Hi,
I am in Sydney Australia and I have owned my 1999 1500 drifter since new. It's a great bike and I love it. It's starting to show some age but there is nothing else I would want to ride. It gets so many comments and looks and it's a fast and powerful bike to ride.
Anyway unfortunately, my motor seems to have an top end issue. It had the usual ticking after about 70,000 km so I replaced the timing chain tensioners with extenders which fixed that. Soon after that it started to make a ticking noise (tappets or chain again ?) but this time along with that the whole valve train was very loud, as if there was no oil getting to it. It also lost power. This came for about a week or two and when away for a similar period. It did this a few times but is now back permanently. Not sure if this has anything to do with it but I noticed that due to the lose timing chain, the spark plug tunnel is worn through and I have oil leaking into it. My local mechanic said he wasn't sure what the problem was but the top end will need rebuilding which will cost at least $2,000. He advised that because the engine has done 83,000 km (about 50K miles), it wasn't worth doing the top end only. He advise to find a lower use second hand motor and swap it out. Unfortunately, they only sold about 6 1500 Drifters in Australia so I've go no chance of finding an exact replacement. Does any one know exactly which motors can be used from other Vulcans and years to swap in without major rework. Maybe even 1600 or other sizes from latest year bikes ?? I will try to find something here in Aus or maybe import a motor from overseas.
Here is a link to the way it sounded when it was running well... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRE0bbkUJZ8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRE0bbkUJZ8)
Here is a link now (it actually sounds worse in real life than in this video)... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnQJL_C9kE8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnQJL_C9kE8)
thanks in advance.
Dave
A Fuel Injected 1500 from a Classic, Nomad or Meanstreak could probably be swapped in, but there are some differences even then. I know that the Drifter has a special cam grind that is set for more low end torque. Also, the Drifter only has a single stator, whereas the Classic, Nomad and Meanstreak have a dual, so a second rectifier and all associated electrical work would be needed to make the swap work. Not sure what else might be needed, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head. I'd hang on to all of the matte silver motor pieces from the Drifter as those are only available for the first 2 years of the Drifter, so they are quite unique.
If I were in your shoes, I'd be stripping that engine down and fixing it. I have almost 84,000 miles on mine and it's just fine. That being said, as far as I know, the 1500s will all fit in the same hole in the frame. A mean streak engine is tuned for higher top end power, so the Nomad, which is touring biased might be the best replacement option. As far as the charging system goes, you can move yours to the new engine, or add a second reg/rec. and have double the output! Necessity is a mother, but creativity is her child!
Thanks for the info guys. I think I'll have a go and do a top end rebuild myself. I've rebuilt car motors years ago so, as they say..... WHAT CAN GO WRONG?, right. :-X Anyway, someone from this forum has PM'd me some about info rebuilding and he lives in Australia so knows about sources parts etc. I'll let you know how it goes.
My motor (also at around 70k Kms) is making similar noises. Did you ever figure out what was causing the noise?
It seems that the OP is no longer a member. He must have gotten his info and quit.
Quote from: pcarrell on May 14, 2014, 08:14:40 AM
I'd hang on to all of the matte silver motor pieces from the Drifter as those are only available for the first 2 years of the Drifter, so they are quite unique.
Guess it doesn't matter if I hijack he thread at this point, so I'll ask... Any idea why and how it was determined which '99's got the matte silver engine parts? U.S./Canada? There were so few made overall just wondering if there is any magic to figuring out the diff.
Part of me asks because though the buyer trail on mine indicates it's always been in Canada, is there any way of knowing for sure it was intended to be a CDN model?
Donkey, I don't know about the Canadian / American thing (Except that the U.S. didn't get any 1999 Drifter 800's (only 1500's), while Canada did. Both got the 800 for the 2000 model year), but all the '99's and '00's had the black painted engine parts with the matte silver parts. They did this, along with all of the other blackout parts, to try and really capture the 1940's Indian look, but customers in the showrooms wanted chromed out bikes, so in 2001 Ma Kawi gave them what they wanted. Now the blackout bikes are highly prized by some. As for the differences, the 1999 & 2000 left lower side engine cover was different from the 2001 cover (the cover down by the floorboard and shifter). The 1999 & 2000 lower left cover was sort of a half cover, and a 2 year only part. Starting in 2001 and through the rest of the model run, all the lower left engine covers were a full cover, and they were chromed. This is my 2001, so you can see the difference between yours and mine. ***EDITED***
(Click to enlarge)
(https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi83.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj319%2Fpcarrell%2FDrifter%2F7-25-145.jpg&hash=2a425a01f2b4db0d2f80dbfdf14e21a0d2e02a89) (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/pcarrell/media/Drifter/7-25-145.jpg.html)
Cool... That helps explain why my tranny case is black, but now if you had to guess, knowing what you know, how did our Australian friend above get a silver matte tranny case?
Experimental runs? It was still '99 for both his and mine, seems confusing that some tranny cases were different than others in the first year!
(For what it's worth, I'm perfectly fine with black... I'm just trying to be sure that this is the way it came, hasn't been changed, whether it's a CDN or US bike, and natural curiosity on the matte silver!)
Never really compared the left side either... Wow. Yours is way more what I'm used to on a 1500... I didn't even realize this is what I have! I'm so used to taking pics from the high side (and the bike still so new to me) I never realized it!
Sorry the pic is upside down and backwards... Bike is tight in the garage and I was leaned over it and the phone keeps flipping the pic when I post it!
Well that's cool. I just did a Google image search and Bing image search and didn't find one with a black primary case. I had no idea. Seems clear to me mine isn't painted but I like to know stuff like this for sure.
The color might have something to do with the final shipping destination, but more likely either yours has been painted, or maybe as the line began to switch over to the 2000 model a change was made. Do you know the assembly number of your bike? Was it an early, or late one off the line? That would maybe answer the question. Maybe some of our other members could help us out with those numbers to figure out what constitutes later in the model run.
I read a lot of the info and posts about the numbers and remember that they may be code and not necessarily sequential, disappointingly by design, so that Kawi could keep their numbers secret. I also remember reading the thread about decoding VIN's, but most of the info started after '00... otherwise I'd love to know if the sequence means anything.
Oh, and I remember seeing that there were only 600 CDN Drifter 1500's, but my number is 003447, which tells me they are either not sequential or there is an extra number in there and nobody knows which one or what it means. If those last 6 numbers means anything to anyone I'd love to hear it!
Now, I'm no expert by any means but I'm pretty analytical... and in this pic I see a very thick coating, much too thick to be paint or powder. The way it's chipping tells me it's original... there is no leading paint edge or silver matte underneath. No layers. The oil capcity sticker is too straight, too naturally aged to have been removed and replaced. It was not taped or painted/powdered around.
Just my thoughts... others very welcome! Sorry, we're in the middle of a tornado watch so the lighting is terrible.
What's funniest, PC, is that all this is because it stood out to me where you said "I'd hang on to all of the matte silver motor pieces from the Drifter as those are only available for the first 2 years of the Drifter, so they are quite unique"...
So did you add the 710 to top up the bike?
Quote from: CDNRatMan on June 10, 2015, 19:46:39 PM
So did you add the 710 to top up the bike?
I meant to but I only have 705 and 715 handy. If I mix them together, will that work?
I am not a 700 specialist you would have to ask GB if tat works he is a smart lad and will figure it out for you.......
Quote from: pcarrell on June 10, 2015, 14:21:25 PM
Donkey, I don't know about the Canadian / American thing (Except that the U.S. didn't get any 1999 Drifter 800's (only 1500's), while Canada did. Both got the 800 for the 2000 model year), but all the '99's and '00's had the black painted engine parts with the matte silver parts. They did this, along with all of the other blackout parts, to try and really capture the 1940's Indian look, but customers in the showrooms wanted chromed out bikes, so in 2001 Ma Kawi gave them what they wanted. Now the blackout bikes are highly prized by some. As for the differences, the 1999 left lower side engine cover was different from the 2000 cover as well (the cover down by the floorboard and shifter). The 1999 lower left cover was sort of a half cover, and a 1 year only part, and the 2000 cover was like the 2001+ cover, only it was also matte silver, making it a 1 year only part as well. Starting in 2001 and through the rest of the model run, all the lower left engine covers were like the 2000 cover except they were chromed. This is my 2001, so you can see the difference between yours and mine.
(Click to enlarge)
(https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi83.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj319%2Fpcarrell%2FDrifter%2F7-25-145.jpg&hash=2a425a01f2b4db0d2f80dbfdf14e21a0d2e02a89) (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/pcarrell/media/Drifter/7-25-145.jpg.html)
The left engine cover on my 00 is just like the 99 cover, and is matte silver. also the shop manual shows that they are the same.
I to have never seen nor heard about any covers being painted black. Is the right side cover the same?
Quote from: Drifter1500 on June 11, 2015, 05:20:22 AM
The left engine cover on my 00 is just like the 99 cover, and is matte silver. also the shop manual shows that they are the same.
I to have never seen nor heard about any covers being painted black. Is the right side cover the same?
Yes, the right side cover is black too... That's actually the one with the oil cap in the pic above. The only matte silver I have is the valve covers...
Quote from: Drifter1500 on June 11, 2015, 05:20:22 AM
The left engine cover on my 00 is just like the 99 cover, and is matte silver. also the shop manual shows that they are the same.
You know what? I stand corrected! I was basing what I said off of a friends 2000 Drifter, but I asked him about it and he said that he took a 2001 part and stripped it and had it repainted, so the part I thought was stock, wasn't. Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead! ***Next time, I'll do more homework!***
Quote from: pcarrell on June 11, 2015, 08:11:45 AM
...so the part I thought was stock, wasn't.
And that's exactly what I'm trying to figure out!! I don't want to think I have some kind of special, early run, one of a kind part or bike if I don't, and even though there really won't be any more value to it it is, there would be some cool factor there!
There's just nothing about it that tells me it was painted. The edges of the covers are curved and there is no visible paint line... No tool marks on any of the fasteners to show it was taken off. That oil sticker... But that's not to say it wasn't replaced. Now it's a mission.
I have a Beretta that turned out to be like that... There was a small run (1000 I believe) of Berettas that were released before the real run started in '88 and turns out I had one of them. According to Car and Driver, these 1000 cars had a multitude of small, square, hard to use radio buttons, a skinny cheap feeling steering wheel and other small indicators... Yep, had them all. And inside the door panel the frame was stamped NOV 1986 and was registered as an '87, way earlier than the intended release.
Quote from: Donkey on June 11, 2015, 06:55:18 AM
Yes, the right side cover is black too... That's actually the one with the oil cap in the pic above. The only matte silver I have is the valve covers...
Hmmm, that's strange, because all of the pics I see online show the lower covers on both sides to be matte silver. The original TV ad shows silver painted parts, and I'm guessing that the bike used in this ad is an early one since they're introducing the bike for the first time ( http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/driftervideo.html ). Even the original Super Chief, the bike that inspired Ma Kawi to make the Drifter, had silver engine lowers ( http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/DrifterGallery/SuperChief/ ). I'd agree that yours looks factory though.
I thought the 1999 model bikes came with a production # plate or certificate or something. Seems to me I saw something like an engraved plate across the risers on an early bike, but maybe that was owner added? Ma Kawi also confirmed that Canada got a total (all years included) of about 600 Drifters for each cc group ( http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?topic=18150.0 ).
Yes PC, I also watched the launch video and saw the promo pictures... I've even read reviews (most recently a Canadian Biker magazine article published Jan 2, 1999)...
http://canadamotoguide.com/1999/01/02/test-ride-kawasaki-vn1500-j1-drifter/
...and haven't yet found a picture of a stock bike with black covers. Unfortunately it seems my risers may have been replaced so there's nothing I can find there.
I'll take better pictures of both engine sides in good light to see if any of the experts can pick out something that says "yup, painted"...
It's all great reading though. Can't say I'm sorry for all the reading I'm doing as I research, it's a fun bike to learn about!
Quote from: CDNRatMan on June 10, 2015, 22:01:00 PM
I am not a 700 specialist you would have to ask GB if tat works he is a smart lad and will figure it out for you.......
I think you northern boys lost me on this one.... ???
My guess is that what you have was indeed painted by a PO. If they did a really nice job, took the covers off, had them bead blasted and a good, thick, coat of powder put on there, wouldn't you expect to see the thick layer of black like you have, if/when it starts to chip like you have by your oil fill??
I'm not saying for sure it's NOT factory - Just because no one has seen it before, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Another option that just came to me - I have no idea, but was there an earlier 1500 vulcan in the family that had black covers from factory?? Perhaps a PO switched them out b/c he wanted black?? Just thinking out loud....
Quote
Quote from: CDNRatMan on 10 June 2015, 23:01:00
I am not a 700 specialist you would have to ask GB if tat works he is a smart lad and will figure it out for you.......
I think you northern boys lost me on this one.... ???
Please do not let me down with my fellow Canadian, here is me telling him you are an expert on 710, and next to you the smartest person on that subject is Troll, mind you PC is pretty up on 710 too.
Listen, if you're going to try mixing 705 and 715 to get 710, it can be done, but it's tricky! You have to get exactly the same of each in a perfect mix or you can end up with 709 or, worse yet, 711. 709 is pretty thick stuff, but the engine will run on it. 711 on the other hand is too thin and you won't build up the necessary pressure in the bearings and could sieze the engine!
Because of this, I always recommend professionally mixed 710.
(https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi83.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj319%2Fpcarrell%2FAvitars%2Fvery_first_smiley1.gif&hash=64aa5e4ee3527b205de5d22bebac0254164a363e) (http://s83.photobucket.com/user/pcarrell/media/Avitars/very_first_smiley1.gif.html)
Quote from: greenbarn on June 11, 2015, 17:20:27 PM
I think you northern boys lost me on this one.... ???
Better?
Quote from: greenbarn on June 11, 2015, 17:27:31 PM
My guess is that what you have was indeed painted by a PO. If they did a really nice job, took the covers off, had them bead blasted and a good, thick, coat of powder put on there, wouldn't you expect to see the thick layer of black like you have, if/when it starts to chip like you have by your oil fill??
I'm not saying for sure it's NOT factory - Just because no one has seen it before, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Another option that just came to me - I have no idea, but was there an earlier 1500 vulcan in the family that had black covers from factory?? Perhaps a PO switched them out b/c he wanted black?? Just thinking out loud....
Absolutley nothing is ruled out yet. Until I find evidence that the factory never produced even a single bike with black engine covers, nothing is possible... what's the expression? Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever left, however improbable, has to be true.
I thought of the "replacement" theory too... can't even rule that out. I'm just thinking of probabilities. The bikes are just not rare enough or expensive enough to invest the time, effort and labour to have a job THIS perfect if it was painted. Switching out the covers? I suppose... if you REALLY wanted black that bad.
Here in Ontario when you buy a vehicle, you get an owner history report. I have the names of all four previous owners. I could make a Sunday project out of this one day!
Quote from: greenbarn on June 11, 2015, 17:27:31 PM
My guess is that what you have was indeed painted by a PO. If they did a really nice job, took the covers off, had them bead blasted and a good, thick, coat of powder put on there, wouldn't you expect to see the thick layer of black like you have, if/when it starts to chip like you have by your oil fill??
I'm not saying for sure it's NOT factory - Just because no one has seen it before, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Another option that just came to me - I have no idea, but was there an earlier 1500 vulcan in the family that had black covers from factory?? Perhaps a PO switched them out b/c he wanted black?? Just thinking out loud....
On second thought, that doesn't answer the oil capacity sticker question though... no way that was taken off and put back on. I can't imagine someone sourcing a new one just to replace it either, but again, NOTHING is impossible yet!
Oh yeah, I forgot the you live way up north there by Ratman. Your riding season is coming up, isn't it?
I know Ratman's season is on July 28th from 3:15pm to 3:30pm, and then it's back to winter storage. Shoot, 49's season is already over by the time he get's it out of the garage.
So are you any better off the Ratman? ;)
Quote from: pcarrell on June 11, 2015, 20:40:17 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot the you live way up north there by Ratman. Your riding season is coming up, isn't it?
I know Ratman's season is on July 28th from 3:15pm to 3:30pm, and then it's back to winter storage. Shoot, 49's season is already over by the time he get's it out of the garage.
So are you any better off the Ratman? ;)
Absolutely. I get at least 12 minutes more riding season than he does if it's the earth's third rotation after Venus has aligned with Saturn's 4th moon. On leap year.
Quote from: pcarrell on June 11, 2015, 20:40:17 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot the you live way up north there by Ratman. Your riding season is coming up, isn't it?
I know Ratman's season is on July 28th from 3:15pm to 3:30pm, and then it's back to winter storage. Shoot, 49's season is already over by the time he get's it out of the garage.
So are you any better off the Ratman? ;)
Actually, after the winter Boston had and the Spring Texas has had so far, along with a dozen other states I can't remember right now, I don't think I'll ever complain about weather again!
PC just for your edification on Canadian geography Mr. Donkey lives about, 360.2 kms south east of me, or in your language it is 223.82402 miles south east of me, and so that is like 4 hours and 36 mins. if you travel on the TC (TransCanada Highway) and do the speed limit.
His igloo is one of the newer ones and has a solar panel on the roof. His dog sled team is also younger then mine
May 21, 2015:
(love that sexy black engine case!) ;D
Maybe put one of these in it. :o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei9_1sqVJqM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei9_1sqVJqM)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDDOweXvlKc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDDOweXvlKc)
:o wow now those would move that Drifter
Donkey just imagine how sharp that Drifter would look with a Drifter Shifter on it........
And put what over it? A black cover, or a matte silver cover?