Tale of Franken-Vision-(Part 1)

[Ben-Wa]

The Tale of Franken Vision  

April 2002, the frau decides to take up riding, and enrolls in the MSF course for that June. We agreed on the need to find a good "Learner" bike, one that runs, yet is not so special that a tip over will ruin your day. It also must meet some weight and seat height requirements to fit the missus.

A local ad is seen for an 1982 Yamaha 550 Vision, a bike I remember fairly well from working at Yamaha in '85. They were asking $500.00, which is not a bad price I thought if it is in decent shape, as the seller maintains it is. We go look at it, and our friendly, crazy eyed seller at least did not lie about the fact that it runs.

This bike is UG-LEE! It has been sitting in the elements and sprinklers of a farm in Connell, WA for who knows how long. It has corrosion all over it, the seat is ripped, pipes rusted out, and most of the switchgear doesn't work just for starters. Still, it turns over and starts with a touch of the button, and when I ride it, amazingly it has good power, shifts smoothly, and does not blow any smoke. It even stops when using the brakes, even though the front caliper is covered with the contents of the now empty fork tubes. It fits the wife pretty well too, especially since the seat needs recovering I figure it will be easy to cut down the foam.

The seller offers to let it go for $400.00, and seeing that he has the title and it is not a "Totaled" affair, we make the purchase. The next day starts the things such as title transfer, tabs, and the obligatory visit to the Yamaha dealer. I figured it just needed a good scrubbing, change the fluids, fix the leaks, and it would be a good bike to thrash in training. WRONG! Day 2 of ownership sees me dropping the oil, ALL 6 QUARTS! My goodness, no wonder this thing leaks I say, as it is only a 3 quart sump. The oil filter is an unrecognizable clump of gooey black sludge, but at least I find no large chunks of metal in the remains. (I know this because I strained the oil through a panty hose back into some quart bottles to get the count.)

Day 3-"OK, some good clean life blood and we can see how it likes running on that", I think. It doesn't. When I hit the starter button a loud grinding sound, like gravel in a blender, emits from the engine that will not start. I try a few times, fearing damage but wanting to see if it will fire. It starts once and the sound of the engine is normal, so I prepare to take it for a short spin. It dies when I put it in gear, and for the next 11 months the engine does not run again.

I found an extremely helpful Vision owners website, and combined with the help from the Guys at the Yammy-Hammer shop, I was able to diagnose and fix a number of problems, the first being the source of the grinding. The starter clutch assembly and starter itself are notorious week links in this model, and sure enough they were the problem. Broken metal was found as I dug deeper into the entrails, and I found it would be easier to remove the engine to work on it. A Haynes manual was also quite helpful for some things. Thus begins the stripping of the carcass, and since it was so ugly I decided it would be a good time to replace or sandblast and paint the parts as I went.