'84 VF500F Interceptor

Always lusted after a 1st gen Interceptor. This was a garage find from Rainier via Estacada, Oregon. 28,000 miles, fresh valve adjust, carb tune/sync, oil, battery. Runs pretty nice, but a little rev lag on neutral and stutter at 5900-6500 rpm. Giving Sea Foam a chance to recondition to try to avoid a rebuild (I should note: the bike came with no air filter, which just might have something to do with this). Totally ride-able as-is, great frame and suspension, brakes and clutch with fresh fluid, electrics good. Unbelievably wonderful sound. Love this bike.

 

Update: the more I ride it with Sea Foam, the smoother it gets. It's night and day from the 5900 rpm highway stumble/lurch from when I first brought it home (this hadn't come up on the test-ride, because the owner lives in canyon twisties -- the problem is only noticeable at flat sustained freeway speeds. As a side note, if you're selling an Interceptor, it's not a bad idea to have the test-ride in twisties with canyon walls echoing the sounds of a screaming V4!). It had sat in a garage in Rainier for 10 years (last registration sticker was 2002) and I'm betting the rings and gaskets got a little dry and brittle, and throwing our now ethanol-rich fuel into the mix didn't help. Now I barely sense any stumble at sustained speed. I just add 4 tablespoons (eyeballing it) when I get a fresh tank of gas. Put some Sea Foam in the clean oil too. Took a long early morning shake-down ride almost to Centralia and back, down the Westside Hwy. The more I ride her, the happier she is.

 

Congrats on your find. I too lust after the Miniceptor.

 

You know what helped even more? Removing the old fuel pump/filter and about a foot of tubing. Put in a regular cheapo fuel filter. Seems much happier, fixed the lean surge at idle. Gravity feed works!

 

Yeap, and saves you the headscratching on the side of the road when that pump starts going bad too. I still wanna know WTF Honda was thinking with that hokey ass setup and what it was supposed to acheive.

 

Removing the fuel valve diaphragms did wonders today: Daugherty Motorsports - Tank Valve Petcock Modification