If you have a VF500F and a full vance and hines system...

I've posted some good advice from the Factory Pro web site below. This is really the best way to go about dialing things in. Hope this is of some help!


Important notes about CV carb tuning!

To properly tune, you MUST:

1. Have selected the BEST main jet for full throttle power (not just a "good" main jet - we mean "the BEST main jet" for power at high rpm).
That eliminates the common severe tweaking of the midrange and lower tuning ranges to compensate for a "wrong" main jet.

2. Then - select the BEST needle height / clip position for power at FULL THROTTLE / MIDRANGE after selecting the BEST main jet -
That almost eliminates weird problems at cruise caused by tweaked needle heights that were required because the main jet wasn't correct.......

3. Then, adjust the BEST Float Height for BEST FULL THROTTLE / LOW rpm (many Honda's excluded because floats are not adjustable) -
You should be able to apply FULL THROTTLE at LOW RPM in TOP gear without ANY misfire of bogging or stumble.......

If you follow that order, you will have:
1. Best topend.
2. Best midrange.
3. Best low rpm power.

Then - all you have left is dialing in the pilot circuit - i.e. mixture screw and pilot jet size - That's IT - Don't tweak needle heights and throw away full throttle midrange to try to fix a cruise issue!!! (Unless you want to!)

 

Took the newly pip'ed and jetted bike out today for the first time. I ended up going with the Dynojet kit with their recommendation of size 94 main jets, clips on the 2nd groove, and drilled the slides, all exactly according to their rules. Why did I choose the DJ kit? Easy. I had it here in my garage, it cost me $8 for the jets since my donor carbs didn't have them included, and I went ahead and drilled the slides b/c I have an entire set of slides and rubber membranes as a back-up in case this went south.

And after putting about 150 miles on it just now, I have to say I think it's a success. My flat spot around 7k in 2nd & 3rd gear is gone completely, and the stutter I had @ WFO in 6th is gone as well. I took it up to 85 mph in 6th today before I ran out of nerve (it IS a 25 year old bike, after all) and it pulled cleanly all the way. I ran it at all speeds in all gears, roll-on, runs from a dead stop to redline each gear, and paid close attention to the handling and pick-up for the entire ride.

And I can't honestly say I'd change one single thing. I THINK the left pipe is a little louder than the right, so I may pull the can off and check the fiberglass packing again, but other than that, I think I'm set. Now I just need to order tires for it...Oh...and the carbs were bench synched, and I've R&R'ed them 3x now, so per some good advice I've read I should also synch them with stix on the bike, so I'll do that this week with the Motion Pro stix. Apparently manhandling them tends to throw off the synch, so that's an easy quick fix.

Oh..foto from today's ride to the Lookout Roadhouse above Lake Elsinore via Ortega Highway/74. Nothing but 20 & 30 mph twists for 25-30 miles. Dry, sunny, and cold (like 62 degrees...brrrrr!). Glad I had the Widder vest on for sure.

OH...almost forgot. Made a little bracket to keep the centerstand off the chain so I can keep it. It's about 2" wide x 8" long steel bar stock, about 1/8" thick. Drilled a hole in the upper right corner, bolted it to the very INSIDE of the passenger's left foot peg bracket The nut touches this metal bar directly. At the other end of the bar I bent it up 90 degrees towards the OUTSIDE of the bike, NOT towards the swingarm. Into this little metal square I then drilled a hole, and bought another OEM rubber pad (the very same OEM rubber pad that's on the bottoom of the OEM left pipe...cost was 97 cents from my local honda dealer) and snapped that pad into the bottom of the metal bracket. The centerstand when not in use hits this rubber pad, just like the OEM design. Hit it with black spray paint..you can see it below if you look closely. Works well, cheap fix, and I get to keep the c'stand. What's not to like?

 

Another point to think about on the jet kits - the Dynojunk kits requre drilling of the slides. That means once you are fully disgusted with their kit you'd need to buy new slides...... which are no longer available. Something to keep in mind! Honestly, the V&H system probably only requires shimming of the stock needles to dial in anyway. Keep the stock main jet as it's probably fine. Just a bit more fuel in the midrange to clean up any stumble and you would be all set.

I'm glad that I could help. Your bike looks great, keep up the good work!!

 

Well, it went a lot easier and a lot less panic-induced when I can put a call into your shop at all inopportune times of the day & night. Thanks for the plethora of on-the-spot advice.

 

Great photo!

Glad to hear that your bike is running well and congrats again on the V&H install.

I would definitely synchronize the carburetors on the bike. I think you will find it will perform even better.

 

Yep. That's on the list. Might even get to it tonight. I'm kinda surprised that the jet kit install went so well. I had every intention of yanking the carbs this weekend and re-doing something. I want to have a friend ride it today or this weekend to confirm and make sure I didn't miss something with the handling carb-wise, but I'm pretty sure I would have noticed it. Might even get someone to take it out on their lunch hour today. Will report back, naturally.

(I work with an ex-pro racer who rides. He'll know right away.)

 

If by "shop" you mean me standing in my kitchen cleaning up from dinner then yes! That's ok, I didn't want to do those dishes anyway. I'd much rather talk bikes!

 

Where did you find your Vance & Hines full system your '85 VF500F?

 

That, my good man, is THE question, isn't it? I found this, in not-so-good shape, thru another forum I'm on for one of my other bikes. I mentioned that I bought an 85 VF500F and had a list o' shite I wanted for it. One was a V&H aftermarket full system.

One of the long time members who I've "known" on that forum for probably 20 years said "I THINK I saw one of those bikes sitting out in the snow @ a shop near me in DC. Might have had pipes on it."

I said "Buy it. Right now. Go buy it."

He was snowed in at the time (january, I think), but he went by there when the weather broke, confirmed it, went back with tools to strip it off, along with a schload of other stuff for me to hoard (carbs, elec. black boxes, mirrors, signals, etc), and sent it to me here in CA. I had a bit of work to do on it (as you read above probably), but they turned out OK. I've got a set of Yosh slip-ons on my other VF500F (1984 version...I've got a post on that here too somewhere) that had to be re-polished as well, but came out pretty good too.

I DID see a full V&H on ebay about a year ago, with a buy it now of $500, and I had my finger on the mouse, but thought it was too much. Right after that, I found mine for only the cost of shipping, as my friend wouldn't take anything for his time & trouble.

I'd say to keep your eyes on ebay, but you'll have a schload of competition if they ever pop up. If they do, you better act fast. You'd have better luck trying some "back-channels" like I did. Less competition for the highest bidder that way.

 

ebay and craigslist are your friends...if you get very lucky, someone will be getting rid of a 500 that is junk but for the exhaust and maybe a Corbin seat.

 

btw...I am looking for any VF500 Hondaline related accessories...luggage rack, etc.

 

here is an example....take this guy a stock seat and I bet he'll part with that Corbin for a good price.

honda vf 500 interceptor

 

Hmmm...I have never seen/heard of a luggage rack from Honda or anyone for this bike. Don't remember seeing it in the list of accessories in 85 either. Have you seen this somewhere? The only thing I remember being available was the seat cowl.

 

I have the page out of the '86 Hondaline accessory catalog that shows the luggage rack for the 500. I'll post the photo later if anybody wants. I've only seen one in the wild.

 

I'd love to see that.

 

Thanks but I must admit I was optimistically waiting to hear back about a compatible model or something of this nature. With every month that goes by chances that you can find something like this used decrease. I wonder if any of the new V&H models can't be adapted at all with more or less work. With some metal welding skills everything is possible after all.

 

Great Hondaline catalog pics, mine got cut up and plastered to the closet doors back in '86. There was an aftermarket company making those racks back in the day too, many of my riding buddies on FJs had them.

Realize you already solved the centerstand issue, but that is basically what V&H included with the full exhaust system was a piece of flat stock to keep the centerstand down below the pipe. 1988 was a long time ago, but from my memory, I believe I added +1 mains and shimmed the needles for my full V&H exhaust on my '86 VF500. My only wish was that V&H had produced the CO baffle for the Interceptor cans, but alas, they were not changeable like the standard CS/CO systems were.

Every time I see any 1st or 2nd generation VF/VFR on CL with aftermarket exhaust parts, I'm tempted to buy the bike just for the exhaust bits alone.

Kudos, nice looking 500. Miss mine more and more every day....