1996 XV750 Mystery Gold

[Jake]

A recent discussion with one of our members brought into question as to whether my 1996 XV750 came with Gold trim.

The headlight rim and turn signal rims were gold, the the stator cover on mine was also gold as well as the right side case was gold as was the cam heat shield ( not the cam cover ).

Strangely enough, my pods were gold. I have only one, the other was replaced with a chrome one Both had faded and been painted and both were painted black. One of these days, I'll sit down with a can of lacquer thinner and a rag to remove the black paint from the gold pod and video the process.

The bike was dropped at some point before I acquired it and parts were replaced, most notably the speedo and tach. The mileage does not reflect the actual miles due to that.

Parts from an earlier Virago put on my '96 ? I don't think so. The bike sat for a couple of years before the guy I bought it from, rescued it ( I bought it in 2006 ). Severely rusted exhaust and gold faded to the point of near nonexistence.

You guys be the judge, did it come with gold which I replaced most of with chrome, or did it come from the factory with all chrome trim as other '96 750s did ?

In the following images, I had used lacquer thinner to remove some of the paint on a few areas. The headlight rim had been painted black and then gold again, so two layers removed the get to the original gold.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge

[Jake]

I will concede one thing, the gold bits were painted or powder coated, rather than plated. I just partially stripped both of my original pods. I assumed that the left one was the only one that was gold colored and not the right, due to the fact the bike was damaged at some point.

I started with a small place on the right pod and found that under the black paint was a dull metal color, probably bare steel, no base plating for chrome. Paint will not stick to chrome, so it either has to be aggressively scratched or the chrome has to be removed.

I moved on to the left pod and used more paint stripper and unfortunately, the stripper removed some of the gold, but still the dull metal underneath. I did more stripping, but didn't leave the stripper on as long, and found that the bottom of the pod has more gold and the top that was exposed to the elements was all gone.

I went back the the right pod and found the same thing.

I may as well strip both pods now and repaint them black. One more thing, I took off the grill on the left pod and there is gold beneath it, except for an area in the center. Neither can be restored without the gold paint Yamaha used.

[gregkw1]

750s never came in gold....84,85, 1000s were gold...86,87, & 88 were gold and then they discontinued it

[Jake]

I will update this with more pics, and hopefully some updated info.

I amaze myself at times, with the stuff I keep, I have pay stubs from 1971.

I found the transfer docs, from the guy I bought it from, I have a call out to him to see if he can reach out to the person he bought it from.

[Jake]

Well, no love on the phone call.

The pods and probably the clutch and stator cover were stripped of chrome and apparently powder coated, not lacquer painted. The headlight rim and turn signal rims were gold and probably added at the same time as the gold pods, stator and clutch covers.

Someone, the OP or the dealer, made a one of a kind 750, it's too bad the bike sat exposed to the elements and destroyed the gold, she must have been a beauty.

This bike could have been have been customized by the dealer as a display model in hopes of generating additional income for gold upgrades, but something I probably never know without tracking down the complete history, and frankly, it's not worth it.

So here's some pics I took. of the pods, once I stripped the black paint. Click images for full size viewing.

[Flyingdog]

Wow Jake...your going to give yerself an aneurysm with this obsession.

[Jake]

Naw, I have not been that obsessed with it, after all I started this thread in 2012.

No answers, just speculation. It would be nice to restore it to that condition, and that's why I was always hesitant to mount my harley tank. I never did anything yet, that wasn't reversible. The split tank will require some alteration of the frame, such as the front tank lugs and horn mounts.

[Flyingdog]

IC ...somethin like this

[Jake]

Yep, I've had the tanks for several years. I've dry fitted them and found to do it right, I have to take some things off of the frame.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=36993

viewtopic.php?t=47646&p=400656&sid=5ddcf5a0f6a2d11a0b3dee9f60a88dcb#p400656

viewtopic.php?t=47646&p=400656&sid=5ddcf5a0f6a2d11a0b3dee9f60a88dcb#p400656

[gregkw1]

I guarantee you whoever gold tinted those pods used probably Nikolas gold tinted lacquer the musicians use it to tone down their brass instruments.... it's probably what the original owner or one of the owners before you did.. I have that gold lacquer and I tried it on a couple of pieces and it actually comes out pretty good but if you lay it on too thick or use too many coats it will dull down the Chrome underneath it and look more flat than glossy