My vfr woes :(

Hey guys, pretty new to the forums here and fairly new to riding in general. Feeling a little pissed off at my bike right now so I thought I'd let out some steam online where no one knows me (lol)

So I bought my first bike (2003 vfr) summertime last year for $1800. It had been laid over and pretty much every piece of plastic had been damaged, along with a spark plug port being blown. To be honest, I don't know much about engines or anything like that. Bodywork is my specialty (worked at a bodyshop for a couple of years) so my dad helped me bore out and tap the port for a larger diameter spark plug. (Don't ask me, I know little to nothing about that stuff) Also fixed all the plastic and gave it a nice shiny coat of black :smile:

Rode for about 2 days when bam... another port blows So we tap that one too, which is all well and good, but by this time I was going back to college and the bike stayed at home.

I get back to the bike this summer with a dead battery. (no big, buy a new one) everything is going great and I get a good 5 days of riding in. I must have rode 3-4 hours a day every day at this point! Until all of a sudden my engine dies on the highway

Being the mechanical retard that I am it takes me days to figure out the fuel pump isn't priming. At this point I take a good look at the wiring and realize the previous owner had turned the wiring harness into a cluster f*ck... and of course, the two wires running to the fuel pump had been completely melted and shoddily taped back (bare wires abounded).

At this point I realize I can take it to the Honda shop and get the recall put in place (the guy told me it was a complete wiring harness and I was STOKED) But of course, it wasn't a complete harness and my problem persists. So today I am unloading my bike from the back of my truck to start tearing into the wiring and I drop it while taking the tie downs off :frown:

Now I have a large gash in the front clip, a dent in the exhaust cover and still a mess of wiring. Now I either have to buy a new harness for $75 (a lot when you only make $8 an hour) or try and re-wire parts myself (which seems like a horrible idea) Furthermore, the guy at the Honda shop who did my recall says I need new bearings (the ones by the forks that deal with the steering or w/e) that cost $25 each.

That being said those 7 days of riding were absolutely amazing and I can't wait to get back on the road :biggrin:

 

Oh, and pictures because everyone loves pictures!

 

Depending how easy it is to access your bare wires I would probably just cut and solder in new wires myself...as long as the rest of the wires and connections were good and everything was easy to access(the big KEY).

As far as steering head bearings go...I think the All Balls brand is $33 for a set IIRC. I was just looking at them the other day as mine needs to be replaced soon. Are your bearings total crap or have they just formed a divit at the center position? Get your front wheel off the ground and rotate you steering head back and forth by holding the front wheel...I don't know why, but it seems easier to pin point bearing play and problems this way.

ALLBALLS RACING STORE - Steering Bearing Kit

 

Wow. very nice job restoring the bike.

 

Skydog really awesome Paint job, and for that price you stole one of the, if not the best all around bike on the planet. Be patient, when you get all of it's electrical problems fixed you will be more than rewarded with a great bike. There are plenty of us here who will be more than glad to help you out. you only have to ask. this is a great forum. No question is stupid if you don't know the answer. Of course there will be plenty of people who will flame you, too. Just don't take it too personal.

 

Yeah, it was an excellent deal, I'm just frustrated with all the problems I've had. But of course, I got this bike for fun and to learn how to work on them, so I guess problems are helping me accomplish my goal.

Bearings aren't total crap just starting to get warn. What if I just re-packed them? Would that keep them going for a while? If not that $33 sounds a hell of a lot better than $50! Thanks :biggrin:

 

Thanks Franko!

 

Thanks Dan, I'm not entirely happy with the paint job, but you never are when you're good

Now I just have to fix that stupid front end from dropping it.

 

Wow, that bike looks brand new. If you could do that to my bike, you'd be paid a lot more than $8.00 an hour. You could buy a new wiring harness and bearing and have some money left over.

 

Skydog, post up where you are located, maybe someone can come help.

BZ

 

I would have posted before/after pics but I forgot to take any before pics :frown: It was pretty trashed though.

I've got my dad to help me out and my uncle is a mechanic so I have all the help I need. I'm just trying to learn and do it myself. Can't rely on other people to fix my shit forever. :tongue:

 

Location

I would be glad to lend a hand if your on the west coast, wiring is my forte.:thumbsup:

 

Central US :frown:

 

You certainly did a great job restoring a wreck,, thats a great talent that will serve you well through out your life.

I'm on the coast of the "police state", Oregon, and Gone it is! Would be better
off owning a Ruckus around here.
weas

 

Nice buy.. well sorta. Huh? Blown plug? wow That's one you don't hear very often wonder what the cause is/was? and to have it happen twice, can't help wonder the history, must of really been rode hard, put away wet. still all things said for that price you can have a few problems. good going on sticking with it, yea man wiring can be the shits just take a deep breath, just enjoy the ride when you can, BTW nice job on the clean up too.

 

A Ruckus would be fun... until my friends saw me. :tongue:

 

Yeah, I can only assume it was ridden pretty hard. But hopefully it's gonna be worth it, lol. I just wish I knew as much about engines as I do about paint and body, lol

 

Central US like Texas? PM forum member Tightwad over on VFRD for anything electrical. link: Board Message

Nice bike though, looks great, hope you get the gremlins worked out. I'd take it for $1800! :thumbsup:

 

Nah, Kansas. But I got everything worked out for now! woo hoo!

 

Nice job on the restore!!! I would assume that with the rebuild, you already had all of the plastic off. That being said...a wiring harness should be fairly easy. It may be worth your while to bite the bullet and replace the harness if the gremlins continue. I don't know if the bike was ridden all that hard, or if the last owner was an idiot. Being a self proclaimed machanical retard is ok, being an actual mechanical retard and not knowing it makes you dangerous. I would bet the plugs blowing out would be a result of someone changing the spark plugs and stripping out the threads (lets face it, that engine is only going to produce so much compression...regardless of how hard it is ridden or how wet it is put away). From the looks of the bike, it seems like a wise investment to keep going.... I doubt you will find anything near that nice for the price