Maintenance Recommendations

No I didn't. I wish I had done more research on the headlight. This aspect of the project was a disappointment. I'll write about that in a bit.

 

Fuel Filter Issues and Cosmetic Upgrades

I changed the oil and filter, cleaned my air filter and changed the coolant. I also replaced my plugs with NGK Iridium spark plugs. All were easy tasks. I thought about trying the Evans waterless coolant but decided not too. Does anyone have feed back on that product?

Since I had the tank off, I also decided to change the fuel filter, which was not easy for me. The unit is very difficult to get out of the tank. The service manual states to replace the gasket once you remove the fuel pup/filter unit, so I did, The OEM filter is quite expensive for what it is and the unit is equally difficult to reinsert into the tank. I felt as if I was very careful and did not use excessive force. Once the tank and fittings were hooked up and I put some gas in the tank I noticed a very significant leak. I wasn't sure if it was from the pump unit and tank interface or from a hose. I removed the tank again loosened the nuts and made sure the gasket was seated properly. I reinstalled the nuts in the sequence and force specified in the service manual. She still leaked and I now knew it was from the aft portion of this fitting. I removed the tank and completely removed the pump / filter assembly and realized that I had, ever so slightly bent the flange around the tank opening while inserting the pump / filter unit. I carefull restored the flange to its intended state, reinstalled everything and the problem was solved. My bottom line is that unless you suspect that your fuel filter really needs to be replaced, I would not take on this task.

I cleaned up the rear end by installing a fender eliminator kit kit from Competition Werkes, removing the rear foot pegs, and installing a clear lens L.E.D. tail lamp.

I just removed the right passenger foot peg unit. On the left side I wanted to retain the keyed helmet holder seat release and the associated handle used to assist putting the bike on the center stand, so I merely cut that unit along a line that parallels the body work and reattached that unit to it's stock fittings.

The fender eliminator kit is overpriced and the instructions were a joke. The picture with the instructions looked like they had been recopied numerous times from a low contrast, low resolution copier. A lady at Competition Werkes emailed me a clearer set of pictures which helped immensely. I can't recommend this kit because of its cost for such a simple piece of metal and the lack of adequate instructions. But I like the look and don't know if there are other options.

I bought the clear tail lamp and front turn signals from White Lights off of EBay. I think White Lights is a German outfit. Replacing the turn signals was a breeze, but I had trouble with the tail lamp. The stock tail lamp has four electrical leads and the White Lights unit has only three. I was told to merely attach one of the tail lamp leads and leave the other disconnected. It also seemed to me that there fitting was incompatible with the bikes electrical fitting. I was assured that everything was as it was supposed to be and that I needed to follow the instructions exactly. The problem was that no instructions were included. This was a common problem. Virtually all of the products with the exception of the Galfer brake and clutch lines came with no instructions or completely useless ones. I had been try to connect the leads directly together while I actually needed to attach both leads into opposite ends of the stock bulb holder. I assembled everything back to together and only the right turn signal worked. I contacted them and they assured me that everything would work. They suggested that I connect the leads to a 12 volt source to make sure everything worked. I, again, removed the tail lamp and connected all three fittings independently directly to my batter and everything worked. I reassembled everything. This time the right turn signal tail lamp and brake light worked but the left turn signal did not. After another cycle of doing this, everything worked, yet every time I reinstalled my stock unit it worked perfectly. The people at White Lights seemed as though they had never run into people having this much difficulty. This really might have been a one off situation. The people at White Lights were very helpful and prompt with their responses. I can recommend these products conditionally. Mine were a pain to install and no instructions were included. They are a bit expensive, but I like the end result.

To be continued ...

 

Nice write up, it's this sorta thing that makes VFRW so cool. I've been thinking about the clear led rear and turns, but at the moment it's further down the list. But I like what I see. good to know your take on it for the money, maybe I should put it further down on the list for now, which is ok I'm staring at the mirrors and rear wheel, then right behind that is a de link. But how was the exhaust to massage into place? fitment and quality? I'm looking for rocking horse poo with that one Thanks for sharing

 

H.I.D. Installation

Next up is the H.I.D. headlight project. This is the only "upgrade" that I would not do again. I think the potential exists to greatly improve your head lamp, but I did not accomplish it. It's unfortunate because seeing and being seen is about as important as good brakes. I wish I had consulted you guys before I bought this kit. I bought my kit from http://www.motorcyclehidlights.com/ I bought an 8000K slim ballast unit. I think 6000K is the clearest white, 8000K is one step to the blue range, I think. This is the only vendor that I will never do business with again. Again, the instructions were a joke. They covered various types of installs, single bulb, etc, but they really made it seem like I was going to have to splice into other lines. I just noticed that on their order page there are links to various motorcycle installation videos. I'm sure those were there when I did my install, but I didn't think of going to their order page when the kit came with instructions. I emailed them and they sent me a link to a youtube video where a guy is putting a kit in a Mazda. Why not one of their videos? I have no idea. The good news was there was no splicing to be done and the connections were very straight forward. If the included instructions had read, "plug everything together logically and mount the ballast", it would have been simpler. I was pleased that the ballasts were slim and there were ample places to mount.

This is a bit of a mystery to me. When I took out my H4 PIAAs, there was only one wide flange their replacement had three flanges. It appears that many years ago when I mounted the PIAAs, I had trimmed those tabs because they didn't line up with the cutouts in the reflector bulb fitting. My stock fitting had at least three cutouts, but they didn't line up with any orientation of the bulb. Here the issue appears to be the shape of the fitting on my bike not the geometry of the H.I.D. bulb. The bulb appears to be standard. Has anyone run into this?

I could tell that I could trim the two tabs and the bulb would securely fit but that would allow multiple orientations of a very asymmetric bulb. This bulb has a long H.I.D. element with a long curved reflector running parallel to it and what appears to be a smaller incandescent bulb next to it. I emailed them with pictures as to how the bulb should be oriented. I didn't give them much time to respond and decided to call. The tech people would not pick up. So I contacted sales and asked that guy to asked him to ask the tech people the simple question, "should the reflector be oriented to the top or two the bottom?" He came back with, "They say it should be mounted by a professional, but if you want to do it yourself you can experiment with it in different configurations on your garage door." I couldn't convince the guy that this seemed like an inappropriate answer. I was also told that I could return the unit. I later received an email from the tech people that reiterated what the sales guy told me. I don't think they know much about the products they sell.

Another minor problem was that the mounting disk on the bulb is not metal. it is plastic and many times thicker than the metal on most bulbs. Consequently, the two metal clips do not want to go over this thicker disk and clip into place.

Here are two pictures of the beams against the garage door at about 20 feet. The first is the low beam, and the second is the high beam. I like the color of the low beam. They are quite bright. I might play around with the bulbs orientation. I really haven't driven much at night other than in the neighbor hood to test the lights. I'll update this later when I have more miles as it pertains to how effective they are and oncoming driver's reactions to the lights. Oh by the way, Merry Christmas.

 

There are exact instructions (varying a little by state or province) that state exactly how headlights should be aimed. One thing to note is that only the highbeam should be set, and then the low beam is assumed to be correct.

Highbeam should be just slightly below horizontal. In the photos your left side light looks way too high.

 

Exhaust

I really liked my old slip on, it was a Two Brothers, carbon weave unit. It had a unique look. The carbon turned a gold like color over time. However it was lately morphing into a gold green color which I wasn't as fond of. I decided to replace the exhaust more for cosmetic reasons than performance. I would never have bought a full system if it weren't for Delkevic's very attractive pricing.

The old unit was not too difficult to remove. Nothing was seized. I did have a bit of a problem disconnecting two of the header pipes from each other . But over all it went smoother than I anticipated.

I think the Delkevic unit is very impressive, especially for the price. However again, would instructions be too much to ask for? I asked them to email them to me which they did. I started working on the installation and I was taken aback by the sequence. Reading on I discovered that they had sent me instructions for installing a slip on. They later sent me the appropriate instructions. While they weren't as bad as the ones that came with H.I.D. kit there were a lot of very vague statements followed by, "it is important that you do this correctly". Does that mean the other steps don't matter? Also it seems that 98 and 99 models differ from later 5th gens in that the exhaust did not mount to the bottom of the engine. Strangely, my engine has a lug underneath that became the anchor point for later model exhausts, but there was no mounting hardware or provision on the old exhaust for mounting. Delkevic seemed unaware of this when I tried to clarify their vague instructions regarding the configuration under the engine. The good news is that without that anchor point the system is still very rigid.

The header pipes were all numbered with stickers, and the collector had four numbered inlets. That was nice. The rear cylinder headers were in two pieces the front cylinder headers were just one piece. At first I wanted to assume that the numbers referred to the cylinder numbers as designated by Honda. This was obviously a false assumption. When I contacted Delkevic regarding which numbered pipes went to which cylinder, they couldn't answer me. They just said put the numbered pipes into the appropriately numbered inlet in the collector unit. Fortunately, I noticed that on their website, if you expand their pictures of your unit you can see they left the number stickers on the installed system. Expanding the pictures on their site really helps the install.

The biggest problem that I had with this system might, once again have been a one off, but two of my header pipes, the ones that fit together and exhaust the aft right cylinder would not fit together without using extensive force and lubricant. All other fittings just slipped together. Delkevic denied that this was a possibility. Using all my strength, lubrication, and attempting to bend the female end out allowed me to get the pipes together. However I still think I was a quarter of an inch or so from getting them fully seated. Because this fitting took so much effort, I could not proceed with the install in the sequence that was specified. Also, the system hangs about a quarter of an inch low, hence the mounting hole in the bracket of the collector does not quite line up with the previously mentioned mounting lug on the bottom of the engine. Were this mount required my system would have been unusable as received.

I think the Delkevic rep grew tired of me. There was a lot of denying that my problem was real and her response times began to grow. I think I dashed her claims of engineering perfection and quality control when I pointed out the fact that they were unaware of the mounting differences between early and late 5th gen models. Also they included parts that were unspecified and included an exhaust gasket that was on the parts list but didn't fit where they said it should.

Overall, I think the system looks great. It's not as loud as I thought it would be, but the baffle is removable. It sounds very similar to my Two Brothers slip on model under low to medium throttle. I think its a bit louder during aggressive driving. I'm glad I installed the exhaust. If my fitment problem was an anomoly, the install is fairly straight forward.

 

Thanks, I don't know how to adjust it, but I'll check it out and try something.

 

Wrap up

I also replaced the chain and sprockets. Everything looked good but the chain had stretched close to it's limits. I went with http://sprocketcenter.com/ I'd like to give a resounding thumbs up to these people. I went with the 530 JT brand red set. I like the look but that's obviously subjective.
I also went stock 43T on the rear and one less, 16T on the front sprocket. I've always heard that going more teeth on the rear is preferable than going less teeth on the front if you are looking for more hole shot effect. Because you don't want to reduce the radius of the turn the chain must make on the forward sprocket because it introduces a stress on the links, seemed logical to me. At the time they sold a 44T rear, I don't think they do any more, but they were sold out. The guy at Sprocket Center told me not to worry about it, the 6th gens all came with 16Ts on the front anyway.

The rear sprocket was considerably lighter than the stock unit. My bike now stops, handles , and goes better than I can ever remember. The "go" factor is probably only due to the sprocket change. If you're a tourer and want to calm things down, I would go the other way. But if you are primarily a sport rider, this simple change yielded huge results. She feels much torquier. I must say that I find myself reaching for another gear way more often.

The guy who I talked to at Sprocket Center was top shelf. He was patient, always answered the phone, and critiqued my photos of my master link install. I recommend Sprocket Center with no reservations.