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1982 Yamaha Virago XV750 - Cafe Midnight Project Thread


jester3681

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Well, the wheel saga continues. Hopefully this is the last of them, I'm running out of money to blow on more wheels :D. Got the XS750 rear wheel in the mail yesterday and spent some time in the garage today:

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How the bike sat this morning - all the fun late model stuff stripped off and ready for sale.

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The wheels - XJ1100 16" wheel on the bike now, 18" XS750 wheel on the ground ready to go.

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Swap the rotor over.

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Initial installation. Looks good from the side, but...

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The new wheel is narrower than both the XJ1100 and the stock Virago wheel by about 8mm.

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And it looks like it might be offset to the left slightly...

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Very unscientific check shows it's off by about 5mm. Ugh.

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Mocked up with the brake brackets. At the very least, I'll need to machine the brackets to accept the new wheel (in place of a spacer), but I'm thinking I need to install a spacer on the other side for the wheel to be centered up. This is becoming more of a pain in the butt than I originally thought, but I like the look of the wheel. Oh well, the spacers really shouldn't be as bad to make as it sounds. Just another project to work on. The saga continues... :nono:

To make it worse, the rear wheel came with an axle, but the ONE spacer I needed was all f-d up. Lovely. I hate to get another axle - I already have an XJ1100 one I don't need and this XS750 one that's no good. Grrr...

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... and as I contemplate, I'm seriously considering swapping the entire rear end from an XS750 on - it would give me the twin shocks instead of monoshock, much more cafe. Plus, the spot in the frame where the shock lives now would be great for the battery. I need to find out if the swingarm will fit... *sigh*

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Well, here we go. Been playing around with different setups in the rear of the bike. Definately can't use anything but the Virago without re-engineering the whole rear end. Instead, I'll just re-engineer the wheel (have I heard that phrase before?). Sat down with my gauges, CAD program, and calculator and worked out this basic spacer for the XS wheel:

Spacer111027.jpg

This will mount between the drive flange and the wheel itself - the bolts that hold the flange on will just go through the holes on the spacer and the axle will go right through the whole at center - dimensions are 130mm x 10mm. Now I need to track down a machinist to make it for me. I figure this simple shape will cut down on machine costs and keep the balance neutral.

Here's how I came up with the thickness - first off, it looks right. Second off, the plastic ring that protects the gearing it 20mm on the XS wheel and 30mm on the stock Virago wheel and on the XJ1100 wheel I had mounted up as well. That leads me to believe these two wheels are 10mm wider on that side. The spacer I got off the XJ1100 axle axtually spaces the other side of the wheel perfectly, and with the previously decided machine work on the brake caliper mounts, the brakes bolt up as well. I think we have a weiner!

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Looks like you got a real plan there, I'm not from your area so I can't recomend anyone local. I get all my work that's beyond me done here in the Youngstown area:

http://mad4wd.com/

The owner Larry Davis is a great guy, broke down to riding a street glide now but in the middle of building an XS650 hardtail bob for himself in his free time.

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Well, looking to receive the parts for the front end this week - using the stock triple, forks from an XS850 and brakes from an XS1100. I have today and tomorrow and Tuesday morning off, kind of hoping to get them in time to mock everything up.

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The last of my parts should be here this week - and I have Tuesday - Thursday off - maybe have a change to mock up the front end? I got a speedo/headlight bucket from a late 1960s Yamaha that I'm going to modify to have a tach as well, and I got headlight ears to mount it - just waiting on those items to mock the front end up. Mock up project after that? Tail section - I'm going to mock up in PVC pipe first, then build from steel tube when I like the layout. Pics later in the week!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok - day after Thanksgiving, I'm home alone on federally mandated 72 hours rest, family is out of town. Great time to put some time in on the bike.

Here's where we started today:

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Still have the rear wheel on loosely fitted, waiting on the spacer to finish that end. Time to put the front end on. And, after not that long at all:

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The steering stem is from the original bike, forks are from a 1980 XS850, wheel is from a 1979 XS750, headlight ears are from another 1980 XS850, calipers (not installed) are from a 1980 XS1100. I removed the handlebar risers and kind of like the look.

I found an awesome gauge/headlight bucket I'm going to use:

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This sucker is from a 1968 Yamaha YCS1. I love the look of it and the integrated gauge/headlight. I'm going to do some extensive mods to the gauge though - I plan to replace the guts with a modern speedo head and also mount a tach in the left side of the gauge face, similar to an old Honda CB/CL77. Started to take it apart...

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... rust. Ugh. The bucket isn't too bad, but some of the gauge housing will need to be cut out and replaced. Luckily, it's not in a visable location so it doesn't need to be too neat of a job. I hit the gauge with my wire brush and it cleaned up a bit:

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Another of the gauge face out of the bucket -

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Aaaaaaaand... after all this, I tried to mount the headlight to the forks and the XS850 ears won't work. That bike (XS850) must have like a 3 1/2" headlight. So, off they come:

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Done for today, but have a lot of stuff to hit eBay for: need the hardware to mount the calipers to the forks (Lowes?), need a speedo drive gear from an XS850 - the one from the Virago fits to the wheel, but the hole is too small for the axle to fit through, need a way to mount the headlight, and lastly, need some clip-ons.

I leave for Atlanta for a month on Monday, so hopefully I can track all this stuff down and have it waiting when I get home.

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What are you going to Atlanta for?

Yardmaster?

Good seeing you the other night!

Yeah, yardmaster in Willard. Kind of my deal with the Devil. I want to get to the Great Lakes dispatch office and I think this is about the best way to do it.

Good seeing you too - must be nice working for about 2 hours. I almost had Terry talked into just going to get it. He's been qualified over that way as a conductor, but not as an engineer.

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Well, when I get home from Atlanta, so far I will have the speedo drive gear, brake caliper bolts from an XS850 to get the front end mocked up as well as an XS850 speedo to use the guts out of (not sure if the internals from the '68 will be any good with all the rust) and last but not least, the spacers for the rear wheel and hub.

I was able to track down some aluminum spacers that are 3/4" OD x 3/8" ID x 3/8" thick. The 3/8" dimension is within 1/2mm of 10mm, so I may have to open the ID up a tad, but the thickness should work for my purposes. I would think that the original centerline of my rear wheel being 1/2mm from where it will be with this rear wheel will be close enough for city work. I need to get the wheel off the bike, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up tapping the wheel itself so the 6 bolts that hold the hub in place will bolt directly to it.

More to come!

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Hi there, have just joined the forum after having seen your Virago project, have the same model as yours, 1982 vintage, this is being mildly modified at the moment, ie. smaller indicators remove the rear light, straight bars, will be building my own two into one exhaust system, also have a 1981 model but this will be built in a much more radical way, first started in 1984 with a Virago engine built into a harley hardtail frame in a flattracker style, tank was off a kawasaki moped and the forks off a honda XL 250, hopfully if I have done it right you should be able to see the photo,s, you were asking about single carb for a Virago, if you look on the web for Dr piston Virago tech. this shouldpost-17257-0-62698600-1369766368_thumb.j help you

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I have an '83 Midnite Virago. Must agree on the Cafe .... Front on view of bike states, I need to be a Cafe. Nice bike to ride. Don't like the 80's gauges look.

Keep up the good job on conversion....then hunt up the mods vs rockers get togethers.

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  • 3 weeks later...

dunno, as a fellow ohioan, we've all seen incredible projects sitting somewhere, and upon an asking- you hear it took me 12 (etc) years to do this.

case in point, I've seen a real deal daytona superbird in town (look it up) guy said he's had it almost 20 years and its still not done, just finally drivable 

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