Hi guys, a newbie here. I just discovered this site a couple of days ago, and have already benefited greatly... got my project bike running the same day I bought it, etc.
Last Sunday (5 days ago), I purchased a 2006 VFR800A that had been crashed into a fence. Over the next six weeks or so, I'll be attempting to rebuild the bike, and will be posting my progress here.
Also, my brother had asked me to send him photos of my progress; this will be a convenient way to keep him in the loop, too.
Again, I'm a newbie at this, so please excuse my mistakes in advance! (For instance, if this topic is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it, mods, thanks!)
I'll begin by posting a picture or two of the bike as it is now... I haven't posted pictures before, so we'll see how this goes...
Here's the bike as I bought it... (now seeing if I can attach a photo...)
Hmm, can I not upload a photo directly to this post? The only choice I can see is linking to a URL. Hmm, more study needed...
[image: DSC00390.JPG]
OK, there we go. Going one step back and doing a "Reply" to the topic gave me the "Choose Files..." button.
Hmm, I see that I'm limited to 50MB of files... will cut down the file size of subsequent photos...
Aha, looks like the uploading process automatically converted my photo to 640 x 480; cool.
OK... The bike was crashed, mangling up the front of the bike pretty well. The fairing is missing entirely, as is the right passenger peg mount and the aft 50% of the exhaust system. The left front brake rotor is bent, and both the clutch and front brake don't work; hopefully, they just need to be bled. The center stand is badly dented, and the left radiator is dented, but still appears functional.
Since the frame and forks seem to be straight, the biggest risk on this bike (to me, anyway) was that it was not running. So, naturally, getting the thing running was my first priority.
Lots of guys here will have parts for you, also Ebay.
Good luck. Hope to see progress soon!
Awesome project! Kind of Jealous...are you going to fighter it? Thats what i would do with the front fairing missing....
Thanks to this VFR Discussion Forum (thank you, guys), I was able to troubleshoot the not-running issue within a couple of hours, and had the bike running the same day that I picked it up (well, technically, the next morning... note to self: next time, don't start troubleshooting things after lying down in bed with your iPad; you'll find yourself running back and forth to the garage for a good part of the night wearing not much more than flip-flops).
Since there was no sound from the fuel pump when the key was turned on, I deduced that there was (at least) an electrical problem, or less likely, a problem with the fuel pump itself.
One of the two engine-electrical-system relays was bent (from the crash). When I took the cover off the relay, I saw that the two tiny wires from the coils had been torn from their moorings. So, a little solder on the two joints, and that was fixed...
[image: DSC00410.JPG]
Also, the orange ground connector's spidery-looking connector and cap were missing, so I connected the appropriate terminals using some paper clips...
[image: DSC00399.JPG]
I turned on the key, and was very pleased to hear the purring of the fuel pump. Then, a press of the Start button, and VOILA! She instantly started up, much to my great delight. (Yes, I was going to get some sleep that night, er, morning, after all!) She sounds GREAT! No mufflers, of course, but man, what a nice-sounding motor! Great throttle response, nice, clean growl, etc. (Hopefully, my neighbors appreciated the sound as much as I did.)
Now for the rest of the project...
I've already ordered most of the parts that I'll need off of eBay, and a few more from a couple of mail order parts houses.
The parts have already begun to arrive. The first to arrive was the center stand, which arrived yesterday. What I expected to be a simple job (I hadn't yet checked the forum regarding center stand removal and installation) turned out to be an all-evening job, and still isn't finished. To remove the right-side center stand mounting/pivot bolt, I had to remove the entire exhaust system. Then, I snapped the head off the bolt, trying to loosen it. I therefore drilled a hole in it, and tried to remove it with an easy-out, to no avail. I therefore drilled it out further and attempted to re-thread the deepening mess with a non-metric tap (I don't have any metric taps... need to get some), and broke off the tap. Fortunately, I was able to pound the broken piece of the tap out with a punch from the other side. Then, I tried to drill the bolt out bigger, with the thought of tapping it with a fine (again, non-metric) tap. As I was doing that, the drill snagged real hard, and the remains of the old bolt came screwing out of the hole! Dang! A left-handed bolt!! At least the threads were still in decent shape, so I ordered a new bolt from my local Honda dealer today... not in stock, had to be ordered, so this part of the project will resume in a couple of days.
(Searching later last evening, I discovered that yes, indeed, it had been posted in several places in this forum that the right-hand center stand bolt is left-handed.)
[image: View Post]wagigkpn, on 03 August 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:
Awesome project! Kind of Jealous...are you going to fighter it? Thats what i would do with the front fairing missing....
No, I decided to go the cheap Chinese fairing route. We'll see how that goes. I've read several hours-worth of postings on the subject (here and elsewhere)... enough to convince me that it's worth a shot for my (low-budget) project. I've already ordered the fairing (via Hey Man Speed Motor, Hong Kong); it should be here in 3 to 6 weeks. That time frame should be good; it will allow me to enjoy the rest of the project at a relatively leisurely pace. So far, communication with the seller has been good; that's a good sign, at least.
Here's another "before" picture, from above. Lots of small stuff that needs attention... triple clamp, left handlebar, turn signal switch, clutch master cylinder cover... I have most of these parts on order already, mostly via eBay.
[image: DSC00404.JPG]
I have the speedometer/instrument cluster, but it's pretty badly damaged. That in itself will be an interesting project, which I'll probably talk about later. I'll be combining parts from two different units, with hope of ending up with one good one (with full functionality; the unit that I bought off of eBay has no ABS light, whereas my original one does... again, should be an interesting project).
Looking for input here...
I appear to have the "green wire on the blue connector" configuration, which has been a topic of discussion in other topics. Should I do the extra-ground-wire procedure that I read about, or on a 2006 bike, is that not needed?
[image: DSC00413.JPG]
I think they fixed that part with the newer harnesses in the 2006+
Hey Kevin, welcome to VFRD and congrats on scoring a nice project VFR.
Looks like a fairly easy cosmetic fix, other than many possible wiring issues.
Front stays can be had on eBay, but you'll need the 06-up to have the correct CPU mount.
BR
Good luck, lot a patience and full use of Service Manual which can be downloaded here on vfrdiscussion. Seeing your pictures surely brigs back memories. Due to back kissing a car behind at over 100km/h (60 mph) my forks, rotors, fairings (I was using some aftermarket fiber glass), headlights, bank sensor, headers and front sub-frame busted. Ebay was my dear friend as well so I fully recommended it.
Cheers!
You might want to just snag this front harness with all relays off fbay.
http://www.ebay.com/...0717f8f&vxp=mtr
[image: View Post]Polarbear, on 04 August 2012 - 10:28 AM, said:
I think they fixed that part with the newer harnesses in the 2006+
I seem to remember reading that, Polarbear, thank you for the confirmation.
[image: View Post]Baileyrock, on 04 August 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:
Hey Kevin, welcome to VFRD and congrats on scoring a nice project VFR.
Looks like a fairly easy cosmetic fix, other than many possible wiring issues.
Front stays can be had on eBay, but you'll need the 06-up to have the correct CPU mount.
BR
Thank you, BR, yes, I was able to order a new stay for a little over $100, if I remember correctly. At the time the only one on eBay that might have worked for me was "slightly bent." Preference went to the non-slightly-bent (new) one.
[image: View Post]ciprinakos, on 04 August 2012 - 02:18 PM, said:
Good luck, lot a patience and full use of Service Manual which can be downloaded here on vfrdiscussion. Seeing your pictures surely brigs back memories. Due to back kissing a car behind at over 100km/h (60 mph) my forks, rotors, fairings (I was using some aftermarket fiber glass), headlights, bank sensor, headers and front sub-frame busted. Ebay was my dear friend as well so I fully recommended it.
Cheers!
Yikes, EB, I'm glad you came out of that crash alive. My bike was evidently in a much milder crash, as the forks seem to be straight, and the headers were not affected. (Wow, that must have been quite the crash to have reached the headers and front sub-frame.)
[image: View Post]Baileyrock, on 04 August 2012 - 02:34 PM, said:
You might want to just snag this front harness with all relays off fbay.
http://www.ebay.com/...0717f8f&vxp=mtr
Thanks for the heads up, GR. I've got everything working with my existing harness, but it might be good for me to replace my existing harness with one with all non-damaged relays and connectors. I put this one on my "watch" list; I may snag it after I put some thought into it...
I had a great weekend working on the bike; got lots accomplished.
I replaced both of the passenger foot peg holders with eBay units. The right one was missing, and the left one was gold in color, rather than silver, for some reason. The rear shock preload adjuster now has a place to call home (on the right passenger foot peg holder). I was also able to break the preload adjuster free, after taking the knob off and turning it with a socket wrench. My guess is that it had gone for several years without adjustment, and was therefore just mildly and temporarily frozen into position.
I straightened the shift lever and the rear brake lever.
I replaced the clutch lever. I got the clutch working; just had to add brake fluid (the master cylinder was empty) and bleed the system. Seems to work perfectly now.
The right front brake started working all by itself; probably some air bubbles worked themselves up to the top and out of the hydraulic system. I'll bleed it later, though; the lever still feels a little mushy.
I lucked out on the speedometer/tach/LCD's panel. A new one would have been $500. There was a good one on eBay for $275, and a not-quite-as-good one for $75. On the Honda exploded parts diagrams, there are different part numbers for the ABS and non-ABS units. And, on both eBay units, I could see no ABS lights. My plan was to combine the good components of my original panel with those of one of the eBay panels, to end up with one complete unit. I was going to either put the ABS light from my original unit into an eBay unit, or put the left LCD panel from the eBay unit onto my original PC board (the left LCD panel was smashed on my original unit). I sprung for the $75 unit on eBay. I received it and plugged it in on Saturday, and lo and behold, it already had the ABS light (together with the ABS label)! That was a really nice surprise. I cleaned up the unit, and epoxied some mounting tabs onto the back of it (the tabs were broken off, as they were on my original unit), and I think I'm now ready to go.
I replaced the (dirty and gouged) triple clamp with a nice, bright, clean eBay unit; looks much better. It took some work to get the two ignition switch mounting bolts out; they were like allen bolts, but with circles instead of hexagons; obviously not intended to be removed. I drilled the heads out and off with some difficulty; the bolts were almost as hard as my drill bits. Replaced them with regular allen bolts (my $20 collection of misc. used VFR 800 bolts from eBay is coming in handy).
I replaced the turn signal/high-low beam/horn switch; that was a little bit of a project. The unit that I bought off of eBay had a different wiring harness than my original one. Fortunately, the internal parts of the eBay unit were all identical to those of my original one, so I just had to redo the wiring. I redid all 9 wires; now it is all working properly.
The aft half of the exhaust (with the original equipment mufflers), which I purchased via eBay, arrived on Saturday, and looks amazingly good; like brand new, in fact. I'm itching to install it, but I can't do that before I re-install the headers... and, I can't do that before I re-install the (left-handed) right-hand center stand bolt, which should be arriving at my local Honda dealer within a day or two.
I was able to straighten the left-side radiator without much trouble. However, the (plastic) fan blade was broken. I ordered a new one today, along with a few other miscellaneous parts.
So, that was my weekend project. I'm very pleased with how things are turning out so far. I'm looking forward to the arrivals of the next batches of parts, so I can continue on... left front brake disc, left handlebar, grips, fan, upper cowl stay, bolt for the center stand, left headlight and turn signal, maybe that non-damaged headlight wiring harness on eBay, and in a few weeks, the fairing.
I love when people dive in and get stuff done. Took me 2 years and I'm still not done. Good on ya!!
[image: View Post]6thGenBasketCase, on 03 August 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:
[image: View Post]wagigkpn, on 03 August 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:
Awesome project! Kind of Jealous...are you going to fighter it? Thats what i would do with the front fairing missing....
No, I decided to go the cheap Chinese fairing route. We'll see how that goes. I've read several hours-worth of postings on the subject (here and elsewhere)... enough to convince me that it's worth a shot for my (low-budget) project. I've already ordered the fairing (via Hey Man Speed Motor, Hong Kong); it should be here in 3 to 6 weeks. That time frame should be good; it will allow me to enjoy the rest of the project at a relatively leisurely pace. So far, communication with the seller has been good; that's a good sign, at least.
Make sure to check the fairings completely when you get them. I went with chinese fairings last year. I got distracted with a lower fairing that was cracked. The seller wanted to pay me $20 to "fix it yourself". WTF! anyway, after I dealt with that, about 6 months went by. Then I noticed the tank cover decal said "AHOND" not "HONDA". Feel stupid that I never noticed this but I was distracted with the other issue of the fairing I guess.
[image: View Post]Kel, on 06 August 2012 - 08:06 PM, said:
I love when people dive in and get stuff done. Took me 2 years and I'm still not done. Good on ya!!
Yes, as you can probably tell, I'm pretty stoked for this project. I figure I ought to get the work done while the project is fresh and the motivation is strong. It helps that the mailman and UPS man keep bringing me fun stuff just about every day now. And, visions of exploring southern CA this fall on the VFR are helping, too.
[image: View Post]REEK, on 06 August 2012 - 11:43 PM, said:
[image: View Post]6thGenBasketCase, on 03 August 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:
[image: View Post]wagigkpn, on 03 August 2012 - 04:18 PM, said:
Awesome project! Kind of Jealous...are you going to fighter it? Thats what i would do with the front fairing missing....
No, I decided to go the cheap Chinese fairing route. We'll see how that goes. I've read several hours-worth of postings on the subject (here and elsewhere)... enough to convince me that it's worth a shot for my (low-budget) project. I've already ordered the fairing (via Hey Man Speed Motor, Hong Kong); it should be here in 3 to 6 weeks. That time frame should be good; it will allow me to enjoy the rest of the project at a relatively leisurely pace. So far, communication with the seller has been good; that's a good sign, at least.
Make sure to check the fairings completely when you get them. I went with chinese fairings last year. I got distracted with a lower fairing that was cracked. The seller wanted to pay me $20 to "fix it yourself". WTF! anyway, after I dealt with that, about 6 months went by. Then I noticed the tank cover decal said "AHOND" not "HONDA". Feel stupid that I never noticed this but I was distracted with the other issue of the fairing I guess.
Ha, OK, I'll watch for the "AHOND" on the tank cover decal. I'll watch for "RFV" or "FVR," too. (By the way, I like the way VFR is laid out on a QWERTY keyboard; easy to type!)
How do you like the tank cover? I keep having visions of the tank cover looking hokey, and having to paint the tank (I'm going with dark red over the original black tank).
[image: View Post]6thGenBasketCase, on 06 August 2012 - 06:22 PM, said:
[image: View Post]Baileyrock, on 04 August 2012 - 02:34 PM, said:
You might want to just snag this front harness with all relays off fbay.
http://www.ebay.com/...f8f&vxp=mtr
Thanks for the heads up, GR. I've got everything working with my existing harness, but it might be good for me to replace my existing harness with one with all non-damaged relays and connectors. I put this one on my "watch" list; I may snag it after I put some thought into it...
Well, I woke up this morning with 7 reasons to get this harness rolling around in my head, so I went ahead and snagged it...
1. Repace the broken gray connector
2. Repace the broken red connecor
3. Replace the broken relay
4. Replace the tilt angle sensor (cracked mount was questionable)
5. Replace headlight connector with disconnected wire
6. Insurance against almost-broken wires
7. Spare relays
Please forgive my mixing up some of your names above; I was confusing the member names and member titles.
I got the center stand bolt and installed the new center stand. (I had also straightened the kickstand; that was one tough bugger to bend.) I then re-installed the exhaust headers and was then able to install the (eBay item) mufflers. I had some trouble getting the muffler inlet pipe to line up with the header outlet pipe, probably because the exhaust system got a little tweaked in the crash, but with some elbow grease, I got it all together. Looking good, I'd say...
[image: DSC00392.JPG]
I also received the new upper cowl stay (the steel framework that holds the electrical components, upper fairing and mirrors), and installed it. (In the above photo, I had removed the old stay, but not yet installed the new one.) I also installed the new (eBay item) headlight wiring harness, clutch master cylinder cover (with the baffle and plastic gasket) and plastic triple clamp/steering stem plug.
I temporarily placed the speedometer/gauges unit and the right headlight into place on the upper cowl stay; everything is aligning nicely so far.
Today I received in the mail the left front brake disc and the left handlebar; I plan on installing them over the weekend.
I am really curious what you got the bike for and what your budget is for parts! You are cooking on this...very fun to follow! keep it up!
[image: View Post]wagigkpn, on 10 August 2012 - 08:07 PM, said:
I am really curious what you got the bike for and what your budget is for parts! You are cooking on this...very fun to follow! keep it up!
Thanks for the encouragement... As you can probably tell, I'm enjoying the project, too, and I am planning on keeping this thread updated all the way to the end. I have a vision of posting pictures here of my beautiful, dark red, fully-resurrected VFR in another 4 weeks or so; that vision is helping to spur me on!
I paid $1500 for the bike. I was planning on spending about $1000 on parts, but it looks like it's going to be more like $1500, for a total investment of around $3000. If I end up with a decent bike at that price, I'll be very happy.
Last night I installed the left handlebar and the left front brake rotor...
I was expecting the left handlebar installation to be a 5-minute job, but when I first installed it, and got on the bike to test it for position, I discovered that it was bent (it would have been nice if the eBay listing had mentioned this little detail). The end of the bar was about 1.5" too low. So, I spent the next two hours straightening it. I managed to get the job done by putting the clamp end of the bar in a vise, with the grip end of the bar sticking straight up, and bending the thing with a 6' long, 1" diameter (hexagonal cross section, actually) solid steel pry bar. The pry bar was sticking straight up, with rope wrapped around it and the grip section of the handlebar (with appropriate padding to keep from scratching the handlebar). I placed a 1/2" diameter rod (a long bolt) underneath the mid-section (web) of the handlebar, as a fulcrum, as that was where the bar was was bent, so that was where I wanted to un-bend it. Then, standing on the table that the vise was mounted to, with one foot on the vise, the other foot on the opposite side of the table, one hand on the pry bar and the other hand holding onto a garage roof rafter for balance, and pulling like Samson, I was able to get the job done. (I had first tried this technique using a 3' long, 1" diameter pipe, but was not able to get sufficient leverage with that setup.) While doing this procedure, I was a little afraid that the handlebar web might snap in half (as the old handlebar had apparently done, judging by its welded web) and send me flying off the table, but fortunately, that didn't happen.
The brake rotor replacement went easily, and my front wheel can now spin nicely without binding up. I was a little concerned about my eBay rotor, as it was off of a 1999 (5th gen) VFR, but, pleasantly confirming the moderate amount of reasearch that I had done on this, it fit just perfectly.
Edited; had misspelled Samson.
I installed a few small parts that came in the mail today, including the left-side black side plastic body panel that covers the battery, some spacers for the rear shock preload adjuster, and the small bolts (road scrapers?) that attach to the ends of the main footpegs. I also adjusted the chain tension and inspected the air filter.
[image: DSC00395.JPG]
In the photo above (with the gas tank flipped up), if you look carefully (between the front brake lever pivot and the radiator cap), you can look right into the airbox and see the red-colored air filter. The air filter is visible because the airbox's rubber inlet snorkel is missing. Should I replace the snorkel, or is it better to leave it off, for better air flow? Will it be noisy with the snorkel missing? Any thoughts and/or opinions?
And, here's a photo showing the progress so far from the rider's position:
[image: DSC00400.JPG]
So far, all of the electrical system seems to be working well, including the right-side headlight (the only one that came with the bike; the left-side headlight should be coming in the mail next week)—both low and high beams. Now, here's a great thing... simply by replacing the speedometer/gauges panel, I reduced the mileage on the bike from 22,000 miles to 1,700 miles! Hey, what a quick and easy way to reverse 20,000 miles of wear and tear!
I don't think you will be selling that bike anytime soon(maybe never). It's still nice, salvaged title and all, to have a "low mileage" bike. Great work, I'm impressed with all the work your getting done and the skills you have.
nice work!
Just a quick update... I've put a thousand miles or so on the VFR now and am enjoying the heck out of it. No residual issues from the rebuild thus far. Wonderful bike.
Wow, this is one hell of a project. Awesome work.
Most excellent work there...
I've rebuilt my originally 2003 VFR800 twice now... once from a front end smash into a guardrail and the latest rebuild was grafting my original frame and (replaced in first rebuild) front end onto a non-salvageable 2007 model... in order to enjoy the benefits of the newer version of VTEC and other updates and to avoid having to repair a load of problems my '03er had developed (clutch basket wear, shot CCTs, leaking head gaskets, shot rear suspension, etc, etc)... which would have been way more expensive...
This way I gained a new bike with the benefits of the nwer version of VTEC... plus taking 75,000 km off the clock via 4 or 5 days of very intensive motorcycle mechanicking.
Selling off the left over parts I have managed to pay for the initial cost of the wrecked '07er and even managed to have a pallet of beer dropped off to my good buddy (who kindly lent me his garage, elbow-grease and know-how)... so this operation came off for free... and once I've sold all the left over stuff off it will all come off at a profit.
Actually the first rebuild also came off at a profit as insurance paid for all new parts and labour but I bought the parts second hand at a wreckers and did the work myself... I actually made roughly the same amount in profit as the bike originally cost me (bought it second hand in mint condition)...
So I've probably paid for all the regular maintenance and tyre changes... meaning that my 6th gen has probably only cost me the fuel I've burnt over 100,000 kms.
So I can fully appreciate your modus operandi... hats off to you!!
I have an 03 with 13k on it but after that last post am now worried its about to fall to bits!!!! What on earth did you do to your bike for those parts to all wear like that?? Don't tell me you went on the long way round with Charley and Ewan didn't you ?? :tour:
End of thread · 35 posts recovered Wayback Machine snapshot 26 Dec 2012