Not a Teaser! 1983 VF750F resto project

[Sebspeed]

***I apologize, some of the pics are really big, please give it a minute to load entirely!***

Well, I couldn't hold back from posting any longer once I had the powdercoated parts in my hand. Now I can't help but let you guys in on the rest of the story!

So here it is, from the very beginning(yes, it's a saga!)

This poor old bike that currently sits (mostly) in boxes was bought new in 1983 in New Hampshire, and was ridden on the street and then on one track day at NHIS(Loudon). The owner went down because of a visor tear-off that was thrown on the track, and after that, the guy put 'her' in a corner of a barn. That was in 1984, after accumulating only 2,997 miles.


Many years later(about 15!), said original owner sold the bike(to avoid giving it up during a divorce), to his neighbor, who is an ex-co-worker of mine. About 2 years after that, I bought my 700, and when I rode it to work for the first time, this guy started going nuts over how nice it was, and told me the story I just told you. Except he added that he was not sure if he wanted to keep it, because of the expense of a new clutch master cylinder...

Sooo... it became mine for the lovely sum of $300. I had all kinds of ideas at the time, but no garage, tools, or mechanical/working knowledge to speak of back then, so it sat around for a couple years, and I started disassembling it when I got my garage. Along the way, I came down with a terrible case of MBD(multiple bike disorder) and the bike took a back seat to "more important things" like my F4i and VTEC vfr, and since then have decided to restore it.

Here are the Polaroids that I saw before picking the bike up:



The tank was pretty banged up, so I got a better one, and the frame was a little tweaked at the rear, which I've fixed. There were also two spots on the frame where water had gotten in(the guy I bought it from kept it outside for one winter), when the water froze, it expanded the tubes. I heated them up and hammered them flat, then ground them to make them nice. The motor ran 5 years ago from a beer bottle full of gas, and when I drained the fluids to pull the motor a while back, everything was clean.

Finally getting back into the project, I got the bike stripped down completely.




Riding other bikes and life in general kept me away from it again until early this year, when I started fitting bodywork to it (going to adapt VF1000F side panels), and I noticed something was wrong here.

Rough idea of the 1kF panels:


I knew the rear section had been repaired, but didn't realize it was this far off until I actually tried to bolt the tail on. It was pretty twisted! I took measurements on this frame and my good one, and determined that the damage was isolated at the very end of the frame, so, I decided it was time to "say hello to my little friend"!

A little zip here, and a little zag there - and viola! No more damage!(depending on how you look at it)







I also took the liberty of chopping off the square-shaped rear rail mounts while I was at it, I thought that would be a nice touch to clean up the bike, and being they only hold the helmet lock and huge stock signals anyway(2 things I will NOT be using), in the trash they went! Thank you Mr. Portable Bandsaw, hehe.

And yes, I cut up a good frame for the sake of having a numbers-matching bike that wasn't a true restoration anyway... Call me crazy or keep reading!

Next up: weld it back together! Hiho, off to work I go, on a cold Saturday morning. Still saving up for my own TIG welder... with the bike habit, it's not going so well.



After some creative grinding:


Which leads us to...

powdercoat!

Frame, swingarm, and VF1000R upper triple were done in Satin Black:



I'm upgrading to CBR F2 wheels, and had them coated in mirror white.

I have another clean rear wheel that's black and had the lips polished, I'll throw that on later and see how it looks in there.

Much more to come!!

[Sebspeed]

No one cares? Or are the pics just taking too long to load?

[alex5160]

Pics load fine. Sure is a lot of work. Looking forward to seeing the completed project. I actually contacted you last year asking if you would sell. I finally found mine in November and doing some mods this winter. Keep updating with your progress...

[drewl]

coolio. Show us the whole thing when you're done.

[Sebspeed]

Alex, I remember! Looks like you found a beauty, congratulations!! How many miles on her?

Drewl, you're an instant gratification type, aren't cha? lol.

[Sebspeed]

Here's some shots of the motor. It's going to get a scrubbing and a nice new coat of gloss black paint. I'm also going to be polishing the valve covers, stator cover, and the bare circle on the clutch cover. Not the parts that are on there now, I have spares that are close to perfect.





It's quite possible that this is only the second oil filter ever installed...


Only 2,997 miles on this lump, and it shows! Nice clean cams, only showing a teensy bit of wear:





I decided to install VF1000R forks on the bike. I have them all torn down at the moment, they need a very thorough cleaning! They are getting RaceTech gold valve emulators, which requires removal of the TRAC anti-dive system, and Sonic springs. I'll also be welding shut the holes that line up with the air crossover under the upper triple. This will let me toss the crossover part and allow me to play with the height of the tubes in the forks. Lots of grease and grime removal, then a coat of black paint!


I can't really call this fluid, but this is the oily/goopy/grungy/yuck stuff that came out of the forks...


Another neat item on the mod list - I was inspired by this pic I found on the web to go on a hunt for a clear automotive head light to use, and well, I found out it's the same unit used in early '90s Chevy S-10s, H60-something or other.


More to come.

[GenLightening]

Now would be a great time to do the oil line mod to the cams.

[Puma Cat]

Great thread, Seb....keep up the good work and keep us posted!

[Sebspeed]

Originally Posted by GenLightening

Now would be a great time to do the oil line mod to the cams.

And that's exactly what I'm going to do! I'll be ordering bulk stainless -3 & -4 line and fittings to do the clutch and three brake lines, and the main gallery oil mod here soon.

Busy, busy!!

[rngdng]

Looking good. Keep us posted.


Lane

[XS650RR]

Great project .. keep us up to speed. Man I love the headlight mod

[WhiteKnight]

Looks like it is coming along great. Wish I had the time and patience to do something like that.

[JamieDaugherty]

I've had to cut and weld tailsections before. I wish I could say that my weld joints looked as good as yours! Nice work.

[Sebspeed]

Originally Posted by JamieDaugherty

I've had to cut and weld tailsections before. I wish I could say that my weld joints looked as good as yours! Nice work.

Thanks, & by the way, I'm going to need the hub machined soon! New wheel bearings & seals are on their way... I want to have this thing rolling around in a few weeks.


EDIT: I bolted the tail cowl onto the frame to tack weld it, then adjusted the cut section for alignment. That way I was guaranteed a straight and true fit.

[danimal42]

dude, you are living the dream! keep posting pics pics and more pics.

[squirrelman]

Obsession??

[Sebspeed]

Originally Posted by squirrelman

Obsession??

And I though only my mother called me by my middle name...

[Sebspeed]

Quick update, wheel bearings are in, as well as the new steering stem bearings. Sonic Springs are ordered. RaceTech Emulators are being ordered tomorrow. Once the hub is machined, this will quickly become - a rolling chassis... heh!

Gotta do a little clean up of the powdercoat tomorrow, they only taped off the left side rotor posts on the front wheel, and didn't tape off the mounts under the swingarm for the suspension linkages.

[fabinator]

I must know more about that headlight.

Nice welding on the tail too, I did some of that on my Suzuki. The frame is made from the good sections of three completely different bikes... the welds were done in the dark, and are very ugly.