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This will be a bit long!

Bought my '85 Voyager about three months ago but not much chance to work on it or ride much since. I owned an '83 Voyager with a sidecar about 20 years ago. Love these bikes, so just had to buy this '85 when it came up on eBay. They posted a great video of the bike showing it's flaws and starting/running it. Got it from a dealer in Teas and the previous owner had put in the wrong oil, so the clutch slips. I already did an oil change and it sure helped, but still slips for a split-second if I roll on the throttle in higher gears. I already have a new clutch for it, just no time to put it in. Too cold outside to work under my carport. I did take it for 40 mile ride a couple of weeks ago. Runs just lie new. Has 45,333 miles on it. Cosmetically some of the clear coat is flaking along the edges on the trunk and bags, but not on the fairing. I still have my two helmets that came with my '83 and they have the speakers/mics in them, but this '85 bike doesn't have a working system in it. I see I lost out on a free system recently! DAMN!





Anyway, I am dedicated to keeping whats left of these Voyagers on the road instead of on parts lists on eBay. new parts for Voyagers, as well as KZ's, are almost impossible to find anymore. Water pumps seem to be the worst issue as far as replacement. Especially the seals, like the ceramic mechanical seal, and the plastic gear. Well there may be a solution. With my sidecar I had intercepted the upper and lower radiator hoses with tee's and ran lines over to the hack for the heater in it. I had quick-disconnects to remove the car and a valve to control flow. I also had a really small inline-axial pump to assure water flow to the heater. A side benefit of this arrangementwas that it also prevented idling/slow traffic overheating. If I had no passenger and the valve was wide open it kept the bike so cool that the fan never would come on. If I shut off the valve, it was back to higher temps with the fan cycling in and out as usual. Most of my driving was in So. Cal. at the time with some stop-n-go traffic on the freeways.

Currently I am working on a system to mount a remote electric water pump (automotive speed supplier item) behind the right-hand lower fairing. The upper radiator hose will be diverted over to the pump and this pump will eliminate the need for the stock mechanical pump. Still working out the placement of the thermostat and bypass line. These electric pumps pass more water than the stock ones. They are intended for use with automotive racing applications. based on my experience with my old '83 I feel confident that this external pump system will easily replace the stock pump and even improve cooling, on the Voyager at least.

Another small addition which helps prevent overheating at slow speeds is to wrap the exhaust pipes with header heat wrap. Just a single overlap pattern with hose clamps at the top, bottom and one or two in the middle to keep it in place stops the overheating at idle. haven't had a hot enough day around here to test it under hellish conditions, but on an 88 degree day it kept the temps down on this '85 to just four bars instead of six and seven bars, and the fan never cycled on after 1/2 hour of idling. This tape forces the major heat to kee on flowing past the tape until it is under the bike, away from the radiator. It should also help prolong the life of the fan and hoses, too.

I have other projects in the works for the Voyager, too, like a rear end with a 2.833 ratio rather than the stock 3.40 ratio. This will drop rpms from 4000 at 70mph to just 3333. It's a graft of an '84 Gold Wing final drive/rear wheel to the Voyager's swing arm and driveshaft. It will be a plug-n-play assembly, using the Voyager's brake caliper.

Fuel pumps for Voyagers are getting expensive even for used ones. There are many new versions out there from automotive suppliers that cost less than $100 and require very little adaption to fit in where the stock one comes out. Also, have you Voyager owners ever tried to find a good working pressure regulator for under $130? I'm trying to develop one that will be slightly adjustable to fine tune the injection system on the Voyagers.

The last project that I have on my list for the Voyager is a stand-alone distributor system to replace the integrated stock system. I hate the double-ended coils used on most bikes, so a good CDI distributor system is called for.

A far distant project is to adapt an aftermarket injector driver, like from Edelbrock, to our systems. Some of them have enough adjustability to be useable.

I am also looking for bad parts! Right now I am looking for bad, non-working fuel pressure regulators as well as the "switch" (valve) that controls the crankcase vapors/fuel tank venting into the intake manifold. I want to gather a couple of each to cut apart and figure out what it will take to make replacements, or possibly repair them. I would pay for shipping if anybody has any they would be willing to part with.

OK, that's me and my Voyager projects. I hope to have the rear end and water pump projects working this next spring.

Hi Trike welcome to the forum. It is great to have you aboard.

....Welcome to THIS forum trike builder ! I hav'nt been here long either ,you may have just found yourself a home,as these folks live and breathe all things 1300 !..............tony