Where to start...

Hey guys, I currently own a 1984 VF1000. I've beed driving it for 2 years now. I'm thinking it's about time to restore the old girl. I was wondering where to start??? It has the dreaded engine tick, found worn cam lobe was the culprit. I'm debating on tearing engine down and doing complete rebuild. How much would this cost me? I would also like to disassemble whole bike while I'm at it and fix whatever else I find. I currently have another donor bike, along with a s@#t load of spare parts I've been collecting over the years. So where should I start???

 

i think where to start depends on just how far into the bike you want to go. i'd say you have 2 primary options.

(1) fix whats broke, and clean it up a little while your at it
(2) balls out, frame-off restoration

obviously, the first option would be the cheapest and easiest, though it does sound like your motor could use a bit of a going-through. you could use this to your advantage in that you can get WAY into the bike with the motor out and replace any worn out or cruddy stuff more easily than with the motor in.

the second option, at least to me, would probably yeild the most personal benefit. I'm talkin pull every nut and bolt off the bike, rebuild and clean up the motor, and go all the way down to a bare frame that, if you wanted, you could polish or powder-coat or whatever. this option literally allows you to make the bike yours from the ground up.

honestly, nobody can tell you what you want with the bike. this is a decision that will likely best be made with a beer in each hand and a good hour of staring at the bike in the garage. either way, it sounds like you have a whole lot to work with, so I'm sure whichever route you go, youre going to end up with a hell of a bike.

good luck!!

 

Ya that's a good point. I'm sure I'll start off with a regular "fix what's broken attitude" but will eventually rebuild to make sure everything is right with the bike. So are engine parts still available for these bikes? Like engine gaskets and stuff like that?

 

yeah, just some of the stuff may prove a little difficult to find. the resources that I use most for my bike are Motorcycle Parts, Discount Honda Motorcycle, ATV, Watercraft Parts, Honda Accessories, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki Bikes, Polaris Parts - ServiceHonda.com and PowerSportsPro - 22% OFF & $6.99 Shipping Honda Motorcycle Parts & Kawasaki, Suzuki & Yamaha Parts Service Honda tends to be a bit cheaper and both sites consistently surprise me with what they can come up with. Ebay and CraigsList are also naturally useful resources too...you never know what youll find on either one of those sites.

 

Ok, that's a relief. So believe it or not, I just discovered that I had a extra engine lying around. How do I check the serial number on it to make sure it's from the same year of bike that I have. I tried googling it but no luck. Is there somewhere on here I can find out?

 

thats one to which i have no answer....though i'd bet the vf1k crowd around here (or on other VF/VFR forums) might have some insight to that....

 

Ok, thanks. I'll try posting it to see if anyone can help me out. Thanks, I'll keep you updated. I'm just hoping that this engine is the same as in my bike so i can just start tearing it down. It'll be a lot easier working on a engine that's already out...

 

So I was directed to a Honda code site, acording to that my engine is out of a VF 1000 FE-J. So I'm gonna start tearing into that engine to see if it has any problems with it. If not I may use that engine for my bike.

 

I'd suggest you start by buying another, more reliable bike to ride whilst you're sorting that one out. Many parts are no longer available new. It would be way too easy to spend enough on that antique that you could find a newer bike better in every way for the same money.

Why anyone would sink money into rebuilding a bike that was flawed from the factory and will always have maintenance issues is still a mystery to me.

 

I would have guessed that the sheer volume of new posters who show up here week after week asking about these great bikes would have given you a clue!

Thanks for throwing those same two pennies back in the pool though!

 

'84, yeaaaaaah, unless you have money to burn and you absolutely had to rebuild this bike I would recommend moving up one year to the '85R if you want more reliability. Or get an '86.