Working on my gen 4

Just a thread to document some of the work I am doing to my 750 which I only got two weeks ago.

Today I decided to take the rear wheel off, clean around the swingarm and inspect and grease the eccentric bearing holder. It soon became clear that previous owners have not exactly done much routine maintenance.

Firstly check this out : a previous owner decided to spray the brake calipers an attractive copper colour. Unfortunately they seem to have sprayed the rear one "in situ" and done an absolutely shoddy job!

It might not even be possible to clean that off everything without lifting the original paint. Grrr!

I found it very difficult separating the axle/brake assembly from the bearing holder. I literally had to use a sledgehammer! Even after that, and removing the circlip,  it was a pain getting the free bearing holder out from the swingarm. I know that prising the swingarm halves apart with a large screwdriver helps, but there was a lot of grit inside the swingarm which stopped it sliding out. Eventually I freed it using compressed air to blow the grit away. One piece of grit was about the size of a pea!

How did it get there? There is a small hole in the bottom of my swingarm. Has anyone else got this? Presumably it's meant to be there, but I'm definitely going to plug it up.

Is the hole possibly a drain?  If so, maybe not a good idea to plug it.  Can you add a photo of it? 

BTW - love your tag line at the bottom.  Two of my pet peeves in "modern" English are the use of "like" and "right" repeatedly - sometimes multiple times in the same sentence!  :wacko:

That hole is there by design.

Hole is there by design. Drain for water. There should be another hole closer to the swingarm pivot.

Did the PO just spray paint the rear caliper?

Everything being hard to come apart is pretty normal for a bike that hasn't had it done before. I had to use a hydraulic press to get my axle out.

What is your aim with this build?  Bring her back to a safe working condition or bring back to original luster?

You a Scotsman, me a Dutchman (who lived a good couple of years in Scotland), so by nature we abhorr spending pennies  :laugh:

The Dutch VFR club has a member owning  a large stash of parts and sells for not sllly money, so if yer stuck I can check.

Yes Cogswell, it's definitely a drain hole.

[image: image.png.536107849610429e53a3c7be70c906b1.png]

I will try and find a rubber grommet and just drain it from time to time. Yoshi, thanks for pointing out there's a second hole! The front calipers were also sprayed copper, and there's some silver overspray on the rear shock. I'm all for looking after bikes, but wish it has been done properly!

Today I'm going to try and remove/clean the shock, and maybe remove and clean the chain - there must have been about 100 grams worth of grimy paste behind the front sprocket cover, the worst I've ever seen.

Dutchy your question is a good one, I just want the bike to be safe, ride well and look and reasonably presentable. I do my own servicing.

 After reading this...now I think I had better take this apart on my '97 since I have not in the six years of ownership.  Although since weather is quite nice these days...will likely wait until June.

Keep-up with the pictures and do add any hints or tips for servicing the eccentric bearing holder.

Took the shock out. What a footer, you have to remove seat, rear panels, fuel tank, rear coils and battery case to get at the top bolt.

Anyway removing the shock reveals these two giant "grit intakes" in the swingarm. I can't see Mr Honda's reasoning, maybe someone can explain the point of these holes?!

Also once I'd cleaned around the front sprocket, I notice there's a little free play in it, see video. Is this normal?

No idea, but they make a good place to feed the brake line through the swing arm.  I've seen people epoxy screens over them; I've seen people fill the whole thing with expanding foam.  I wouldn't bother plugging the drain hole: the grit probably entered through the large holes anyway.

Ciao,

JZH

That play in your sprocket looks fine to me. I had that with a brand new sprocket on.

how many miles on her ??

Bowf, 5/2/2021 at 9:10 AM

Yes Cogswell, it's definitely a drain hole.

[image: image.png.536107849610429e53a3c7be70c906b1.png]

I will try and find a rubber grommet and just drain it from time to time. Yoshi, thanks for pointing out there's a second hole! The front calipers were also sprayed copper, and there's some silver overspray on the rear shock. I'm all for looking after bikes, but wish it has been done properly!

Today I'm going to try and remove/clean the shock, and maybe remove and clean the chain - there must have been about 100 grams worth of grimy paste behind the front sprocket cover, the worst I've ever seen.

Dutchy your question is a good one, I just want the bike to be safe, ride well and look and reasonably presentable. I do my own servicing.

🙂 I do my own servicing

The G2 caliper paint works great, I used it on my DRZ400 Super Moto calipers, and it came out great! I brushed on 3 coats a few years ago and they still look perfect! Ebay and Amazon both sell it.

11 hours ago, jefferson

That play in your sprocket looks fine to me. I had that with a brand new sprocket on.

8 hours ago, squirrelman

how many miles on her ??

That's a bit of a relief, Jefferson. I recently owned an old Transalp and they are a little notorius for spline wear caused by non-OEM sprockets.

The bike has only done 27000 miles, Squirrelman. It's a fairly new looking Renthal sprocket, though I have ordered an OEM just to be safe.

Nice job, RC. At least you thought to remove the caliper from the bike first! The shock has silver paint sprayed on top of the red spring.

[image: 1915219216_Cleaning11.JPG.3aa1da2ecfc62591576df833e17a97a5.JPG]

My next step will be to remove the swingarm to make it easier to plug these huge holes. On another forum someone mentions finding a beer bottle lid and a battery terminal bolt inside their swingarm, that made me laugh!

Just noticed where some of you guys are from - I have actually been in both Buffalo and San Jose on my two short trips to the USA. What are the chances of that? Landed in Buffalo and drove through it so see the falls. Saw Cirque du Soleil in San Jose, an absolutely amazing show.

Both trips were in search of love in the early days of internet dating. Did they work out? Did they heck, but I'm glad because I have the best woman I could hope for now 🙂

Hi everyone. This weekend I removed the swingarm, centre stand, linkages and brake calipers with the idea of getting these things renovated and checking/greasing the suspension bearings.

Again I don't find the VFR an easy bike to work on, for example you have to remove the centre stand to get the linkage off, and it's not exactly easy to find a suitable way of supporting the bike, but I managed eventually. I'm sure I will love it once I get to ride it more!🤗

Recently I ordered some non-OEM mirrors for a 2000/01 800. They have the 50 mm hole spacing, and look so much nicer than the old ones with their shrunken, cracked "condoms". I got a sheet of 3 mm thick neoprene rubber and made my own bases for the mirrors.

I probably won't be doing much to the bike for a couple of weeks but will post more photos when the parts are renovated.

Do you know, I think I will do exactly that. Thank you!

On Sunday I bought a used one on eBay as Dazed & Confused suggested. It arrived this morning and I'm just stripping the black paint off it. Don't think I will bother with the VB treatment this time unless they offer to do it for free.

3 hours ago, Bowf

Do you know, I think I will do exactly that. Thank you!

On Sunday I bought a used one on eBay as Dazed & Confused suggested. It arrived this morning and I'm just stripping the black paint off it. Don't think I will bother with the VB treatment this time unless they offer to do it for free.

Have you asked the vapour blasters WTF they thought they were doing with the defective one?

You could point out the error of their ways and offer them a chance to redeem themselves …. Or not 

2 hours ago, Thumbs

Have you asked the vapour blasters WTF they thought they were doing with the defective one?

You could point out the error of their ways and offer them a chance to redeem themselves …. Or not 

Yes, I saw them this afternoon when they dropped my centre stand off. They agreed to do the replacement for free. 🙂

The centre stand looks lovely by the way, will post photos in a few days.

Yesterday I got the centre stand back on the bike. I got it powder-coated a dark graphite colour. Only slight problem was they also coated the rod which holds it all together. This made the rod too wide, so I had to remove the coating from the rod which took almost an hour.

[image: 1655768345_stand5small.jpg.00b991ee511edbc54b2014d2848d53c3.jpg]

On reassembly, I noticed there was no 19 mm washer 90403-PE0-000 to go on the end of the rod. I don't remember it ever being there. The part seems unobtainable nowadays so I just used an o-ring in its place. You can just make it out on the right of the next photo.

[image: 1788855894_stand7small.jpg.3880a5c0189998d47fead00cdd708bf6.jpg]

[image: 1168184610_stand6small.jpg.46611e1596561a6be8ce7c5f801373ba.jpg]

Today I removed the swingarm bearings, potentially a difficult job. The manual suggests using a slide hammer. I've tried this several times with other bikes, and I have never been strong enough to do the job. But luckily there's another way:

[image: 1711124790_swingarmbearings1.JPG.f024d3cb2dcdecb735c838ecc6346827.JPG]

Instead of "pulling" the bearings out with the slide hammer, you can bash them out from the other side using the grabbers and a long enough drift.

I have used this socket extension as a drift for years.

[image: 1798685348_swingarmbearings4.JPG.932eaec2679c0181d2392415266eee21.JPG]

The grabbers give you a large surface to strike.

[image: 1813793923_swingarmbearings2.JPG.77901dc93333158d109745e1b87d77d2.JPG]

Open cage bearings on one side.

[image: 1186398723_swingarmbearings3.JPG.2ecee73a5763551ead48fd85ce3ff950.JPG]

The only way I could do the job properly was on the lawn, with me kneeling on the swingarm, and the emerging grabber digs its own hole!

[image: 2041542751_swingarmbearings5.JPG.0c87c82e3e138fb6ae3ada6ce04fd808.JPG]

Regarding the fault in the hub, I went on Honda customer service. I  sent them a polite message, and they still have not contacted me 48 hours later.

at only 23k miles the swingarm bearings should be fine. you're only  making more unnecessary work for yourself and more expense and time.  another case of OCD ?

6 hours ago, squirrelman

at only 23k miles the swingarm bearings should be fine. you're only  making more unnecessary work for yourself and more expense and time.  another case of OCD ?

They felt and sounded gritty. I am also replacing the left side bearings in the rear hub. Not because I like wasting time and money, but because they did not feel good. The right side roller bearing was okay, I just cleaned and re-greased it.

By the way I don't have OCD, I have CDO. It's similar, but the letters are in alphabetical order 🙂.

I got a good deal on a new YSS rear shock.

[image: 1618000106_newshock1small.jpg.ae23b5ffbc02ff418574e744e8eaebfd.jpg]

Then I thought about protecting it. R&G sell these "shock tubes" but they are pricey and come in a confusing variety of sizes. In the end I made my own, starting with a square of double-lined neoprene.

[image: 1742151103_newshock4small.jpg.c616a2a904e3d7fa5f571acd9632c734.jpg]

The material was too thick for our sewing machine, so I stitched it by hand using waxed whipping twine (which wasn't easy). Turn it inside-out, insert cable ties through the hems and voila.

[image: 1579114581_newshock4small.jpg.70c74912d6b241181adb3c7242517368.jpg]

This photo shows the real colour better. Agreed it's a little ugly, but not as ugly as a manky rusting shock.

Oh, I forgot to say I blocked off the grit intakes in the swingarm. Somewhere else online a guy used silver foil tape, so I just copied that idea.

[image: 1587596804_swingarm01small.jpg.3796815cde171dba7978fa8fafcb2695.jpg]

Someone on another forum once gave me a full strip of that clear PVC loading dock plastic (hangs vertically, to keep out bugs and cold, but you can drive a forklift through it, etc.).  Quite thick and wide enough to wrap around a shock spring.  Plus, you can see your lovely shock spring through it!  

Another option.

Ciao,

JZH

I am pleased to say my VFR is finally back together, and it passed its MOT (UK roadworthiness test) last week. ☺️

[image: 797377897_frontwheel.jpg.e14f74270815075d5d871c675c11a151.jpg]

Before it I owned a Triumph Sprint 1050 GT, which was a real stunner and worth far more, but I just didn't feel comfortable handling it. I downsized to this VFR, and am delighted I did. The ride to the MOT was an absolute joy. This is a "keeper"!

Since last time, I have sprayed the chain guard using Autotek bumper paint. Not a professional job, but a huge improvement.

[image: 816386375_rearwheel02.jpg.46c59a23dddaf4dea8cf8a117ed1b361.jpg]

Also I have fitted a Healtech Thunderbox and used it to wire in heated grips and satnav.

[image: 120229014_thunderbox01.jpg.a47d299b6d10e84099efa3e6d0eee2ec.jpg]

I made a little clamp to hold the satnav cable in place.

[image: 1868820183_satnavbracket.jpg.c446ad0af5dca2bfa3e20a40d32f161e.jpg]

The heated grips are cheap Chinese ones. I've used them before on a previous bike with no issues. One thing I like about them is the switch is integrated into the left-hand grip. Also the throttle mechanism is clever in that the cable stays put relative to the bars. Main fitting issue was that they are longer than the OEMs, so I had to drill new holes for the switchgear and shove everything up about 9 mm.

[image: 1271609884_heatedgrips02.jpg.01c0f00332ded408d46c05dc432ec07c.jpg]

There probably won't be much else to add to this thread. I have in mind to overhaul the front forks (new oil, seals and bushes) at some stage but right now I just want to ride the bike.

I've put a wee luggage thing in a separate thread.

Braw son!!!  :beer: