Antifreeze / Coolant

[Hoosier Valker]

I forgot about those clamps. What a pain. Needle nose pliers and some patience (with a side of swearing) worked well for me.

I am assuming(this gets me into a lot of trouble) that you are talking about removing the clamps so you can pour the old anti-freeze from the overflow bottle. I have never done that, I just use a turkey baster & suck it out. Much easier(if that's what you were talking about).

[cookiedough]

I agree, I used an antifreeze tester and sucked 99% of the old antifreeze out, but from what others have said on this website and others, it does not hurt to take off the reserve tank and clean it out with warm water/soap and then rinse with clean water and let air dry and reinstall.  I think 5 years from now if the antifreeze looks fine like it did this time and no gunk in the reserve tank, I will leave the 2 clamps on and just suck out 99% of the old antifreeze like you did.  It would have saved me 1 hours worth of time and swearing.  However, when I refilled with fresh antifreeze, the antifreeze looked a little clearer, almost hard to see the upper level mark when full compared to the old antifreeze in the reserve tank which I could see pretty easily being a little darker in color.  I probably will just suck out the old antifreeze next time and not wash out the reserve tank since it was the only real pain in the butt to do this service and therefore will not damage/bend worse/break the 2 metal clamps holding on the rubber hoses top and bottom and no likelihood to break off the plastic nipples of the upper and lower part of the reserve tank that the rubber hoses snug tight onto.

[Smokinjoe]

Same here in WI, only 7 months to ride and I don't care to ride in the rain, so it usually is more like 6 months to ride tops.  SmokinJoe, that pic of your Interstate taking the corner, have you ever tried getting the blueing off of those 6 exhaust pipes underneath the engine and if so, what do you use to get the blueing off?  Mine are also tarnished, but not as bad as what yours looks like, but then again, I don't ride even close to 25K plus per year like you do.  I heard blueaway works, but some have found it takes the chroming off of the pipes if rubbed to hard.  Any ideas?  Then again, I have heard besides looking unchromed and a bit ugly on the pipes discolored, it does no harm.

NitroJunkie, I tried using the needlenose pliers to spread the round metal clamp apart, but still a pain in the butt moving the metal clamps off of the rubber hoses very tight onto the plastic nipple on the reserve tank.  The smaller overflow metal clamp was easier to move off and on than the bigger round metal clamp underneath and behind the reserve tank.  I ended up bending one of the metal clamps a bit, but still should hold just fine after I tried to rebend it back into position a little better.  Glad I don't have to mess with it now hopefully for another 5 years.

Well I hate to tell this but when Rivco made the header covers for the Cobra's you could buy them new for about $280.00 ...I just paid $400.00 for a nice set of used covers as we all know when the well dry's up the price goes up...Yeah I know " You must have wanted them " I did want them cause I was sick of looking at the blue and rust colored headers. Next time I get a shot like that they will be beautiful chrome showing.I just installed them the other day the yellow strap is to keep the bike from falling over my grand-daughter Presley loves motorcycle and she climbs on them every chance she gets .

[cookiedough]

So I guess you just bought the good used set for 400 bucks and did not try to get the rusting/blueing off the pipes?  Just wanted to know if you tried blueaway or other products to get the chrome looking good again.

[Smokinjoe]

So I guess you just bought the good used set for 400 bucks and did not try to get the rusting/blueing off the pipes?  Just wanted to know if you tried blueaway or other products to get the chrome looking good again.

The Cobra's are single walled pipe it's going to blue no matter what you do. They will clean-up somewhat but it will return. The stock header pipe that came on the Valk's is double walled thats why they don't blue. I've got Cobra's on all three of my Valkyrie's ( Love the way they sound ) On my yellow bike  I paid $155.00 years ago to have them ceramic coated ( silver ) they still look outstanding and have well over 50,000 miles on them.The Cobra's on the  blue/white Valk I painted them with 1500 degree stove paint it cost about $10.00 for a qt. can and a can will last for years on these I do have to touch them up from time to time.


Painted black with 1500 degree stove paint.




Ceramic Coated ( silver )

[cookiedough]

Don't mean to disagree smokinjoe since you have tons more experience than me, but I'm pretty sure I have the stock headers coming from engine and all 6 pipes coming out and around the sides are blued/tarnished on my stock 2001 honda Valkryie Interstate.  If they are double walled like you say, must not be working or something wrong with my bike, but runs O.K.  Maybe gummed up a bit from past owner running choke on too long before I bought it 2 years ago, but the pipes are blued/tarnished with stock exhaust on bike.

By the way, what is the deal with the brass bell hanging down off the oil filter???

[NITRO]

By the way, what is the deal with the brass bell hanging down off the oil filter???

Just a little superstition is all... Can't hurt, right?

http://www.guardianbell.com/

[Valker]

If yours is indeed the stock double walled pipes, there has been some long choking and/or idling on it.

[Smokinjoe]

By the way, what is the deal with the brass bell hanging down off the oil filter???

Just a little superstition is all... Can't hurt, right?

http://www.guardianbell.com/

I would'nt ride to the mailbox without one 

[Smokinjoe]

Don't mean to disagree smokinjoe since you have tons more experience than me, but I'm pretty sure I have the stock headers coming from engine and all 6 pipes coming out and around the sides are blued/tarnished on my stock 2001 honda Valkryie Interstate.  If they are double walled like you say, must not be working or something wrong with my bike, but runs O.K.  Maybe gummed up a bit from past owner running choke on too long before I bought it 2 years ago, but the pipes are blued/tarnished with stock exhaust on bike.

By the way, what is the deal with the brass bell hanging down off the oil filter???

If you have stock exhaust then you have a " lean " problem ....I've seen Valkyrie's with over 200,000 miles on them and the header still shines. A thread on this issue was just going on the tech board on the VRCC. When I was answering your post to me about this I thought you had Cobra 6X6 exhaust ( my bad    )

[cookiedough]

thanks all, I will get the lean condition looked at when I get new tires for my stock 01 interstate.  Probably running lean like you all said along with previous owner using too much choke and a lot of idling since ONLY 14.3K on it when I bought it.  For only 14.3K, it looked pretty rough, but besides pipes, small dent in tank, a few major scratches all the way thru the black paint, and gunk buildup I CANNOT get off the aluminum rims with anything, it cleaned up pretty good with a LOT of elbow grease.  Not mint, but runs O.K.  No one wanted it since sat at the dealership for months with a layer of dust and dirt and most of the younger generation thought it was outdated and a loaf, but after sitting on this bike and driving it compared to the VTX1800 of which I hated the seat and riding comfort/handling, it was what I wanted.  Actually, the wife said buy it over me since I was not 100% convinced since looked pretty rough sitting for so long collecting dust, etc..  The misses went with me for a drive and was hooked 100% since she said the back seat was more comfortable and bigger and fit her better overall than the used 1520cc goldwing we were going to buy instead.

[Smokinjoe]

Get some 000 steel wool and a decent aluminum polish and work them over... It's alot eaiser with the wheels off the bike.

[cookiedough]

Are you talking about using steel wool on the aluminum rims or the chrome exhaust headers or BOTH? 

I am willing to try anything to get both looking a lot better as long as I do not rub too hard like I did with just a washcloth and plain wax and I rubbed so hard in one spot on the aluminum rims I scratched the finish in a 1-2" area pretty bad.  Still did not get off that one ugly, dirty, gunky spot.

[MP]

Dag has a video showing how to polish them up.  Not sure how to find it at the moment though. 

Dag??

MP