My Vision

[Mike Jacobs]

Question.  Are the two bolts the same?  I have the front, cam I match thatfor both, or are they different?

They are different.   Re-read Lucky's sticky-post and the most recent replies at the end of that thread, where specific sizes for getting alternative parts from a hardware store are discussed.   Or, go to the parts fiche and order the original Yamaha parts.... like I did, although they had to be special ordered, and have not come in yet.    :(

[JohnAMcG]

    The weather here is getting better, and I'm back.  I haven't had much time in the garage, I have a business to run now.  I did get the bolts from Yamaha, and spent some time this weekend getting the bike ready for the road.  The bolts my Pops put in the brake arm, we agree are well stronger than those chinsy unmarked bolts from yamaha. So I left that for now.  The battery seems to have gone bad again.  I think I have some power sapping gremlin, and I cant track it down.  The charging system all works now and the stator and R/R are new but it still killed the battery.  Oh well, what I really wanted to do was check out the carbs.   
     The buddy I got the bike from, said he had this guy clean and sync the carbs, but I had my doubts, and has still been hard to start.  So, grabbed my book and took em out.  Really didn't look that bad to me, but I've never owned anything with a carburetor before, so what do I know.  The rear main jet looked dirty, and the slots were a little marred, they had definately been removed before.  Also, the accelerator pump diaghram was stiff, and looked ready to fail,  anybody got a source on those?  So I soaked it all in kerosene, cleaned it up and put it back together.  I didn't remove the brass tube with the ball and weight thing, but everything else.  A spray of starter in the Vacuum port and she was running strong, but the idle still hunts a lot.
      Pops wanted to check the timing, so we hooked up the light, and it was consistent in the mark, but the front cylinder was misfiring some, at least, the light was missing some flashes, so no spark.  Ok, I figure I can still sync the carbs, so I get the vacuum gauge set up on it, and damn if they aren't right on the money.  The vacuum is pulling the same, rising and falling together with throttle.  The only problem is, the highest it gets is around 7, and the book shows I should get that at idle.  Pops was amazed it would run only pulling 3 inches mg (I think thats the units the book used) at idle.  So he decided he wanted to do a compression test. 
     Well, I pulled the plugs, and the front had no gap.  Well, there was a gap, but I couldn't get a gap tool in it without a scredriver first. It was getting late and we couldn't find the adapter for the plug hole, so I put everything back together so I won't lose the screws.  I hate losing that stuff, so I always try to put every bolt or nut back in its hole after i remove whatever it is connecting.  So Pops is going to make another adapter from an old plug from his 750 Honda, so that he can find the one he has.  That's how he found it last time, started making another one. 
     Once that happens I'll probably even get a ride in. 

     One question I have is about the timing gun.  If the small gap on the plug were allowing it to arc less voltage, could it have been that the coil was firing right, but the gun wasn't picking it up because it didn't get as high voltage before the spark?  Or do I have yet another electrical issue.
     Also, could the idle hunt be due to the makeshift YICS plugs I have.  I plugged it off and it was much better, but I had one plug the right size, so the front one is a 3 inch tube with a shoulder bolt clamped in it.
     I spent a lot of time pulling fuses and cleaning connections, and I have made considerable progress as far as meter reading across the battery and fuses, so, WHAT is killing my battery?  Oh well, I still got the receipt, I will go get battery #4.   
 
      In the mean time, I have some reading to catch up on, see what all the other visionarys have been up to.  -JM