New Yamaha Project???

Congrats on the new kid on the way Pete! My daughter just turned 1 in March and I'm not far in age from you. [wife is 7 yrs younger!! ;) ]

And too bad about the job. I'm in the market now myself. I'm looking at everything. We should start a new company!! Come back to Austin :D :rofl: :cheers:
 
I've been traveling recently so not too many updates.

More minor work today.

1) Installed new OEM dampers for the tach, still trying to figure out the speedo.
2) Installed back ordered swing bushings, now 100% new, OEM.
3) Polished right side replacement case cover.

I was cleaning up the case covers and discovered the original cover had a crack all the way through it. I managed to find two off of Virago Tech . com for free. I polished the best one up today. This one is an XV750 cover. Interestingly the casing marks are cleaner and better on the 750 vs. the 920. Not sure why.

I bought real polishing compound today; Zipp Strip, TC6, WR1, and JR1. I also bought a #60 buffing wheel. It's amazing how having the right tools makes the job easier. Once it was polished I used Turtle Wax Chrome polish to remove the residual compound. The oxidation is pretty bad and deep, but she cleaned up okay. I thought about having the original cover welded up, but I'd never trust it.

That said this is 2.5 hours into this thing.

Oh, and I popped the swing off, 15.53 LBS!!! Next year I need to get the YZ conversion back on track. If anyone find an old Metachex swing let me know.

New rear motor mount bushings are due in a week. It took 10 weeks to get them made.

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A friend tried to get me to buy his Virago in 87. I just kept it in my garage for 3 months. It was a fun bike, I just had little kids, no money and not a Cruiser fan. He almost gave it to his son in law. It never gave him an ounce of trouble.
 
New motor mounts arrived on Friday! 10 weeks to get these puppies. I'm just glad Yamaha is still making them. The 30 year old ones were rock hard. The new ones are nice and rubbery. There was some wear on the bushing, but not too much.

I'm still mulling over how to install the speedo into the can. I'm thinking Windex and a plastic knife to shove the speedo damper into the can.

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Hellgate said:
We have about 9 goslings this week. I first saw them Wednesday morning. The adults were herding them to one of the lakes.

I was cycling today and saw them on a different set of lakes on the far side of the neighborhood.

Amazing how something so cute, become something so grouchy.

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Wow! I remember about 25 years ago a friend and I were Bass fishing at a local reservior and as he was walking the shoreline, he unknowingly walked up on a nesting Goose. You wanna talk about "Angry Birds"!!! That was pretty friggin scary! That bird chased him everywhere, even once he was 50 feet away from the nest!! I could only imagine once they hatched!
 
More small things done today.

I FINALLY managed to install the speedo damper. It ended up being very easy. I used Windex to lube the damper and worked it into the speedo cup. Hooray! For some reason this one was bugging me. I made a mountain out of a mole hole... Lesson learned. :)

I also pulled the cams out of the old 920 heads. From what I can find they are the exact same grind as the 1100 cams. I want them in case I decide to have a milder grind made. I have the second to most radical of four grinds. With these cores it is only $250.00 for another set. Without, SOL as there are no more cores from Yamaha.

It's a good thing I got new cams and rocker arms. The old cams are toast, burnt toast! Note the pitting. Both cams are pitted on the exhaust lobe. This is after ~28K.

I'm also looking for new switch gear. My old stuff is simply worn out and I can't stand vintage switches. Once you have a modern bike they are terrible.

For the throttle side I have Motion Pro FZ1000 throttle and an '06+ Yamaha R6 starter/kill coming. They look great and are minimal.

The clutch side is a different story. That assembly is a total POS and reminds of the "dark" days of motorcycles! The '70's. I was riding my wife's Suzi GZ250 yesterday and Eureka! I can install a GZ250 clutch side switch.

Before I pony up $101.95 for this thing does anyone know of a similar Yamaha switch? It has to have a choke lever built in. The Suzi switch is the last photo.

Thanks Forum!

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No direct work to report on the bike, however I did order a number of goodies this week. I'm also happy to report after two months I will be gainfully employed on June 03. I was laid off on April 02. The day after I returned from vacation. Bastards. On a side note, as this is kind of a blog for me, we plan to be in OKC for another 14 to 16 months. We can't get back into our house in Austin until September 2104. Never do a two year lease...

So on the way I have:

1) Motion Pro Throttle
2) Motion Pro R6 Kill/Starter switch. I'll solder this switch to the XV plug.
3) Suzi GZ250 left hand switch. This will be soldered on the corresponding XV plug.
4) Two NOS XV920 coils. I buy NOS whenever I can. I learned in the PX in Iraq, if you see something you think you might like, buy it now as it will never be restocked. NOS parts are the same.
5) New OEM sparkplug wires and caps.
6) New Rick's starter relay
7) New Rick's R&R

There are also 4 relays. IF I can find NOS I'll pick them up.

I've also noticed that with the beginning of summer my "XV920R" search went from 220 hits during the winter, up to ~1050 hits. Not bad and good NOS shopping.
 
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I started work on the switch gear today. Soldered the plug from the XV onto the R6 start/kill switch.

I also fitted the Motion Pro YZR1000 throttle assemble, which didn't match the photo in their ad. Regardless I got it to work.

I really like the cleaner look and I'm sure it will work much better than the old stuff.

The quality of the kill switch is not the same as Yamaha. This one is K&M knock off, the detail, and the quality of casting isn't the same a OEM.

Hopefully I'll have the GZ250 left switch soon and I can begin that fitting. Being the bonehead that I am I order the GZ250 kill, not dip. Too many watch items on Ebay...

Original switches and throttle tube

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Shrink wrap in place.

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Finished product

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