'83-'00 XV500 and XV535 Virago V-Twin with Mikuni BDS34
This is the middleweight V-Twin of it's time for Yamaha. When it first came out in '83 it was not yet called a Virago but motor and carb wise it was very similar. It has a pair of BDS34 carbs that are total downdraft and was used in a set of four on V-Max (BDS35) and Ventures. They are complicated little carbs and have many pitfalls. They also have the same issues with carb kits not having all the parts you need or just horrible overall. They have special fuel passage plugs (two per carb), jet block gaskets, and choke body gaskets that will put you in the poorhouse if your not prepaired. They have a janky way of removing the float seat that can destroy the carb if you do it wrong, and then anchoring the seats can be an issue too. If these bad boys leak you can also destroy an engine with hydraulic lockup. These carbs are not for the faint of heart. They can definitly be made into a rock solid set of carbs if done properly and give you many fun times to remember. If you give them to someone to rebuild and they don't immediatly know what they are from, walk away fast! I love rebuilding these and take pride in every set I rebuild.
Note: Starting in '74 Yamaha started year coding bikes in the last letter used in the name. You may see this code on your bikes paperwork or in a parts list or catalog. I leave this off as it is redundant if you are showing the year anyway. There is a chart below to find your year code.
Below is a '90-'00
XV535 Virago Mikuni BDS35 carb. These came in one variation for the
XV500 and two more 49 states variations and two California
variations that all physically interchange. You have to ID the
carbs, but there is a catch. If someone replaced the choke valve it
could have the wrong ID number. So, you also want to do the
detective work needed to determine it is actually correct.
'83 XV500----------------------------------------------------22U
'87-'89 XV535 Virago------------------------------------2GV
'87-'89 XV535
Virago-------------------------------------2JU California
'90-'00 XV535 Virago------------------------------------3JC
10
'90-'00 XV535
Virago-------------------------------------3JC 00 California
Yamaha Year Codes
| A- | 1974 |
| B- | 1975 |
| C- | 1976 |
| D- | 1977 |
| E- | 1978 |
| F- | 1979 |
| G- | 1980 |
| H- | 1981 |
| J- | 1982 |
| K- | 1983 |
| L- | 1984 |
| N- | 1985 |
| S- | 1986 |
| T- | 1987 |
| U- | 1988 |
| W- | 1989 |
| A- | 1990 |
| B- | 1991 |
| D- | 1992 |
| E- | 1993 |
| F- | 1994 |
| G- | 1995 |
| H- | 1996 |
| J- | 1997 |
| K- | 1998 |
| L- | 1999 |
| M- | 2000 |
| N- | 2001 |
| P- | 2002 |
| R- | 2003 |
| S- | 2004 |
| T- | 2005 |
| V- | 2006 |
| W- | 2007 |
| X- | 2008 |
| Y- | 2009 |
| Z- | 2010 |
| A- | 2011 |
| B- | 2012 |
| D- | 2013 |
| E- | 2014 |
| F- | 2015 |
| G- | 2016 |
| H- | 2017 |
| J- | 2018 |
| K- | 2019 |
| L- | 2020 |
| M- | 2021 |
| N- | 2022 |
| P- | 2023 |
