My recently aquired 97 750VFR is in need of a few things sorting as follows:-
1. Brakes back and front dragging so caliper overhaul, am I likely to need pistons or just seals?
2. Ignition switch sometimes need to waggle the key to get it to turn on, PO says it's never turned off while riding but there's always a first time! can you replace just the switch part to keep the keys all the same?
3. Mirrors have lost their rubber sleeves, are these available or is it a change to 2001 mirrors?
4. All the bodywork is in need of attention, a couple of small repairs although the tank is really good, colour is R158P any tips for getting a good result as I understand it can be a bit tricky?
On the brakes you will need to remove and inspect the pistons to determine if they need replacing. If they are pitted it's advisable to replace. You should definitely replace the seals and the slider boots. It's probably worth polishing up the slider pins as best you can although if they are really bad they can be replaced.
I'd recommend new pads as dragging may have glazed the surface. Something to check along with rotor thickness (which should be stamped on the rotor). With a bike of that age a good check of the hoses would be in order. Personally, I would put in stainless bleed nipples as well.
I've had good experiences and life from EBC HH type pads and EBC rotors. And HEL for braided hoses if you want to go that route. TRK seal kits are fine. Wemoto.com has all the parts you are likely to need.
I can add some comments on paint. The Honda touch up paint is USELESS on that color. The paint is a candy and pearl, and the touch up is nearly translucent and tends to somehow make scratches even more visible in my experience over the years.
Not just a bit tricky, that red is VERY HARD to match. And red paints are very fucking expensive now, at least here in the US. People that have done it got really fucking lucky or they made a deal with the devil and in exchange, their soul and future generations of their family are his. I have very personal experience that didn't cost me my soul, but it did take a couple years off of my life.
My recently aquired 97 750VFR is in need of a few things sorting as follows:-
1. Brakes back and front dragging so caliper overhaul, am I likely to need pistons or just seals?
2. Ignition switch sometimes need to waggle the key to get it to turn on, PO says it's never turned off while riding but there's always a first time! can you replace just the switch part to keep the keys all the same?
3. Mirrors have lost their rubber sleeves, are these available or is it a change to 2001 mirrors?
4. All the bodywork is in need of attention, a couple of small repairs although the tank is really good, colour is R158P any tips for getting a good result as I understand it can be a bit tricky?
I think that'll do for starters.
TIA
Graham
IIRC, the switch is available separately from the lock cylinder, but it could have been discontinued. Looks like 35101-MZ7-600, and the Internet suggests that it is still available in some places. (Always check pn. for yourself!)
The "mirror condoms" are not available separately. Good excuse for an upgrade!
IIRC, the switch is available separately from the lock cylinder, but it could have been discontinued. Looks like 35101-MZ7-600, and the Internet suggests that it is still available in some places. (Always check pn. for yourself!)
The "mirror condoms" are not available separately. Good excuse for an upgrade!
Ciao,
JZH
Thanks for the part number, found one in Japan of all places!
On the brakes you will need to remove and inspect the pistons to determine if they need replacing. If they are pitted it's advisable to replace. You should definitely replace the seals and the slider boots. It's probably worth polishing up the slider pins as best you can although if they are really bad they can be replaced.
I'd recommend new pads as dragging may have glazed the surface. Something to check along with rotor thickness (which should be stamped on the rotor). With a bike of that age a good check of the hoses would be in order. Personally, I would put in stainless bleed nipples as well.
I've had good experiences and life from EBC HH type pads and EBC rotors. And HEL for braided hoses if you want to go that route. TRK seal kits are fine. Wemoto.com has all the parts you are likely to need.
Thanks for the info, the hoses are already braided so we're good there, obviously all new rubbers and if the pistons are bad I'll go for the stainless ones as they're only a few quid dearer.
I can add some comments on paint. The Honda touch up paint is USELESS on that color. The paint is a candy and pearl, and the touch up is nearly translucent and tends to somehow make scratches even more visible in my experience over the years.
Not just a bit tricky, that red is VERY HARD to match. And red paints are very fucking expensive now, at least here in the US. People that have done it got really fucking lucky or they made a deal with the devil and in exchange, their soul and future generations of their family are his. I have very personal experience that didn't cost me my soul, but it did take a couple years off of my life.
Hi Captain 80's I've just done my truck in metallic gold and know exactly what you mean about scratches in the primer, I'll need to do some sections again to rectify!
I have a small repair to do on the left side around the flasher as it blew over in a storm before I owned it but that part had received a very bad paint job in the past, I have a good friend who has his own paint and body shop so I'll see if he can help me out when the time comes.
God Dam Capt. That paint on your 4th gen is truly amazing, a person could get lost looking at how deep the coat is, there must be a pile of fine wet sanding followed by polishing compound for hours
Todays update, Japan source failed, no longer available, so thought I'd have a look at fixing the ignition switch. Got the keyswitch out and split the switch from the lock and found that the detents of the switch are in the switch side but the switch can go beyond the contacts and loose continuity, twist the switch back a little and contact is made again. So plan B is get a replacement ignition switch assembly and swap the switch part on to my lock part, anybody tried this, the replacement would need to be a faithfull copy of the original though.
There seem to be numerous ignition switch units available from various sources are any particular ones better than others as there is a wide range of prices?
So today stripped off the front calipers and stripped them for inspection, found quite a bit of crud in the fluid reservoir so doesn't look like anyone has been in there for some time, while in there I discovered a small spring clip which looks like it fits in the circular recess in the base of the reservoir? Not really sure what it does though? There was quite a bit of corrosion under the dust seals which pushed them out of their groove and was making the pistons stick
Just pulled the trigger on all the parts needed to do a full overhaul of the brakes back and front, pistons weren't too bad but had some pitting so they went in the bin with all the rubbers etc.
Any suggestions for gold paint to tidy the calipers up before I rebuild them?
Still looking into the ignition switch, looking at photos it looks like I will be able to transfer my lock onto the new switch but if not I'll just have to live with an odd ignition key.
Made a scary discovery today while stripping out the rear brakes and master cylinder, looked at the rubber flexy brake hose and it's date stamped 1997 so it's the original!! Braided stainles hose on order!
Frankly I would go for master cylinder rebuild then as well, front and rear. Not difficult and you've got the system apart anyway
Already under way, just waiting for the parts to arrive, my rules for brakes if it's not perfect replace it, you can't be too careful when it comes to brakes!
All my brake overhaul kits arrived late this afternoon so set to on the rear master cylinder, quite a pig to get apart as the circlip and washer underneath were well and truly rusted in but perseverance won out in the end, the pushrod adjustment needed heat to get it freed up so doesn't look like it's been disturbed in a long time. I'll do the caliper tomorrow as it's already in bits then I'll bag them up for now as I'll be stripping off the rear subframe for painting.
Started on the fairing repairs today while I was waiting for the brake parts, not something I've ever done before but You Tube is a great resource, got to make up some ABS sludge to reinforce the repairs, got some acetone and found some ABS pipe off cuts to dissolve, every days a school day!
Fairing repairs have been progressing, the repairs have been almost completed, just a little bit of filling left to do then primer if possible tomorrow followed by the basecoat and clear, the upper part of the fairing had been given a very bad paint job previously which all had to be stripped off before I could start the repairs, started sanding and found about 6 different layers as well as several ares of crazing caused by bad reactions with the excessive amount of paint and filler on them. Started sanding but it was taking for ever so tried paint stripper which removed the paint but then started to melt the ABS so had to abandon that, ended up blasting it off with medium ground glass in the blast cabinet which actually worked very well, left most of the original Honda red in place so hit the bare ABS with adhesion promoter ready for the primer, I'll be doing spray outs first to determine how many coats of red to put on for the best match with the tank which I'm not painting, although I might give it another coat of clear to give it a nice shine.
Upper fairing parts now in primer ready for the basecoat and clear, rest of the plastics in preparation for priming, if the rain holds off I'm hoping to get that done as well today. So far so good, onwards and upwards as they say!
So after a few days rain managed to get the rest of the fairing into primer, I'm leaving the rear side panels for now as they are in good shape so will see how good a match I get before deciding whether or not to paint them.
So had a reasonable day today, plenty of sunshine so got all the plastics painted, had a mishap with the headlight surround, had a bit of clear left in the pot so decided to give it another coat of clear, big mistake went from nice and shiny to crinkle finish before my very eyes, good job it was a small part to strip and redo, job for tomorrow 😞
had a bit of clear left in the pot so decided to give it another coat of clear, big mistake went from nice and shiny to crinkle finish before my very eyes
Been there so many times.... "Pretty damn good. {shakes can to check} Just one last coa..... fuck."
Yes I have lots and will be putting them up shortly but am having some IT issues with my phone just now where my photos are stored so bear with me for now
What is your method for avoiding the orange peel effect?
Make sure the paint is thoroughly mixed, I pour boiling water over the bottom of the can to ensure that the pigment is softened up this usually makes the paint flow better from the nozzle
Heres the subframe I did earlier along with the cleaned rear fender and all the wiring reconnected before I forget what goes where!
With pearls in particular, warm the paint a bit beforehand, mix thoroughly and make sure you get all the paint from the bottom of the tin for the best chance of a match. When it comes to spraying the basecoat spray a light drop coat first, further back from the job so you get a dustcoat all over then allow about 10- 15minutes flash then a full second coat at the usual distance to get a full coat, once that has dried to a matt finish with no shiny patches then you're ready for the clearcoat, again a light first coat followed by a full second coat after the flash time, the light first coat is like a tie coat that helps to stop the finish coat from running, make sure you've got into all the curves and pockets. When it's dry and hard check all round for any bits you might have missed, for a deeper shine go all over with 800 wet n dry with plenty of soapy water, when it's matt all over go with another coat of clear, with care you should have a nice flat shiny finish. I'll be giving mine a rub down and another coat of clear for better depth. After the rub down I'l put on the decals then clear over the top to seal them on to stop any peeling in the future.
Starting to come together now, oil and filter changed, fresh coolant in, clutch fluid changed while the fairings were off, fitted a new headlight bulb as only one side had main beam, luckily I had one in my spares drawer!
Just the tank to paint and we're all done, I hope.
This was the era of grey imports into the UK. Many EU-spec bikes were not set up to run both headlight bulbs (I think a relay may have been missing, as well as the bulb and wiring), so you might want to make sure you're not just setting up your headlight switch to fry... (Check that you've got both hi and lo beam relays.)
This was the era of grey imports into the UK. Many EU-spec bikes were not set up to run both headlight bulbs (I think a relay may have been missing, as well as the bulb and wiring), so you might want to make sure you're not just setting up your headlight switch to fry... (Check that you've got both hi and lo beam relays.)
Ciao,
JZH
Hi thanks for that tip, I went through the wiring just in case only one was supposed to have Hi beam and all the wiring is there and the plug on the lamp is live as well and all is as per the wiring diagram, only the right hand headlamp has the pilot bulb though, some markets have one in each headlamp but not when UK spec.
Unfortunately the colour was a bit off so had to paint the whole bike so took a bit longer but all looks good now with everything the same colour even if it's not right but I'm not going for concours.
Unfortunately the colour was a bit off so had to paint the whole bike so took a bit longer but all looks good now with everything the same colour even if it's not right but I'm not going for concours.
Oldred
Hi Oldred,
Can you put up some pictures of finished bike? I am currently repairing all ABS cowlings with cracks and missing tabs with Plastex, front uppers are finished ready for sanding. How long did it take to spray the whole bike after prep work?
I have a mate with compressor and spray gun but never sprayed before, I may use may use Rustoleum apple red spray cans or be brave and get 1 litre of R157/ honda red mixed up. Current paint job is terrible with no clear coat
End of thread · 41 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 15 Sep 2025