Jim's $400.00 1986 VF500F

Discussion in '1st & 2nd Generation 1983-1989' started by Jim McCulloch, Jun 25, 2019.

  1. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    Thank you for writing this up--this should hopefully save someone from a lot of headache in the future if the Vesrah gaskets work out for you. I've never replaced a headgasket before, so reading through this type of post is super useful--especially when the pictures match up with what I'm seeing in my own garage. Hopefully they're up to the task.

    What would be the purpose of not having the metal ring for cylinder sealing be round? This seems like an intentional design choice on the Cruzin Image gasket.
     
  2. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Regarding that cylinder ring, I wish I would have kept one of the OEM '85 gaskets I took off. I am now curious if Honda did round or notched rings and if the the 84-5's were notched and the 86 were round. Maybe someone here knows.
     
  3. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    New Tire Day! While waiting on the heads and radiator to be done, decided to put on a new tire.

    IMG_9897.JPG

    I am no one trick pony! I can screw up all kinds of stuff on a moto! My EbAy balancing rig at work..

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  4. Diving Pete

    Diving Pete Member

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    Just to be sure you know you balance them with the tires on.... - LOL
     
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  5. Paul Myers

    Paul Myers New Member

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    @Jim McCulloch
    Where's the hamster?

    I recognize the magnets on the side of your toolbox. Wonder when they will start selling motorcycle parts. OEM suppliers at awesome prices.
     
  6. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Yeah, I have spent a ton of money over the years with RockAuto. The are really easy to work with. I hope they get in the motorcycle game also!
     
  7. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    How coincidental! Just ordered from RockAuto for the first time ever this week because my truck's AC compressor clutch pulley bearing is going, the AC doesn't work (i can live with that), but I can see the belt is starting to shred. So I ordered a bunch of stuff from RockAuto that arrived yesterday to replace it and other work I wanted to do. Was surprised at how inexpensive they had stuff for.

    Unfortunately, I ordered the clutch assembly from Tasca Parts which seems to pride itself on being the fastest shipping distributor. Well, it's been 6 days, and it hasn't even shipped yet. Was hoping to do the replacement this weekend. Guess not. So... it'll all be Rock Auto going forward for me.

    Were you marking the heavy spot with the tire off during that wheel balance? I just did the same on my last two tire changes, and I found the heavy spot was definitely not where the valve stem was.
     
  8. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    With Rock it can be hit or miss on the older stuff. It seems that they buy up NOS parts and sometimes don't so a good job identifying what they have. I have NO other real options Stateside when I need parts for my 83 Honda Civic. I have ordered several parts for that car from Rock and some have been wrong. The good news is they take back everything AND pay the shipping back. They are actually the best place I have ever dealt with on the internet for automotive parts. They offer several levels of quality so choose your poison. I drive weird cars so Rock does not always recognize what I have. I have to do some research to get the right parts sometimes. I have an GM orphaned 2003 Pontiac Vibe GT witch is a mashup of a Toyota Matrix with a Yamaha/Toyota Celica GTS 1.8L engine in it from the factory. I gave up trying to get anything having to do with the transmission or clutch system from Rock and have to go Toyota OEM now.

    TLDR; RockAuto 4.5 stars out of 5.

    TASCA....oh boy never again. I stay far away from them. https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/ seems to work great for me.

    Yeah, I started looking at the balance of the bare rims a while ago. Very interesting how out of balance they can be. And as you said, not always where the valve stem is. This VF500F is an Enkei rim and it was pretty spot on. I have seen some Suzuki and Kawasaki rims that were wildly out of balance! I guess it really does not matter as long as you do a good balancing the tire and rim assembly.
     
  9. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    While waiting for my leaking heads to return from the machine shop I decided to get a look at the radiator. I took it a shop and asked him to boil it out.

    He ended up having to take both side tanks off to get to all the clogged passages! It was that bad. I should have assumed that a 34 year old radiator would be wasted. He also had to solder up 6 or more passages that were about to start leaking. Anyway he was able to get it cleaned and repaired. Should make a noticeable difference in the temperature swings now. We will see!

    Man I am so buried financially in this one. Oh well. I least I was able to sell some parts off my junk VF500C parts bike to offset some of the costs yesterday.

    IMG_9900.JPG
     
  10. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    $100 later and I have my heads back after the RED KOTE fuel tank liner debacle. That stuff dissolved into the fuel so good it coated all of the valve stems and seats. All I can say is I must have applied the RED KOTE wrong. The gas we have here in Houston may also be to blame but Red Kote states it is compatible with any ethanol up to E85 level. However, Methanol is a major no-no. Not sure what is to blame here but really worried it will happen again. I am going to rinse the tank with gas until it does not come out red anymore. After that, not sure what to do. All the tanks for sale on EbAy right now are overpriced piles of shit.
    IMG_9901.JPG

    I also noticed that my left side sub frame rail was kind of weird. The lower coolant line bolted to it in a way that was decidedly low quality. I looked around EbAy and found that the '86 sub-frame is different than the 84-5 unit. I ordered the 86 unit and there are quite a few differences. The mounting bolts are 10mm (86) vs 8 MM (84-5) plus the 86 has much beefier mounting ends. The 84-5 also has some extra mounting tabs for accessories that are not on the 86 unit.

    In general, I find it very interesting all the little details that are different on the 84-5 vs the 86 model. Honda made minor and major changes on the 86 that probably 99% of the people would have never noticed BUT they cared enough to do it anyway! Quality!

    I have no idea how this bike ended up with the wrong sub-frame. The 84-5 and 86 appear to be interchangeable any-who. More somewhat useless information for future generations!

    IMG_9902.JPG
     
  11. jeremyr62

    jeremyr62 New Member

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    Yep, there are a lot of changes that you only run into when you are doing the kind of work you are doing. I had a half faired F 85 and a fully faired F2 86 at one point, and the many differences were hard to spot but there all the same. I have said this before, but Honda must have expected a longer run for the VF500 than just one more year when they updated it, to justify the expense. It wasn't like the 84-85 was bad.
    Never happened though.
     
  12. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Good point, I also assumed a good long run was ahead for the VF500F but with Kawasaki introducing the Ninja 600 the writing was on the wall. I worked in a Honda dealer when the CBR600F Hurricane came out in 86 and we could not sell a VF500F after that. I guess if Honda could have made a 600 out of the VF engine it might have worked. In any case I am sure Honda pre-sold every 87 CBR600F they made, and the VF500F was relegated to history.
     
  13. lsc86

    lsc86 New Member

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    Jim- I've had good success with the Redkote, but the prep and cure time are very critical for good outcomes. Probably just didn't let it cure long enough is all. Hope you get it coated successfully or find a better tank- your efforts deserve a great runner!

    The middleweight class, even in the late 70s & into the 80s, was filled with air cooled 550s and 600s. I'd imagine Honda would probably have opted for a VF-600 to begin with if it had been a clean slate build, not an evolution of the domestic VF-400. The V4 500 was definitely an over-achiever, but with all the other manufacturers quickly settling on the 600cc class for middleweight sport bikes, by 1985 (when they'd be looking at 1986 and beyond), the proponents of the V4 platform inside Honda were quickly losing support/backing vs. the I-4 group, and whatever long term design/tooling/production evolutions for the VF500 platform were ready, got added for 1986 as the last hurrah for that line.
     
  14. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Thanks for the feedback on the RED KOTE. 99% of the reviews are positive so I am sure it was a curing problem that got me. I have another can of it and I will use it sparingly to stop a very small leak I still have. I am going to let it cure indoors as we have about 80-90% humidity right now in my garage. I think a week of cure time should do it. In the mean time I am still looking for a proper 86 fuel tank. Slim pickings right now. I will likely have to buy another bike in order to get a tank. If one pops up I will definitely consider it.
     
  15. Terry Smith

    Terry Smith Member

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    The 80's were an exciting time to be a new motorcyclist; looking back it was amazing how quickly Honda went from CBX550 (1982) to VF500 (1984) to CBR600 (1987), three completely different packages that probably share a few bolts and washers only. That same CBR600 engine has then basically powered all of the 600 and 650 Hondas ever since...
     
  16. jeremyr62

    jeremyr62 New Member

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    I remember when the CCBR600 and CBR1000 cam out in the UK in 1987. I encountered my first CBR1000 when I was on my Suzuki 1978 GS1000. We sort of had a race which I lost by a very wide margin. They seemed very futuristic with the wrap around fairing. You are probably right about the 600 giving Honda so much more scope to develop the bike and engine. The VF500 had plateaued already. It was a good time to be riding back then. The sheer choice of bikes was almost overwhelming.
     
  17. lsc86

    lsc86 New Member

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    As much as I'm more of an old soul and probably shoulda been born a decade or so sooner, having grown up in the '70s and '80s, with the evolution of cars and bikes in the '80s especially, sure was an awesome time for gear heads and showroom rats like myself here in the USA. 3-wheelers, then 3-wheelers with 4-wheel kits, then actual 4-wheelers, scooters, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, jet skis, and street bikes- sure was the hay days.

    Honda showrooms especially, CBX, Nighthawks, V4 Sabres, V4 Magnas, Interceptors, Shadows, CBs, Ascots, Goldwings.....then VFRs, Hurricanes....

    Sorry to stray from the thread, memory lane not far away usually!

    Petcock aside, are the 84-86 tanks the same?
     
  18. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    The shape and how they mount are. But where the petcock bolts on is different. You have to use the matching petcock.
     
  19. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    From what I can tell, the 86 tank also has a heat shield on the bottom of the tank. This was not found on the 84-5 models.
     
  20. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    SHE MOVES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.....Well it turns out I have 86 VF500F with an 84-85 frame! I tried to mount the 86 left side subframe and it will not fit. It is not even close. The 84-5 subframe has a square tube end and the 86 has a casted in "wedge" that mates up with a corresponding wedge on the frame side.

    I previously posted that the subframes were interchangeable and this is not true. I hate to spread mis-information.

    It is crazy because the title says it is an 86. The VIN tag says it is an 86. The head tube has the correct VIN stamped on it but it does not quite look right. I am wondering if this bike got a replacement frame way back when and Honda supplied what they had which was a 84-5 frame. I kind of remember that Honda would sell a new frame but it was kind of a hassle as certain paperwork had to be filled out as they did not want any criminals flipping bikes with "cooked" paperwork. Maybe someone can chime in how you buy a new frame and what is involved.

    Here is what the 86 subframe end looks like.

    IMG_9909.JPG
     
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