restoring & adding a modern touch to a 86 vf500

You can't get those to fit the VF500F's. About the best I've used are the Dulops (of course). Bridgestone still makes a decent tire. If you are looking for something more cost-effective, a friend installed a set of Kendas and they weren't too bad. They had good tread wear and seemed pretty sticky too.

 

i just got done talking with charles at hfd1motorsports, and they are running a ecu qiute simialar to the powercommander, a few things i didnt know was that they will have to tap the cam for a cam sensor, install a 3 bar map sensor, the good news is the program is windows based so tuning is a simple laptop away, yes you have to have a new fuel pump installed but after talking with the man he isnt just going to hack up my good fuel tank to installed a fuel pump it will be installed in the factory location, as for the chargeing system on the older vfs he has told me that theres plenty of power output to run the ecu, and fuel injectors aswell all the sensors that is need, just like i asked him its not a bolt on kit, but i think its worth the money to do it 2500$ its alot of cash BUT!!!, the gains that are to be neted will be much more and you also have a data logging system on board and a traction control system as well, this is race tech, but like jamie said if all i have to do his pull out my laptop to change the fuel curve then sign me up, and the hp gains are more on big bikes i only have a 500 but this same kit on say a 750, 1000, just think of the power gian and just how responsive it will become i am diving into it, this company currently races a vfr400, and has plenty of know how to get the job, so its not just limited to the 500s, ill keep you guys posted on it when i find more out on it.

 

oh if any of you guys have any links to anyone taht has or are useing these bikes for race use can you please send them to me

 

Matt, did you say that the actual cost is $2500?

 

yes around that area

 

After taking apart the pair of carbs on my wife's HawkGT, I've decided that carbs are WAY more complicated than FI. Too many moving parts and stuff that can crud up or get wonky.

Closed-loop FI with a wide-band O2 in each header pipe, so you can tune to an A/F ratio vs. throttle position and vacuum... So nice.

I have a subaru wrx, and seeing what people can do with careful work with those and a dyno, with a laptop with back-to-back pulls instead of having to tear down the carbs to shim needles, change jets, etc would be so nice for getting a good tune on a bike, especially with a dyno that can hold rpm and load (Factory Pro) on the bike at various throttle positions.

 

It will be interesting to see what the HFD1 guys come up with. It will be interesting to know what benefit their system has over a $350 Megasquirt setup.

 

well i got my hindle exhaust today, then i sent it to be powder coated "the header" but no other news on the project, ive been looking for more info on this F I, thing but i have not found jack.

 

I wouldnt screw with the stock front end. FInd a cbr f3 front end. Swap the whole thing. If you want to use the speedo, use a f2 front end.

I have no problems with my f3 front end hitting or anything.

THis sounds like a sick ass build. cant wait to see it finished.

 

I really hope you don't mean "powder coating". That stuff is durable, but it won't hold up to the heat and will peel like crazy. Some powdercoaters offer a coating similar to Jet Hot's process, is that what you mean?

 

yes im sorry, it is a jethot coating, but the guy also powder coats as well, that was my bad.

 

You guys think the motor can be bored out a little bit?

 

how much is a little bit?

 

Im not sure, just wondering if there is any tolerance for boring it out for a little power gain.

 

You could easily go +1mm, maybe +2mm but I doubt any more than that. If you do the math, the displacement increase is so small that it would not make any difference. You might get 1-2hp, but considering that you would have about $1000 in doing that ($600 in pistons and $200 in cylinder boring just to name two) it really wouldn't justify itself.

 

now jamie if you were to bore it out 1mm more and change the stroke and cam overlap , i think you could get more than just 1-2hp out of it but it wouldnt be worth the money you have to put in it.

 

I did a little quick math - 1mm over is a 16.7cc increase, that's a 3.4% increase in displacement. For small changes in displacement you will see a proportionally equal increase in power. That equates to 2.3hp. 2mm over is almost 5hp.

Increasing the stroke is pretty expensive. To get a decent amount of displacement increase you would need to increase both the bore and stroke, which bumps up the cost quite a bit. Going +2mm on the bore and +3mm on the stroke you would have a 567cc engine and get almost 10hp more out of it (theoretically). Add some cams and head porting to that mix and you could make some decent power with the little VF500.

 

Wonder if they'ed like to make one for my worked over 1000f...:strong:

 

I wouldn't get your hopes up, it doesn't sound like these guys are that serious about the early VF's. Even so, the cost is pretty far out there considering the other options available.

 

I'd get a set of flatslides before I spent too much fo FI. Know of any still around?