1982 Yamaha 920 Virago

1982 Yamaha 920 Virago—XV920J
Mutant Project

Work log on my abused Virago

Update December 18 2009

Ok, so we have an update...of sorts. December 12th I bought another one.

Shortly after I got back from a roadtrip on the Nighthawk in August, I was laid-off. "Reduction-In-Force" is the PC term, but it still means "no job". I had been working at Dell for almost 12 years at this point. The severance package made the difference between looking around for something first or going straight to shaking the dust off the old CDL.

Took a month for me to get really started looking. After two months I was bored. Couple of projects around the house—painting and refinishing—got old after a while. So I started looking at bikes again. When I saw a Virago for sale as parts I latched onto the idea of getting one and rebuilding mine.

First time I mentioned this to the wife I thought she would pop a gasket. After that, if I just started to mention a bike she'd just say "no" without waiting. Telling me that I couldn't be buying another bike if I didn't have a job. Her reasoning was sound but her wording is what got me to this point.

Mid-November I saw an 82 XV920J in Oklahoma for $500...perfect. But still no job so...

Next week I hit a job fair, gave Shoretel my resume, and over the next week went through 11 interviews that ended with a nice offer that came in while we at her families place on Thanksgiving. There really was thanks to be given on that day.

Just before I'm scheduled for my first day I notice that Virago in OK again, this time at $200. The wife still says no.

Mid-week after I started she relents and I call the guy before she can change her mind. I ask him to hold it for another $50. And when I picked it up with my brothers help, I threw in another $100 to help make his kids Christmas a little brighter. $350 is still a bargin. It would cost more for just the parts I knew were bad and I guarantee the bill would only go up as I tore into it.

Now I have parts that have not been sitting for days underwater. And I'll have extra parts so I can try different color schemes on parts that might not normally get painted on this model.

The current plan is to pull both bikes apart, refinish the frame that I have title to, and put parts back on from either after cleaning, painting, or polishing. After that I'll probably sell or toss everything leftover except the motor and a few easily broken parts.

A little history on this bike.

Earlier this year—or maybe last, I can't remember—Brandon (previous owner) helped a cousin move and was given this bike in payment. Belonged to her step-dad and had been sitting in a barn for an unknown number of years. No title. Bad starter. Dead battery. Gummed up carbs. But easily fixable.

The idea was to put some time and a little money into it and get a nice bike for next to nothing. But life—and lack of funds—intervened. It sat, neglected, in the front yard for quite a while.

At some point he did get a little loose time and tried working the shim-mod^[1] on the starter but "broke it". Without digging into it I don't know what that means except I won't be using this starter. Since one main modification I was dead certain about is the XV1100/XV1000 starter-mod^[2], it didn't bother me in the least.

About the time he pooled enough money to start repairs he found an '86 Kawasaki Eliminator (what he showed me was big enough for the ZL900 but probably the ZL600) for $300...running. The Virago is now scrap and 'has to go'. Besides it's coming on to Christmas and funds are short again.

Cue long-haired newly-employed techno-geek surfing pre-junkyard bikes with a kitchen pass to buy.

	These are the craigslist pics that I saw. All there but mirrors and starter. Motor turns (by hand) and it will roll if you ignore the locked front brake. The hand and foot controls are in good shape compared to mine.
I had that plastic "920" cover from the other one for years but when I went looking for it in May I couldn't find it. I may pull the badges off the tank but I wanted to keep this. Just a fiddly-bit that would be too much trouble to track down but would be nice to have.
	Here it is in my garage—kind of in the middle because I have two others out. The Nighthawk, which I ride around some, and the Concours that I tore down for a carb-rebuild. Carbs are on the dining room tables right now. Didn't really have room for another bike but didn't want to miss a good deal. All the snazzy bits that I would probably not worry about chasing down are there except the mirrors.
This tank is in pretty good shape. The only ding is at the lower edge of this side right in line with the "H" in "YAMAHA". The exhaust looks decent compared to the flood-victim's. Maybe I'll use the old set for finish and color testing.
	Just about everything about this bike is in better shape than the other one. Even the seat is better. It's a little more chopped down than the other one too. Still needs a re-cover but the foam has kept it's shape. You can also see the Nighthawk with her battery-minder on. I've learned that lesson twice now.
The LCD looks to be in good condition and was part of the reason I was after this one. They ain't cheap. The 45k shown on the odometer compared to the 30k on the old one means little wear diffence. Sunburn on the tank means a paint-job is definetly in the future. And there's a key so I don't have to cut the cap off. If you look close you'll see that the handlebars are set in real close to center-line and very low. About a ¼ inch away from the tank stop-to-stop. I could probably do the lower controls but they're in too close for me—uncomfortable. I don't feel like I have any leverage to push it around.
	I'll also have lots of extra body parts for color testing. I'm considering tank color on fenders, turn signals, and headlight/taillight bodys. Or maybe the full Midnight Virago look with everything blackened. My original idea of the frame refinish was powder-coating but my brother mentioned something about Grizzly Grip. It's a brush-on pickup-bed liner. Hmmm....have it coated with that and I won't have to worry about chipping the paint if I ding it while putting things together.
Another thing I'd like to find is one of the factory(-look) sissy bars with luggage rack. One of the iritations I remember from using the other one was attaching anything had to be on the seat because putting it behind the seat meant tossing things on top of the tail light. That always bugged me. Maybe I can also find a way to fit one of those heavily-stepped "Mustang" seats from later year models. Anyway, this seat may look rough but it's nice compared to the other one.
	That's where we are now. When I get started, this bike will be stripped and sitting in bags and boxes. When I'm done de-constructing this one, I'll do the same to the other one. At that point, I'll have a titled frame that I can build up with pick-and-choose parts from two bikes.

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^[1] The original fix for the box-o-rocks starter noise from the earliest 920s and 750s was to shim the starter so that the gear was "right-there". If you had just a hairs space between gear and flywheel, you didn't get as much noise. It was still there but just not as head-turningly obvious.

^[2] The best fix for the noisy starter is noted on ViragoTech's site. It uses the left side cover from an 84/85 XV1000 or an 86/87 XV1100, plus all the starter gears and slides and a long-shaft starter. The wiring is reversed polarity but there's an easy fix for that too. Here is the forum post describing the process.