Wanted FOUND - RC36-2 4th Gen beauty.

Hi all,
New member here. I'm originally from the UK but live not far from Seattle WA now. I'm looking for a great condition original RC36-2 to fulfill my dreams of having a VFR again.
My dad bought a brand new 89 RC24 when I was a kid and we went many places on that awesome bike. He passed it on to me and I have such fond memories of the sounds and performance. Since emigrating I've been riding dual sports and dirt bikes but I've always lusted after the VFR's and think it's finally time for me to get one.

I have been looking around for a few months but nothing has come up for sale near me that doesn't have some kind of damage or modification. I want to keep this bike for many years so am being picky about getting a good one.

I am willing to look further afield for the right bike, maybe even across the country. Is anyone out there thinking of selling on their pristine 4th Gen?

Thanks,
Kenny

 

Welcome Kenny. I am in the North Seattle area.

I can expand on some thoughts tomorrow, I am just home from a 12 hour day around Mt. Rainier. Having a drink, gonna take a shower, and make some dinner.

F-ing beauty day in the PNW today!

 

Thanks Captain, nice to meet you. Yes what a perfect day here in the PNW, glad you got out and enjoyed it before the rain tomorrow, ha!

 

I spent close to 2 years looking for the right RC36-II in this area. Looked at one that was touted as being MINT. The nicest one you will ever find... Dropped on both sides.

For some reason really nice ones just don't seem to be around here very often. I finally bought one from New Jersey and had it shipped. Still not a fan of shipping bikes. A couple issues but was mostly happy. What I was happy about was what I got for SO MUCH CHEAPER than anything for sale around here ever since. Not saying it won't happen, but be prepared to keep looking.

I don't know what your financial or storage situation is, but I would find a decent one and ride the piss out of it while you look for "the" one. This summer is supposed to be really good in this area.

Here is the thread on my 95.

https://vfrworld.com/threads/95-vfr750f-refresh.59390/

 

Well, what a small world it is. Turns out Captain here works in the same building as I do. I have seen an array of beautiful Honda's being ridden over the last while. In fact he is in part responsible for my rekindled interested in the VFR's! Mind blown!

 

Welcome to the states! I'm getting ready to sell my 95 RC-36-2. BUT its not mint, good damage on the left side, but it runs great. Most of the VFRs have been ridden a lot- mine has 55k miles on it. Good luck with your search, just be patient. Also keep an eye on Ebay and bring a trailer auctions. use searchtempest too. Most likely you will have to travel to get a pristine VFR, so buy a trailer now, and then you can jump on the one you want. And, just my opinion, if you are looking for a MINT or PRISTINE version, its gonna be listed pretty high, so have a good chunk of cash ready to go. Yes, you can find them cheap, but those deals are pretty rare, so the opportunity cost of getting a deal is not having it to ride.

 

Hi SkiHands, you are exactly right on all your comments and advice. I have been looking on and off for about a year, but got serious in the last 6 months (wrong time of year for selling, but I was hoping to pick up a winter deal).
As fate would have it, as soon as I threw my hand up with a wanted ad, the bike I have been looking for magically came up for sale. Only problem was it was 900 miles away! Well, I moved things around at work, figured out childcare, threw the trailer on the car (Yes, I already had a trailer for dirt biking!) and started driving on Monday morning. After checking out the bike and purchasing it, I drove all the way back yesterday with it.
I am excited to get in there and freshen it up. It's a 95, two owner, only has 12k miles on it, it's all stock, completely unmolested and only has a few marks on it. It was actually on display in the previous owners office for the last 12 years! Suffice to say it needs a LOT of freshening up, carbs pulled, cleaned and rebuilt, tank cleaned out, all fluid changes etc. I wanted a bit of a project and this is a perfect platform to make my forever VFR from!

I'm excited to show it to Captain when she's on the road!

 

I tried attaching it instead. Hopefully that works.

 

Congrats! Happy to be any of kind resource you may need.

Let the fun begin. Start a new thread... It will be a long one.

 

Let the fun begin. Start a new thread... It will be a long one.

YEP!, I would suggest coolant hoses, fuel hoses/filter, clutch fluid, headset bearings, wheel bearings, carb clean, remove ais, clean battery terminals, clean RR terminals, fork seals, fork oil. Nice looking one!

 

Congrats on the new bike!

You drove 900 miles in one day?

Wooooo......much respect, sir!!! I couldn't do that!

 

Thanks everyone! I will indeed start a new thread. I already started taking the plastics off last night. So far I have only noticed two things. One, the "Fuel Strainer" 16956-MZ7-000 was cracked and fell apart on me. And two, I am missing the lower right fastener on the clutch slave cylinder (by the banjo fitting, looks like a M6x20 flange head bolt: 96001-06020-07)

Where do you all source parts for these bikes? Especially if I am to replace lots of hoses and the such. Also should I leave the CA EVAP system installed or are they too complicated and therefore a reliability issue?

I will start a thread and thanks in advance for all your help!

 

If you have a fair amount Genuine Honda parts you want to order, going with a parts warehouse like Babbits or Partzilla can start to make sense to make the shipping charge worthwhile.

On onesy-twosy type stuff I typically search eBay and see if I can find a deal with reasonable shipping.

If you are taking the bike down as far as I think you will be, I would ABSOLUTELY remove all of the evap and PAIR bullshit. Also FOR SURE replace all of the coolant orings in the center of the V of the engine while you have the carbs and thermostat housing out.

I'll be happy to help guide you thru removing and plugging/re-routing when removing the emissions BS.

 

Oh, I also have the replacement info for Viton o-rings for pretty much everything at pennies to the dollar for Honda OEM orings.

 

Amazing, I will for sure grab that viton o-ring dimensions/quantity info from you Captain. Do you have a list that is easy to share?

For the 90 degree fuel "strainer" hose. Looks like i cannot get those new anymore. Should i just find some nice fuel hose and maybe make a 90deg elbow or something?

Sounds like you have a good idea of what goes where, get's blocked off for the PAIR system removal. I'll start pulling that off as well. I want simple and reliable!

Reg/Rectifier looks like it's the original also "SH638-12".

 

The thread I linked earlier for my 1995 and this thread for my 1992 has LOTS of info regarding all of this stuff, including all of the cooling system orings.

https://vfrworld.com/threads/1992-vfr750f-rescue-refresh.60160/

 

You can also get some high quality pre-formed fuel tubing on Amazon that comes in a length with varying bends at different angles that you can extract what you need.

 

Regarding fasteners.....

I needed an M6 bolt and couldn't find one in my stash the right length, so just ordered an M6 bolt assortment from Amazon for around $10.

With my Prime membership there are a lot of times the stuff I order is delivered the next day.

I am not suggesting you substitute aftermarket parts for OEM but depending on the application, sometimes aftermarket will get the job done just fine.