86 vf500 carb removal advice and fuel lines diameters

Hey guys, I finally took the plunge and bought an 86 vf500f. Long story short, she hasn't been run since 1995 so i figure a carb cleaning is first order of business. I cannot for the life of me get these things off. Collar screws are loose, choke cable is off.
Am i missing something?

Any suggestions? penetrating oil, wd40? Do i need a ginormous pry bar? Any help would be apreciated.

Also, anybody know the diameter for the varioius fuel lines on this thing, most of mine could probably use a replacement, but i really dont feel like paying 10 dollars a pop for hoses when i can get a roll for that amount.

I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions along the way here, but these two will at least get me started in the right direction to getting the old girl running again.

 

I removed the carb assembly from my new to me '85 VF500F and had the same problem. Apparently, the rubber boots have hardened over the years and are not very compliant. I soaked some PB Blaster around the connections and used a heat gun to soften up the boots and finally pulled the assembly out. Removing the clamps altogether helped, allowed the boots to stretch more. My 500 has two different sizes of fuel hose, 1/4" and 3/16" seem to fit OK. I am going to eliminate the fuel pump from the system as advised by some members of the forum. A forum search will show the procedure. I'm a noob to these bikes too, so keep posting as you go along, new info is always welcome. BTW, did you remove the throttle cables?

 

I loosened throttle from the handlebar end, not completely removed though. I didn't see a way to remove from the carb end easily. I was going by the clymer manual I got with the bike. Love the way it says lift carbs out of boots. Doesn't say "may give you a hernia" it probably should though. I'll try the penetrating oil.

 

The carburetors can be a bear to remove if the rubber boots have hardened with age.

It may be necessary to very carefully use a small pry bar placed on specific casting areas on the throttle bodies (noted below).

The carbs will eventually loosen (rocking back and forth helps) to the point where you can pop the back rubber boots off the throttle bodies, allowing you to lift the assembly out, but you may need to take a siesta (or two) along the way.

 

Be sure to order and install new boots.

 

+1 on all the above, especially the new boots. It will make life much better for you when you go to put them back on.

I found that a lot of heavy rocking back and forth and side to side with some bodyweight thrown in helped.

In case you didn't hear it already: Avoid separating the carbs off the plenum plate and make sure you bench sync them before you put them back in. It will get you close enough to test things out before you do your real sync.

 

...and don't bother trying to take off the throttle cables while the carbs are still seated. They are still going to be hell to do when the carbs are up and out of the boots, but not as bad as it would be with them seated.

 

Thanks for the advice, put a few squirts of the pb on the boots, gonna let them soak some and try the pry bar tomorrow.

 

As mentioned by creaky, applying a bit of heat to the boots will help soften them. Of course, when using a heat gun be conservative with temp setting. You want to warm them not melt them.

 

Here is the procedure from my site, maybe this will help a bit:

Daugherty Motorsports - V4 Honda Carb Removal and Installation Procedure

Enjoy!

 

I ran into a set once on a bike that was stored outside and I could not get the carbs off, instead of risk breaking something I moved the top band out of the way, used a small torch to heat a 3/8 cold chisel and pressed it into the top part of the boot until it hit the carb body. Repeated on the other 3, grabbed the set and they came right off. Of course this requires replacing the boots.

 

Success!!! Between the penetrating oil and the pry bar they came off. I didn't even have to invent new cursewords. Thanks for the help. Anybody know a reasonable guy/shop near dfw for a cleaning? not sure I want to do this myself three times before I get it right. I've heard Billy C in Canton is good, anybody here use Him?

 

If you just pulled the carbs why not try cleaning them yourself? (not being a smart a--) it's easier than removing and replacing them. I'm actually pulling mine again right now, I cleaned them when I first got it and it ran good but now has gotten a little sluggish in the middle. Gota love having tons of rc stuff laying around, makes great needle shims for tuning.

 

After removing them it was obvious from a couple of the screwheads
That they had been disassembled before. I don't know that they were re-assembled
Properly. Think I'd rather have an expert go through them. I have plenty of
Other issues to keep me busy, fuel/vacuum line replacements, fork seals, de-rusting/coating the tank,
And changing all the fluids, plugs out etc. I'm in over my head probably as it is, don't want to have half
Diss-assembled carbs sitting around for a month.

 

Billy Carr scores high marks from what I have read.

Also, Mike Nixon offers both a tech manual on VF carb rebuilding along with a full rebuild service.

On your carburetors, there will be a serial number stamped onto the throttle body. It will start with VD----. This will tell you what year carbs you have. From there you can cross reference the FSM and OEM parts fiche to verify the slow and main jet sizes, emulsion tubes and jet needles.

This will be a good double check to insure the carbs were put back together correctly, if there is a possibly that they were taken apart somewhere along the way.