How to change the right side crankcase cover

Engine cases tend to get scratched or damaged when bikes take a slide.

Such was the case on the 08 VFR800 I purchased a few weeks ago. The PO took a low speed slide on the right side. It scratched up the fairing (which I'm replacing soon as my new one comes in) and the crankcase cover.

It's an easy thing to swap out but pulling off engine covers tends to intimidate most casual riders. However, on the VFR it's fairly simple. Only tools you need are an 8mm and 17mm socket.

If you have a messed up crankcase cover here's how you go about swapping it out in 10 easy steps.

1. Buy a replacement cover and gasket. From Honda they're about $200 plus $11 for the gasket.

2. Remove the right side fairing.

3. Drain the oil.

4. Remove the 14 8mm bolts circled in the photo. They come off easy. You will tighten them to 12 Newton/meters when you put them back on. The bolt in the "12-o-clock" position has a wire clamp with it. Once the bolts are removed wiggle the cover or pry lightly through the timing hole to pop it off.



5. You don't initially need to remove the timing hole cap. If your replacement didn't come with one you'll need to reuse yours by removing it and installing it on your new cover. Tighten to 18 Newton/meters.




6. Below is what your cover looks like on the inside. Peel off the paper gasket unless you are reusing it. You will have to remove the two bolts that hold the ignition pulse sensor on and pull the sensor grommet out of its recess in the cover. I circled the location of two interior spacer dowels that may fall out (one is in the photo the other fell out). There are two more around the perimeter of the cover, roughly at the 3 and 8 o'clock positions (see next photo). The thing at the top is a little plug that should have small rubber washers around it.


7. This is what you see with the cover removed. Note the dangling ignition pulse sensor. Don't mess with anything and your cover swap should be without issues. The IP sensor really only fits in one way but given sufficient effort you could install it backwards. See photo above for its correct orientation. That's your clutch pack on the left and you can see the two perimeter dowels at 3 and 8 o'clock. If yours fell out when you pulled the cover off put them back in those positions.


8. Make sure you have this little plug back in its hole at the top next to the IP sensor. Mine fell out and it's the size of a watch battery so easy to miss.


9. Clean off any old gasket residue with a plastic scraper. With dowels back in place and IP sensor torqued down to 12 N/M in your new cover apply the new gasket and the gasket sealer/maker of your choice. I put it on the engine side vs. on the cover.

10. Using a criss-cross pattern tighten the cover bolts down to 12 N/m, replace the timing hole cap and oil filler cap and you're done. Add motor oil. The gasket maker I use wants 24 hours to cure so I'll wait until tomorrow to check for leaks. My cover looks out of the ordinary because I painted the center part gloss black. I bought it used and it had some minor surface scratches.

 

BTW, don't toss that old cover away, many members send them into Sebspeed Customs to have the clear window put on them.

 

Also keep in mind that if your bike is on the side stand, you don't need to drain the oil.

 

Excellent write up and pics. Thank you.
My cover had a very minor scrape and I was able to prep and spray it with VHT while on the bike. I took lots of time to protect from over spray.