Picked up the VFR700 with serious "been sitting" issues and crash damage but only 5k on the clock. Year old fuel in the tank, wouldn't idle off of choke, rotten tires, brakes dragging. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get it running and sell it, or get it running, make it look nice again, and keep it.
The carbs weren't that hard to pull or re-install, not compared to my inline fours. The idle circuit was completely clogged but otherwise the carbs were bone stock with EPA caps still on, and un-boogered-up by anybody before me. A very good cleaning and bench synch was all I did.
The airbox had massive quantities of squirrel nest and a dead squirrel in it. New filter's on order but I did clean out the old one and put it back in for now.
I bled out what had to have been 25-year-old brake fluid, it was jelly in the calipers but the front ones bled out and worked fine in true Honda style, no more dragging there.
The rear caliper bothers me, there was no fluid at all in the system and one piston is stuck. The reservoir was clean and empty, not stained with old fluid. The bike only has 5k miles on it but the rear pads were worn completely down. So who knows how long the PO was riding the thing with the rear brake dragging? I'm thinking that once I get it sorted I'm going to need a rear rotor. For now I took the caliper off and wired it to the footpeg.
Oh, and one chain adjuster is missing. :blink:
It took a long time and a battery charge to get the fuel through the pump and into the carbs, but it finally fired up and idled and smoked a little bit.
Once off of choke, I couldn't resist, I got on it and rode it, bad tire, no rear brake and all, carefully around the neighborhood with husband on standby to come with the truck if I wasn't back home in five minutes.
With every quarter mile the bike got smoother and smoother and the acceleration stutters just faded away as the fresh gasoline replaced the nasty that was in the fuel pump. By the third ride the bike was performing pretty darn well, but I won't push it up to freeway speeds till I get a new tire.
I think I'll keep it, now I just wonder if I want to do the paint up like stock, or make it just one color. I can do the paint and the bodywork, but I've never done decals under clear coat before.
So Yes, I have a couple questions.
1) Is it just me or does this bike have a nasty little front end tuck when you take it around a curve? (It still handles way better than my Vmax, even with no rear brake and leaky fork seals.)
2) What are the chances the cooling system has suffered damage from sitting? The bike never warmed up to even 1/3 on the gauge, I'm wondering in the thermostat's stuck open. Do they go bad with time? Where is everyone else's bike running on the temp gauge?
Thanks for any advice on bringing the beastie back to life....
The front tuck could be the feeling of the 16" front wheel. Garbage tires and leaky fork seals sure don't help... :goofy:
If you haven't flushed the coolant, you should. You can test the thermostat to see if it's working properly or not. Also, while the coolant is out, pull the temp sensor(fan switch) from the rad and clean if needed, and also check the temp sensor(gauge readout) in the top of the thermostat housing.
The manual says what kind of coolant I need, I'll go ahead and flush it all out and check that stuff. Don't want to get into the thermostat if I don't have to, it will mean more gaskets to buy....
[image: View Post]coffeebrake, on 06 October 2010 - 05:43 AM, said:
Exactly the info I needed, thanks!
The manual says what kind of coolant I need, I'll go ahead and flush it all out and check that stuff. Don't want to get into the thermostat if I don't have to, it will mean more gaskets to buy....
The thermostat cover seals with an o-ring, no gasket needed. :beer:
Also, Prestone 50/50 is what I use in my bikes. Fits the description in the manual, and my wallet too...
[image: View Post]SEBSPEED, on 06 October 2010 - 05:51 AM, said:
[image: View Post]coffeebrake, on 06 October 2010 - 05:43 AM, said:
Exactly the info I needed, thanks!
The manual says what kind of coolant I need, I'll go ahead and flush it all out and check that stuff. Don't want to get into the thermostat if I don't have to, it will mean more gaskets to buy....
The thermostat cover seals with an o-ring, no gasket needed. :beer:
Also, Prestone 50/50 is what I use in my bikes. Fits the description in the manual, and my wallet too...
Great, thanks again. I went through cooling system woes this summer on the Kawasaki, and when I opened the thermostat housing the o-rings came away in a goopy mess. That bike is only 6 years old. I assumed the 25-year old Honda would be even worse.
And take it from me, you don't want to buying o-rings from honda! I've recently been kicked in the balls by them over carby o-rings/seals for a 4th Gen! Yes, I did try other suppliers for o-rings but none were close enough, and you have no choice when it comes to the float bowl & intake flute seals. In the end they cost me over $300 dollars (AU)!
Did the temp gauge move at all? If so, I would first suspect the thermostat which is very likely corroded ... although, it should have stuck shut, not open. <shurgs>
The temp gauge did move, it came up about a third of its travel.
I'm flushing the radiator before work this morning.
And...waiting on a new rear caliper piston. As hard as I tried, I couldn't remove the stuck one without scarring it beyond repair. :angry: It was only twenty bucks, at least. I won't rebuild it unless it leaks.
I need to post some pics of the crash damage, get ya'll's opinions of what happened. The whole front end may have been replaced by the first owner. There's JB Weld on the front head cover, a really old repair. It's not leaking but the gasket is seeping in that area. The marks around it are consistent with the front tire making contact :ohmy: . The front axle nut is ground down and of course there's that aftermarket exhaust on it (which sounds quite nice :cool: ). Makes me wonder if it went down, hard, as the second owner got it 4 years old with hardly any miles. The second owner also crashed it, a picnic table or something like that considering the damage to the fairing. The side fairings are aftermarket, looks like Maiers. The belly pan is misisng altogether. The front fairing is original but beat all to heck, and the lenses on the speedo/tach are cracked. The left footpeg bracket is broken and seems to be made of unobtainium.
I've been taking pics of all the stupid neglect as I go along, squirrels, jelly-filled calipers and all. Can't wait to see what comes out of the forks...
[image: View Post]SEBSPEED, on 07 October 2010 - 05:59 AM, said:
Post some pics.
I think I have the gauge lens and the left footpeg + bracket.
Seb I'd sure like to buy that footpeg. My pop's a professional welding expert on aluminum, but that's quite a ride out to his house...and then I "owe" him...and then I have to explain what I'm doing with "one-a-them Gol-darned RICE BURNERS!!!!" (old Harley guy, my pop is). Nevermind the Vmax regularly smokes his fastest Harley...but yeah I'm interested in the footpeg and probably the lens, the break is flexing and my foot keeps coming off the peg, safety issue and all...
[image: View Post]coffeebrake, on 07 October 2010 - 06:58 AM, said:
[image: View Post]SEBSPEED, on 07 October 2010 - 05:59 AM, said:
Post some pics.
I think I have the gauge lens and the left footpeg + bracket.
Seb I'd sure like to buy that footpeg. My pop's a professional welding expert on aluminum, but that's quite a ride out to his house...and then I "owe" him...and then I have to explain what I'm doing with "one-a-them Gol-darned RICE BURNERS!!!!" (old Harley guy, my pop is). Nevermind the Vmax regularly smokes his fastest Harley...but yeah I'm interested in the footpeg and probably the lens, the break is flexing and my foot keeps coming off the peg, safety issue and all...
Ok, let me find it. Do you have the square gauges or are yours round? Mine are square faced.
My gauges are round. Boo. But I think if I can get the housing apart I can put in a new plastic. Cosmetics must wait for now, or at least for the sale of the Vmax.
Nothing scary-looking came out of the cooling system, no rust or cloudiness.
Thanks again for advice, it's making it a lot simpler....
New piston in the caliper, now there are rear brakes that work and no leaks yet.
Cooling system flushed, no rust or funk came out with the coolant (where the heck do I get rid of that stuff? Nobody recycles coolant around here!)
The new tire should arrive today to replace the 25-year-old stock rubber on there now, can't believe that tire didn't fail on the test ride.
Looks like the old bike's very near streetable!
What's more, I found a very good front fairing on Ebay for cheap, and a known good fuel tank for even cheaper. So I can keep the bike on the road while I paint it.
Thanks for the help and advice, everybody.
[image: View Post]coffeebrake, on 12 October 2010 - 05:31 AM, said:
New piston in the caliper, now there are rear brakes that work and no leaks yet.
Cooling system flushed, no rust or funk came out with the coolant (where the heck do I get rid of that stuff? Nobody recycles coolant around here!)
The new tire should arrive today to replace the 25-year-old stock rubber on there now, can't believe that tire didn't fail on the test ride.
Looks like the old bike's very near streetable!
What's more, I found a very good front fairing on Ebay for cheap, and a known good fuel tank for even cheaper. So I can keep the bike on the road while I paint it.
Thanks for the help and advice, everybody.
Good work. You might find a quick-lube place that will take your coolant for you. I've done it before, they took my old brake fluid too. Also contact your local government and ask if they have annual or semi-annual "Haz-mat Removal" days. A lot of places do this as a free service to keep people from improperly disposing of fluorescent lights, old house paint, batteries, etc.
Coffee, what a vivid imagination you have! We almost believed your story but we don't have any picture proof to confirm that this bike even exists LOL !!
[image: View Post]RollinAgain, on 12 October 2010 - 09:02 AM, said:
Coffee, what a vivid imagination you have! We almost believed your story but we don't have any picture proof to confirm that this bike even exists LOL !!
Rollin
Oh yeah...I guess ya'll still want pics.
It's still rough-looking, I'm only concentrating my meager finances towards getting it safe and street-worthy before I worry about paint and bodywork. Once the Vmax sells I'll have what I need to get it looking right.
Thanks for posting the pics. You'll find lots of us around here who love the older bikes and we love seeing the magical transformation from start to finish. The bike really doesn't look all that bad either. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress. How does the inside of the tank look?
[image: View Post]RollinAgain, on 12 October 2010 - 09:53 AM, said:
Thanks for posting the pics. You'll find lots of us around here who love the older bikes and we love seeing the magical transformation from start to finish. The bike really doesn't look all that bad either. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress. How does the inside of the tank look?
Rollin
Not too bad, actually. I couldn't see in there real good so I took flash photos, looks alright. I think the owner was in the habit of dropping the gasoline every winter up till this past year when he moved down here. This looks like it would be a royal pain to use POR-15 like I normally do....has anybody treated a tank like these to prevent rust?
Also the stuck brake piston. One came out OK, the other one was stuck so bad I just couldn't get it out without gouging it all to heck. Ron Ayers cross-fit listings to the rescue, the piston from a Honda dirt bike fits and is lots cheaper!
Also what must have been 25-year-old brake fluid, the clutch was even worse. Jelly bled out of all three calipers and the clutch slave, I've been through must be a half gallon of brake fluid getting it clean again.
I thought the gauges had cracks in the lenses from the crash. Wrong. It's not cracks, it's most of the clear protective sheet still on the lens, I think. At least something clear is peeling off when I pick at the "crack," leaving a powdery residue underneath. when it's running right I'll carefully get some good cleaner in there and see if the lenses are either very very good, or literally falling apart. But the rest of the bike doens't show UV damage at all....
Not too bad, actually. I couldn't see in there real good so I took flash photos, looks alright. I think the owner was in the habit of dropping the gasoline every winter up till this past year when he moved down here. This looks like it would be a royal pain to use POR-15 like I normally do....has anybody treated a tank like these to prevent rust?
[/quote]
I just recoated my tank with this stuff. Of course I had to clean out all the ______ from the old fuel first. Lots of rust and junk. I used aceotone to clean it out. Many different products to use to re coat, this one recommended to me by a local mechanic. It has worked well now for 400 miles... :cheerleader:
Woot! New tire's on! Me and hubby have the HF tire changer and I can always remove the old tire, but I can never get the new tire on without the "man muscle." Today I got the new tire on by myself! :491:
The anti dive thing...is it supposed to be on both forks? Mine's only one one. The other fork is like normal forks.
A bit of polishing and it seems that I do not have cracked gauge lenses as I thought. Rather, the protective clear film was never completely removed since it was new! Underneath is a powdery residue but polish it away, and the lenses have never been touched.
So...now I'm going to go carefully scrub in a new tire on a new (to me) bike. With brakes, now!
I hardly ever get a new anything, this bike is about the newest I've ever had...I'm so excited!
[image: View Post]coffeebrake, on 13 October 2010 - 02:08 PM, said:
Woot! New tire's on! Me and hubby have the HF tire changer and I can always remove the old tire, but I can never get the new tire on without the "man muscle." Today I got the new tire on by myself! :491:
The anti dive thing...is it supposed to be on both forks? Mine's only one one. The other fork is like normal forks.
A bit of polishing and it seems that I do not have cracked gauge lenses as I thought. Rather, the protective clear film was never completely removed since it was new! Underneath is a powdery residue but polish it away, and the lenses have never been touched.
So...now I'm going to go carefully scrub in a new tire on a new (to me) bike. With brakes, now!
I hardly ever get a new anything, this bike is about the newest I've ever had...I'm so excited!
:bliss:
I think it is was on one leg only, restricting the oil flow in the fork leg under braking, stiffening the suspension.
My brother's CX650 (many moons ago) had TRAC I think. Pity It didn't have ABS........ I crashed his bike... :pissed:
Good, thanks. I'm glad I don't have some Frankenstein front end. I know it was crashed but I don't know how bad, or what was replaced.
Put on about 30 miles of around town with a little bit of interstate. It's doing real good. Temp gauge never got past 1/3 and as soon as I started moving, it cooled right off.
New tire on there makes for a much better feel, but the rear suspension feels like it's about 25 years old! :goofy:
The front brakes feel nonexistant. I wonder if the pads/rotors are glazed? Of course the rear brake that was seized up feels worse than drums, I thought it would. New pads and a hit of scotch-brite to the rotors should help.
One chain adjuster is missing, a replacement from Ebay is on the way. When it gets here I can take care of the chain, see if it's worth keeping.
This bike has Supertrapps fitted, it seems to stumble on hard acceleration at about 5.5k-6.5k RPMs. Anybody else see it with aftermarket or stock pipes?
And the seat. Oh my dear sweet buns, did Corbin make a seat for this beast? Tell me Corbin made a seat for this bike....