VF500 Carb differences between years

I read somewhere that there are Carb differences between all the years of VF500's

IIRC the 86 Carbs are smaller then the 85, 84???

If I were to put any other year of carbs on my bike besides and 86 will it work?

 

There are differences in jetting and float bowl vents between '84 and '85. I don't recall what the major difference was after '85 but I think the '86 carbs were a smaller diameter. I don't think you'll have any problems putting carbs from a different year on your bike.

-Jake

 

I checked and '86 carbs are 2mm smaller than '84-85.

-Jake

 

Thanks!

Though someone sniped the 84 carbs I was buying on Ebay :frown:

 

It's long been the trick setup to use 84-85 carbs on the 86 engine. The 86's have hotter cams and with the larger 84-85 carbs you can expect a couple hp increase. Pretty much a simple bolt-on replacement for the 86 carbs.

 

But worse fuel Economy?

 

Not really. Fuel economy on the 500's is pretty good to begin with and I've never heard anyone claim that they can tell any difference when running the larger carbs on the 86's.

 

i'm finishing up a clean/rebuild on some '86 carbs now......

Jamie, can you confirm that the fatter main jets go in the 2 rear cylinders??

 

I thought in 86 they used 90's in all four carbs?

I'm wondering what the reasoning is for the fatter jets in the rear? More fuel to make the cylinders run cooler, since there's less ariflow around back there?

 

Yes, that is correct.

You are right, it seems counter intuitive. The reason for the different jets is that that one bank uses downdraft carbs and the other uses sidedraft carbs. I can't remember which is which, but that is the reason for the difference in main jet size. Normally I end up with all four jets the same when tuning a 4-1 header, but I have no explanation for that.

 

I just got a complete set of '86 VF 500 carbs from ebay, and i'm offering PARTS to anyone here that needs them..........

 

Hmmmmm....I'd love to get a set of 84-85 carbs to install on me bike

 

I got a quote last week from Tri-County on a full set of bolt-on ready carbs...$195 + shipping.

Too rich for my blood at the moment but not a bad deal overall IMO

 

Front is down, rear is side.

-Jake