My 1985 Project Thread

[TwelveGaugeSage]

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Okay, so I picked this up without a ton of info on it. It was being ridden up until recently. Owner did an oil change and saw a small amount of metal in the oil.

When I got it, the clutch had no bite, so I added fluid and got a bunch of air out of the lines. Feels nice now.
I threw in a new battery filled up the oil with some Rotella T4.
I got it fired up, but it seemed to be running rich and eventually stalled out.
The next day I rolled it into the driveway and got it started again. Held idle for about 5 minutes, but eventually started pissing fuel and then stalled out.

Unless someone points me elsewhere, I am going to try draining the bowls and then shooting some carb cleaner into them. I just finished doing a full rebuild on the carbs out of a 99 Concours and have done it on a CB750, so if I need to go that route I'm not intimidated about it.

 

[NHMax]

May have to bite the bullet and pull the carbs to clean them

I couldn't get mine right so I sent them for COMPLETE rebuild
thing freaking purrs like a kitten again
Brand new Exhaust But can't ride it yet cause front fprk seals blew and dumped oil all over the mostly seized front calipers HAHAHAHA

Looking forward to following your refresh

 

[marsmax85]

you mentioned metal in the oil when drained ?

 

[Fire-medic]

Throw some footpegs by the forward aspect of the side cover allen head screws, and with the 'relaxed' angle of the passenger backrest, you can use it as an OB-GYN chair. Don't forget the speculum.

The handlebar risers give it a chopper vibe, for sure. As does the massive headlamp bucket. Is a 1-piece seat in the cards?

Since that bike as-is was the former owner's vision, are you going to make it more-of a stock appearance?

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

May have to bite the bullet and pull the carbs to clean them

No biggie if I do. I buy motorcycles mostly to repair and then sell because I like working on them. So if I gotta pull them I gotta pull them. I kind of enjoy rebuilding carbs. It is fairly peaceful and relaxed work.

you mentioned metal in the oil when drained ?

Yeah. Previous owner said there was a little bit of metal in the oil. I figure at best it is nothing, at worst I get to tear one of these cool engines apart and hope I can put it back together again, haha.

Throw some footpegs by the forward aspect of the side cover allen head screws, and with the 'relaxed' angle of the passenger backrest, you can use it as an OB-GYN chair. Don't forget the speculum.

The handlebar risers give it a chopper vibe, for sure. As does the massive headlamp bucket. Is a 1-piece seat in the cards?

Since that bike as-is was the former owner's vision, are you going to make it more-of a stock appearance?

You've definitely made me think about some things I hadn't before. I'm kinda cheap and not much of a mod guy, but stylistically I suppose I could see myself changing some things if I end up keeping it. The stock seat is in fairly good shape and I kind of like it, so I don't see that going, but I also haven't ridden it yet. Whatever I do a comfy passenger seat and backrest are a must for my wife. I typically like the stock look on bikes, and the Vmax is no different. While I like the look of the current headlight, I wouldn't mind returning to the stock turn signals and mirrors.

 

[Fire-medic]

Suggestions:
A better, different headlight will improve your nighttime riding experience. I don't mind the OEM turn signals but many think they're too-big, or not stylish-enough. I think anything you can do to improve your conspicuity/visibility, day or night, is going to help avoid accidents. Having a single/double row of LED's 5" long is not my idea of 'increased visibility.' One of the easiest things to do is to wear a plain white helmet. Better yet, get some reflective tape design on it. But just using a white helmet greatly improves your visibility to other drivers, especially in overcast or dusk/dawn situations. Try it yourself, pay attention to any riders you see, if they have a black helmet how-soon you lose sight of the rider ahead of you. They quickly get 'lost' in the traffic congestion. Then look for a white-helmeted rider, and how they stand-out as they go ahead of you. It's much-easier to spot the white-helmeted rider in the distance. And, adding some stylish reflective design to the helmet will make it very conspicuous in the headlights of a following driver behind the motorcycle rider so-equipped.

About the headlight, there are many LED designs now, and if you add a pair of 43mm diameter side brackets to be added to your fork downtubes, you can greatly-increase your headlight diameter to 7" or even 8". If you want to go 'old school,' a filament bulb of higher quality, or a halogen bulb will make it much-easier to see at night. Just make sure that your lens 'fluting' (the glass pattern) doesn't blind oncoming drivers with your choice of bulb. The H-D VRod has a headlamp bucket many VMax owners have used.

A word about the downtube brackets, I suggest getting ones which have rubber inserts for the downtubes. It will help to protect the filament or electronics, or plastic extrusions of the headlamp housing/bucket from vibration, fatigue, and fractures. 1985-1992 are 41 MM; 1993-2007 are 43 MM. If you look on the 'library' using the search function, you can get plenty of ideas. Recall that the OEM headlamp mounting is a single "6-o'clock" position mount for the major support of the OEM Gen. 1 headlamp.

https://www.vmaxforum.net/threads/headlamp.19424/page-2#post-333732


This is an EMGO 7" headlamp bucket, w/a Harley-Davidson bezel and glass. It reminds me of a locomotive headlamp at night, and it's nearly 50% larger in diameter than stock VMax headlamp. Note how well the OEM 'flycatcher' lines complement the headlamp bucket. AT night, the difference in lighting is significant.

https://www.vmaxforum.net/threads/new-headlight-bulb-piaa-xtreme-white-plus.28229/#post-303110
Yes, get an OEM backrest for the spouse. It's more-upright that that home-made one you have and it will provide security for her while riding. A word of caution: if you whack open the throttle in almost any gear, as you hit VBoost, the front end is going to power-wheelie with a passenger, so be-prepared. It reminds me of my Kawasaki Blue Streak 500cc two-stroke triple cyl. which would perform similarly, when carrying a passenger.

About mirrors, recall that Yamahas have a reverse-thread on one side. If you're buying an aftermarket 'look-alike,' or other design be sure you get a pair labelled for Yamaha.

A thread with a warning about the exactrep 'Alien' twin headlamp design, and some carb advice:

https://www.vmaxforum.net/threads/a...ome-here-and-say-hi.1873/page-180#post-472946

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Okay, so while waiting on parts for my Concours project, I decided to rip the carbs out and rebuild them. Between the write ups, some advice from Dannymax, the service manual, and a bit of trial and error, I managed to get them off, apart, cleaned, rebuilt, back together, and on the bike. There were a few small cracks and breaks here and there, but nothing that will hurt functionality. One vacuum piston was toast, so I replaced it. All the coasting enrichment diapgragms looked bad, so I replaced them all. Other than that, the carbs weren't bad inside, so I don't know what was causing the leak. I'm guessing Danny would have a good idea from doing them, but I am stumped.

I would rate this rebuild as significantly more difficult than the CB750 and Concours carbs I have rebuilt, but not terrible. I'd be happy to give pointers to anyone doing it for their first time. Each carb in its own zip loc and always having at least one put completely together to reference from helps immensely. Also taking pictures to reference before tear down.

It wouldnt start at first, but I found my issue. The bike didn't come with a battery, so I have been using a CB750 battery I have in hand in the Vmax and it just doesn't have enough CCA for the Max. Every time I got it running was with a jumper box helping it out.

So I got it started and will order a proper battery. I had to adjust the idle a little, but she runs, sounds good, and best of all, no more fuel leak. Once I get the battery I will get the carbs nice and synched up. I did take it for a short ride around my cul-de-sac. At 5 mph everything felt okay. Once I get the battery and carbs synched I will go for a short ride to the gas station and add some Marvel Myster Oil to the tank.

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Actually, I don't need a battery! When looking for which one to get I cam across a thread mentioning using a Gold Wing battery, which I just happened to have lying around in my garage. I went to modify the battery box and found it already modified. It needed a little more trimming, but it is in there.

Started hook up for synch and tinkered a bit. I think I am going to have to fuss with the A/F screws before I can make headway on the synch, but time to go to work, so another time.