1983 Yamaha Venture trunk build for 1500 Nomad

[Work4crown]

We got the side brackets cut and bent today. Now to sand the edges and fit it up to the bike to see how we did.

[Bud2rat]

That's some awesome work going on there. Waiting on some final pictures.

[Work4crown]

I can't work very quickly on this project as I'm working 2 jobs and so I just chip away a little when I can.

Recently I was able to fit up the side brackets.


I don't have the top plate cut or welded yet so I just kind of fit things in place to get a little idea of how we're doing.





I really like the quick release levers. I feel like they are rock solid and easy to adjust. More testing on that when I have the assembly finished of course.


I also thought it might be neat to try fitting some common things in the trunk to see how they fit. I wasn't able to find any pics on the web of a loaded Venture trunk and I've been wondering how much stuff it could hold. Here's what I put in the box: Lunch pail, Thick hooded sweatshirt, half helmet in helmet bag, rain pants, baseball hat and motorcycle gloves.



And here is how it fits best in there:


If I'm going to add gas struts I'm going to have to avoid putting stuff in the corners.

[Work4crown]

My 6 year old Samuel wanted to help the other day. I let him use the socket wrench to put the bracket on.



I got the gas struts installed on the trunk. I think I would like to try using a little longer strut with a higher pressure. So I might try some different struts at some point.


I got the bracket welded as well.


Now the bracket is out for black powder coating and should be done by the end of the week.

[radco]

Very nice job of the Rack! Hope your paying your Little helper a lot :) Cool seeing your son helping :)

[Bud2rat]

Looking good .

[Work4crown]

I think it came out real good - very happy.

[Chuck A.]

Bet us could sell a few of those here...............

[Loafer]

Your project is going nicely!

[Work4crown]

So I got the brackets and quick release stuff all mounted to the bike. I'm happy with the result.

Then I mounted the trunk box on the rack and noticed 2 things:
1. The trunk box mounts kind of loosely to the rack which will cause rattling and noises when solo riding.
2. The trunk box flexes a little when I push on the passenger back rest pad due to the holes, cracks and thin plastic in the bottom of the trunk.

So it is finally time for me to fix up the bottom half of my trunk box. It has 2 small holes and a number of cracks (red).



In the next image you can see the yellow high lited areas where the chrome bars make contact with the trunk and the red lines depict the damage.


I've been thinking about how I should repair this. I think if I just glue the cracks back together it will just crack again later. I would like to improve the original design by adding some strength if possible.

I think the problem is the plastic on the bottom is too thin. There are some metal brackets (yellow) that are supposed to distribute the load but they obviously are not enough.





I'm thinking that I will fill in the 2 holes somehow and glue the cracks back together. Maybe I'll add some sheet plastic to thicken the bottom up.

But I was also thinking of removing the two lower steel brackets and replacing them with a steel sheet (Red) and a bracket (blue) that could serve to create a solid bottom surface as well as strain relieve the plastic.



I thought it might be smart to add some spacers and gain two more mounting holes as well to further distribute the stress.

I did see that one guy added some foam pads to the bottom of his Venture trunk. That is a good idea to distribute the force as much as possible.



He also added something to the chrome mounting rack that must reduce the looseness in the mounting this has. If you look closely at this photo you can see some kind of clear plastic wrapped around the chrome bars. I think that is a good idea too.

[Work4crown]

I got a little further on my little trunk project.

I patched up the bottom of the trunk. First I used a soldering iron to melt 'stitches' across the cracks. The I added some Oatey ABS cement over the cracks. I also cut out some patches from some flat ABS I had so cover the two holes. I used ABS cement to attach them. After I took this photo I added a thick layer of ABS cement over the whole bottom surface of the trunk (on the inside).



Next I made 2 steel parts to strain relieve the bottom of the box. I used spacers to attach them instead of bends like I originally thought.

You can't see it in this photo but I have drilled a bunch of holes in the big plate that match up with the holes already in the stock trunk box. I will add spacers and rubber washers to tie the steel plate and the bottom of the trunk together.



Then I filled in the cracks and holes on the bottom with Bondo. Since the one side was missing the plastic foot I just mounded up the Bondo to make a foot.



Then I painted all the metal parts black.



Tonight I'm going to meet with a neighbor who paints to see if he can paint the trunk to match my bike.

[Work4crown]

Well, I finally got the trunk project done and on the bike in time for Americade.



















Here is a video showing the trunk being opened so you can see the lift struts and the automatic trunk light.

[Ridefree]

Very impressive work you've done . Enjoy many miles !!

[JD Hog]

Looks great

[Loafer]

Todd, the bike looks awesome and the trunk came along quite nicely.
Have a great time at Americade!