Gold Valve Install
 

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3310/dsc00018xl.jpg

Another lesson learnt! Don't assume previous owner had any brains!
I decided to rebuild the front forks as they were needing rebushing, and I had been wanting to install the racetech valves. Got everything apart and found this valve installed already. Also found that each fork had a different shim stack configuration, but the biggest surprise was that I found 2x13mm shims against the valve! No wonder I have always had nose dive under braking and a juddering ride on the front!
Had a quick road test, huge improvement, why didn't I do this before! :)

Is this a stock valve? It is similiar to the racetech, but is not as high, so there is no room to drill a relief hole as per the racetech instructions. From looking around, I am thinking it is not stock...

Well an in focus pic would make it easier to figure out what it is.... ;)

Yeah, sorry about that, phone pic as my teenage son has permanently 'borrowed' my digital camera...
From what I understand, the stock valves have holes for ports, but I wasn't sure. I was thinking that they might be useful, particularly if they had a correctly installed shim stack.

It's not stock VTR that I can tell you... Dunno from where it comes though...

Thanks for that Tweety.
It had a shim stack sort of like a racetech setup, with the stepped shims, just badly done.

I think you already have a Gold Valve in there....it's just not so gold anymore. Over time, they oxidize and turn different colors. Here's a pic of some valves for ya'.

BTW, if you don't have a compression bleed drilled then YOU MUST DRILL ONE! There IS room, especially if it's really a GV. I think the installer figured they would use cheap Showa mentality and reinstall the bleed shim (the 13mm one) instead of finding a #60 drill bit. People like that annoy me....

Looks like I now have some used gold valves for sale. I like to have all parts available before I teardown to keep the down time minimised, so I fitted the new ones as my local bike shop won't take back special orders.
They must be an older design though, as the height (or thickness) is definitely less than the new ones. It would be a squeeze to get a relief hole in the available space.

So, are the ports the same as the new ones? I'm not sure how many iterations RT has made. I know I installed mine way back around '99 or '00 and I had no problem drilling the bleed, and there was plenty of room. There's a good chance these were designed for a different bike, one that has a compression adjuster, thus no bleed needed. JD does a lot of GV installs. Maybe he can roger up on this.

Yes ports are visually the same, as is the general appearance. Thickness appears to be the only difference.