My 1984 VF500

Hello everybody! 

My name is David and I am from Austria (Austria not Australia ;).

20 years ago my dad had a VF500 and in the last few month i tried to buy his bike back from the current owner. Because my Dad died already in 2003 this bike would have had a lot of emotional value for me. 

Unfortunately, the current owner will not sell the bike although he was not using the bike in the last 10 years and will maybe never use it again...

So much to the background story.

For this reason I decided to buy a similar one and last weekend I bought this 1984 VF 500 shown on the picture below. 

At the moment it is not running, according to the previous owner it was not used last season and for this reason the carburators need a little service. 

Asap I will start to disassemble it a little bit and clean the carburators to check if it is running then. 

Currently I am still busy with my track bike.

I am sure as soon as I start with the VF some questions will arrive, and I think this forum is the right place to ask those questions.

I saw already a lot of interesting projects here and it seems like here are a lot of people around which know a lot about this bikes.

BR and have a nice weekend,
David
 

Great story. Nice to honor your dad's memory. Good luck with the bike.

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Good work, still a good find, and it will mean the same to you...what he loved, as we all do!

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Ein recht schoene Abend, wilkommen!!!   :-)

Looks clean, well taken care of,  I'd be reluctant to take carbs apart though. But you (and The Dutchy) may see this as easy peasy....

Very cool.  Ask many questions before even touching the carbs.  Early Honda V4 carbs have some particular rules that must be followed.

nice story, great bike.

It's a very troublesome bike if it wasn't always maintained properly.  Never get emotionally attached to a VF500 or it will cost you more money than it's worth.

1 hour ago, squirrelman

It's a very troublesome bike if it wasn't always maintained properly.  Never get emotionally attached to a VF500 or it will cost you more money than it's worth.

Riding a VF500F is priceless.... :-)

6 hours ago, squirrelman

"Never get emotionally attached to a VF500 or it will cost you more money than it's worth."

If we all went through life following that philosophy it would hardly be worth living.

[image: 2433759964_4bc4a9d585.jpg?v=0]

Or tinker with your VF500.....   :goofy:

Hy guys,

sorry for the late reply and thanks for the nice welcome!

Yesterday I had some time to pump out the old petrol and to remove the tank from the VF. I disassembled than the petrol tap because I thought it´s maybe clogged but finally it looked ok.

I found a dent on the lower side of the tank but it seems this is just from putting in the petrol spigot at the gas station. (By the way, I am not sure that I am always using the correct vocabulary so please correct me or ask if something is unclear).

Also I have already some questions. I recognized that the line between the red and the white surface on the top of the tank is not 100% symmetric. Is this an indication that it was repainted or was this quite usually at 1984?

Another thing I already noticed when I bought the bike is that the tale is a little bit misaligned (see attached picture), this is the thing which bothers me the most. I inspected the frame carefully but I could not find any signs for a crash which would cause a bent.

Again the question, has someone of you seen this on the VF is this usually or do you suspect a damaged frame?

@squirrelman

Thanks for the advice, but for sure I will spend more money on it then its worth. But if you ask me this is all what motorcycles are about, emotions!

BR

David

Hello again,

I tried now to remove the carburetors, according to the service manual this should be an easy task =)

I removed the airbox and loosened the carburetor bands, but I have no chance to pull them out. Would be nice to get any tips for this task.

Thx, David

Heat and brute force but do not be tempted to use tools as the various castings are easily fractured. Heat the boots with a hair dryer or wait for a nice sunny day to do it. 

According to the service manual, everything is easy. :wink:

That's a big number plate on the back, and yeah it's off center a bit.

Maybe a driveway or garage tipover?

It could happen in 30+ years.

Good looking bike. :beer:

have an assistant hold the bike vertical while you stand about 8' back and compare the center of the tailpiece with the center of the rear tire to spot a tweaked subframe. 2 me, your tail looks slightly displaced toward rider's starboard, not so much that some talented guy couldn't straighten it with tools and technique.

the bike will never handle right if your mass is off-center.

neppomuk, 4/2/2017 at 4:34 AM

I tried now to remove the carburetors, according to the service manual this should be an easy task =)

I removed the airbox and loosened the carburetor bands, but I have no chance to pull them out

according to my aging recollection, the 500 bible instructs that carbs be removed with the airbox in place ? 

:sleep:

neppomuk, 4/2/2017 at 4:34 AM

I tried now to remove the carburetors, according to the service manual this should be an easy task =)

I removed the airbox and loosened the carburetor bands, but I have no chance to pull them out

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according to my aging recollection, the 500 bible instructs that carbs be removed with the airbox in place ?    separating the carbs from the base plate is almost always unnecessary and a big waste of time and effort, as simply cleaning the jets fixes 90% of dirty carbs issue

:sleep:

Don't despair...Squirrelman will always hate on the 500s. It's just what he does.

I however, have one now. Bought another for a friend, and gave it to him a few years ago. Mine runs great. Haven't done much but add gas to it lately. Congrats on the buy.