1984 VF500 Project

New member here. I posted in the new members section that the 84/85 VF500s were my dream bike as a kid. I had pictures from the sales brochure in my locker. I thought they were the most gorgeous bikes I had ever seen, and to my eye they are still one of the best bikes ever made. Its proportions were just perfect.

But my parents wouldn't let me near a road bike. Life moved on, but there was always that itch. I ended up getting into road bikes much later in life. In 2020 or so I bought an 86 CBR600F to start learning how to wrench. I got it running, and learned a lot about it, but sadly all my plastics went up in a garage fire. There's a long thread on cbrforum.com about that project where a lot of great people helped me out.

Last week an 84 VF500 came up locally. It was a project for sure, the plastics were a hodge hodge from different bikes, but at least the plastics were "original" (to whatever bikes they came from), and of course, it doesn't run. The seller told me some potential buyers got it to turn over. He thought all it needed were new plugs and carbs gone over. At that, I drove 10-12 hours total to pick it up.

Here she is :

IMG_6441-b by NuggyBuggyVFR posted Jul 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM

I was both disappointed to see the rust up and all the issues up close, but at the same time excited. Even in her mismatched clothes, she was beautiful to me.

Plastics were, as I said, a hodgepodge of parts from different bikes, but that was even more apparent in person.

I looked in the tank and the rust seemed OK, but when I got her home, I realized the fuel cap didnt seat and that I didn't know how bad it really was.

Once I started draining the gas, it was all foul brown sandy sludge. The smell went out 30 yards. I am not sure how, but even after pulling the petcock no fuel would come out the bottom - I had to turn it upside down and shake to get most of it. I left it open for any residual gas to evaporate, and am planning to fill it with vinegar this weekend - in fact I asked for next week off so I could tend to it. I am not sure whether you can leave a tank with vinegar indefinitely.

Electrical seems to mostly work - lights, signals, instrument panel are all there and they work. Despite the engine almost certainly being dry as a bone I tried to see if it would turn over. No dice.

I think my game plan is:
0- pull plugs and pour some Marvel Mystery Oil, 2T oil or the like into the plug holes. Then maybe see if I can get crankshaft to turn just to get things lubricated
1- start on rust removal on interior of tank - probably vinegar but maybe electrolysis. Not sure if electrolysis could be harmful to exterior paint (which is, surprisingly, almost intact).
2-while that's working, check condition of starter/solenoid
3-if I can get starter working, pull carbs. Order carb rebuild kit (recommendations?) and clean/rebuild carbs.
4- should I do anything to the engine itself out of the gate? I've never opened an engine before, but I can follow instructions.

Anything I missed?

I really, really want to get her as close to showroom condition as possible. This was my dream and if I can do that, I plan to keep her until I die. But being realistic, budget is a big constraint. So if anyone has a line on affordable bodywork, let me know !

 

I'm pretty sure this was the picture I had in my locker. That's the color scheme I dreamed about.



I think there was a slightly more maroon red (in 85?) that also caught my fancy at the time.

 

Welcome.

Captain 80s is over here too... This is likely a better place to get answers on that particular model.

Me, and and a fair number of other members, have experience, advice, failure stories, success stories and encouragement to offer.

 

The great thing about electrolysis is that it is very effective and will not harm the paint. A very good option if it needs that level of rust removal.

 

Would you recommend electrolysis over vinegar? I've only just started playing with electrolysis. It's cool, but I'm worried getting sacrificial anode or anodes into the tank and not shorting it out could be a bit futzy. But now that I am setup, it's almost free, and it's so fun !