Fruits of our Labor

VMAX  Forum

Help Support VMAX Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
desert_max: Where do you work on your bikes? home?

I'm looking forward to meet all of your 'Children' :D
 
I have my 86 back! Running well, but I’m still getting a incomplete return to idle on the throttle linkage. Got a throw the synchronizer back on here in a bit and check cable runs. But, it is rideable again and will smoke the back tire. (just like it’s supposed to.)

In fact, I lost the darn thumb screw for the idle adjustment along the ride screwing with it at stoplights. Haven’t looked yet, but I suspect that the spring that was behind there is gone too. Anybody have a spare laying around they’d be willing to give up? Appropriate compensation will be tendered… And after the Christmas rush.6EA70237-3127-4AAC-8791-AE218EB48E27.jpeg304ECE37-77A8-4A8C-8793-C2DAC26A460E.jpegBD4955DE-31CF-4C9F-92E5-403F34B6C830.jpeg
 
incomplete return to idle on the throttle linkage
That I've found is usually due-to not sufficient slack, assuming that the helix cable cover isn't kinked somewhere, that the cable is run correctly, and that the cable has no frayed strands. Any, some, or all can cause that.

The factory service manual has routing diagrams for the cables.

The bane of VMaxes everywhere, clogged pilot jets, will also affect idle, and can result in a high idle, with poor quality.

Ari Henning of Motorcyclist magazine talks about this:

I know Todd, Ari's father, from his Daytona racing efforts, before his unfortunate accident.

Bike has a great cosmetic appearance!
 
Last edited:
Thanks FM. Unfortunately I don’t have a factory manual, only a climber. I had the bright idea of using this newly acquired 85 as a reference. What a joke. That would be like da Vinci using Trudeau and Doonesbury as a reference for the Mona Lisa.

(In other words, It has been messed with). I believe the last couple of owners attempted to revive it trying various things and have left a bit of a mess behind I’m afraid. I think I will freshen up the carburetors, put a working pickup coil in there, get the fuel pump wired up, get the ignition switch wired back in, and try and figure out what the other loose wires go to, then see if I can fire it up. And if I get that far, cross fingers that the transmission is good.

Any major decision will be made after that.

...But then that’s a topic for an entirely different thread!
 
Last edited:
Try german when phone is set to English ... this is funny.

Btw, as we spoke sunday. Twisted the throttle bit harder and my back wheel started spinning.... at about 90mph
 
Under the left air scoop where the box is where the cables from the carbs meet up with the cables from the throttle is where I went wrong the first time I ever did it.

I didn't get the box put back in the right place and the angle bound up the cables coming from the throttle just a bit. I got that box to sit a bit flatter relative to both sets of cables and boom. Worked like factory again. (Probably because that's how they did it at the factory. I just got sloppy putting it back together and wasn't paying much attention.)
 
Thanks for the ideas, guys. For now, it's essentially gone. A careful, precise synchronization pretty much eliminated it. Still, from a handful of throttle, if released, it snaps back to around 12 or 1300 RPM. I still can't get it to drop to the 1K'ish idle setpoint. Better than before where it bottomed at 2k or better.

I'm going to roll with it for now. I am really tired of having this thing hanging over my head! Other projects beckon.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top