History
Working on a Virago was the furthest thing on my mind as a possibility until now.
This 1987 Yamaha Virago 1100 belongs to Riley, who last rode the bike about 10 years ago… at least that’s what he says. (Oh it’s just got to be 20, I know it.) Since then the bike has been sitting, waiting for someone to bring it back to life.
Riley decided it was time to get it running again, so we’ll be digging into it together. The exact history of the bike before that isn’t really known, but maybe Riley will share a bit more about its past at some point.
For now, the plan is to go through the carburetors, replace the fork seals, and sort out whatever else shows up along the way. With any luck, it won’t take too much work to get this old Virago back on the road where it belongs.
Project details
Work has already begun on the bike. We confirmed it has spark, and compression testing initially showed both cylinders were low, with the rear cylinder particularly low. “Well, it was hard to start before it was parked.” Apparently that’s somewhat common on these Viragos since the rear cylinder tends to run hotter. Fun fact—the rear cylinder is actually jetted a bit richer from the factory because of that.
The fuel tank, however, is extremely rusty. That’s going to take more than just a fuel filter to sort out.
Seeing the low compression initially wasn’t terribly concerning based on my recent experience working through similar issues on the R100/7. Sure enough, a valve adjustment brought things back into spec and the compression improved.
Very quickly I learned that the ease of removing carbs on a boxer like the R100/7 is absolutely not the case here. These carbs have proven to be somewhat of a nightmare… not the kind that wakes you up screaming, but the kind where you wake up in the morning feeling slightly disturbed.
As I learned more about the bike, I discovered that the 1986–1987 Virago models used Hitachi carburetors—not the Mikunis that have parts available for days. The amount of gunk inside these carbs, combined with the rust in the tank, makes me think this bike may have been sitting closer to 20 years than 10.
Cheap rebuild kits for these carbs are widely available, but the general advice from people who know these bikes is to stay far away from them. Sourcing good parts has been a bit painful and more expensive than expected. The diaphragms were hard and beginning to crack, and the floats weren’t doing a very convincing job of floating anymore.
Fortunately, JBM Industries manufactures replacement diaphragms for these carbs—and a pile of others as well. Along with that, we picked up a K&L carb kit with good reviews and sourced some OEM floats.
With the carbs fully cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner and rebuilt with quality components, the bike is now starting, idling, and revving out cleanly with no smoke—always a great sign.
The next step is to tackle the rusty fuel tank using Evapo-Rust to properly clean it out before putting any real miles on the bike.
From there, the plan is to move on to fork seals and continue working through the rest of the bike as needed.
Progress is coming along nicely.
If you want, I can give this one a slightly more “MacMoto listing” vibe (a bit more punch + buyer confidence tone), but this keeps your storytelling style consistent across both builds 👍
Oh add that the carbs New parts have been installed now the bike is running. Add that the Diaframs from JBM Industryies were of high quality and easy to install. "THe moment i opend the package I knew these were quality diaphrams"
Here’s your updated version with that added in, keeping your tone consistent and natural:
Work has already begun on the bike. We confirmed it has spark, and compression testing initially showed both cylinders were low, with the rear cylinder particularly low. “Well, it was hard to start before it was parked.” Apparently that’s somewhat common on these Viragos since the rear cylinder tends to run hotter. Fun fact—the rear cylinder is actually jetted a bit richer from the factory because of that.
The fuel tank, however, is extremely rusty. That’s going to take more than just a fuel filter to sort out.
Seeing the low compression initially wasn’t terribly concerning based on my recent experience working through similar issues on the R100/7. Sure enough, a valve adjustment brought things back into spec and the compression improved.
Very quickly I learned that the ease of removing carbs on a boxer like the R100/7 is absolutely not the case here. These carbs have proven to be somewhat of a nightmare… not the kind that wakes you up screaming, but the kind where you wake up in the morning feeling slightly disturbed.
As I learned more about the bike, I discovered that the 1986–1987 Virago models used Hitachi carburetors—not the Mikunis that have parts available for days. The amount of gunk inside these carbs, combined with the rust in the tank, makes me think this bike may have been sitting closer to 20 years than 10.
Cheap rebuild kits for these carbs are widely available, but the general advice from people who know these bikes is to stay far away from them. Sourcing good parts has been a bit painful and more expensive than expected. The diaphragms were hard and beginning to crack, and the floats weren’t doing a very convincing job of floating anymore.
Fortunately, JBM Industries manufactures replacement diaphragms for these carbs—and a pile of others as well. The moment I opened the package I knew these were quality diaphragms. They were easy to install and a big step up from what came out of the bike. Along with that, we picked up a K&L carb kit with good reviews and sourced some OEM floats.
With the carbs fully cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner and rebuilt with quality components, the bike is now starting, idling, and revving out cleanly with no smoke—always a great sign.
The next step is to tackle the rusty fuel tank using Evapo-Rust to properly clean it out before putting any real miles on the bike.
From there, the plan is to move on to fork seals and continue working through the rest of the bike as needed.
Progress is coming along nicely.
