The final part of the Valkyrie repair and resurrection, part 5. It lives! Check it out! Carb balancing, synchronization, brakes, you name it! All here!
Nice work there, Tom. I own a 1999 Valkyrie Interstate with just over 140K miles on it. I hope to NEVER have to do any of this work. The trick seems to be to keep riding them! Sitting = BAD!
Fantastic carbs synchronization. My 1998 F6 is also smoking a little when cold and I beleive it could be the air filter. Thanks for the entire Valkyrie series, much appreciated. Regards from Costa Rica.
Good luck! Red Eye Technical doesn't have the full carb kits anymore, I recently looked. So your choices will be OEM (expensive) for Chinese junk kits, unless you can find K and L kits, they're pretty good.
Great series, will come in helpful as I tackle my '84 Nighthawk S that has sat undisturbed for 10 years. Unfortunately, for me anyway, your gas tank looks new compared to what I found. Thanks
Good videos. The valve adjustment you were talking about is every 12000 miles. The timing belt and tensioner should be checked also. Some say change the belt at 30000 miles. With the bikes age I would change the belt anyhow. You don't want to ruin all your hard work. The Valk has an interference engine.
Look Gunnison Colortune tool to balance combustion, with the Carbtune to sync them it is an amazing combination to tune the bike 100% and combined it takes the "guessing" away. I am getting an RPM digital gauge, nice to have around. Pat
I am not really a big fan of the color tune, for what I can render from it compared to its price, I trust my ear and gut feeling on tuning way more. I really don't consider it guessing, I mean, there is some guessing I guess (hardy har har) but... again, my gut is seldom wrong. I kinda just feel it, hard to describe. The CarbTune Pro is the best one I have ever used and I've tried many. The worst? That piece of crap Bikemaster one with the blue fluid. What I REALLY wish I could find, is an old school Mercury one, like I had back in the late 70's early 80's. Where that went, I don't know.
Great videos series. I was just gifted a 1999 Valkyrie Interstate and 2002 VTX 1800. Both were flooded in Hurricane Sally. The Valkyrie looks to have faired well, but the VTX I am not so sure about. This series will be very helpful as I begin working on the Valkyrie.
Thanks. Wow, an Interstate. Save that at all costs, they're getting extremely rare. If there's any chance H20 got into those engines and sat, you'll be yanking some big iron and rebuilding most likely. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL So far, no signs of H20 from the filler oil or dipstick. But I haven't had a chance to change the oil yet. I can also turn the rear wheel in gear so that's a good sign as well. It has been sitting for at least 2 years and Hurricane Sally was 18 months ago. The buddy that gave it to me also gave me the Clymer Service Manual. I've been reading it like a novel.
@@DaveBuildsIt Well, not being locked is a good sign. Do you know if the bike was completely immersed in water, I mean, like above the handlebars? If it was, there's no chance water didn't get inside the motor. However, as you likely know, the intake for that motor is way up high compared to just about everything else and right under that gigantic fuel tank. Assuming no other breaches in hoses, breathers, etc, there's no way for water to get in besides the intake, at least not in great amounts if at all. Please post some videos on the restoration or repair. Cheers.
@@DaveBuildsIt I just subscribed to your channel. You're in Pensacola? Trailer that sucker down here we'll do a collaboration for a day. I have a RedEye Technical complete carb rebuild kit with additional float needles sitting in the shed, in stock. Just take the bodywork off first. lol.. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL Both the Valkyrie and the VTX 1800 were damaged by a storm surge, which at times was 2 ft high. The VTX 1800 was beaten to hell and back, but not so much for the Valkyrie. So at this point, it is unclear if water could have topped the intake.
I have those same carbtune sticks. Got them from the UK back in 09. Valkyrie is a 5 spd, not 6 lol. Valkyrie with Cobra 6 into 6 sound so freaking good.
Excellent work brother. By the way I own one. 1999 interstate. Only 17,000 miles just picked it up from second owner. Are you in Pennsylvania? I’m a decent mechanic but not to your level.
Super informative❤. Could you please give me your valuable suggestion about one of my spark plug on my 1998 Honda valkyrie is getting dark black and littlebit oily on the first couple of threads of the plug? Only that side exhaust is dark powder black inside, but other side is clean. Rest of the 5 spark plugs are good. No smoke coming out, but engine misfires. Bike goes above more than 100km/hr but not smooth. I checked by changing spark plug and plug wire too, but still same. Bike is not eating an oil too much, but I can see a bit of oil on the that specific spark plug. It would be really helpful. Thanks
It’d be highly unlikely that engine has one bad cylinder causing oil bypass into the combustion chamber. Especially with a misfire I’d suggest it’s not oil but wet from over fueling. You many have a bad float valve causing the fuel to flood that cylinder to a point at least. Not guzzling out or anything just rich mixture. Still, wouldn’t be a bad idea to run a compressor test on all six cylinders and document. If that cylinder is low, you may actually have a bad jug. If it’s same as the five others I’d pull the carbs and go through all of them.
Thank you so much. This season it was overfilled during the oil change. I ran a bit and had to remove some oil. So, maybe oil got into the air system. However, It got better after removal of extra oil. I put almost 2000km and added fuel/carb injector cleaner. it suddenly happened at the high speed and I observed dark black dusty exhaust while it was parked. Fuel smell is coming sometimes and engine misfires were happening from the bottom headers and exhaust sometimes. I tightened the headers afterwards. However, the wetness of plug was having some smell which was not like fuel. That is why I got concerned. Thanks again and I will check the way you explained.
There's probably a bunch of guys/gals that do it, but as a comparison, Mike Nixon will do a set of Valk carbs for $700 plus shipping. See his page, scroll down to the Valkyrie carbs. He does the FULL Monty though, re-zincing parts, replacing screws, etc. Me, I would charge anywhere between $425 and $600 parts included depending upon how junked up they are and I do not do all the stuff Mike does. He says he also replaces slide diaphragms. He's an old Honda guy, worked for the U.S. mothership in the 80's and I can tell you for what he advertises, it's a damned good price. Check out his website for more: motorcycleproject.com/goldwing/details.html. Remember, scroll down to the bottom for Valkyrie carbs.
Great job on this entire series! I am thinking of purchasing a '97 Valkyrie to be used as a Donor Bike for a Trike build and have a Tech Question as to whether it is possible to swap out the Manual Transmission for a DCT?
@@MotoRestoFL Thanks, anyways... I just Love the Look of the Older Valkyrie and have seen pictures of them with a MotorTrike conversion and have thought for a while it would be Perfect with a DCT conversion as well...
That's a tough one. You may try some Valkyrie specific forums maybe? Or clubs? Perhaps Facebook pages dedicated to the model? There's also a number of vintage and modern classic Facebook groups that you could join which are parts/selling/trading groups. Otherwise, put some saved searches on eBay so you get notified of a hit. I usually word a search a couple ways so it'll have broader coverage. Yea, good luck on that one! And thanks for the comments, consider subscribing for more material like this. Cheers.
Hi. Your video series on this bike has been a big help for me in getting my own Valk up to scratch. Can you tell me if the motion pro pilot adjust tool works OK getting onto the fuel adjusters? I've tried using the one I got from Red Eye but with a warm motor it's pretty hard going. Cheers.
Thanks. Yes, it does. There was one or two that were tight but I can't remember which ones, you may have to move a wire or hose or something but absolutely it'll work. May take some practice if you're unfamiliar with its feel in tight or challenging areas, but it's the tool for the job. That tool from Red-Eye in my opinion only works with initial adjustment with the carbs off the bike. I don't think it's designed for anything else. There's really no way to get it in there once the carbs are installed -- with that too. Cheers.
The bill was $1,975 and change I think. As you can see the carbs are very laborious to do correctly. This bike had frozen brake calipers, required rebuild on all masters including clutch and the clutch slave. That’s not the easiest to get to since it’s on the “back” side technically. And I never use Chinese junk parts so yea, it ain’t cheap. Thanks for watching.
@@MotoRestoFL I Don't wanna be one of those guys looking for fault. Thanks so much for the video. Thankfully my 97 has been kept running all these years and is almost "showroom" with 100K on it. Your expertise is vast & impressive.
I do not know. I don't think it ever actually went "up for sale." I dropped off a second job, The Burgman scooter I mentioned in other videos (that was really bad) and I didn't film that project, but anyway, I spoke to his wife as he wasn't home because the Valk was still sitting there. She said it was most definitely for sale. My customer wasn't home that day. If you want, email me at motorestofl@gmail.com and I'll hook you up with his contact info.
Thanks, Tom, for the lengthy videos on Valkyrie. I learned a lot. I got a 1997 Valkyrie with almost exact same issues; Carbs, tank, front brakes, battery. Got it running great! The last thing I did before carb synchronizing was pull the cylinder intakes off to install new O rings. I notice #3 & #4 had a small amount of clean engine oil running down the inside. Could it be PAIR valve leaking into the vacuum lines 3 & 4?
I can’t remember but I’m assuming #3 and 4 have vacuum lines on them and not capped off as is the case on a couple of them. The answer is I’m not sure. Look at the hoses and see if there’s oil in them. If so, trace them back and see. It’s hard to get at that stuff I know with the rack installed, but if you’re reusing the vacuum hoses that were on the thing after sitting a long time, could just be varnishy junk making its way down.
Nice work there, Tom. I own a 1999 Valkyrie Interstate with just over 140K miles on it. I hope to NEVER have to do any of this work. The trick seems to be to keep riding them! Sitting = BAD!
Fantastic carbs synchronization.
My 1998 F6 is also smoking a little when cold and I beleive it could be the air filter.
Thanks for the entire Valkyrie series, much appreciated.
Regards from Costa Rica.
Very good video! I did mixture adjustment using Colortune, it is very easy and straight forward.
I'm buying a 99 Honda Valkyrie with 8000 miles, owner said carbs need cleaning, I keep watching thankyou
Good luck! Red Eye Technical doesn't have the full carb kits anymore, I recently looked. So your choices will be OEM (expensive) for Chinese junk kits, unless you can find K and L kits, they're pretty good.
There’s an additive I use that cleans anything. Can remember the name right now but I’ll get back to you.
Great series on this bike.
Thanks from Oz.🇦🇺
Thank you, really enjoyed the final , will watch the others too!
Excellent work Tom! Thank you for this series. I have a love of Valkyries, fantastic motorcycles.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Excellent series. That bike sounded so sweet.
Thanks for the awesome videos. I have a 97 valk and have learned a lot
Good job on these videos. Easy to watch and great information.
No applause, just send money! Hehehehe. Thanks.
Great job.
Great job. Thank you. '03 Deluxe
Thanks for watching!
Great series, will come in helpful as I tackle my '84 Nighthawk S that has sat undisturbed for 10 years. Unfortunately, for me anyway, your gas tank looks new compared to what I found. Thanks
Wow. This one was one of the worst. Took three applications of phosphoric acid. I think it was three May have been four. Much luck.
Good videos. The valve adjustment you were talking about is every 12000 miles. The timing belt and tensioner should be checked also. Some say change the belt at 30000 miles. With the bikes age I would change the belt anyhow. You don't want to ruin all your hard work. The Valk has an interference engine.
Has a good sound to it !
Excellent..
Look Gunnison Colortune tool to balance combustion, with the Carbtune to sync them it is an amazing combination to tune the bike 100% and combined it takes the "guessing" away. I am getting an RPM digital gauge, nice to have around.
Pat
I am not really a big fan of the color tune, for what I can render from it compared to its price, I trust my ear and gut feeling on tuning way more. I really don't consider it guessing, I mean, there is some guessing I guess (hardy har har) but... again, my gut is seldom wrong. I kinda just feel it, hard to describe. The CarbTune Pro is the best one I have ever used and I've tried many. The worst? That piece of crap Bikemaster one with the blue fluid. What I REALLY wish I could find, is an old school Mercury one, like I had back in the late 70's early 80's. Where that went, I don't know.
Great videos series. I was just gifted a 1999 Valkyrie Interstate and 2002 VTX 1800. Both were flooded in Hurricane Sally. The Valkyrie looks to have faired well, but the VTX I am not so sure about. This series will be very helpful as I begin working on the Valkyrie.
Thanks. Wow, an Interstate. Save that at all costs, they're getting extremely rare. If there's any chance H20 got into those engines and sat, you'll be yanking some big iron and rebuilding most likely. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL So far, no signs of H20 from the filler oil or dipstick. But I haven't had a chance to change the oil yet. I can also turn the rear wheel in gear so that's a good sign as well. It has been sitting for at least 2 years and Hurricane Sally was 18 months ago. The buddy that gave it to me also gave me the Clymer Service Manual. I've been reading it like a novel.
@@DaveBuildsIt Well, not being locked is a good sign. Do you know if the bike was completely immersed in water, I mean, like above the handlebars? If it was, there's no chance water didn't get inside the motor. However, as you likely know, the intake for that motor is way up high compared to just about everything else and right under that gigantic fuel tank. Assuming no other breaches in hoses, breathers, etc, there's no way for water to get in besides the intake, at least not in great amounts if at all. Please post some videos on the restoration or repair. Cheers.
@@DaveBuildsIt I just subscribed to your channel. You're in Pensacola? Trailer that sucker down here we'll do a collaboration for a day. I have a RedEye Technical complete carb rebuild kit with additional float needles sitting in the shed, in stock. Just take the bodywork off first. lol.. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL Both the Valkyrie and the VTX 1800 were damaged by a storm surge, which at times was 2 ft high. The VTX 1800 was beaten to hell and back, but not so much for the Valkyrie. So at this point, it is unclear if water could have topped the intake.
I have those same carbtune sticks. Got them from the UK back in 09. Valkyrie is a 5 spd, not 6 lol. Valkyrie with Cobra 6 into 6 sound so freaking good.
I’m aware of the error, but thanks for pointing it out. Again. Lol. Just kidding. Cheers.
Excellent work brother. By the way I own one. 1999 interstate.
Only 17,000 miles just picked it up from second owner.
Are you in Pennsylvania? I’m a decent mechanic but not to your level.
hi, great set of videos, what was the timing belts like, thanks for sharing.
Not part of the job. Thanks for watching.
Super informative❤. Could you please give me your valuable suggestion about one of my spark plug on my 1998 Honda valkyrie is getting dark black and littlebit oily on the first couple of threads of the plug? Only that side exhaust is dark powder black inside, but other side is clean. Rest of the 5 spark plugs are good. No smoke coming out, but engine misfires. Bike goes above more than 100km/hr but not smooth. I checked by changing spark plug and plug wire too, but still same. Bike is not eating an oil too much, but I can see a bit of oil on the that specific spark plug. It would be really helpful. Thanks
It’d be highly unlikely that engine has one bad cylinder causing oil bypass into the combustion chamber. Especially with a misfire I’d suggest it’s not oil but wet from over fueling. You many have a bad float valve causing the fuel to flood that cylinder to a point at least. Not guzzling out or anything just rich mixture. Still, wouldn’t be a bad idea to run a compressor test on all six cylinders and document. If that cylinder is low, you may actually have a bad jug. If it’s same as the five others I’d pull the carbs and go through all of them.
Thank you so much. This season it was overfilled during the oil change. I ran a bit and had to remove some oil. So, maybe oil got into the air system. However, It got better after removal of extra oil. I put almost 2000km and added fuel/carb injector cleaner. it suddenly happened at the high speed and I observed dark black dusty exhaust while it was parked. Fuel smell is coming sometimes and engine misfires were happening from the bottom headers and exhaust sometimes. I tightened the headers afterwards. However, the wetness of plug was having some smell which was not like fuel. That is why I got concerned. Thanks again and I will check the way you explained.
how much do you think it would cost for someone to disassemble and clean the carbs?
There's probably a bunch of guys/gals that do it, but as a comparison, Mike Nixon will do a set of Valk carbs for $700 plus shipping. See his page, scroll down to the Valkyrie carbs. He does the FULL Monty though, re-zincing parts, replacing screws, etc. Me, I would charge anywhere between $425 and $600 parts included depending upon how junked up they are and I do not do all the stuff Mike does. He says he also replaces slide diaphragms. He's an old Honda guy, worked for the U.S. mothership in the 80's and I can tell you for what he advertises, it's a damned good price. Check out his website for more: motorcycleproject.com/goldwing/details.html. Remember, scroll down to the bottom for Valkyrie carbs.
Great job on this entire series! I am thinking of purchasing a '97 Valkyrie to be used as a Donor Bike for a Trike build and have a Tech Question as to whether it is possible to swap out the Manual Transmission for a DCT?
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the videos. That question unfortunately, is way outside my pay grade, I have no idea at all. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL Thanks, anyways... I just Love the Look of the Older Valkyrie and have seen pictures of them with a MotorTrike conversion and have thought for a while it would be Perfect with a DCT conversion as well...
Awesome video. I am looking for stock exhaust that fits a 2000 Valkyrie Standard. Other than eBay any options I could pursue? Thanks.
That's a tough one. You may try some Valkyrie specific forums maybe? Or clubs? Perhaps Facebook pages dedicated to the model? There's also a number of vintage and modern classic Facebook groups that you could join which are parts/selling/trading groups. Otherwise, put some saved searches on eBay so you get notified of a hit. I usually word a search a couple ways so it'll have broader coverage. Yea, good luck on that one! And thanks for the comments, consider subscribing for more material like this. Cheers.
Hi. Your video series on this bike has been a big help for me in getting my own Valk up to scratch.
Can you tell me if the motion pro pilot adjust tool works OK getting onto the fuel adjusters?
I've tried using the one I got from Red Eye but with a warm motor it's pretty hard going.
Cheers.
Thanks. Yes, it does. There was one or two that were tight but I can't remember which ones, you may have to move a wire or hose or something but absolutely it'll work. May take some practice if you're unfamiliar with its feel in tight or challenging areas, but it's the tool for the job. That tool from Red-Eye in my opinion only works with initial adjustment with the carbs off the bike. I don't think it's designed for anything else. There's really no way to get it in there once the carbs are installed -- with that too. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL
Yes that was the conclusion I came to with the Red Eye one.
Thanks again.👍
Great video !
How much service like that would cost ?
The bill was $1,975 and change I think. As you can see the carbs are very laborious to do correctly. This bike had frozen brake calipers, required rebuild on all masters including clutch and the clutch slave. That’s not the easiest to get to since it’s on the “back” side technically. And I never use Chinese junk parts so yea, it ain’t cheap. Thanks for watching.
@@MotoRestoFL that seems cheap for the amount of work it took.
What about the timing belts? Had a look on those? Sitting ten years is a long time…
If memory serves customer declined that because he was simply getting it running for sale.
Lotsa fun to watch. Thank you. But 6 speed?
Yea, I goofed on that part.
@@MotoRestoFL I Don't wanna be one of those guys looking for fault. Thanks so much for the video. Thankfully my 97 has been kept running all these years and is almost "showroom" with 100K on it. Your expertise is vast & impressive.
Do you know if this bike is still up for sale?
I do not know. I don't think it ever actually went "up for sale." I dropped off a second job, The Burgman scooter I mentioned in other videos (that was really bad) and I didn't film that project, but anyway, I spoke to his wife as he wasn't home because the Valk was still sitting there. She said it was most definitely for sale. My customer wasn't home that day. If you want, email me at motorestofl@gmail.com and I'll hook you up with his contact info.
Where is your shop? I’d like to have you rebuild the forks on an 1800 vtxT
Bradenton, Florida. email me, motorestofl@gmail.com
I use a 5 gallon paint paddle on calipers
What is a 5 gallon paint paddle? I used to paint houses, rooms and such back in the day but I never heard of that.
The stirring stick
Place paddle in the calipers pump the lever till it stops both pistons remove paddle/stirring stick and remove the pistons
Thanks, Tom, for the lengthy videos on Valkyrie. I learned a lot. I got a 1997 Valkyrie with almost exact same issues; Carbs, tank, front brakes, battery. Got it running great! The last thing I did before carb synchronizing was pull the cylinder intakes off to install new O rings. I notice #3 & #4 had a small amount of clean engine oil running down the inside. Could it be PAIR valve leaking into the vacuum lines 3 & 4?
I can’t remember but I’m assuming #3 and 4 have vacuum lines on them and not capped off as is the case on a couple of them. The answer is I’m not sure. Look at the hoses and see if there’s oil in them. If so, trace them back and see. It’s hard to get at that stuff I know with the rack installed, but if you’re reusing the vacuum hoses that were on the thing after sitting a long time, could just be varnishy junk making its way down.
I have a 97 Valkyrie that needs a clutch. You free??
I’ll get back to you.
I'd have to turn that job down. Clutch is very hard to access being on the back of the engine. I'm too old for that stuff. Cheers.