1st gen modern mods?

Hi all. I have an FH that has been sat for over a decade waiting to be brought back to life.
Finally looking at getting somewhere to work on the beast so wanted to ask what modern gizmos and gadget can be deployed in my list of works???

 

Not 100% sure what you are referring to. Mods, like wide wheels for modern radials?

 

I have the Quadlock charging phone stand on mine.

I know there's some people who have upgraded to a new instrument panel + fuel level sending relay to have a fuel gauge instead of just the low-level light.

Is that what you mean?

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

Functional mods like suspension or farkles like LED light kits?

 

Also, we are weird over here on this side of the pond. We refer to 1986/87 as "2nd" Gen. As in 2nd Gen Interceptors.

Best to use years too with us, even "FJ" and "FH" will throw us for a loop.

 

H would be 1987, so we are indeed talking a VFR not a VF.

It is a 1980's bike so gizmo addition is pointless aside from useful stuff like a USB socket and phone mount. Spend your money where it will do some good, like brake seals, forks seals and bushings, steering head bearings and a decent shock and new tyres (I can recommend BT46s). Don't neglect other wear items like the cush rubbers in the rear hub, and it should go without saying that you will become intimately familiar with the insides of your carbs, so stock up on carb bowl gaskets and ideally new inlet rubbers. I also replaced the fuel hose and fuel filter on my 86, and had to sort out some bad ignition lead components to get the sparks happening nicely.

I kept my 86 for about 6 months after the restoration and found it to be a very smooth runner, just as punchy as my current 99 800 (and maybe better in the midrange) with pretty decent handling. I thought I would dislike the 37mm forks but honestly never thought about them. Keep us posted with your findings.

 

nobody needs that kinda distraction while riding, NO PHONES ON BIKES

its an addiction, Bozo

 

You may be right about that. I do have a Quadlock for my phone on all 3 of my bikes, but I use that for other things like a GPS speedo and a source of bangin' bluetooth tunes for my long days in the saddle.

 

Get yourself a MotoBatt battery!

Other than that.......leave it stock, my brother!

 

Second generation Interceptor but 1st Generation VFR! The whole "generation" thing is a load of crap anyway, utterly inconsistent and different countries had even had different models so full model and year is best for all concerned.

Anyway, back on track. What you want to do depends on budget.

If you want to tinker around the edges then an AGM battery and battery monitor would be my absolute minimum. Followed (and related) by fitting a more modern reg/reg. Obviously if you want to use a mounted phone then a quadlock and (waterproof) charging socket would be handy. *IF* you've replaced the reg/rec then LED headlight bulb would be a decent upgrade but if you haven't then go for the brightest incandescent! Better to waste power with the original reg/rec than save it.

Beyond that you can take a number of upgrades from the slightly later 88/89 bikes, forks, wheels, brakes are all an upgrade (but not much of one, 41mm forks, bigger discs, better brakes, 17in front but still damper rod forks and a weedy 110/80-17 bias tyre). Or you can just fit an entire Firestorm front end which is a much better upgrade (wider wheel so radial tyres, floating disks, better calipers and cartridge forks). Most front ends are problematic on the RC24 as they're not long enough but equally the original is very softly damped so sits quite low. 88/89 Clocks have fuel gauge in (but you'd need the 87/FH tacho), I think you can retrofit the matching sensor from the 88/89 into the 86/87 as well. 88/89 rear subframe is a bit nicer IMO with the alloy hangers. Fairing is a bit "chunkier" (truth be told I think I prefer the 86/87) but also not a straight swap. Even the nose fairing while it looks the same is different (the 86/87 lowers bolt through the top fairing while the 88/89 bolts through the lowers).

If your budget stretches to it then you can fit CBR600F wheels to the 88/89 forks (I mean you can to the 86/87 but you need to machine them). The 88/89 forks however still aren't that great, emulators and stiffer springs make them much better but that's starting to get pretty expensive. Particularly as then you'll really want a better shock too. If you want to fit the 91-94 CBR600F front wheel then don't bother getting discs with the wheel, they're too small. You need ***ORIGINAL*** 88/89 VFR *OR* dullville discs (RC36/1 and all the aftermarket discs are same fitment but too thick). If you fit a later CBR600F (95-98) front wheel you gain floating discs but lose the speedo drive. You can however fit a (modified) later VFR sprocket cover, electronic speedo drive and speedo. CBR600F 91-94 and 95-98 rear wheels are the same fitment but the seals are a different diameter (which means the spacers are a different diameter), the later wheel is wider which gives more choice (although personally I went with a 160 rear).

Mine is an 1988 VFR750FJ, modifications are the Motad full system, CBR600F (1991-94) front wheel, CBR600F (1995-98) rear wheel, emulators, stiffer springs and that's pretty much it. My personal next upgrade is a longer rear shock to fix the "drop" from fitting a smaller profile rear tyre.

 

Sure is a lot of "answers" when he hasn't even responded once after his cryptic inquiry.

 

Motobatt double the price of other options here!

So the original battery was a YB12A-B, the second letter refers to the location of the drain tube. If you get an AGM battery it doesn't have a drain tube so it makes no difference!

Long story short, get an YB12A-A AGM battery.

 

Yuasa batteries are total crap. Have been for years. It isn't like the old days.

The MotoBatt is more because it is much higher quality. I seem to get ~8 years out of mine.

With the current pricing structure, I'm not sure i'd put a wet or AGM in any bike anymore, once the last few I have die.

 

Last time I bought a non-AGM battery for mine I bought the genuine Honda one as it was the cheapest option (and a Yuasa), still a wet battery though and I've never had a wet battery last longer than two years in mine!

I was going to suggest that the MotoBatt is more expensive in the UK because of where it comes from as its made in Jacksonville Fl USA!

Except actually seems like we don't have the normal £ for $ that most things seem to default to and it's actually *cheaper* in the UK than in the USA ($92.66 [£73.32] vs £64.23 [$81.16]). It is however still twice the price of a normal AGM. Is it better? Undoubtedly. Is it twice as good or lasts twice as long? Debatable!

Plus of course if you buy the cheaper one then when your reg/rec dies and fries your battery you will only cry half as much!