looking at buying 86 vf500!

Hey there! New here, If I posted in the wrong place feel free to move. I am going to look at a 86 vf500 around 20k on her. HE got it from a friend to restore but never got around to it. He's asking $250. It's missing the rear head. This will be my first bike so I'm not in a rush to get it running. MY question is, is it worth it? MY big concern is finding a head and just parts in general..

Any advice?

Thanks

 

First of all, Welcome,

Unless you are a highly skilled mechanic the odds of getting the bike going are very, very low. Even if you are a highly skilled wrench the odds are still low, just not as abysmally low. The second biggest problem is that parts, other than E bay parts of questionable utility, are hard to get and sometimes completely unobtainable. That is bad enough, but the biggest problem is that if you can't at least crank it and check the compression on all cylinders, there is a good chance the engine is junk and can not be repaired since rings, valve springs, pistons, bearings etc. are not available.
I bought a non-running 500 because I completely believed the seller when he told me that it was running well when he parked it 3 years previously and it has turned out to be a great running, fun bike. I was very lucky. While I would like to get another, cleaner '86 (the best year) since mine is ratty, I would not touch the one you are considering except as a parts bike. Not to be discouraging; I'm a huge fan of the VF 500F, but I think getting the one you are looking at would turn out to be an expensive mistake. Sorry!

 

Thanks for the quick reply! You don't think it's even worth 250 to part out???? I am mechanic by trade so I'm not worried about the wrenching part.

 

why not just buy a Ninja 500 and call it a day? parting oot bikes is not what it used to be, because they raised listing fees and such, could try flogging it on your local CL though, second thought, why don't you just buy $250.00 worth of lottery tickets?

You can stay on the forum btw even if you have a Ninja high-5 ound: welcome regardless :wink:

 

I guess if you got it for free you might be able to flog a few bits off, that is if you could be bothered, then you have the hastle of posting bits out

 

Go for it, have some fun and if worst comes to worse you're out a few hundred bucks. I picked up a junked 84 500 last year and have had a blast hunting down parts and rebuilding it from the frame up. I have about $1200 into it total including bike. I've seen complete heads on E-bay for $60 with cams. I checked everyday to see what came up on E-bay and ended up getting a lot of parts for a good price in good to very good shape. There has been complete engines going for around $300 with video's of the engine running before the bike was torn apart for salvage.

 

You have gotten a lot of negatives, including from me, but MPH makes a good point. If you are a genuinely good mechanic, would enjoy the challenge, have considerable spare time and can be accepting of finding out after a good bit of time and expense that the engine is junk, go for it. I think head gaskets can be sourced although not easily. For around $150.00 you should be able to get it to where you can check for compression and decide at that time whether to proceed further.

 

Lots of good points have been made in here (pro and con). If this was a Yam 650 twin I'd say go for it. But this is a VF 500 that's plum full of parts that are difficult or impossible to get. IIRC, top-end gasket sets are only made in Italy these days (@ ~ $175 USD). And, unlike the Yam 650, they didn't make many of VF 500s. So, used parts aren't exactly easy to find. As for parting it out; this can be very time consuming and troublesome.

If you still want to make an offer you might first turn the engine over by hand just to make sure that it isn't frozen solid (I'd guess that it is). You'll, of course, need to keep the cam chain from jamming up when you turn the crank.

If the engine isn't frozen I'd offer $150 tops. If you're not sure if the engine is free, then I'd offer $100. If the engine is stuck, then I'd offer $50 or less to haul it off.

Either way, it's a tough call. But if you have the desire, time, funds, and space then I'd consider MPH's "have fun with it" advice. Just keep in mind that it's very common for such projects to end up dead in the water.

 

I wouldn't pay 250 for it, but I would pay 150. On ebay at the moment there are several complete engines and a rear head on the first page under vf500 engine. I would imagine an 85 would fit on a 86 no problem but I'm not 100% sure, but the one on ebay is $54 buy it now. I have an 86 as well and am having no problem finding parts. Don't let all the negativity get to you. I think it would be an excellent learning experience so I say go for it. The worst that could happen is you gain some new knowledge and have some parts to sell. Best case is you bring a bike back from the dead for you and future owners to enjoy.