1989 FJ1200: to Hell and back.....

[great white]

Well, I have some blue dot calipers for my Venture to install this winter.

But I'm now considering putting them on the FJ and putting the FJ calipers on the Venture instead.

I can still de-link the brakes and the blue dots will be a nice step up for the FJ and the FJ calipers will be a nice step up for the Venture....

[aviationfred]

Concerning the Venture side cases. Those should look great on the FJ. Another member went a similar direction that you are. He fabbed up a complete frame and used a set of Goldwing bags.





Fred

[great white]

Just finished changing out the steering head bearings.

I've probably done the job 50 or 60 times in my life and I gotta say these were probably the most PITA ones I've ever done!

I cut and pounded on the upper race for what seemed like and hour. I finally resorted to making a special hook/tab on a piece of bar stock, then I hardened it and after another 20 min or so of pounding the race flew up and out to somewhere in the back of the garage. What a bastard! I couldn't even get it to snap with Dremel cuts.

Well, that was enough of that BullSpit!

Out came the MIG and fired off a couple short beads around the bottom race. As it was cooling, I used a punch to grab one of the weld turds and.....Pop! came right out first whack.

I tell ya; if I ever have to do an FJ steering bearing job again, the first tool that is coming out is the welder!

[great white]

Took it out for a run today to check the steering after the bearing change.

Seems to transition better. Got it up to 100 HPH (~62 mph), flipped the throttle lock on and lifted my hands off the bars. No wobble, nearly dead smooth.

There's an almost imperceptible bit of movement visible out at the bar ends. I'll either not bother chasing that or maybe try a touch more preload on the bearings. 

I'll just run it for a week or two and then re-check the preload.

I also picked up an 89 ZX7 rear wheel today in prep for the conversion to 17" radials:

[great white]

88 fzr 750 rim showed up today:



Is it a perfect cosmetic match for the ZX rear rim?

Well...no.

But it's so bloody close I'm willing to say once they're painted and installed on the bike (IE: brake discs installed, buried behind the brake calipers and mufflers, etc) it's going to be damned near indistinguishable as two different rims.

Those who know what they're looking at will probably be able to tell, everyone else is probably not going to know spit.

That "Kawasaki" casting is also getting machined off that rear rim spoke....

[fj1289]

Planning to keep the New Mexico red chili/green chili theme going?!

Seriously though - looks like the ZX mode is a good setup for the stock swing arm - kudos on jumping in and figuring it out.  What wheel bearings does it have?  (interested in the OD of the bearings)

[great white]

Planning to keep the New Mexico red chili/green chili theme going?!

Seriously though - looks like the ZX mode is a good setup for the stock swing arm - kudos on jumping in and figuring it out.  What wheel bearings does it have?  (interested in the OD of the bearings)

Don't know, haven't looked.

It's go the same diameter axle so it's going in complete.

I'll check though when I clean and repack them.

[great white]

Well, I had to switch to using the zx7 wheel for a shaft drive hub conversion for my Venture.

But luckily, I found an fzr1000 17x5.50 rim on eBay for 46 bucks!

And it's a perfect cosmetic match for the fzr750 front rim I already have waiting to install.

Kinda worked out well after all.

[great white]

Long time no posts.

The FJ has been pretty much a stalled project. Not because i don't want to or its not worth it, but because I tore the venture apart this winter.

I've dubbed it project: Heavy Cruiser.

Seems to fit. Heavy cruisers were naval ships and generally defined as fast long range large ships with max 8" guns. One step down from battleships of thier day. Well, this thing is going to be fast, capable of long range, large and generally one step down from the 1800 touring bike battleships of today. Although, we'll see about not having the same firepower...



I bought a wrecked 86 Royale for parts, a bunch of Vmax bits, a sprinkling of Royal star venture parts and started the DNA splicing.

Starting from the front of the bike and working my way back:

1. 1986 front forks. Allowed my to bolt up R1 brake calipers and 1986 rotors.
2. Tossed the linked brakes. I hate linked brakes. Works much better with isolated front and rear control. Not looking to discuss it, it you prefer linked brakes, that's cool. I don't. Chucked on the 86 master cylinder in order to get the proper sized piston for the R1 calipers.
3. Cartridge emulators. The aren't racetech ones, they're knock offs I actually bought off ebay for 30 bucks. I was pleasantly surprised when they arrived as they are quality units. They were listed for a Harley something-or-other-model on ebay, but that model had the same diameter forks as my Venture when I looked it up. I took a chance and am glad I did, they work fantastic! It also made the original anti-dive non-functional, but that never really worked anyways and the emulators work great in that capacity.
4. Big chunk of a fork brace. Combined with the cartridge emulators, it really tidied up the front end handling.
5. Tore down the 86 wiring harness and parsed out the things I didn't want (radio, CB, etc). But I kept:
a. The 86 instrument cluster for the clock, gear indicator, dim-able lighting, etc
b. The Electronic cruise control. It is a touring bike after all
c. The CLASS air suspension. It's a touch taller than the standard suspension and this thing needs ground clearance. Air adjustable is not my preferred suspension, but hard to argue it's practicality on a touring bike that can be 1 or 2 up at any time and/or empty luggage or loaded to the gills
6. I removed the glass fuses and went to a standard ATO fuse panel. Easier to find replacements and a bit more reliable panel. Moved it the the LH fairing compartment instead of leaving it under the fake tank cover. Easier to deal with looking for a blown fuse under a dark overpass in  the rain somewhere...
7. Ditched the OEM spark box (TPI) and went with an Ignitek V88 controller. Other than being programmable, the reason why will show up a few items down the list.
8. Went to coil on plugs from a CBR600. Ignitek runs these without any resistors, just the flick of a flag in the programming. High tension wires and plug caps are a major source of trouble on a stock venture, not a problem anymore.
9. I dropped a set of Vmax heads (complete, cams, etc) on the engine. Bolt on change, easy peasy.
10. A complete VBoost system. This is run by the Ignitek and makes the VBoost completely programmable.
11. Custom Airbox. Really not much more than a modified Venture airbox to get it to fit with the taller intake manifolds.
12. complete 2002 Royal star venture transmission. This gives me a deep 5th overdrive for the highway and all the transmission improvements. Although my 83 transmission wasn't skipping, 2nd gear is no longer an issue waiting to happen. I also get the improved shift sector which eliminates the "pins falling out" issue. Working with #13, it gives me a slightly lower overall ratio 1-3, 4th is the same and 5th is a deep overdrive highway gear.
13. Vmax rear differential. Lower gearing than the OEM venture. Helps get my 700-800 lbs moving better.
14. Polaris series Reg/Rectifier. Better charging, easier on the generator.
15. Generator cooling kit. OEM Yamaha service bulletin part.
16. 86 rear subframe assembly. Needed to fit #17.
17. 86 side luggage. (near 100% capacity increase over the 83 luggage)
18. 85 top trunk. I went with 85 because it is still removable like the 83-84, but it is the bigger size of the 86-92 trunk. Pretty much a 1 year option, I was just lucky to come across one for cheap
19. Yamaha R1 mufflers. Made my own intermediate pipes to join the stock collector to the muffs. They're a bit of a "tart it up" item, but it also dropped a good 16 lbs off the rear of an already "arse heavy" bike. R1's are Ti, Venture's are boat anchor weight chromed steel. They sound pretty mean too. They new pipes also let me suck the centerstand up higher too. That was a good thing as I would often end up levering the rear end up on it in hard left handlers.

I'm currently waiting for some jets to show up as it's running a bit rich. Won't pull cleanly from the lower RPMs  and it will foul the plugs after a week or so. For the mains I went to 140's as a first try (oem VMax is 152.5 and the Venture is 117.5), but it's still a bit much and if the mains aren't right: nothing is. I suspect it's my stuffed up exhaust that's calling for smaller jettng. More tweaking is needed.

But even running a bit off, I can drift the front wheel on nothing but throttle in the first two gears. I can get it up in 3rd if I'm trying. Vboost is programmed to hit at the oem 4750 RPM and it feels like a two stroke coming on the pipe! Great fun! But you better be pretty much upright and pointed at where you want to go cause when Mr Max makes his presence known behind all the Venture plastic; the scenery goes into serious fast forward mode.  If you hit it at juuust the wrong time the rear wheel is going sideways and you better be good at "riding the slide". This thing goes from superslab tame to ex wife crazy in the blink of an eye. It does not suffer fools lightly.....respect will be given.

It lopes like a heavy cammed small block at idle. Sounds seriously nasty. I've already had a couple guys come over in a parking lot to see what it was.

This winter will see the completion of a 17" radial conversion, a Royal Star venture starter clutch assembly, a HD hinging backrest (I'm broken remember) and HID headlight.

I'll just drop some progress pics here if anyone is interested in taking a look.




































As it currently sits waiting for paint to harden up enough to not mark and jetting adjustments:



I'm also building a 302 and T5 for my 83 Mustang:



that will share time with the FJ for project attention, but the FJ is the slow/long term project so progress will be slow. I just had the carbs pulled tonight and had them in the ultrasonic.

[simi_ed]

Interested??? Hell yes!  This sounds like fun.  A Mad Max dressed like a touring bike bike sounds too good to be true.

[great white]

I hadn't planned to put the FJ on the road this year, but when the wife redid our insurance she paid for the FJ as well. So I guess I'm riding it this summer.

Last year it was a real bitch to start. Always an iffy situation shutting it down anywhere except home.

So I pulled fhe carbs apart and sunk them in the ultrasonic.

I pulled the fuel pump apart on spec (was acting a little funny also) and found the points nearly worn clear through. I pulled an old pump from the 1986 Venture parts bike pile and found it uses the same points. Near perfect shape so I swapped them in. Runs great now.

Then I went and bought a new ATM battery as the old bat was slow cranking even after charging.

I also made a small heavy foam spacer block to fit the air cleaner in properly (oem rubber block is long gone).

Ran the pump a few times to fill the bowls and it fired off on the first crank. I let it warm up and it hot starts just as well as it does cold. It actually works on choke now and no need to do the throttle open when cranking.

It even sounds better running. I'm thinking that old battery just didn't have enough reserve to feed the electronics and starter circuits. Carbs were actually pretty clean inside, but I'm sure the ultrasonic helped it along too.

The sound of that big four purring away also got right into my heart again when I heard it. Something just stirs my soul when it's rumbling. Cant wait to take it for a burn!

Good progress so far!

[great white]

Well, after a long winter of working on the Mustang, I'm back to the FJ.

Mustang is far from done, but I wanted to get rolling on the FJ again since it's a relatively quick fix for most of it's isues and then I can enjoy it all summer.

I've decided to put it in new paint. Wife also said go ahead so that's good to go!

I ordered up some new (used) plastics, since some of the current pieces have broken tabs, are cracked or otherwise abused by PO's (tail piece has three holes drilled through the top of it where someone had bolted a rack on).

So ebay turns up a rear fender, a rear tail piece and a RH side cover. That takes care of the plastic.

Once it's all here, it's off to the painter for the whole bike since someone has sprayed it all a "sparkle-y" white.

Now I have to decide between the original white and silver paint scheme or the Blue and white of the newer models....

[great white]

Covered the messed up inner fender panels with some vinyl wrap:



Then ordered a new gauge glass form yamaha.

Some of Randy's bits will take care of a few things around the bike like the missing grommits and reset button.

Also ordered up one of Randy's oil filter kits. 

[great white]

Just to bring the thread up to date.

Grabbed a set of new/used footpegs off eBay:



Ordered a new gauge "glass" though my local dealer. Ordered a kph cluster through ebay.de:



Canada is kph and staring at the speedo and straining to see the tiny little kph numbers on the inner ring was really getting annoying. I loose mph, but I don't really care about that because I'll never need it. I'll never have the bike outside Canada and if for some strange reason I do, I'm smart enough to do the math if I have to.

Grabbed a couple new/used side covers off eBay to replace my cracked and missing tabs current ones:



I picked the ones I did because they were clean and had all thier tabs intact. But since they're both blue, I may just do a quick spray bomb blue on the rest of the bike for the summer since it's all currently painted all stark white. I'm planning a full paint job this coming winter, so this only has to be "respectable" for the current summer riding season.

Ordered a new chain (rk) and sprockets (jt) from fortnine.

Grabbed a set of used kerker slip ons from eBay:



Grabbed an eBay fork brace:



Grabbed an early brake lever off eBay so I can replace the 89 steel one with aluminum and tell myself I can be happy with dropping a couple ounces off the bike:



And just for grins, a set of r1 calipers:



I hunted for a set of r1's instead of r6's. I have blues on my Venture-VMax hybrid, I wanted r1's on the FJ. I told myself it was to save a few ounces of unsprung weight, but it's really because the gold will! Go with the gold bits (I: rotors, chain, etc) that are already on the bike.

[great white]

Oh dear.

Ran across an FZ1 swingarm on ebay for 35 bucks. Had everything right from the axle and brake bracket to the plastic chain guard.  

After shipping and exchange it came out to 100 bucks CAD.

Yeah, well......I bought it......