1990 Honda VFR 750F resurrection

I'm going to record my journey bringing my old VFR back to life.
Hoping that the sage VFR mechanics here will weigh in. I know I already have questions.
Also hoping that others will just enjoy watching this unfold!
The background:

I bought this bike in 1997 from the second owner. I rode it and enjoyed it for a few years and upgraded the shock to a Fox unit. Then I hit a deer while riding in August 2001. The upper fairings and front subframe took the impact (fortunately not my chest!) and the bike slid down the road on its right side. After recovering from my minor injuries I rebuilt the VFR. I gave it new OEM uppers and right panels, front sub, SS braided brake lines, carbon fiber front fender (all the cool kids were doing carbon back then!), and an Austrian made Remus carbon high slip-on.

It performed flawlessly for years but I had less and less time to ride (kids, career). By 2009 I was riding only a few times per year. Coming home from work around midnight one night, I felt the front brake caliper dragging the brake. Pulled over, checked it out, let it cool, then eased home slowly on back roads. This was the death knell…

I bought the brake rebuild kits and kept telling myself I’d get to it.

Over 14 years later I’m finally getting to it, and paying dearly for letting her sit all those years!

PXL_20231229_200251962 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

PXL_20231229_200212493 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

 

Cool VFR! Look forward to following along.

Better late, than never.

 

I began with a good battery and spent some time going through the bike. Yes that's my janky fuel supply while I rebuild the petcock (I'll post that separately)

PXL_20240114_161814011 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

At first it would not turn over. Then I noticed the neutral light was off although bike was in neutral. I pulled in the clutch and that starter cranked! Strangely, I then heard a click and the neutral light illuminated on the dash. From that point forward the starter will crank but bike won't start.
Closer inspection needed! I found this overheated connector from the block at the starter relay:

PXL_20240114_161328750 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

And worse, these damaged wires up front under the instrument cluster. Looks like mice chewed on them

PXL_20240120_163515054 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

 

I found a used wire harness on ebay. Classic VFR with the roasted R/R connector, just barely in the pic here near the top.
Yesterday I checked it over and it otherwise looks ok. I ran the replacement harness temporarily along the right side, outside the frame so that I could keep testing. Double checked all my connections. I also started working through The Drill.
Good battery, passed the load test at NAPA. On the bike 12.98v with key off.
Once I cleaned the terminals at the stator connector, I got 0.6 ohms across each pair and no short to ground. Won't start yet so can't do the rest of the drill.

PXL_20240120_172149696 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

This one appears to have a VFRness? I've never seen one so not sure. I also bought a R/R kit from motoelectrix (nice stuff too!).
So here's my first question. Cut out the VFRness or leave the split on the positive?

 

I'm also looking for one of these plastic fuse box clips. If anyone knows were I can find please LMK. Must have snapped it in transit with the tie downs. Of course its NLA everywhere I checked.

PXL_20240120_214136928 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

 

Back at it today. She'll crank but no start. At first I could not feel or hear the fuel pump. Started working through that diagnostic process using the Haynes manual. Then the fuel pump came on intermittently while cranking the starter. Ok, jump the black and black/blue and bam! Fuel pump works. Great!
After about 2 minutes of alternating cranking/resting the starter, the fuel pump mysteriously stopped. WTF?
So I test the fuel pump by using it to pump the (now fresh) gas from the reinstalled gas tank into a gas can. With the relay jumper still on, that fuel pump drained the tank with no problem. I did not bother to measure as it was clearly putting forth a strong flow.
I pulled a plug and it was wet with fuel. I don't know yet the condition of the carbs.
Moved on to test spark and yes getting a good spark.
Ok, carbs coming off then!
Ughh.... like 45 mins later....

PXL_20240121_213534382 by Pete.M posted Jan 21, 2024 at 9:42 PM

The carbs did NOT want to come out. Carb boots have turned to stone.
So at this point I need to:
rebuild carbs (hey Captain, do you mind sharing your source and sizes for o-rings?)
address the leak at the thermostat (see above pic) and replace the coolant system o-rings
already ordered the fuel cut relay from revzilla
Any other thoughts? Tips?
Thanks!

 

Thanks Cap!

 

Sure, let me get the info together.

 

https://www.oringsandmore.com/

FKM / Viton o-rings

Float Bowl: 76 x 2
SKU: 762MMV

Fuel Tube: 7 x 2
SKU: 72MMV

Large Vent: 10 x 1.5
SKU: 1015MMV

Small Vent: 6 x 1.2
SKU: 612MMV

 

Good bike to resuscitate, where did you get that carbon fender? what about that CDI unit, it has a scrap yard sticker on it, was the original one damaged when you hit the deer? Or did it melt out the potting like one of mine did? I have a Fox shock on one of my 91 and a Penske on my 93. When I use a nurse bottle, I go right to the fuel line that I removed from the petcock. Once you get these bikes dialed in, and it does take some hours and money, you have a reliable unit that has some character compared to todays stuff.

 

This is great! Thank you!

 

Good eye for detail!
Yeah there's a story. Last year I gave the bike to my nephews so they could take a class in motorcycle repair. In their attempts to get the bike started the CDI "started smoking and oozing" according to my nephew.
I think I got the carbon fender from Thurn motorsports.
I agree, it will be worth the hours and cash I put in it! Thanks for the response

 

I know about Thurn, they have some interesting stuff. Wife is from Germany and we go frequently. Yeh, "devil is the details" when you install the t-stat, make sure you clock it the correct way, I vaguely remember that the arm on the t-stat has to be between the housing two pipes, its in the FSM anyway. I had my 91 since 94, bought with 4500, now 86,000 miles, 93 bought in 2013 with 15,000 miles, now 37,000. Love these bikes. Peace

 

Wow you have put some miles on those VFRs! Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to follow that step from the manual.

 

Just a quick update today... Found some time to clean up the "V" valley and start cleaning the carbs while I wait for parts. #1 doesn't look terrible in this pic. #3 was worse. I got the #1 and #3 carbs clean and found that the slow jets were clogged and the main jets partially clogged on both. One of the pilot screws had only half an o-ring remaining.
I screwed up and failed to check how many turns out the pilot screw was on #1. I'm assuming I'll start with 1/2 turn same as #3 unless anyone has advice here?
I would like to replace the o-rings in the fuel tubes too. Not looking forward to separating and reassembling the carbs.

 

When you de-rack the carbs to replace the fuel rail o-rings, remove the #3 screws on that plate (they have the honda-think gold tabs) remove the velocity stacks, there are gaskets under them, the idea here is to NOT totally walk away with each carb, you can sneak out the fuel tubes (2) without having to walk away with four single carbs. I have aluminum fuel rails with viton o rings on both of these bikes, no more gas smells, or weeping gas stains anywhere. Take your time and don't have a radio or any back ground sound as if an errant spring decides to go awol, your ears are your friend. Take some pictures to/could help you. Peace side bar, when you buy the OEM honda carb kits (2 per carb) they come with various o-rings and rubber gaskets to complete the job correctly where you wont have air leaks etc.

 

Search the V-FourDreams website. He's done a fantastic job in providing a step-by-step description for fuel-rail o-ring replacement. Good place for parts purchase also..

 

Got the #2 and 4 carbs cleaned and reassembled, then dug into the fuel tube o-rings. Of course the 34 year-old o-rings for the vent tubes are shot!Fortunately @Captain 80s shared his knowledge so I have those on the way too.
I need to source some decent 3/8 fuel line.

 

Anybody recognize these?
I noticed the 2 front intakes had these brass nipples with rubber tube instead of the blanking screw in the sync ports. The tubes were open, no caps on the end. I thought they were Honda because the have the single wire clip similar to what is found elsewhere on the bike, but the only thing I see in the Honda and Haynes manuals is reference to the screws, not nipples. So I assume a previous owner (in the 90s!!) left them on and open, meaning all the years I rode the bike it was running with the front 2 cylinders lean?





Got the carbs back together with all new o-rings, fuel lines and clips sourced from V4 Dreams and o-ring supplier rec'd by @Captain 80s (thanks guys!)
Had to warm the new carb boots with a hair dryer to get them to seat.

 

And the big news... She's running again after 14+ years! Ignore the mess of wires in the vid, that's the replacement harness just hung on the bike temporarily until I confirmed that it runs.
Sadly, after I replaced the fuel lines and hung the temporary fuel bottle I found that the fuel pump is leaking from the joint in the body of the pump. (I had noticed a leak a few weeks ago but I thought it was just the old stiff cracking fuel lines.) So a new fuel pump is on order.
Still, I decided to try and start it with a gravity feed. She fired up quickly and sounds ok so far! Now I have to decide how deep to get into this resto....
Up next is replace frayed throttle cables, coolant system o-rings and t-stat, valve cover gaskets, check head and wheel bearings, check swingarm pivot, fork refresh, and a new seat cover (has a few small tears), replace hard the old hard tires. I'm seriously considering blasting and repainting the front and rear subframes as they have more rust than I would like!