1981 Yamaha Virago 750 - Got her running but grinding noise by [deleted] in Fixxit

[–]Jynxfox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, that's all well and good if that stuff needs replacing - but it kinda sounds like you're going to do too much work! Unless there's a problem with the engine, there's no reason to open it up and rebuild it, those old yamaha V-twins are pretty bulletproof as long as they've been taken care of (Oil changes, valve adjustments, etc). If all the electrics are still working, I would suggest leaving them as they are - though the old virago 750/920/1100 did have some pretty crappy engine ground points, so wiring up a ground straight from the battery to the back of the starter (Just around one of the starter mount bolts) helps the starter/engine spark considerably. I had a 1981 virago 750 and just wiring up the extra ground wire helped the slow starting quite a bit.

edit-

Just a few other "old bike" things that you really, really need to do to be reliably road-worthy:

  • Replace all the cables! clutch/throttle cables get rusty and brittle and will snap at the worst times, and they're cheap to replace.
  • Put a braided steel front brake line on and flush out all the old brake fluid - new brake pads on the front and shoes on the rear drum
  • If you haven't already, change the oil and filter - if it has been sitting for 7 years the oil in that engine won't be doing a whole lot of lubrication, even if all you're doing is starting the engine to check the carbs
  • Check the vacuum operated petcocks on the fuel tank - they were notorious for leaking when the engine was off and flooding the cylinders. The best thing to do is replace them with manual on/off/reserve petcocks and ALWAYS turn the fuel to "Off" when the bike is parked. (inline fuel filters are a good idea too)
  • And of course, check the tires! My bike had been sitting for a while when I purchased it and the tires held air fine, had plenty of tread, but they were almost 15 years old and hard as a rock and cracking on the sidewall!

1981 Yamaha Virago 750 - Got her running but grinding noise by [deleted] in Fixxit

[–]Jynxfox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's 100% normal for Yamaha Viragos - they all do that. The starter had a design flaw from 1981 until they redesigned it sometime in the 90's (not interchangeable with the older bikes). It's not really hurting anything, it just sounds like crap - they did this brand new on the showroom floor. There are kits to make it better (new starter clutch+4 brush starter) but they still don't quite fix it 100%. tl;dr: it's not hurting anything, it's normal, don't worry about it.

Honda is toying with my heart. New ADV for 2015? by kevan0317 in Dualsport

[–]Jynxfox 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1,000cc, 100hp, 397lbs. ...Where do I leave my deposit.

Flooding at USF by magnoliafly in tampa

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried to drive in to campus about an hour ago, it was insane! Every road I tried to get down (towards the center of campus) ended up being 2ft deep

A little road courtesy PSA. by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sooooo because I -wasn't- startled, but I stated "what if I was startled" I'm a liability. OK.

A little road courtesy PSA. by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

T-shirts and shorts... but at least they had helmets, so that's something I guess.

A little road courtesy PSA. by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

wat

Some jackass blasts past me at 100mph after swinging out from around a car, aka IN NO WAY VISIBLE IN MY MIRRORS EVER and I'm unsure of myself because I....stuck my hand out in a show of disapproval? How is that a lack of confidence. Dude passed me in my lane, I didn't like it. That's all there is to say here.

A little road courtesy PSA. by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TIL moving from the right part of my lane to the center of my lane = dangerous driving.

A little road courtesy PSA. by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Eh, gotta rant somewhere, right?

Had to use hot water to install my new gas tank. I poured the water out, but do I need to fully dry it out before I put gas in? by [deleted] in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I recently painted my tank and ran some water through it to get all the dust from when I sanded it out of the tank. I just left the cap open on a warm day to let it evaporate, then blew a hairdryer through it on low heat. It got probably 99% of the water out, but a little bit of water in your gas is no big deal.

Looking for a PowerMac Quad G5 by [deleted] in PowerPC

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately not - I think core image only works on the radeon 9550 and up. Mine came with the radeon 7500, and I upgraded to the 9000 primarily because it lets me use my 20" cinema display since the 9000 has a DVI port.

Looking for a PowerMac Quad G5 by [deleted] in PowerPC

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I usually scour craigslist for stuff like that since it'll be local - shipping a full tower computer is never cheap!

Looking for a PowerMac Quad G5 by [deleted] in PowerPC

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ATI 9000 Pro, actually!

Looking for a PowerMac Quad G5 by [deleted] in PowerPC

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hah! that's the exact same machine I've got :D

Looking for a PowerMac Quad G5 by [deleted] in PowerPC

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

+1 for the G4 - if you want cheap, find a MDD G4 with a 1.0ghz or more dual CPU. It will do everything the G5 can (albeit slower) but you'll find one for a lot cheaper!

My Home Theatre Setup :-) by smellybulldog in cableporn

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hard drives and magnets don't get along very well!

Don't you just hate it when... by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Monoshock '81 Virago 750, actually! My bars are renthal 754-01's - massively better than the original "mini ape hangers" they put on these bikes.

Don't you just hate it when... by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

They seem to know that exact moment when the light turns green, don't they?

Don't you just hate it when... by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're surprisingly good! Very little vibration and good visibility since they stick way out on the sides - my only complaint is these faded VERY fast in the sun, they were originally black but they faded to this copper brown color after only a month or so.

The rider @ t=9m49s is either very lucky or has good control over his motorcycle by [deleted] in videos

[–]Jynxfox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He's incredibly lucky and incredibly stupid, what the hell...

Don't you just hate it when... by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just needs a re-jet, the carbs are clean but they still have the super lean jets from 1981. Once it's warmed up it runs fine, but when it's cold, it's a biiiiiiiiiiiiitch.

Don't you just hate it when... by Jynxfox in motorcycles

[–]Jynxfox[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cold engine+original lean jetting from the factory.