1985 lower cowling decal colors

[Curt A]

I need to order the decals for the lower cowling.  RD Decals has what I need, however there is blue in the decal where I would have assumed black would be (and black only, not blue).  My 1985 is the standard red/white/black bike of course.

I mailed the company and a rep is telling me that the blue is in fact OEM and that others have also contacted them about the colors.  Can someone with a 1985 model confirm for me that there is fact some (dark) blue on the lower cowling decal set?  Be it the "yamaha" or the striping...  thanks.

[Derek Young]

Hey Curt.  I have an 86 that I repainted this spring.  I purchased the full decal kit from Rd Decals.  I too was concerned about the blue and emailed them about it before purchasing.  They told me that was the stock colour.  I'm not sure if it is or not, but they do look good.  They are dark metallic blue.  At a glance, in certain light, they do appear to be back.

[Curt A]

Thanks Derek.  I suppose I will have to decide if I want to just go for it on the decals.  I realize that lighting can really affect how something looks (I am great example as the light makes me look so much worse!).

This cowling is brand new and I have to drill the holes and paint it.  In addition, I am thinking of using a dremel tool to create a hole in the bottom to eliminate the need for removing the cowling at oil change time.  (1) My concern in general is creating stressors in the cowling, but this is a brand new piece and I don't  think it will nearly so likely to crack as if I were working with the original piece. 

(1)  I was thinking at oil change time I could have a length of pvc that would "fit over" the oil plug and a socket extension would fit inside the pvc and all of it would slip through this hole I'd create and etc. you can see the idea from that point.  I don't like the idea of taking body work on/off just for routine maintenance.

I have the pingel valve that I bought from Randy and one little project I was thinking about was modifying the mesh on the (left)  cover so it effectively is hinged.  This would allow me to leave things look as they do, but allow me access to the pingel.  It is in fact very difficult to move it from the "on" position.  I think just running it in the "reserve" position which is in the middle will allow my idea to work.  However, I totally digress, sorry. Part of having something old is fixing things that you just hate to live with, besides it is just fun to mess with stuff I guess.

thanks, have  a good one.

[Arnie]

Leaving your Pingel (or any) petcock in the ON or RESERVE position can be dangerous.
Unless you manually turn it to OFF when leaving the bike, you run the risk of fuel leaking into the engine if the needle valve happens to not shut off all flow.  This will contaminate and dilute the oil at least, and in extreme cases so fill the engine that you get hydraulic lock when you next try and start it.  This can result in bent conrods.

Cheers,
Arnie

[Curt A]

(forgot that the geometry of the cowling does not require any more cutting, etc etc.)

Arnie,

Thanks.  My thoughts rambled and I did not mention that I knew about the point you make.  Here is something about the valve that I have ran into:

It really is a pain to get it turned back toward the middle (reserve etc)  when it is on the "on" Xn.  So, I figure I can just run it in the "reserve" Xn (of course returning to "off" when I am done with bike for the day).  I won't have a reserve since I am running in that Xn, but I don't have to shove my fingers in the confined space and fight with the little lever either.

This works, but I started to run out of fuel one evening as I guess the lever was just a little bit on "off" side.  So I wonder if going just past the "straight out" Xn would ensure that it is ON.  In other words, in the range of the lever between reserve and on, is the valve "open" fully and plenty of fuel flows?  I have not come up with any good ideas to make the operation of the lever remote, the best idea I have is the screen idea I mention above.  But that will only work if I forget about pushing the lever all the way back to the on Xn.  I won't remove the airbox just to allow me to run cables or levers since I prefer the idea of the factory airbox as opposed to individually mounted filters.  thanks, have a good week.