RVF400 in the off-season

Awesome, leak down went great but all my tubes were backwards. Rebuilt again and waiting on ordered fuel hose. 2nd leak down is successful.
Got some new insulators and I am having to straighten some bent up clamps. Sincce my Euro work trip was canceled I moved the entire shop to the new building, sooo much space, not sure why I waited!



Going to be running off of solar since we are sun 300+ days a year. Currently no overhead lights. Still super stoked! Still waiting on coolant hoses. Lol

 

Fuel hose installed, carbs installed. Easy peasey. Heated and small amount of lube. Pop!
Loaded with 5oz of fuel. An in bike leak down. I don’t trust myself. Also installed an actual choke cable. The previous cable was a joke. Venhill for all replacement cables. Still waiting on my Samco hoses. Patience. Side cover cleaned up and installed.

 

"Pop"

Hell yeah

 

Rebuilt rear master and finally added some thermal material to the heat shield.

 

Okey dokey, finally have power and lights. Tomorrow I can start making progress. Time for a big ass OG stereo!

 

Booo I don’t have the socket for this clutch retaining nut. Make or order tomorrow. Also didn’t see a separate part number for the washer to lock the nut. More research needed. Cleaned off old gasket, and sand blast the cover.

 

Goddamn diaphragm springs.

What, you don't want to use a chisel like the last master mechanic did?

 

First timer with USD forks. Here we go. Armed with YouTube and Red Bull.

 

They are really not that different fundamentally. You got it.

 

Never mind YouTube, with G-translate I am converting my Japanese manual. Lucky forks are one of the few highly detailed break downs. Most of the diagrams are detail-less.
Thanks Capt!
I did notice someone built these slightly wrong. The white spacer gig is backwards and does not seat into the alum spacer thing.

 

Yesss, no seized lower screw on either fork. Time to remove seals.

 

Probably the same douche nozzle that thought a chisel is a clutch nut tool.

 

Hahahaha, yes indeed.
All done. Seemed easier than conventional in my mind. No leaks and ready to go on.

 

Coolant system and wiring. Takes fun time..sheesh.

 

I think the axle is the incorrect unit. I have measured it on and off and it still seems too short. New possible match inbound.

Filled with coolant, fuel, and oil. She fired right up. No leaks. Yessss. I still predict some leaks once she is fully warmed. Wired in a voltmeter ( better than before ) and added a temp digital temp gauge as well. Might look a little hokey but I just want the numbers.
Air box back on and now we are ready for front fairing. Oh and I need a nicer fan switch. Mine is super autozone ghetto.

 

Looking pretty tidy there dude.

Yeah, the axle should be closer to the outer edge of the hole. I have encountered a few lengths on that style axle, including differences in the length of the fatter section with the hole depending on which spacers are needed to center the wheel. When I'm doing front end and wheel swaps I often have to go to the "axle box" and the "spacer box" to mix-n-match the correct combo.

 

It's weird to see a cable actuated clutch on a V4 counter shaft cover.

 

I wonder if Honda was trying to keep it "racy"?

If I measure this tomorrow could you check your stash of axles? I cross referenced a 1997 Blackbird 1100 xx front axle from CMSNL. I could be a bust, but it is worth $25 to find out. There are no RVF anythings out there.

 

I believe it was a gold wing axle that matched....maybe it matches both, or maybe my memory is shit. I bought one off of Ebay to send to a friend who machined me an axle out of ti, before they were commercially available. Too bad I'm on the road for work or I would send you both the gold wing and the oem off of mine.

 

Well, maybe I will have to be patient and hope you may have what I need. My blackbird axle should be no later than the 24th. See what I get. I appreciate the usual forum help.