OK, seems my NetDrive account is fussy about what types of files I place on
it. You can see the pics but the text didn't show up so if Paul doesn't
mind, I'm attaching the text to this message.
<<My Vmax Saga.txt>>
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Coleman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 4:15 PM
To: V-MAX TECH LIST
Subject: My Vmax Saga
Due to popular demand, I have written a not so brief
accounting of the last
year & what I've gone through to get "that Monster Vmax" I
dreamed about.
It's certainly not the whole story (the end is still down
the road a ways).
But it gives a good idea of what it takes to build a hot rod
Vmax in your
own garage. Those with unlimited funds could bypass most of
these events by
simply sending your bike & bank account number (with Power
of Attorney) to
your favorite builder. But I'm a hands on kind of guy as I
suspect most of
you are too. I'll bet there are others of you with some
pretty good stories
too.
I have posted it along with the pics of my bike (& some of
Kelly Cash's &
Scott Hallmark's bikes) at:
http://www.netdrive.com/~colemanb
<http://www.netdrive.com/~colemanb>
Click on My Pictures to get to the folder.
.............................................
To unsubscribe go to http://www.sayegh.org/unsubscribe.htm
.............................................
>From point A to point B........................is a very long way.
Well, about a year ago I decided I wanted a different Vmax than the others I saw
around
so I started looking into several different performance options. I bought the book by
Joe Haile on
Turbocharging, Supercharging etc. & read it from cover to cover. Then I started
contacting the
companies listed in the book. I found out that most of them really weren't in the
business of
supplying hi performance parts for the Vmax, but rather had built one bike as an
experiment to test
out some product or other. A few of them no longer even exist. I was not going to be
deterred
however, so I got NOS to send me an installation book as well as their sales
brochures. They sent
me a book for Harley but I got the basic idea. I decided NOS wasn't really for me
cause I wanted
low end power for in town use & NOS only works at full throttle. I decided on
supercharging because
it gives that low end punch I wanted. Anyway, only 2 companies were offering them.
Magna Charger
& Mad Max. I contacted Magna Charger first because they are pretty close to me & they
were very
helpful but told me I needed to put low compression pistons & forged rods in if I
wanted the
maximum power increase & use their 80ci roots blower (stories of 160 to 180 HP & 9
second
quarter miles sounded like just the thing). They told me to contact Arias pistons in
L.A. because
they built all the pistons for them, which I did. When I contacted Arias, they didn't
know what I was
talking about. They said they knew nothing about making pistons for a Vmax & that
Magna Charger
hadn't placed an order for those pistons for over 2 years. So I called Magna Charger
back & they
seemed puzzled by that response from Arias & told me to ask for John Noonan as he was
their
contact. Well, it seems he hadn't worked at Arias for over a year. I then started
calling other piston manufacturers & stumbled into none other than John Noonan who was
now working at JE pistons. He said Magna Charger switched from the Vmax to Harley a
couple of years ago. So I called Magna Charger back & they admitted they hadn't done a
Vmax in a while but thought they must have a supercharger for a Vmax laying around
somewhere & would be glad to install it for $4500. I thought that seemed a bit too
flaky to me so I kept going through the list until I called Mad Max. They actually
were still in the business & in fact only built hi performance parts for the Vmax.
Sounded like just what I was looking for. For a mere $6500 I could get their state of
the art screw type blower system that would be way more powerful than any roots type
blower. I would still need to change out the pistons & rods so I ordered the pistons
from JE (about $750) & 6 weeks to deliver..now
March 99. When they arrived I called Mad Max back & placed my order for the blower &
rods (Carillo) (additional $825) & was assured I'd have everything in about 3 weeks.
It's now May 99. I proceeded to pull my engine out & after a couple of weeks & many
trips to many stores to get all the required tools & gaskets etc. was ready to go
(Many more $). About 5 weeks after my order the main blower unit arrived (end of June
99). The rest of the parts were on back order. No rods so no build up yet. Meanwhile
bits & pieces of the blower system start to arrive. A month later & the
rods arrive. Now Mad Max informs me I need to send the crankshaft & counterbalancer to
them for
balancing & to fit new bearings...Oh also send the rods back .. same reason. OK, so I
send all that
stuff to them. The UPS bill is getting bigger & bigger. $550 & 3 weeks later the parts
come back
(now mid July 99). Now I can finally get to the good stuff. Send the block out for
boring no
problem, Yamaha shop did it for me. Now I'm into this thing about $10,000 including
the small stuff
& I've got a garage full of parts & a wife who keeps reminding me how this was
supposed to be just
a month or so" from start to finish. Not to mention the price kept going up & up &
when is she going
to be able to park her car in the garage again ? Meawhile, it's summertime & everyone
else is riding
& I'm driving my truck. Well, I got the motor rebuilt & back in the frame but was
still waiting for
various small pieces for the blower. Finally in November 99 I roll it out of the
garage for the "big
moment". Turn on the key ..... ahh .... Lights (after spending the night on the
charger). Hit the
starter button ..... nothing. Got lucky & found a bad ground from the ingitor box.
Fixed that & it
cranked over. Nothing ...... not even a burp. More tracing & got lucky again & found a
connector I
missed re-connecting. Tried it again & finally .... It's alive ! Ran for about 2
seconds before coughing
& dying. Well, let's see. Only about 5 thousand possible things could be wrong. Call
Paul at Mad Max for the umteenth time & he thinks the carburation is way off. Re-jet
it he says..... Now I had to find jets for a Weber 45DCOE carb. Many phone calls later
I found a distributor only 25 miles away. There's 3 sets of jets & I had no idea what
I needed. Well, buy 6 sets of everything (non-returnable) & then trial & error for the
next week. Finally got it to run without dying. OK, the REALLY BIG TEST. On with the
helmet drop it in first & ease out the clutch .... Put put ..... cough ..... dead.
Starts right up again but let out the clutch ..... conks out again. Feels like this
supercharged monster I had dreamed of was putting out about 25 HP. Call Mad Max again.
Got the number memorized now (by the way, I'm in Calif. & they're in Connecticut so
the phone bill is taking a pounding). Paul says sounds like a vacuum leak. Remove the
blower & manifold again & check all the seals. Damn.....another 2 days of work.
Replace the manifold seals (O rings) & can't find any leak evidence. Put it all back
together & same thing. Use WD40 & spray all around the manifold & no leaks evident.
Paul says, tape off 80% of the air cleaner & try that. Looks like crap with all that
masking tape but hey .... It pulls away from a stop without having to rev it to 5
grand. Now it's back to the jetting game. Summer has come & gone & I'm still sitting
around trying to get my (now $20,000+) Vmax to move under it's own power. Discover the
blower end seal leaks like crazy (hey this is supposed to be NEW) Anyway, with much
perseverance & knuckle busting, I got it to run well enough to take it the 5 miles to
the Yamaha dealer (I promised them I'd bring it by when it was running). Pulled up in
front of the dealership & looked down at the blower pulley only to discover something
looked very wrong. The pulley was too far out from the housing. Took a cab home, got
my truck & went back. Collected the bike & took it home. The pulley was turning
freely. Called Mad Max & Paul says .... Sounds like a broken main shaft in the blower.
Pack it up & send it back (insure it for $5000). Meantime they held a Vmax tech clinic
here in San Jose & only the pictures of my beloved Max were able to attend. 3 weeks or
so later & it came back to me. Sure enough the shaft had broken. Also got the oil seal
replaced. Christmas is almost here & the weather isn't the best but fortunately this
is California & I can still ride (if I had a bike that ran) most days. Get it all back
together & now it runs almost decent. Lots of adjusting the carb ... re-jetting etc.
have proven to be finally working. Now, get it out on the road .... Carefully .....
seems to be OK ..... engine sounds good ..... actually idles when I come to a stop...
wow, we're on a roll here. OK, what the heck let's kick this puppy in the butt a bit &
see what she'll do. Hold it steady at about 4 grand & roll on the throttle ...
starting to pick up speed ..... then SQUEAL !!!! The blower belt is slipping ! The
pulleys are V Type like automotive accessory belts. New oil seal is leaking oil onto
the pulleys. Clean the pulleys off & buy another new belt (3rd) & take it out again.
This time it works great ! This sucker kicks #ss ! 2 days later the slipping is back.
Call Mad Max & am told this is a new system & the oil seal shouldn't be leaking (it's
new). Maybe I've got the belt too loose. After a couple of more weeks I talk them into
exchanging the pulleys for cog type timing belt pulleys. That solves the slipping
problem. Now if I could only solve the overheating problem. Now Feb. 2000 & I get a
call from Mad Max. Seems they are working on a new type of pulley system & intercooler
& want me to try it out. OK, what the heck. Of course it won't be ready til the
summer. I'll have to send my blower in for the retrofit & it'll be down for one or 2
months. Another summer with no ride. Maybe I should buy a second bike so I'll have
something to ride while I'm working on Mr. Max. Now March 2000 & Mr. Max has logged
800 miles in the past year. Not much riding for me this past year. Finally got the
last part (belt guard). Now all I have to do is get it to fit right & quit vibrating
so loudly it sounds like the engine is about to blow. Gotta admit though, when I'm
sitting at a stop sign, Mr. Max gets lots of astonished looks from other bikers &
cagers ( me .. hurry up & go green light .... Temp needle is rising fast ). Gawker ..
A blower on a Vmax ? Cool idea huh ? Maybe I'll put one on my bike. (me .. go for it
buddy). This is only a portion of what I went through to get to the point where I have
a bike that runs decently but not where I want it to be yet. Gas mileage dropped to
about 20MPG. Now I'm told that if I want to really see the potential of the motor I
have built, I need to use aviation gas (at about $5 a gallon). 92 octane gas just
isn't enough to get the kind of power I want to see. It runs better (I think) than a
stock Vmax but for $10,000 I expected to see a world of difference. Maybe with that
aviation gas...
Paul at Mad Max is a really nice guy & I know he tries to do the best he can. I think
he has too much work for one person to do & so he has a hard time doing work in a
timely manner. He needs someone to help him wrench on bikes so he can work on design
but he doesn't trust anyone to do things the way he wants them done. If he ever
retires I don't know what I'm gonna do. Maybe buy a .....GULP .... Honda.
