Matt Tries – 1984 VF500F Overhaul

Get the wheels powder coated yellow and get them to powder coat a 4x4" piece of metal while they're at it. Take that bit of metal to your local auto paint shop and have them optically scan it for a formula match. Then your wheels will match your bodywork.

I think you may find it easier to remove the frame off the engine, way easier than maneuvering the engine out of a rolling chassis IMHO. When I did it on my 500 Rothmans interceptor and my two VF1000R's it was so much easier to maneuver the frame on and off the engine while the engine was on the same jack /lift you have. The first time I removed the VF1000R engine I took it out of the bike with the wheels etc on. and it was little more than a controlled fall. I stuck with the Frame on and off the Engine approach after that.

 

Well you 've taken the bike down this far, might as well go all the way with it. I agree with Straycat on powder coating the wheels yellow and then have them match the paint color to the powder. I think if you're going for yellow wheels then the frame, swingarm, brake hardware, and fork stanchions should be blacked out while the plastic body work should be yellow. Maybe add some black racing stripes to spice things up.

Here's my obligatory suggestion to install these 90* valve stems when you get the wheels put back together. Use a little bit of Permatex aviation gasket sealant under the gasket of the pressure side of the valve stem and Loctite on the jam nut threads for peace of mind.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1315585521...=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&ufes_redirect=true

 

I will do both of these things. Should have the opportunity to put the engine back on the lift and get the rest of the bike apart today. It gave me some confidence knowing I could go look at my buddy's bike and probably just borrow it for a week when I'm ready to start re-assembling as a reference. The routing of all the wires/lines/etc. is what has me anxious about re-assembly. Pictures only tell so much--but I took a ton of em. Thanks for the advice Stray.

I'll definitely need to figure out some black decals once it gets to that point. I'll start keeping my eyes peeled now.

I have a set of 90° valve stems ready to go. Glad you reminded me though... I need to figure out where I put the things! They weren't in my box of "new parts" where I expected them to be... I know I handled them about a month ago though, hah.

 

Yea, I take a lot of pictures when I strip a bike, and I keep taking them at every angle at every stage of the tear down. when I think I have enough pics, I take some more.

I also make very detailed notes and diagrams on routing to refer to later if need be.

I also record & number every singe step I take in a note book , everything I remove is recorded in that step by step in that same note book. All the removed parts and bolts are bagged and labeled with what they are for and the corresponding step number from said notebook . Ive never had too many issues reassembling by doing that.

OCD ? quite possibly.

 

I don't think it's OCD--it's time saving in the end. I've learned the hard way that not organizing and labelling things during disassembly costs wayyy more time when you're trying to put it all back together. Every bolt that I pulled off went into a 3", 4", or freezer bag and labelled with a corresponding picture. I haven't been making notes though... I should probably do that. My notebook is just full of more and more parts I need to order when I notice something missing, wrong, tired, or damaged. I ran out and grabbed $50 worth of clear plastic totes specific to this project yesterday before I started pulling things.

It makes me anxious seeing people disassembling things and just tossing all the nuts and bolts into a box all willy nilly. That's how you end up putting the wrong bolt into a caliper mount and cracking it like me!

 

I got everything pulled apart this weekend. Removing the frame from the engine was definitely the way to go--thanks for the suggestion. It was actually pretty simple to disassemble and remove the frame. The only part I struggled with was the rear lower engine mount which was quite rusted up and not playing very nice. Got it out with a hammer eventually without ruining the threads.

If I'm going this far, I'm doing everything, so... Need to pull the bearings out of everything that'll get powder coated. I don't want grease running and ruining anything even if I do plug them. I'm thinking the frame, rear shock linkage, swingarm, and a few other odds and ends will get a standard gloss black. I've been convinced that I should go with yellow for the wheels.

These little caged needle bearings in the rear shock linkage are pricy little bastards. Well, pricey because there's 6 of em. The two I removed don't feel like they were damaged coming out. The other four remaining in feel a bit crunchy before even attempting removal. Realistically can probably get away with just regreasing them if I don't destroy them on their way out, but... It looks like I can find the NTN 7E-HMK1525 for about $17 each from Motion Industries. I may just get 4. I can't find any alternatives from my searching for a 22mm OD, 15mm ID, 25mm L caged needle bearing.

In case it helps anyone in the future, here's the needle bearing for the shock linkage: NTN 7E-HMK1525



The swingarm bearings are NSK HR 30203J. These I can probably just regrease and re-use.. we'll see. I see em about $18 a piece on Amazon. Several places carry them.


There is a lottttt of parts cleaning in my future. Yikes, can't believe how caked on some of the shit is on the swingarm and a few other areas.

 

Anything is possible with enough beer LOL! I say go for it, you have a nice SV to ride while you are down!

 

take the pledge: no cheap chinese garbage replacement parts on MY bike.

 

Come on now.. I've been pretty good about this! Okay fine, the fork seals are All Balls, but I've never had an issue with any of them I've put in. My new fork bushings (the ones that are available at least...) arrived today as well. The major offender of Chineseum on my bike is the brake master cylinder. I'm still trying to figure out the lever situation there. Considering I will be coming up on my 4th attempt at trying to figure out a closer-pull lever situation, I'll leave that until after things start coming together. It's going to require a different upper stainless brake hose though since the orientation of the later generation master cylinders was different, and that's what I want to add.

Don't worry about the shock linkage and swingarm bushings and bearings going cheap. These are probably the last ones that the bike is going to get, so they might as well be right.

 

yes, the chinese will sell you half- priced parts, but they last half as long and never work as well as oem.

 

The swingarm and linkage bearings have such a limited range of movement, they are rarely "bad" unless the bike has been used as an anchor in the harbor. Clean them out really good, prep the part for paint, and mask off the bearings and seals. Re-pack when the paint is cured. I've never had to replace those bearings, but sometimes I will cherry pick the best pivot shafts from my parts stash if they show more "wear" than a replacement piece.

The swingarm I can see wanting to do so it matches the frame if I ever PC anything again (NO). But the little pieces? Nah. A cool contrasting color looks great for suspension pieces.

 

Holding the linkage piece staring at and rolling my fingers through the needle bearings... I see your point about not bothering to powder coat it. It's an unnecessary expense for a piece that could easily just be sprayed. I silicone plugged the bearings and gave it a go in the ultrasonic and it's super clean now. It'll spray easy. I'll save the money on new bearings for a different project since a bunch of little things to buy keep popping up.

If my frame didn't have so much rust in some areas, I'd probably just spray it myself. But I really, really, really don't want to do all the paint stripping and rust removal myself. I did it on my CL350, and I promised myself never again. That's something I'll pay someone with the right tools for.

I suppose I should probably drill that drain hole in the frame you posted the bulletin about!

 

It's very difficult to find anything reproduction that isn't from China or India. NTN and NSK are Japanese and manufactured in Japan. Timken, SKF, and FAG are respected names, but they are manufactured in China and India.

Most people don't want to take the time to pour over bearing shells and seals, getting part numbers, then researching and cross referencing part numbers for bearings and seals. They want to go to Partzilla, buy the kit and be done with it. For 99.9% of people, this works just fine. If it's OE and it's available, you will pay a premium, it's up to you to decide whether or not it's worth it. I cross reference everything and only buy Japanese bearings and seals from Motion Industries, but that's just me and the premium price is not a factor to for me, as they are sometimes half the cost of OE. Premium bearings and seals at Chinese prices.

I remember a time when Honda, KHI, Toyota and Datsun (Nissan), etc. were considered cheap and inferior, fast forward to today, and they are now a benchmark. In the global economy, China and India are the manufacturing powerhouses for everything, due to cheap labor. You are using hundreds of Chinese made things and not even knowing it. It may say made in the USA, but it's actually the castings came from China or India and the machining is performed here.

 

its amazing how much paint it takes to do a frame, so much of it is lost in the wind (so to speak).

 

I read this as I have 3 tabs open to Partzilla trying to cross-reference parts, hah.

Since I have the motor out, I was curious about looking into swapping for the larger oil pump and sump of the 1986. I decided to take a peak at the blown out '86 motor I had to see what was even in it. I think I found what caused one of the pistons to explode, . I don't know any history of this thing. The clutch basket is in Jim's bike (maybe?) right now though.




I've never held an oil pump before from one of these. This thing is pretty damn cool to play around with! Unfortunately, it looks like someone beat me to snagging some of the parts, and I'm missing the 1986 oil strainer and seal.
1986 STRAINER, OIL 15153-MM1-670 UNAVAILABLE
1986 OIL SEAL, PIPE 91315-MF2-711 UNAVAILABLE



The reason I was considering swapping is because I don't think there will be any clearance issues with the 4-2 V&H exhaust since there's no cross-over and they run parallel to the sump. I verified that it is, in fact, the 1986 pump in there since it's stamped with "MF2" and the part number is 15100-MF2-710. 1984 is 15100-MJ8-000. It sounds like poor oil flow at high RPMs is one of the leading causes of death for these bikes, so it might be worth upgrading to a better unit.



User invisible cities (and others) already did all the heavy lifting on researching and discussion on this swap 12 years ago in this thread: https://vfrworld.com/threads/86-oil-pump-conversion-for-the-84-85-vf500f.30152/

The only parts I believe I would need to buy are for the strainer (9 and 22) and bolt #28 which is 5mm longer than the 1984. Somebody already beat me to snagging the oil pump mounting bolts but left the oil pump actually in the bike. WTF?


Ooooh, I forgot, I actually did have a few questions. Namely... would it be ill-advised to use an oil pump from a bike that was known to have suffered an exploded piston. The action of the gear in the pump is super smooth in my hands; however, I'm unsure of whether these specs of metal are cause for concern on the gear. I'm actually able to pull them off with my finger nail.




The other question I have--should I be concerned at all about pressure relief functionality? Everything else looks like I can clean up. The parts diagram doesn't show an exploded view of the relief assembly 15220-MF2-710.

Anyway, if I can't find an 86 strainer and seal, it doesn't matter regardless. Or if one of you tells me that's more bother than it's worth--or that you wouldn't trust this oil pump, I'll just drop the idea.

 

Those trochoid pumps are pretty bulletproof, I would try to see if I could remove the aluminum smears and then I would get out the feeler gauges and check the impeller and impeller tip to housing tolerances, there should be a spec for that. There are three measurement points. If it cleaned up good and you were positive you had flushed all the slag out of it, I would say use it.

My RVF trochoid pump looked pretty similar after my crank ate itself, but Mike Norman determined there was no need to replace it, so it's in there now and the oil pressure is fine. I replaced all of the parts that could be replaced, which was hard to do, because I had to find the parts. I was able to source the pressure relief valve and the rest of the exterior bits from Ebay Australia, all NOS.

 

Thankyou NB for the insight--and thanks for the clarification on what type of pump it is--"Trochoid Pump". I will look into those measurement points to try to figure out if this pump is usable.

I managed to find a pump + strainer + seal (used) on eBay. Messaged the seller and asked if the seal was included, and he got back to me within like 5 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. So I'll just choose whichever pump looks best.

I wish I would have measured the exhaust vs sump clearance while the bike was assembled, but I'm almost certain there won't be clearance issues with the way the V&H is designed. Famous last words. I'll find out in like half a year or so when I start reassembling.

 

Matt:

I have a complete spare oil pump /screen etc from a VF500C Magna. Should be the same one as the Interceptor. Yours if you need it.

I still have the '86 clutch basket also if you end up needing it back. I have still not gotten around to installing it as Life got in the way again.

 

I suppose I should have asked before pulling the trigger on ebay. But I'll be flush on '86 oil pumps shortly, heh. So if anybody else needs one, sounds like we've got a few spares now. And no worries about the clutch basket. Life has a habit of doing that.

 

Son of a bitch. Alright, I'm officially stumped. Is there any way to tighten the clutch locknut to 43-51 ft-lb without a special tool to hold?



I think the rest of the 84 to 86 oil pump swap is done if I can figure this part out.