Rode Hard & Hung Up Wet: My 1986 VF500F

If your garage space is unheated, don't leave the battery in the bike without a tender attached.
Not so hard to just pull it and keep it in your house during the cold months.

 

Thanks for the tip 2000...my shop is 1200 sq feet and unheated (unless I am working in there and I turn on the space heater). I have a battery maintainer, but only one so I rotate it on four different vehicles. I will just put it in the heated basement from now on. And once I get all this work done I will wheel the entire motorcycle in.

 

Tonight I hung the front end from the roof trusses with ratchet straps, and pulled the front wheel. Broke the beads using a large C clamp, and did the same on the rear. Also I forgot to free up and lube the slider on the rear caliper when I was replacing the little rubber boots a couple years ago, so I took care of that too. I am going to have to cut the chain off with a zip wheel. Parts order is trickling in so it shouldn't be much longer!

 

Have you tested the charging system output by measuring voltage across battery terminals with the engine turning about 5000 rpms ??? If you don't have at least 13.5 volts the battery will be discharging while you're riding. :grey:

 

I agree with Squirrelman, some of your battery issues and subsequent running issues could be a bad voltage regulator. Pick up a used one or cheapy $20 ebay one and swap it out, might solve an issue or two you describe.

 

Squirrelman I have not done that. Thank you for the assistance, I really appreciate it. I will check it out in a week or so, as I have the motorcycle partially disassembled right now.

 

So I have coated the fuel tank with Caswell's dragon's blood, had a devil of a time getting the strainer out but it eventually came out, quite worse for the wear :-(

Also have the fork sliders off, the circlips were in bad shape so I had to order new ones. Cleaning various parts as I go such as caliper brackets, fender, and wheels. Waiting on parts, and still a lot of work to do.

 

Yes the tank fuel strainer is really hard to remove. I tore mine getting it out too.

 

Yes Jeremy, the crap that's passed off as fuel nowadays seems to swell some plastic parts. Float strainers as well, they will fall right off.

 

After Mass I got the valves adjusted and replaced the air filter. Jrod you are likely onto something, the valve clearances on the rear bank were awfully tight...

 

This evening I finished the forks, went with some Maxima 15 weight oil to refill. Also reinstalled the alternator cover, cut the drive chain off with bolt cutters, unmounted the old rear tire, and punched out the bearings on the rear wheel and degreased it. The front wheel I primed and painted. Still need to mount & balance the new tires, put the rotors back on, and reinstall the calipers & brackets. And mount the fuel tank, fairing, and lower cowl. Also I have to reinstall the rebuilt clutch slave cylinder and bleed it. I think in the morning I will get the license plate and county sticker, and fill a can with ethanol free gasoline.

 

Well today I got everything put back together. Looks good with wheels painted and new tires. Started right up and ran good. The engine is a little noisy now though, I presume this has something to do with the valve clearance adjustment I did. I may have to adjust them again, but I was very careful with my work, but did not use two gauges, only one. I ran the engine serial number and it is out of an '84 Magna, so I set the clearances accordingly, .004" intake/.005" exhaust, go/no go.

PS: Also while deglazing the brake rotors, I found two cracks in the rear rotor, so I ordered a used one from a salvage yard.

 

Rode up to the inspection station this morning, and passed :smug: ! The sticker was thirteen years expired. Drew many compliments from the mechanics there.

 

Good job Bro getting the bike up and running. At this point most of these are somewhat "Frankensteined" together. I'm running an 86 engine in my 84 after the original blew up.

About the noisy engine, be careful, loose valves really aren't abnormally noisy in my opinion. Hopefully, it isn't a bearing or bent valve. Since the valves on these tighten up, being a tiny bit loose should be just fine. Best of luck to you, those of us who still try to ride these need lots and lots of luck, patience and time to fix em.

 

Thanks Jrod! I plan to go back under the covers and redo the valves in a day or so. I believe I should obtain a synchronization gauge and adjust the carburetors as well.

 

My carburetor synchronization tools came in today, going to tackle that first thing tomorrow. Also new caliper pin boots. Still need to order a new seat cover. Maybe some new muffler gaskets too.

PS: The weather has been warm here, so I have taken a few 50 mile rides, runs pretty good but definitely will be happier once the carburetors are synced.

 

I did synchronize the carburetors, they were off a bit of course. Replaced the brake pin boots, and I put a new seat cover on. I have noticed that the valve covers are leaking a bit, so when I open them back up I need to seal them up with some RTV. One thing that has come to my attention, while reading other threads here, is that I may be needing to change out the igniter modules to be compatible with the salvage engine. I never knew there was any difference in the model years.

 

As you can see I need to work on the seat cover a bit more, otherwise it's coming together nicely. Tonight I went back and readjusted the valve clearances (used two feeler gauges this time), and replaced the dry rotted coolant overflow hose. Thanks for the help and encouragement everyone.

 

Try replacing the cam cover bolt seals before dicking around with rtv. The bolt seals are what put the pressure on the main cam cover seal.

 

Don't overtorque those bolts though. Plenty of posts on here where they have snapped.