CompactDisc's Virago 920 Build

[compactdisc]

Hello DTT! Lurked the forums for a while and recently began putting a 1982 Virago 920 under the knife, thought I'd show you guys my progress. Enjoy!





Picking it up, pretty clean as it was, low milage and owned for ages by an old couple.

Tearing into the breakdown

Old parts

New parts

Dirty motor....

Clean motor

Going through and polishing every bolt and nut

The poor mans bench grinder

The difference some emery compound and a lot of patience can make

Mocking up the fork

And the other pony

The front wheel came in today. Just waiting on the tank and a new crank cover (current one is in bad shape) to come in and then fab work can begin.

I'll be doing the fork swap to mate the front end next week and hopefully have a rolling frame by then.

 

[compactdisc]

Front end is on!

I read quite a bit about the swap on here and other forums and everyone seemed to be swapping the stem from the Virago into the R6 Lower triple. It is possible and much much easier to use the R6 stem so thats what I did.


Coined the plate a bit pushing the stem out ;D

Threw it on the lathe

And shes on!

 

[compactdisc]

Tank came in today. Had a bit of rust in it so did the old vinegar/nuts and bolts/dryer trick. It'll need a few more of those before I am willing to put it on the bike though.

I'm really happy with how the tank looks on the bike. The tank strangely enough fit right onto the stock tank mounts.

Going to strip the paint later this week. I plan on going either bare metal or nickle plated.

 

[compactdisc]

Putting her back together to begin fab on the subframe.

 

[compactdisc]

Polished the new crank cover and slapped it on today. Playing with ideas for the tank. I was planning on just going bare but the pin stripping has grown on me, think I'll just stripe it and re-stripe it.

 

[compactdisc]

Parts! Got the battery, throttle and clutch cables, new oil filter and headlight in today. Speedo should be here next week.

Began making the mount for the back of the tank. It normally would have been fairly simple but I had to maintain access to the shock mount bolt just below where the tank rests.

I wanted to raise the tank 2.15 inches to not have it angled downwards like the original Virago tank was. Decided to build a three sided mount to replace the one below.

The frame had a 23º slope and I needed to push the new mount walls towards the front as well as in towards each other to clear the underside of the tank and not cover the rear shock mounting bolt. Cut the plates with one 45º side and one 22º side to level the mounting spot out. Then tapered them in and angled the top piece to compensate for the angle change when the walls leaned in. It worked out perfectly and is very sturdy.

Out

Using all the geometry I learned in high school.

 

[Rich Ard]

Count me in, cool so far.

 

[dualitymike]

Wait, you don't have a bench grinder, but you have a lathe?

 

[rrtec]

Very cool/ I am interested in seeing what the seat design will be. Keep it up!

 

[compactdisc]

Wait, you don't have a bench grinder, but you have a lathe?

Ha, the lathe is a friends. Good to have friends with expensive machinery

 

[TricDick]

great idea on the tank mount! really like what your doing here.

 

[03rangerxlt]

i like this project!

 

[compactdisc]

Sorry for the delay, I've been crazy busy with school starting back up.

I built up a subframe, kind of a cafe style one, but putting it on I didn't care for the look so I've decided to switch it out for a solo seat. Seat, rearsets and tail light should be in next week. In the meantime I've just been taking care of the smaller details like petcock, new fuel lines, vacuum lines, gas cap, remounting as many electrical components as I can under the tank and the age old question of how the hell to get the throttle cable the proper length. I wanted to use the stock R6 throttle which is a push/pull style one. The Virago is only pull style so I just yanked one of the lines. I'll show how I did this as it seems quite a few people run into this issue.

First subframe

Parts I'm working with for the throttle

Cut off the end knob and bought some rod stock with the same diameter.

Cut to size

Cut a groove in it to lay the wire and weld fill

Shave off excess and sand.

And bingo!

I've heard solder will do the same job if you don't have a welder. Just use flux free solder.

Also the foot control mount had some bigs tabs which held the battery but aren't going to be needed.

I was able to use the petcock from the Virago tank, just added new fuel and vacuum lines.

How she's sitting ATM.

 

[Cuba Libre]

Very nice!
What are your plans for the rear wheel?

M.

 

[compactdisc]

Very nice!
What are your plans for the rear wheel?

Being a shaft drive there aren't a whole lot of options as far as swaps. Just going to powder coat the swingarm and wheel black

 

[Rich Ard]

Cut a groove in it to lay the wire and weld fill

Shave off excess and sand.

And bingo!

I've heard solder will do the same job if you don't have a welder. Just use flux free solder.

If you didn't splay the throttle cable out, I would suggest starting over - over time, the cable will pull out of the end, unless you actually welded the wire in place as well. Wanted to make sure that someone trying to solder a cable end doesn't look to this as a tutorial - not the way to do it if you want the cable to last.

 

[MJPriceisright]

looking really good man, I dig the tank for sure. yet another virago pops up on the scene, love it!!!!!

 

[focusinprogress]

Being a shaft drive there aren't a whole lot of options as far as swaps. Just going to powder coat the swingarm and wheel black

you can source a complete shaft drive, universal joint, and rear wheel/brake/swingarm from an XS750/850/1100 triple and it will swap on with minor effort.....that way you can get a straight-spoked mag in the rear....either 16" or 18" are available...

 

[Rich Ard]

Yamaha Vision in 18" as well, just need to keep the splines from the XV wheel.

 

[compactdisc]

If you didn't splay the throttle cable out, I would suggest starting over - over time, the cable will pull out of the end, unless you actually welded the wire in place as well. Wanted to make sure that someone trying to solder a cable end doesn't look to this as a tutorial - not the way to do it if you want the cable to last.

Yeah, splayed the ends out to hold it in the knob then filled it with weld.