My '86 VFKR Project

Okay, Introduced myself and met some guys around the forum. I took delivery of my '86 VF1000R and found a number of areas for improvement:

1. One of the P.O.'s had either raced the bike or tried to impress somebody by putting a ton of stickers (including numbers on the front fairing). They gotta go.

2. One of the P.O.'s had installed LED turn signals (incorrectly, I might add). They gotta go.

3. The front brake light switch doesn't activate the brake light, the rear switch is fine. Gotta fix that before I ride.

4. The headlight never comes on. Gotta fix that before I ride.

5. The bike starts okay; but the engine doesn't respond normally to throttle. I suspect this is probably due to gummed up pilot jets/passages from sitting.

So I've been spending some quality time with my new girl.

1. STICKERS: Pulled off the fairings (had to get underneath anyway) and used a hairdryer to assist in getting those dang stickers off. Just need a bit more elbow grease and some alcohol to get the rest of the adhesive and I'll know how much painting I'll need to do.

2. LED SIGNALS: I'm still waiting for a pair of signals to be delivered for the front. Rears are installed. I'm going back to normal incandescents.

3. FR BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH: Planning to pull the right side switch pod apart, and will get at the switch (which I can hear, and sounds normal) at that time. Might be a break in one of the wires, as I was able to get it to work intermittently by moving the wire.

4. HEADLIGHT: Fuse is good, next thing to check will be the starter switch, then the relay. P.O. says the headlight was fine before the bike was shipped, so perhaps something got bunged up in transport. Could be that starter switch!

5. I'm using a regime in which I've added a couple ounces of PJ1 carb cleaner to the tank and another gallon of gas. I've run the engine for 5-10 minutes every other day, and let it sit with the cleaner 'mix' in the carbs in between. It 'seems' like the throttle response is improving. Once these other things are done I'll take her for a good ride and see where we're at!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

Headlight.......My 500 was doing the same thing when I bought it, thanks to the guys on this forum I found out it was the starter switch. I sprayed some contact cleaner around the button, blew it out with compressed air, squirted in some dielectric grease. Since then, the switch allows the headlight to work, but the return spring on the button is weak will not push the button all the way out, I have to thumb it out to get the headlight to come on. I suppose that at some point there could be a failure, but so far so good. Front brake switch.......The 500 was doing the same thing as yours, would work if I wiggled the wires. I did the same thing as for the starter button, contact cleaner around the spades on the switch, dielectric grease, works fine so far. Carbs....this has worked for me in the past most of the time if the carbs are not too badly gummed. Disconnect the fuel line going to the carbs, stick a small funnel in the fuel line. I am not familiar with the 1000R, if it has a fuel pump, disable it by pulling a fuse or unplugging it. Fill the funnel with Seafoam, start the engine and run it until the exhaust begins to smoke, this means the carb bowls & passages are full of mostly Seafoam. Reconnect everything and let the bike sit overnight. Start it up next morning and run the engine until the smoke clears up. If you're lucky, this might work.

 

Sounds like you are already making good progress - keep us up to date!

 

Thanks creaky. If my regime doesn't solve it in short order I'll give Seafoam a go. I'd heard that one before, and yes, the KR has a fuel pump.

Your sig says 'when you go over the hill you start to pick up speed' - ROTFLMAO! One of the signatures on my 40th birthday card said 'Over the hill - and down the other side at 140 mph!' (that was 20 years ago, and I haven't slowed down much). Maybe I'll add that to my sig...

 

Confession about the sig: Although I would like to think that I am still full of piss & vinegar, I have slowed down some over the past 3 years or so. Among other things, reaction times are not what they once were and I think more these days about what a serious injury would mean at this stage of the game. I'm still riding though and having a darn good time doing it, not considering giving it up anytime soon.

 

Sounds great. Once you get it in running order, do you have anything else you want to do to it? How about some pictures other than your avatar?

 

Good God! Numbers on the front fairing? Who are they trying to impress anyway?:wink:

Welcome. Looking forward to following the process to set it "right".

 

Seafoam is your friend, you will be amazed at what it can do. Use it instead of carb cleaner diluted in a tank of gas.

 

Blog page is here: The Vikki Project « foothillryder

There are some pics there now, and I'll post more as things move forward.

Those numbers on the fairing are GONE, and actually the fairing is pretty decent shape. Pics on the blog.

I'll be grabbin' some SeaFoam in the next couple of days for sure!

 

Actually, what I want more than anything is to restore the bike into perfect operating condition and ride it. I'm really looking forward to that good ol' V-4 warp drive stretching my arms when I roll that throttle open. That and the sound. I really do prefer the cadence of the old V-4's to the 'small-block V-8' cadence of the newer VFR's (although that's pretty sweet as well).

 

Thanks for the link to the blog. These bikes are incredibly tough to find in good shape and yours looks pretty darn good. It doesn't look like it needs anything major. Also, the motor on this thing still rips. Riding this back to back with my 800 shows me just how little low end the 800 has. The R definitely feels more powerful, but in reality, the 800 could probably take it in a sprint. If I could recruit somebody to come to NY, then maybe we could find out ...........

 

Thanks, I think I got a reasonable bargain on the bike. Nothing so far suggests otherwise.

Hmmm... tests back in the day had the KR running 10.80's in the quarter mile. What's the 800 run? :biggrin:

 

Curious as to which tests you got that info. I had every bike mag from those years and never saw the R run better than low-mid 11's and some had the F even quicker.

A few years ago I went on a ride with several 800's up to the White Mtns and I can say first hand that an 800 with a PC , pipe and different gearing could step away slightly from my R. It's lighter now with a jet kit and freer flowing exhaust but I would think the VFR still has a slight advantage.

EDIT: Just grabbed a few mags that were near my computer...

Motorcyclist Feb '85 - 11.16 "projected" which means it ran slower but they corrected to some phantom number.

Cycle World july '85 _ 11.65 @ 117mph

Cycle July '85 - 11.66 @116mph

Doubt the '86 was any different in times regardless of any tweaking Honda may or may not have done between model years.

 

Not ready yet to stand corrected, I'll see if I can dig up that 10.8x report. 11.65 sounds positively slow when the '83 VF750F was in the high 11's and the V65's were low 11's with Pee Wee Gleason running 10's on the Magna.

But you do have some numbers on your side! :wink:

 

Of course, it could have only been run at that time by a guy with the name of 'Pee Wee'. :wink:

 

The Mag numbers are by staff writers/riders not professional drag racers, but still more competent than any of us. Remember, the R is giving the Magna 25lbs and 100cc's. With Gleason at the bars, 10.80 was fast for the time. The first production bike to do so. The V45 Ceptor has a 100lb advantage which is EVERYTHING when trying to get a good launch. The R is simply too heavy to be a threat at the strip. The magic of this bike is the low end pull in any gear while under way.A good friend had an '87 FZR1000 that was much faster in the 1/4, but if we did a side by side roll on in 5th gear at 40mph, my R would leave him standing......till he got towards 7k+ then he would steam by like nothing.

I've had my R at the strip and at Loudon, guess which one was more fun?:biggrin:

 

I knew the KR was heavy; but guess I didn't realize it was that heavy.

I know for me Loudon would be more fun; but some prefer a short straight line.

Here's what I know for sure - the bike will have more than enough power for me!

 

It will serve you well. It sure looks nice. I love the look of the R and have since I first drove it from the dealer in 1985. Park it next to a Ninja 900 or an FJ1100 or a GSXR1100 from the early eighties and there's no comparison in the WOW factor.

 

My statement was based purely on how the two bikes feel. The R is definitely HEAVY. Getting off that and getting on the 800 makes the 800 feel like a bicycle. The 800 feels quicker through the gears, but the R feels more powerful mainly due to the low end that it puts out. I love the looks of the R, but I'd rather ride the 800.

 

Today's progress...

There's a bit more on the blog; but here's the short version...

CARBS: Sea Foam has already improved the throttle response, and she idled just fine with no choke once she warmed up. Major progress with no effort! While I appreciated the more complex procedure (removing the tank, etc.), I simply added about 8oz of Sea Foam to the ~2gals of gas in the tank and ran the engine. It began smoking within about 5 minutes and began to improve almost immediately.

HEADLIGHT: I sprayed contact cleaner 'at' the starter switch and exercised it a bit before I turned the key on. The headlight came on a few minutes after the engine started, then went off when I flipped the high beam switch (and didn't come back on). I'm hopeful that with a good overhaul of that switch I'll get the headlight back; anyone have further thoughts?

TURN SIGNALS: I was disappointed that swapping the LED signals for normal bulbs had no obvious affect on their function. The fronts come on like running lights with the key on, the correct rear signal flashes (too quickly) when activated, and the front signal on that side goes out. I've spent some time with the schematic; but I'm still baffled. Gotta be something messed up in the wiring?

I didn't spend any time on the brake light problem today.