Help. Can't find VIN, how to determine year?

[rabit1]

Hi, I came across a nice Gen 1 vmax, but seems like it's been somehow modified and repainted. Strangely enough I can't find the VIN on the steering column as usual. there are only 5 digits numbers engraved on the column but it is no VIN.

Seems like the cover and fender has been repainted, but as far as I can tell the engine black paint color seems like original. I forgot to take pictures for the neck/steering column so I can show you guys there's no VIN.

The seller/owner thinks and told me it's probably an 1998 vmax (the previous owner told him so). But looking at the oil filter, it's an older cartridge type not the spin on oil filter type which indicates older vmax.

Do you guys know how to tell the manufactured year for this bike? I'm not so sure it is 1998. Is it possible for a 1998 vmax to use the cartridge type oil filter?

Thanks for the help guys...


I have a couple of pics

 

[twistedmax]

Maybe an 88 ?

 

[naughtyG]

Have you checked the VIN on the title? That should tell you all you need to know.

If there's no title or it doesn't match - stay clear! Bike's prolly stolen, or could be a write-off that's been put back on the road.

 

[gamorg02]

older style forks, its no newer than a 92.

 

[davesax36]

I think 88 with bolted on tokico calipers and 93+ rotors...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

 

[gunrunner]

Take a look at this , it should solve your problem . :clapping:

http://www.vmaxoutlaw.com/tech/frame_engine_info.htm

 

[m-cman]

Looks like the 98 paint scheme (black with black wheels) but oil filter shows the engine is 95 or earlier. May have replaced engine with older one? Accident rebuild?

 

[PATMAX]

Can't rule out a replacement frame either which can be a good thing. LA is a loosy goosy State for licensing vehicles I thought. One of those "Bill of Sale" states ain't it? At one time I thought it was an issue for me and my NOS frame but found out different from BMV. I don't need a stamped frame to make it all legal.
Think about it. If you bought a frame from Yamaha, do you think they are gonna stamp it for you? Not gonna happen.

 

[twistedmax]

Can't rule out a replacement frame either which can be a good thing. LA is a loosy goosy State for licensing vehicles I thought. One of those "Bill of Sale" states ain't it? At one time I thought it was an issue for me and my NOS frame but found out different from BMV. I don't need a stamped frame to make it all legal.
Think about it. If you bought a frame from Yamaha, do you think they are gonna stamp it for you? Not gonna happen.

Correct, I had to buy a frame for a atv once, yes had to , it was a brand new atv , 99 miles on it and I totaled it , had to buy a frame $700 and NO NUMBERS , I had to cut them out of the old frame and keep them with the quad for ID .

 

[CaptainKyle]

Well I guess Harley has one thing going they make you cut the kneck off & send it to them & they stamp the new frame just like the old one.

 

[rabit1]

Ok Thanks guys... If the frame had been replaced then other parts may have been replaced too, right?

How about engine identification number. Would it tell me anything? I could see the engine number but I didn't write it down.

Does the engine number tell me what year and what type of Vmax?

Thanks again.. T.K

 

[PATMAX]

Again, reference Gunrunners posted link from VmO
site. It shows engine numbers that designate years of manufacture. Of course that only gives you the year of the motor. You cannot extrapolate year of the bike from that. It's already been stated, go by what your title says. Trust me, you don't want to show up at the BMV claiming your frame and engine numbers don't match your title or anything like that.
Only reason I can see needing accurate year info is proper part selection such as 4 brush starter, new style stator pick up, TCI being pre or or post 1990.

 

[one2dmax]

You can figure out the approx year from the engine number (stamped into the pad at the left rear of the engine). Originally that pad would have serrations to prevent someone from sanding off and restamping the numbers. SO, if that area is smooth it's been altered. You'll only have a partial vin there which should match for that year range.

As has been already noted:
1985-1992 for the forks that are on it
1985-1995 for the canister type oil filter

To complicate matters i'd say the engine has had a repaint maybe at some point. It's got black with silver accents - notably on the clutch insert. This wasn't available until 1996 though the engine for that year would have had a spin on oil filter. It's easily possible that the insert was replaced.

The 85-86 had black with silver accents on the valve covers and light silver complete inserts. 88-95 had black with light gold accents and gold inserts. The rotors also had accents to match (and even the unmachined areas in the wheels had matching gold or silver color accents).

The black wheels you have are also not a complete match to one year. It wasn't until 1996 that had the first black wheels. 1996-1998 had them. 2005-2007 had black with red stripes. It's also easily seen that it's not a repainted 85-86 front wheel (which is completely different).

The frame cross bar is straight so it's only going to be 1985-1995 that had those. So, i'd say it's safe to rule out that it was a 1996 or newer bike that had the engine transplanted. I'd maybe need to see more of the bike to see if there was anything else that might clue me in.

The frame neck will have had the sticker AND a stamped number in it (on the right side of the neck).

 

[johnpclynch]

If the frame is a replacement non-VIN then I'd guess it's a crashed/damaged 88-92 that was rebuilt and resprayed

 

[rabit1]

Whoa... you guys really knows your stuff.. Very impressive Mr Morley.. Thank you,

Anyway, so I went to take another look and took a couple more pictures. Unfortunately I still can't make out the engine number, I thought I did get it (it was dark). I'm going to have to go back in daylight or with a flash light next time.

I'm really sorry I didn't take very good pictures with my phone.

But you guys can see the VIN number is not there. There's no sign that the frame neck was damaged or has been tampered with I think.

As far as I can tell (also according to my friend's "expert" opinion, the black paint on the engine, clutch, front fork, and the wheel has got to be original factory paint. We didn't think it was repainted.

So, what you guys think with the new pics?
Mr Mosley, is there anything in specific you want me to look at the bike itself?

Appreciate all the input. Thank you very much,
best best regards to you all.

T.K

 

[one2dmax]

I can't quite tell if the serrations/groves are in the number pad area on the block? I'll also need to look at my older blocks and make sure they had the same serrations on them. A partial vin of some sort is on the neck but not complete and in a little different area then we'd normally expect it to be.

So far I am a bit suspicious but won't commit to saying it's not legit either.

 

[[email protected]]

Where is the title, bill of sale, or any paperwork?? I would imagine you could find some clues if you have paperwork.

 

[1st Shirt Maxer]

When I was rebuilding my bike, there was no visible VIN as well. Once I sanded the neck down to bare metal, I uncovered the factory stamped VIN. I can tell you that the stamping was so light that even with a rattle can, I managed to completely cover up the VIN. I had no factory sticker or VIN plate so I was skeptical of the frame as well until I found the factory stamp. My max is an 01 so not sure if all the bikes have this done by Yamaha. Just my 3 cents

 

[rabit1]

I managed to get a good look at the engine number. Unless I've been looking at wrong number, it was:

1 4 1 4 0 10 7

But, the second digit, the '4' is written sideways, rotated 90 degrees ????
Is this how an engine number supposed to look like?

Does anyone knows what these numbers tell us?

 

[naughtyG]

An engine number should always start with one number and two letters, such as 1UT or or 2WE, so the number you posted doesn't help much?

Don't you have any paperwork for this bike?