Resurrecting a 1986 Honda VF500f

Hi All,
  
    I was given a 1986 Honda VF500F as a birthday present a few weeks ago. This is going to be my first bike, I am really excited about that. The motorcycle was stored with all of its fluids for about 10 years. What are the prerequisites for getting the bike started for the first time?

***I tried searching the forum but didn't find the answer***

Thanks,
D

[image: View Post]1986vf500, on 06 August 2011 - 03:05 PM, said:

Hi All,
  
    I was given a 1986 Honda VF500F as a birthday present a few weeks ago. This is going to be my first bike, I am really excited about that. The motorcycle was stored with all of its fluids for about 10 years. What are the prerequisites for getting the bike started for the first time?

***I tried searching the forum but didn't find the answer***

Thanks,
D

I think Sebspeed is the expert in this kind of stuff, but carbs are gonna need to be pulled and cleaned and there may be rust in the tank. Also, oil drain, coolant, tires, probably the coolant hoses need replacement. New battery, brake fluid bleed............ I think you may see where this is going........
Others will be along shortly to chip in more ideas

Some pictures of the bike to get an idea of condition will help

[image: View Post]mello dude, on 06 August 2011 - 04:10 PM, said:

[image: View Post]1986vf500, on 06 August 2011 - 03:05 PM, said:

Hi All,
  
    I was given a 1986 Honda VF500F as a birthday present a few weeks ago. This is going to be my first bike, I am really excited about that. The motorcycle was stored with all of its fluids for about 10 years. What are the prerequisites for getting the bike started for the first time?

***I tried searching the forum but didn't find the answer***

Thanks,
D

I think Sebspeed is the expert in this kind of stuff, but carbs are gonna need to be pulled and cleaned and there may be rust in the tank. Also, oil drain, coolant, tires, probably the coolant hoses need replacement. New battery, brake fluid bleed............ I think you may see where this is going........
Others will be along shortly to chip in more ideas

Some pictures of the bike to get an idea of condition will help


Thanks mello dude, I get the drift. The coolant hoses feel squishy (not hard and brittle). I already have a AGM battery ordered. What should a look for after I pull the carbs?
I will post some pics later tonight (after work). Thanks again.

[image: View Post]1986vf500, on 06 August 2011 - 03:05 PM, said:

Hi All,
  
    I was given a 1986 Honda VF500F as a birthday present a few weeks ago. This is going to be my first bike, I am really excited about that. The motorcycle was stored with all of its fluids for about 10 years. What are the prerequisites for getting the bike started for the first time?

I'm a couple weeks ahead of you.  I bought an 85 VF500F about 3 years ago, just now have it running.  All I've done so far is pull and clean the carbs.  You'll want to clean everything you can without separating the carbs. DO NOT separate the carbs from the air plenum unless you have replacement fuel tubes in hand.  Unless there is a known leak, not really necessary to separate the carbs.  I wound up spraying the rubber boots that hold the carbs to the intake with WD-40 and let them sit overnight.  This seemed to soften them up and makes reassembly much easier if the rubber has gotten hard.  
Next step for me is new fork seals.
You can also find a lot of helpful people at sabmag.org.  There is an email list you can sign up for.  Primarily for 1st gen V4 Magna, Sabre, and Interceptor.

Jeff - In HOT Florida
85 VF1100S Sabre\
85 VF500F Interceptor
84 VF1000F Interceptor

Drain the tank of old gas and make sure that it isn't rusted which it prolly is.
Then it will be another adventure with tank restoration
Also I would replace all the fluids;  Engine and fork oils, brake and clutch fluids and coolant
Then start playing with carbs.
If you're not a carb guru, consider sending them out to someone who knows what they're doing (what I would do).

[image: View Post]V4Ever, on 06 August 2011 - 07:00 PM, said:

I'm a couple weeks ahead of you.  I bought an 85 VF500F about 3 years ago, just now have it running.  All I've done so far is pull and clean the carbs.  You'll want to clean everything you can without separating the carbs. DO NOT separate the carbs from the air plenum unless you have replacement fuel tubes in hand.  Unless there is a known leak, not really necessary to separate the carbs.  I wound up spraying the rubber boots that hold the carbs to the intake with WD-40 and let them sit overnight.  This seemed to soften them up and makes reassembly much easier if the rubber has gotten hard.  
Next step for me is new fork seals.
You can also find a lot of helpful people at sabmag.org.  There is an email list you can sign up for.  Primarily for 1st gen V4 Magna, Sabre, and Interceptor.

Jeff - In HOT Florida
85 VF1100S Sabre\
85 VF500F Interceptor
84 VF1000F Interceptor

Thanks Jeff, so your saying that I shouldn't remove the carbs from the engine, right? Can you explain what the air plenum is (forgive my ignorance)? Thanks for the tip regarding sabmag.

D

The plenum is the large plate that the carbs are attached to and holds the air filter. If you remove the plate from the carbs, the fuel tubes, vent tubes and throttle plate springs, among other things,  will come loose and the whole mess is a real PITA to get back together. It is best to remove the plate and carbs as an assembly. However..........If you want to do a complete overhaul of the carbs, removing the plate is necessary to replace the fuel tube and vent tube O rings. I disassembled everything to clean and overhaul the carbs on my '85, it takes quite a bit of patience and ?skill? to get everything back together.
BTW, I recently bought a wrecked low mileage '86 VF500F for salvage, it has a lot of good usable parts. If you need anything, let me know.

VF500s fall neatly into 2 catagories: good runners that have ALWAYS been well maintained, and heart-breaking MONEY PITS that sooner or later are junked.

In either case, parts are scarce, reliability is far from good, and maintenance is frequently needed.


ANY newer bike would be a better choice.

I am in semi agreement with Squirrelman...............The bike has been sitting for 10 years, you have a lot of work ahead of you. You will need good mechanical skills, experience and plenty of patience to tackle a job like this. If you are determined to do it, gain all the knowledge you can find about this bike. Get a factory service manual and start reading. A great source for info is www.vfrworld.com, the guys on the early generation forum are very knowledgeable and are very helpful. Use your search engine to find articles and info on the bike. A project like this can be very rewarding if successful, but bear in mind that it is very possible for things to go down the toilet at any stage of the game. Not trying to discourage here, just being realistic.