1990 Honda VFR 750F resurrection

those front vacuum lines went to the secondary air injection system. there are two valves on each side of the motor with steel lines going to the exhaust ports in the heads. Most people remove them. I just plugged the lines and removed the valves. There are also two ports for fresh air in the front of the airbox that also need to be plugged.. By the way I also installed two more extension lines to the rear carbs for syncing the carb since its a bitch to install the lines with the carbs and body work on. I now have four lines capped off on my bike. You will need to buy nipples for the rear ports since they only have screw plugs in the ports.

 

Ahaa... the PAIR bs that I pulled off. Thanks for that insight!

 

Stripped the rear of the bike to remove the rear sub for paint- it's rusty. Pulled the exhaust and collector, I'll paint those too.
Started the rear brake rebuild but found that I need snap ring pliers! I'll have to finish that next weekend.
I found that the bump stop on the shock had turned into hard chunks resembling dog food!

 

Is that a Fox shock? I love their shocks...

 

Yup, Fox TC. Was a nice upgrade!

 

Finished up the rear brake rebuild and got the media blasting and powder coat lined up for this week. Pulled the wheel bearings and tires so the wheels are ready to get powder coated white.
Spent some time sanding the small parts meditatively with some good music The rear subframe and exhaust will get blasted then
I'm going to paint the them plus, gear shift lever, rear brake pedal, and brake rotor centers myself. Exhaust will get high temp black.

Here are the "before" pics....

 

I would like to hear from anyone who has painted the steel frame parts on these VFRs.... anyone found something close to stock appearance? I hear duplicolor wheel paint is the stuff to use. I'm thinking their silver is the best match?
And did you clear coat with gloss or matte?
Thanks in advance!

 

The Duplicolor Silver Wheel Coating is a very Honda finish color. Sprays nice and is durable. Adding the Matte or Gloss Wheel Clear creates a very factory look and adds some more durability.

The Hawk forks are Matte and the VFR forks are Gloss. They both look very stock-ish.

 

It's been a busy couple of weeks but found some time to rebuild the front brakes last weekend. I was relieved to see that the caliper pistons and bores were OK.
I pulled this out of the wire harness. Now I just need to wrap the harness and wire in the new reg/rec

 

Man, the pace of this project has been glacial! I've got too many irons in the fire.
Cleaned up and re-wrapped the harness:



Here's the before pic of the centerstand and mount. Ugh... Lots more time with a wire wheel and hand sanding to get it prepped for paint. Got it primed but then realized I forgot to buy gloss black. I also prepped, primed and painted the exhaust heat shield at the top of the pic below. Did that piece in high temp flat black.
I also got the front rotors, shifter, brake pedal and coolant crossover tube primed painted and clear coated today. I'll post the "after" pics next week.

 

And I finally got started on the cooling system this weekend. Here's the "before" pic of the coolant crossover tube.



The o-rings were... not terrible, but they are 34 years old and hardened. I could see evidence of weeping at the thermostat and everything was corroded on the outside, but internally all looks good!
@Captain 80s , can't thank you enough for sharing all your info. Got everything from 0-rings and more except that one double wide o-ring for the hard connector pipe.
At this point I have the cooling system parts all cleaned and ready for reassembly next weekend!

 

No split loom?

 

Yeah I considered that. Honda didn't see a need for it so I think I will see if I am satisfied with where the harness runs and can add some protection if needed. What has your experience been?

 

Used it a few times without issue. I do wonder about its longevity though.

 

Got the cooling system nearly done...


Would be done if I had included the water pump o-ring in my order. So now I have to wait for that to reinstall the water pump



I also needed to replace the leaking valve cover gaskets. While I was in there I checked the valve clearances and happy to find all good. Then I looked at the grungy valve covers and couldn't bear to install them looking like this:


Lots of scrubbing and sanding and polish for this. Looks good from far, but far from good!

 

those are vacuum port nipples for doing your synch on these bikes. He must have extended it and did not plug the end of the hose! I bought four of those brass nipple things for both of my bikes and leave them on, they have cute little hats that plug them up well. When your ready to do your synch, you reach in there take off the hats and connect your synch hoses. Its fast and clean, should have come from the factory like that. I can do the synch in less than 5 minutes with a few turns from my Triumph 90 degree screwdriver I got years ago. You have to have three flash lights and know where to look LOL Helps to have a lift where you get the bike really high, then you sit in your squat stool as low as you can go. Anyway, way to go with the bike, I like getting em reliable and rideable, thats my recipe. Peace

 

Good idea. Yeah, those shiny new nipples are from my sync kit. The "before" pic shows the old nipples with tube for the PAIR system which @hondaman219 educated me on (see earlier post)

 

When you go to reinstall the carbs, make sure these collars don't prevent the clamps from tightening properly. Carb side and engine side.



I have had to shorten them on other people's bikes, but I usually just eliminate them on mine. I just make sure that I'm not over-tightening the clamps.

The metal bands somehow seem to "stretch" and even with brand new insulators, I've had them literally spin with zero resistance. Last thing I want to do is take everything back apart for an intake leak.

Great job so far!

 

Thanks for another great tip! This kind of support and knowledge sharing is why these forums are so good....