87 VFR700 - Stumbling, Strange Smell, Stays Cold, Should I Buy It?

Hey all,
Total newb to the VFR world. I wanted to gather some opinions real quick on an 87 VFR-700 Interceptor I'm considering buying. It's got under 30,000mi, and the price is a steal. Cosmetically, A++ shape.

But, the owner claims he was on vacation and it was sitting for 2 months. The bike started up fine, but couldn't find a happy medium. It would either be idling at 4000 or you pull the choke in, even a small amount, and it just barely stays alive. Any tiny amount of throttle would kill it. It would only run with it being feathered and at higher RPM. Does this just sound like bad gas?

Also, from directly beneath the bike, engine area, there was a bit of smoke and a strange smell, just came and went. The smell didn't really smell like oil or coolant, but definitely something burning.

How is the shifter mech on these bikes? It seemed to have a lot of play and slop, it was VERY hard to tell when a gear was engaged. Are these bikes naturally skewed to the looe side of the shifter?

Also, after being on for several minutes and ridden around, the temp gauge had just BARELY moved above the line. Should I just assume t-stat stuck open, or might it relate to other issues?

Thanks!

 

the carbs are dirty
, maybey the smell is rubber, or does it smell like stale swamp water?
when you say "play and slop" do you mean going into gear? shifting from gear to gear?
if you rode only a "few minutes" the temp guage isn't gonna move you gotta run it for more than a few minutes.... where do you live?
but either way if you don't feel right about it don't buy it let it be someone elses headache

 

Thanks. Thinking about it more, I guess the smell was pretty similar to a burning clutch on a car. Definitely not a stale swamp water smell. It was a burning smell.

By "play" and "slop", each gear engagement just wasn't very positive. It felt the same when you engaged a gear as if you only went up 1/2 way - hard to tell when you're in gear and which gear since you move your foot several times. I got the hang of it, but it felt weird. My current older Kaw has a very clear SNICK and you can feel the engagement through the gear selector. Not so on the VFR I rode tonight. Is that something to worry about?

The bike idled for about 5 minutes or more before I rode. I probably rode it for at least 5-8 minutes. It was short, because the tags are expired and I didn't want to attract unnecessary attention. But in 10 minutes I should at least be seeing some movement on the gauge, should I not? Hell, my cars warm up much faster. It had moved a tiny drop, but not much. Seems like it should have been up at least 1/4 of the way by then. Is that wrong?

The bike LOOKS great, though, and I'm on a tight budget which this fits. I don't mind doing some wrenching like cleaning carbs, etc as log as I know what I'm getting into ahead of time and the problems seem to be within my grasp.

I should add - here is a video the owner made of the bike. Like I said, great physical condition. Tacky aftermarket muffler that sounds WAY too loud, I'll be changing that if I get it, but overall in nice shape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bthYmpEKQDY

 

If the price is right and you can wrench it looks worthy. That exhaust just needs repacking with some new fiberglass. Four into one Muzzy pretty cool just need earplugs. Riding it with some fuel cleaner and quality gas might do some good. Look real good for fuel leaks and if there are none I say go for it. It will be a fun bike when you get it sorted out.

forgot about the shifter issue, tell him to change the oil and test ride again, see how it feels.

Good luck

 

I remember the add for this one.....trying to remember where, it was for like 600? down in the L.A. area thought the add said he hadn't ridden it for a year.

 

Hey,
I know, old thread, but I went and looked at it again and had a local bike mechanic look it over. It actually died on me on the way back from the mechanic - coming off the freeway, I pulled the clutch in and the revs just dropped.....and kept going till 0. After trying unsuccessfully to get her running again the battery went. Owner had some jumper cables and charged it and after cranking on it some more and playing with the choke it finally started to behave and rode back without incident. Owner said a carb adjustment screw (or maybe the idle screw? not sure) was messed up.

On the plus side, no smells this time. Downside, I dropped my helmet, visor open, pushing the bike to a parking lot. Dammit.

Mechanic's report:
-Needs new rear tire (sidewall is VERY heavily cracked, I hadn't seen that when I looked at night before)
-Needs rear brake caliper, pads, rotor. The caliper appeared to be pulling unevenly, the outside of the rotor was very heavily grooved and no pad left. The inside was smooth and had pad.
-Carbs need resyncing. The carbs weren't resynced after the exhaust was changed, perhaps that's the issue?
-Front fork oil is shot. I can probably live with this for a while, as my 82 Spectre is on the OEM air suspension and that's pretty well shot as well.

It's got some other things here and there, but they're the kind of thing I'd expect on a bike this age.

Owner says he's got another rear tire, disc, and caliper. I'm going to have the mechanic inspect the parts, and if the parts are in good shape I think I'm going to take it. I told the owner $900, including parts.

If the owner says yes, what do you guys think? Anything here that makes you think it could have deeper problems lurking?

 

I bet the carbs ran out of fuel. BTDT

My issue is that someone had replaced the 49 state gas cap with a Kalifornia Cap and the tank couldn't vent. With no way to let air into the tank, the pump couldn't overcome the vacuum.

 

Well, the owner said he adjusted the carbs on it to get it running again. He adjusted a screw behind the left fairing, I don't know if it was just the idle screw or it was a carb adj screw, I'm not too familiar with these bikes.

Would carbs losing fuel be a syncing issue or do they need to be cleaned or maybe rejetted?

 

the screw he was referring to is just the idle adjustment. I would be willing to bet a carb sync is NOT going to resolve the running issue. That bike will need a complete carb clean by the sound of it . If it doesn't run smoothly, pull cleanly thru the rev range or idle without monkeying around with the idle there's something wrong. Expect to pay $250- $350 depending on shop rate to get it done right. Anytime a bike sits for a long time without fuel stabilizer in the gas or without being ridden spells trouble.

 

Well, I do a decent amount of work on my cars, and I'm fine with doing most anything short of rebuilding the long block on a fuel injected engine. But, I've only owned FI, and to be honest carbs scare the crap out of me since they're foreign to me. And, haven't done anything more than basic maintenance on my standard bike since.

Is there a write-up floating around on here for cleaning M/Y 87 (2nd gen, right?) carbs? I've heard about rejetting, does this need to be done as well? I don't really know what it is....haha. It has a Muzzy 4->1 pipe, it doesn't sound like the owner adjusted the carbs after changing the pipe, and then he just let it sit. (Sorry to keep trickling info, I keep finding out more things that surprise me).

What's a good shop manual? Something better than your average Haynes and Chilton. Any versions available online? And, if there are write-ups, do you know some keywords off the top of your heads that I could search on to find it? Or at least let me know if one exists here or @ VFR Discussion so I can know that my searching will be of some use.

Thanks again.

 

Don't panic about carbs, they're fairly simple devices... I've been around a long while and understand them better than FI!

The simple idea of a carb is that as air is drawn through the carb, it passes through a restriction, causes a vaccuum, and draws fuel through a series of jets to get the right fuel mix. It's just FI with a "mechanical computer" There are different types, but given we're talking VFR here, these are going to be CV carbs. Three moving parts, really... a butterfly valve linked to the throttle cable, a piston (with attached needle) which rises and falls on its own due to vaccuum above a rubber diaphragm, and a float valve which controls the amount of fuel in the bottom of the carb (float chamber).

There are only a few basic issues to check.

One. Make sure everything's clean... any kind of jelly or dry deposits in there needs to come out. Carb cleaner usually works, if they're really bad an ultrasonic bath is the answer. Piston and butterfly should move freely and feel the same in each carb.

Two. Make sure all the rubber diaphragms and seals are intact. A hole causes a vaccuum leak and therefore the piston doesn't move as it should.

Three. Check the butterflies are all linked and opening together. If they're a long way off, adjust them with the screws in the linkages which moves one relative to the other (like balancing throttle bodies with FI). Once it's running, fit vaccuum gauges and balance them properly.

Four. If it's flooding, fuel running out of the carb breathers, check and replace the needle and seat valves above the floats. Check also that the floats are not punctured or bent and that they are set at the right heights.

If they're all clean, free, and working correctly, and getting fuel without flooding, it should run (assuming you have correctly timed sparks and some compression!).

You'll only need to rejet if someone's made large changes to exhaust or intake filter restriction, but it should run and idle on standard jetting anyway.

 

Seems odd that there would be a Muzzy pipe on that bike. It may have a different can on it only. Is it a full 4-1 system? That would be unusual too. Be sure those arent the factory head pipes as that will certainly affect jetting. First things first, replace the fuel filter no 1. Check the tank for rust and scale. Cleaning the carbs won't help if you're gonna suck up some more junk from the tank. If there's any rust or debri in the tank chances are the carbs will need cleaning. You can try carb cleaner DO NOT get any on any rubber seals, gaskets, diaphrams etc. You will end up with a pile of rubber goo. I recommend complete disassembly and soaking in a vat to get them right.

 

Thanks for the info on it. I'll research CV carbs some more.

Well, it's a Muzzy can, and it's definitely a 4 into 1. Now, someone could've gottan a different 4 to 1 and swapped on the Muzzy can if they don't usually come like that, I don't know, but it's definitely a 4 into 1 Muzzy.

Thanks, I'll do some more research on it and see about if the carbs are something I wanna deal with on a limited time budget.

 

take a look it helped me. wiki.sabmagfaq.org/Carburetors/Tuning

 

I have one just like it. And it also has a 4-1 header. Mine has a Holeshot can. Loud and sounds like a cammed out V-8. (I LOVE IT!)