First bike: 1985 VF500

What's up guys. I bought my VF500 at the end of last summer and I've put about a thousand miles on it this season, loving it so far. I'm thinking of doing some more intensive maintenance than what I've done so far (tightened chain and some other trivial things), and I have a couple questions.

First, what synthetic oil would you recommend putting in? The guy I bought it from told me he put synthetic in but I can't remember what exactly , maybe Mobil 1? This is a pretty minor detail but I'd like to get the right stuff.

Second, should I check out the valve clearances? I've heard a little about the problems with the these early V4's and I don't want any catastrophic failure ...

Third, I have a troubleshooting question about the running of the bike. Everything seems within specs (according to the manual, idle is fine (1300 RPM, power seems fine, gas mileage is consistently 50, but there's a 'pop' that occurs at a particularly engine load and RPM. From second to maybe 4th gear, if I accelerate until the rpm is about 6000, then back off to about 5000 to maintain speed, but with a low load on the engine, there's a sound I can really only describe as a regular popping, like a racing engine backing down after revving (or a 2 stroke). Is this normal or am I seeing the beginning of cam problems? I don't know enough about the engine to know for sure so I'd appreciate any help you could give.

Thanks!

 

Gonna have to be the wet rag here. Please do not take me wrong as I love the 500 and always have my eyes open for the "one" but if I ever found the "one" I am looking for I would pull it apart no matter how clean it was or how well it ran and inspect every part of the engine. Best to start from a known base line and could never trust one to go around the block if I did not.

 

Squirrel will be along shortly.

 

No, really, if his bike runs, it's a GOOD ONE !!

My advice would be to go through the valve clearances and make a chart of what you find but not change anything (since the bike is running fine). Also inspect cam lobes and journals for signs of distress.

A good carb cleaning might eliminate the popping, but it seems like nothing to fret about.

How many miles on her ??

 

Squirrel,

It had a bit over 23k when I bought it, and I just broke 24,000 last week. I agree with you that if it's running fine, I don't want to mess with it too much. I'm not sure what I could do if I noticed cam wear anyway There's no rebuild kits or parts available for the engine internals on this bike anyway, right?

 

Doesn't engine disassembly/reassembly entail a substantial investment in part that are expensive and/or hard to get, i.e. a gasket set? And that's before replacing any parts that would correct anything specific you might find, which themselves might be unavailable. Is internal engine work on this machine practical?