Project VF500F2

Discussion in '1st & 2nd Generation 1983-1989' started by shields17, Jan 28, 2020.

  1. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    My Dad's bike has a K&N fitted and I believe these carbs were set up to run on that. I can borrow the filter out of his bike to see if I get any improvement over my paper one.

    Hopefully I can get some new plugs tomorrow and give it a shot.
     
  2. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    New plugs in and it fired straight back up. Hopefully manage not to completely foul this set...

    I also put the K&N in, put the mixture screws in a turn and now I've got it running like this!



    I'm really pleased with how it's running now. Hopefully it behaves when I get to ride it! Is there anything I need to worry about with running the mixture screws only 1 turn out?

    The next issue to sort is the rear valve cover is leaking pretty badly . You can see it coming out of the left half moon bit and running all down the engine.

    [​IMG]

    It's also pulsating out of the other side pretty badly too

    [​IMG]

    I guess it's just solidified a bit with age, I think I have a spare tucked away somewhere so will dig that out.
     
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  3. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    I swapped out the valve cover gasket today, whilst I had everything out the way I pulled one of the rear plugs out of curiosity... again the plug looks very sooty. Could this just be from only ever running the bike at idle? I'm conscious this might not be helping things so I've not yet started it to check the leaks have gone but touch wood!

    Project for the rest of the week is cleaning these mirrors up. They've been painted blue at some point and one has the end snapped off. I'm not sure how best to put it back together but they seem pretty hard to come by so I'll have to come up with something!

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    Those are "early" style. The later one that didn't require an extra bracket may be easier to find, but have the same style.
    [​IMG]
     
  5. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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  6. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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  7. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    Thanks Captain - really appreciate that! I'm going to have a go at spraying the good original but may still end up ordering some of them if I can't find a way to repair the snapped one.
     
  8. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    Getting close!

    [​IMG]

    In between mirror painting today I decided to re-fit all the plastics - no doubt I'll regret it when the carbs need more tweaking but it's nice to see it all together. The tank is currently lined with oil from storage hence no fuel tap at the moment. The seat also isn't sitting flush to the tank for some reason so need to work that out.
     
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  9. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    I really wish Honda would have gave the U.S. the FII when they updated the 500 for 1986. A last Hurrah before closing the shutters for the "Hurricane" that was coming.
     
  10. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    I've always thought this, it seems strange even just from a business/manufacturing point of view to concurrently build the same bike but with totally different fairings. My only guess is maybe it was just done for styling to appeal to each market.
     
  11. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    Well they would have to update the North American parts system to support just for one year. I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. And the U.S. Department of Transportation was very weird in the those years, that's why the VF1000R came with a single headlight in 1985 to the U.S.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2021
  12. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    Yeah that makes a lot of sense, I just would have imagined that it would be easier for them to build one model and ship it everywhere, but I guess they have to build to suit each country's regulations.
     
  13. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Interested to see how you come out on this. I am going to paint my originals also. I could get aftermarket mirrors, but they have to have the right bend or they will hit the USA Spec fairing when you turn the bars all the way in.
     
  14. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    I always disliked that one year only single headlight. Everyone else got the cool one!
     
  15. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    Me too. Well not dislike, just not like as much. Blacking out the surround helped for me.

    [​IMG]

    But, yeah... the pies on "Two Face" are nice. I experimented with a divider treatment for the headlights.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2021
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  16. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    Yeah clearances are pretty tight on these fairings too. Mine didn't come apart too easily, but then I guess they aren't really designed to! If you have the same style as me be careful separating the mirror arm from the bracket that mounts to the bars, mine was pretty stuck in there and that's how I snapped the end off. In hindsight, if it is stuck, you're better off pushing it out from the other side than pulling on the mirror arm.
     
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  17. shields17

    shields17 New Member

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    Having been away for work for a while I didn't get much done last month. I got home to a bit of a sunny spell though so was spurred on to finally try and get the bike on the road. The last thing I needed to do was get my fuel tank back together. The tank had had some form of rust treatment before I got it and then had been coated in oil inside. I decided to flush the tank with fuel to avoid pulling too much of the oil through the fuel.. and I'm glad I did. The first lot of fuel through came out totally black, after a few flushes its now coming out clean but also quite a bit of rust

    [​IMG]

    I spent a whole morning flushing fuel through but still when it gets to the lower end of the tank more bits of rust just keep coming...

    I know quite a few of you on here have a fair bit of experience in this area so what's the general consensus? Do I just keep flushing more until it comes clean or do I need to go down a rust converter/electrolysis route? And do I need to look at sealing the tank after or will just keeping it full of fuel after stop it coming back?

    On the plus side, I already had the MOT booked presuming the tank would be okay so I decided to borrow my Dad's tank and go and at get the bike tested so I could finally see how it ran. From the short run to the MOT centre it seems to be running spot on and passed its test with no issues!! It was smoking A LOT from the exhaust on the way there but I think it was just the oil in the exhaust finally getting hot enough to burn off properly as it was much better on the way back.
     
  18. straycat

    straycat Member

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    With that much rust Id use electrolysis or a product like evaporust, Id also consider a liner If I were you, with flakes that big, the metal maybe getting thin and starting to pin hole. It would be a shame to have to repaint the tank it it goes through.
     
  19. straycat

    straycat Member

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    I went that rout initially on my "Euro" VF1000R too, hoping to have it look more "euro - two eyed", but reverted to the stock look with the white on the surround, each to their own. Id prefer to have an actual 2 headlight bucket in there though. This may will likely get sold this spring.

    P1100712.jpg IMG_1556.jpg
     
  20. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    I think on that paint scheme, where its red and the upper white stripe is higher, the white looks better too. With the 86 scheme, it looked out of place.
     
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