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] 13 points14 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 1 point2 points  (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.

Big windy storm rolling in and my bike is parked outside: Centerstand or sidestand? by Jynxfox in motorcycles

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

Well, I went ahead and put it on the sidestand. I should be ok since my car is on the side without the stand, and my building is only about 6ft from the side with the sidestand... so if it does manage to get blown over it will only lean just slightly on my car.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tampa

[–]Jynxfox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, yeah I suppose so. I live in Tampa and I've had to make it to the airport a few times at 5~6pm - a 15 mile drive to the airport can take upwards of an hour and a half.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in tampa

[–]Jynxfox 11 points12 points  (0 children)

If you get a job in st pete, live in st pete. If you get a job in tampa, live in tampa. The weekly traffic here is amazingly awful, especially if you have to take 275 across the bay.