84 VF1000RE - The "gods do I have to fix this too" partial restoration thread

I put the front end on so I can wheel the bike about. Tomorrow I will take it outside and use a high pressure washer to try to flush the water jackets and heads to get out as much crap as possible.
Next it will get filled with this solution and left to sit for a few hours and then pressure cleaned out again. After 29 years I am expecting a bit of muck to come out.

 

Found problem with cooling number 1 cyl - lower coolant (inlet) gallery completely blocked with crud.
Now cleaned out and ready for re-assembly. I am pretty confident that zero coolant flow would affect the temp of that cylinder. As I discovered each cylinder/head has its own coolant system.

 

Spent a couple of hours all up cleaning out the coolant gallery to number 1 cylinder, until I was happy it was flowing properly, Given the angle and size of the gallery coming out the bottom of the coolant pit it is about as difficult and frustrating as trying to do colo-rectal surgery on yourself with a short scalpel and a small inspection mirror (I am not speaking from experience).

Painted a pair of coolant caps (with satin PJ1 fast black) and all new seals and gaskets, filled the galleries and bottom of the cylinder water jackets with Honda Blue coolant (up to the level just below the cap mating surface) to protect from corrosion for the next few weeks.

Caps back on and tightened up. The newly painted caps show up how crappy the rest of the engine paint is.

Now trying to decide between the drill and tap oil mod or the sandwich plate under the oil filter style.

 

Don't drill in to the main/rod bearing feed. I never heard of such a thing until I heard about the oil mod. I'd never take oil away from the bearings. Use the oil filter mount type. I believe that is filtered oil too.

Good work so far great to see another one come back and a big boy to boot. :thumbsup:

 

Both methods have been used with good results. The disadvantage of the sadwich plate method is that you cant use the genuine filter and I have a box of 10 to use, so if I go for a sandwich plate on each bike I am going to burn about $140 worth of filters. I'm considering a plate on the 84 model and a drill/tap on the 85 1000R.

 

Just a few photos of the latest activities.


The blocked coolant gallery




My wife says I have a gasket fetish - I'm sure she is wrong



Re-assembled


First cooling system bit together (all new gaskets of course)



Current status


A bit of my dodgy painting


Honda special cover for checking timing - ebay score from UK

 

Not much done on the bike in the last week but the UPS man bought some nice presents.

I really like opening boxes with Honda printed on the outside;


Still wrapped;


Nice cowl for a few bucks less than the painting quote in backwater WA;

 

Been tough to find time lately. Best I have managed is to have a shed clean out and sort through a pile of body work to decide what is going on which bike.
I did get a perfect used tool kit and also perfect tail cowl and rear fender from Aussie fleabay. A small win I suppose, the fender and cowl are so good that painting will not be required.

 

Just came across this thread. Seems like it's comin' together nicely, especially with that untouched fairing. I look forward to seeing the finished product!

 

Question: How did you clean the frame? Did you just use old fashioned elbow grease, compressed air or pressure washer?
My girl is pretty dirty under her clothes and could use a good detailing.

Your project is great fun to watch. I also am happy to see some older bikes getting love and back on the streets.

 

Dewl, I cleaned it with a spray bottle of Honda bike cleaner (something like S100) and a spray bottle of water. Spray on Honda cleaner, wait 5 mins, take to it with a variety of scrubbing brushes (very tedious part of job), then spray off with water spray.
It was all done in my shed and I would just put a large rectangular coolant try underneath to catch water and cleaner runoff.
Then buff frame with towel to remove last bits of water and dirt. If needed repeat process.
This lets you clean up the frame without making lots of mess or taking the bike outside.

 

Thanks. I have started to do fine cleaning a few times, but usually just give up.
The pieces and parts get in the way and I do not want to disassemble just to clean.

Riding dirty.

 

vfrcapn,
I found it in UK, along with a NOS top an bottom for my 85 Euro model (main colour is blue rather than red). I cant say it was cheap but being in a virtual backwater like Perth the cost of getting stuff painted can be very high. Now if I could just get a NOS tail cowl and tank I would be happy.

 

Hey thx1138 - just came across your build thread and it looks awesome!! Re - the oil mod...Ive now done both methods. I did the drill and tap method first and even though I followed a parts list and instructions, took my time and was meticulous about it, something went wrong because the cams had a big melt down.
For my replacement motor I purchased a sandwich kit from fleabay. The quality was great, the standard oil filter still fits - and I'm sure the cams even sound more lubricated now (although that's probably in my head)!

Just my 2cents but I would defiantly go the sandwich kit way. I can send you the link if your interested. The manufacturer must made allowance to retain the original filter when designing the sandwich - cause the filter just fits perfectly.

Mine is the 750 so maybe the 1000 is different?

 

Some of the sandwich kits need a shorter filter which is a real bugger as I have a box of genuine Honda filters to use up. If you could post the link to the seller that would be great.

 

Here ya go -

V65 VF1000 V45 700 Magna Sabre Interceptor Oil Mod | eBay

 

Thanks rainman

 

Getting it shipped to Perth couldn't have been cheap either. Congrats, that's a great find.

 

Shipping to Perth was not cheap (sort of like a scene from Deliverance) but still the NOS fairing and shipping was cheaper than the quotes I got here just to paint them.