bolt that threads into the axle to retain it. The 04-up use radial brakes which yours does not have.
The triples are Cycle One Off and normally he would use the 02-03 forks but his earlier work is the 99-01 version.

 

[CaptainKyle]

Sorry to hear about your brother ! Glad you were able to purchase the bike in memory of him. It is really nice !

 

[Dansmaxresto]

Wow, that’s a nice bike. I have an 86 also… looks NOTHING like that…lol. I wonder if he ever gave it a shot of nitrous at WFO throttle. I’m curious about the HP number with supercharger and nitrous. And what kind of power can stock internals handle (I’m sure yours are not stock.)

 

[1955marine]

Wow, that’s a nice bike. I have an 86 also… looks NOTHING like that…lol. I wonder if he ever gave it a shot of nitrous at WFO throttle. I’m curious about the HP number with supercharger and nitrous. And what kind of power can stock internals handle (I’m sure yours are not stock.)

I was told by my brother that it dynoed 397hp. I have no paper work of any kind that would verify that. Also, I just have no paper work at all. Just a bill of sale. VIN search shows it was never titled in Texas, only NC in 2003, SC also in 2003 and in Florida in 2004. One of the pics shows a texas tag from 2016. Tim had several Vmax's but this was his baby. So now starts the process of getting it titled. The engine case has the first two digits missing missing to make room for the chain and spocket. What's left is T-005206 which apparently is not an 86 engine. Anyone got any clues?

 

[1955marine]

Condolences on your brother. You have a very nice bike that he has left you for his legacy.

John (PCW) is still around though working off the radar so to speak.
See pics of the fork lengths and design. The 98-01 uses an axle that threads into the fork leg. The 02-03 uses an axle that is hollow that has a threaded bolt that threads into the axle to retain it. The 04-up use radial brakes which yours does not have.
The triples are Cycle One Off and normally he would use the 02-03 forks but his earlier work is the 99-01 version.

Do you think he might have any records on what all he did on this engine? The first two digits have been machined off to make room for the chain and sprocket. What's left is T-005206 which from my limited research is not an 86 engine. And by the way, since your in Derby is the beach house still open and would you by chance know Mike Mockry of Mockry Machine?

 

[one2dmax]

Beach house is still open though it's been decades since I have been in there. I do not know Mike, sorry.
PCW may have the details still. There should be a number engraved on the block. Usually on the RH side behind the head (to the right of the stock vin stamping).
The 397 is going to be grossly exaggerated. The cranks don't take much over 250 before it vacates the block. I would estimate in the 180-200ish range and maybe a little more with nitrous. Provided it's a high boost 1428-1500cc build. If smaller bore then power level will be less. The superchargers are not terribly effecient.

 

[1955marine]

Beach house is still open though it's been decades since I have been in there. I do not know Mike, sorry.
PCW may have the details still. There should be a number engraved on the block. Usually on the RH side behind the head (to the right of the stock vin stamping).
The 397 is going to be grossly exaggerated. The cranks don't take much over 250 before it vacates the block. I would estimate in the 180-200ish range and maybe a little more with nitrous. Provided it's a high boost 1428-1500cc build. If smaller bore then power level will be less. The superchargers are not terribly effecient.

Thanks for the reply. I'm in Lincoln and I have the Bike in Omaha so I'll get up there next week and take a look. Robertson Cycle is rebuilding the engine.

 

[hogfiddles]

VIN is stamped into the headtube (steering tube) on the frame. There should also be a white data sticker there that would have the date, as well.

 

[Fire-medic]

The 397 is going to be grossly exaggerated.

I'm glad our world-recognized authority weighed-in on this. I think you could swap-out the first digit '3' for a '1' and still be optimistic. That would make it 197 RWHP which is almost 100 HP above your stock engine's RWHP which should be about 110. The factory 145 HP for the USA models is an 'at the crankshaft' reading. From reading all the bike magazines over the years, the highest RWHP reading I recall is 119 RWHP. The factories are known to assemble from 'best tolerances', bikes which are provided to the motorcycling press for testing. Also, another practice manufacturers use is to give the first year's bike a 'hot' set of cams to generate an impressive HP # for the magazines (now, the internet) to 'ooh' and to 'ahh' over. Yamaha did just that with the same-period FZR1000 'Genesis' engine, 5 valves/cylinder. The first year, it exceeded the VMax RWHP by a bit, but then, It weighed 100 lbs less, and had much-better aerodynamics, so of course its top-end was impressive for the day. It made 122 RWHP. That was in 1987, but for the 1988 model, they put in a set of cams which produced much-less RWHP but which had a much-stronger midrange. That made it a better ride, as that's where you do most of your street-riding.

 

[one2dmax]

Thanks for the reply. I'm in Lincoln and I have the Bike in Omaha so I'll get up there next week and take a look. Robertson Cycle is rebuilding the engine.

Please clarify what is needed on the rebuild.

Just for FYI (for you or anyone else reading this) IF, it spun a bearing save yourself (and Robertson) a LOT of future pains and don't bother rebuilding the block. Get a donor with good crank/block and rebuild from there. When they spin a bearing it damages the saddles and thrust surfaces which are no machineable (without a LOT of work). Plus no oversize bearing shells like other bikes/cars have.

 

[Jaketheone46]

Condolences on your brother. You have a very nice bike that he has left you for his legacy.

John (PCW) is still around though working off the radar so to speak.
See pics of the fork lengths and design. The 98-01 uses an axle that threads into the fork leg. The 02-03 uses an axle that is hollow that has a threaded bolt that threads into the axle to retain it. The 04-up use radial brakes which yours does not have.
The triples are Cycle One Off and normally he would use the 02-03 forks but his earlier work is the 99-01 version.

The R1 has been my passion since the first year 1998. I’ve been looking for a clean 98 for a long time. I missed the perfect one about 5 years ago it had 3,000 original owner miles on it I did however get his showroom mint 04 R1 with 713 miles on it. I’ve made the 04 special and it’s a keeper. I so love the 04-06 which was also the lightest generation to date. It and my 09 vmax are my keepers.

 

[Jaketheone46]

Thanks for the reply. I'm in Lincoln and I have the Bike in Omaha so I'll get up there next week and take a look. Robertson Cycle is rebuilding the engine.

I’m curious what is wrong with the engine?

 

[1955marine]

I’m curious what is wrong with the engine?

It was parked about 3 years ago with a blown head gasket.

 

[1955marine]

Please clarify what is needed on the rebuild.

Just for FYI (for you or anyone else reading this) IF, it spun a bearing save yourself (and Robertson) a LOT of future pains and don't bother rebuilding the block. Get a donor with good crank/block and rebuild from there. When they spin a bearing it damages the saddles and thrust surfaces which are no machineable (without a LOT of work). Plus no oversize bearing shells like other bikes/cars have.

It's supposed to just be a blown head gasket.

 

[1955marine]

It's supposed to just be a blown head gasket. But I want to go thru it and make sure that's all that's wrong. He has several blocks and a couple complete Ventures also. He does all his own machine work and has three dynos. Not sure why he needs 3 but I know one is trailer mounted for taking to events I would assume.

 

[one2dmax]

It's not too likely to have a blown head gasket. They are very common to have bad water pump seals and that can let coolant get into the oil. Also, even the radiator cap can go bad which can cause head gasket failure symptoms.

 

[1955marine]

It's not too likely to have a blown head gasket. They are very common to have bad water pump seals and that can let coolant get into the oil. Also, even the radiator cap can go bad which can cause head gasket failure symptoms.

Wow. That would be good news. Several years ago he laid it on it's side leaving someones house. I think that it was shortly after that that he thought he had a blown head gasket. He drained the radiator and I think he said there was no anti freeze in the oil. I think he may have drained the oil too. The bike has sat since then as that's when he got sick. The plastic shroud around the radiator and the front fender got damaged when he put it on it's side so maybe that caused it's problems. I'm not sure what it was doing that made him think he had blown head gaskets.

 

[one2dmax]

Wow. That would be good news. Several years ago he laid it on it's side leaving someones house. I think that it was shortly after that that he thought he had a blown head gasket. He drained the radiator and I think he said there was no anti freeze in the oil. I think he may have drained the oil too. The bike has sat since then as that's when he got sick. The plastic shroud around the radiator and the front fender got damaged when he put it on it's side so maybe that caused it's problems. I'm not sure what it was doing that made him think he had blown head gaskets.

Clean it up, add fresh fluids and I bet you're good to go (maybe replacing a radiator)