You can get a wally world battery for the Max, but if you're feeling a little spendy or in a hurry go for an Odyssey gel-cell. These motors take a lot of juice to spin over and it seems that the el cheapo batteries don't tend to last as long, or crank slowly when the motor is hot.
Something quick and easy to do is the "crimp fix". Go to the tech section of vmaxoutlaw.com and look for it...there's a great tutorial with pictures. It seems that the older the bike, the more it helps. Even on my '97 it raised voltage nearly a full volt across the range. You can also download a .pdf of the entire service manual---definetly want to grab that.
Kerker's are LOUD pipes. While I appreciate a good sound as much as everyone else, IMO a good note doesn't have to be super loud. I find that super loud pipes just get annoying on the highway. I'm running Holeshot slip-ons with stock headers. Got a nice hearty sound, reminds me of a big-block V8. Very nice deep rumble. Louder than stock, but not loud enough to catch shit at po-po checkpoints. On the highway with a full face helmet, I can just hear the motor. I couldn't hear my Magna V30 at all.
Definetly a bargain for the "original hooligan bike" at only a grand....I paid $1500 for my '85 V30 2 years ago.
Check the tires.....look old? Any cracking or dry rotting? If so, replace pronto, or do a big smoky burnout to kill the back one, which ever you prefer.
How about the diff oil? Seems to be a commonly forgotten item. It only takes like a cup of oil so might as well change it. I believe 80W is spec'd in the manual, so any 80-90 will do just fine.
If it starts and runs but runs kinda poorly, try a can of "sea-foam". Yes, it's a "snake oil", but everyone here who has tried it was amazed. I've seen it work some pretty good miracles myself. If that doesn't work/help, there's lots of articles here about carb cleaning.
How's it shift? If neutral is kinda hard to find or shifts seem "sloppy", your segment might be bad- the "old" style was used up until 99 and it had a tendency to bend and let the pins that the shift caliper grabs fall out. Search "shift segment" here and you'll find everything you need about that. It's a worthwhile upgrade, since my segment broke with virtually no warning and left me driving a hundred miles in third gear. It's about $75 worth of parts and maybe an hour's job. Good time to replace the clutch if necessary.
You'll find loads of help here with any issue you could possibly encounter. Plus, it's good to know your '85 will still smoke about 90% of the bikes on the road, including ANY stock H-D. Even the v-rod.
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