3rd Post - 85 VT700 teardown

[Jammit]

For my final intro post - took advantage of unseasonably warm weather in Chicago to ride the bike Saturday, and even sunday despite the 50mph wind (stayed in neighborhood!). Had to do some 'shakedown' to figure out what's working and what's not. Bike ran surprisingly well. Clutch and gears are OK, brakes are near their end, but functional and smooth. Turn signals are sticky as heck. Small oil drip from underneath somewhere. All in all, a fun couple of short rides....

The tank is a little rusty (knew that when I bought it). The carbs are working pretty well, but they do need cleaned and maintenance anyway due to rusty tank. Charging system isn't working right - bike will start off a freshly charged battery, or off a jump from my pickup, but not on its own after a ride. Battery was a little low on water, holding just at 12 volts, and a couple cracks in the case, so getting a new one (go gel or stay conventional?? gotta do some research). Will probably put in a new stator and rectifier while I'm at it. Bike has not had 3 yellow mod, but someone has clearly refitted the connectors at some point.

Got main tank off, drained the reserve (gas a little orange), got battery out and stopped for the night. Next is to pull the reserve tank - clearly a big job. Ordered a POR-15 kit....that's all for now.

[superdiver]

Dont be too worried about the reserve tank, it looks scarry when you read it in the manual, but is surprisingly simple... and im not a gear head by ANY stretch of the imagination. You will be happy you sealed it!

I like how you are going about this bike. I did essentially the same on my 84 700. I havent worked the carbs yet as it is runing well, and I have to redo the fork seals still and thats about it thats left on mine...