VF500F Valves

That looks exactly like the valve I found on my 85 several years ago. Don't grind Honda valves...they're hard surfaced and will wear VERY fast if that's done. Guess it'd be a good idea to look at the valves and seats, but doing a complete valve job probably isn't necessary. Good chance all you really need to do is replace the one valve with the mushroomed stem with a good one from your 'corpse'. True...you can't redesign the engine, but the repair may last for years. After all, all the other valve stems look OK...right?

 

All the other valve tips look ok.

 

Very often you will find more than one valve in a dropped-valve engine that is showing deterioration of the valve tip. I'd say if none of your other valves are showing any damage that is a rare case indeed. I've sucessfully repaired these engines before by only replacing the parts that are showing damage (and all of the valve springs, of course). This seems to have worked pretty well but there is no gurantee.

The VF500F engines are great, they just have a couple of quirks. Keeping the revs down a couple of thou away from redline really helps a lot. Take care of them and the VF500's will serve you well for a long time, just as mine have.... and continue to do!

 

I agree they're great bikes. The one I bought a few years ago was cosmetically almost perfect. Once I replaced the valve (carb work also of course) it ran like a top and was my commuter bike for the summer. The following Spring, an ex racer with sentimental feelings for the little beast made me a financial offer I couldn't refuse. Far as I know, he still has it and it's still running, though it's not his regular ride. Kinda wish I still had it.

 

I would also like to add that the VF500F is the bee's knees.*

I have spoken to several factory trained Honda mechanics who went to seminars on and worked on these bikes back in the day. All recognized the limits of the engine design but all have said that the engine will hold up fine as long as it is properly taken care of.

Their recommendations included:

• Let the bike properly warm up
• Use Honda HP4 motor oil
• Adjust the valves per the factory maintenance schedule
• Keep the rev's in check

*A somewhat biased opinion as I am an owner of an '84 VF500F.

 

This is from the website of Kevin Ash, a British journalist:

http://ashonbikes.com/content/honda-vfr1200f#comment-1270

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The VFR750 reversed the dreadful reputation for unreliability of Honda’s first big V-fours, the VF700 and 750 cruisers and VF750F of 1982, the VF500 as well, all notorious for their rapid-wearing camshafts, sagging camchains, breaking camchain tensioners and other issues. The VFR750 was designed to put that right, and even did away with camchains altogether by using a costly gear train to drive the camshafts. It was dependable, durable, lasted forever, and gained a huge fanbase for its combination of quality and all-round ability: this was the bike that the term sports-tourer was coined for.

 

Being a factory trained tech who's old enough to have worked on the 1st generation models back in their 'hayday'. I've replaced enough bent shift forks, gears with rounded off dogs, cam chain tensioners...etc. to not deny they had their problems, most of which had nothing to do with maintainance. That being said, I think 'dreadful' is too strong a word to describe their reliability and I still have a soft spot for certain models.

I admit...Honda did do an awesome job of vastly improving the 'breed' with the 2nd generation models. I also had an 86 VFR 750 that I rode all over the country without a moments worry, was bulletproof and I also really loved that bike...wish I still had that one too.

 

Thank you for the post. Always nice to hear from a factory tech who has experience in First Generation V-Fours.

One thing to consider with the VF500F is that it is closing in on being an Historic Bike (the '84's are now 25 years old and are considered as such in the state of New York). This is a very positive thing, from my perspective. You can find a low-ish mileage VF500F for a reasonable price, upgrade the suspension and wheels, for a minimal investment, and have a great looking and handling bike, all with discounted rates on your insurance. A good combo to me!

 

That's funny, so far I don't see much that is different between my VFR700 and the earlier VF series. The overall design is very similar when you dig into it. I'd say the improvements are real, but the extent that the first gens are "bad" is vastly exaggerated. Vastly.

 

rock on brother!

 

I used this gasket set last summer to put a motor together. I used copper coat to seal them and they are doing good so far. I think I put ~2500 miles on the bike once the motor was in. I'd buy them again seeing as they're cheaper than buying from Cometic.

-Jake

 

I haven't figured out what has to be done to get them from Cometic! Do you just have to call them and tell them what you have? I'm probablt going to order the partsnmore.com set anyway, though. They're priced right!

On a side note, does anyone know where I can get some rod bearings and rings? I'm thinking that if I'm going to have the gasket set, I could do all that too, since I robbed a used bearing out of my "parts" engine.

 

When I got a quote from Cometic I just called them up and told them what I was looking for. I assume they have a schematic for them on file. FYI the Parts-n-more kit will come with two gaskets for the rear head. The front and rear are identical except for the crank case breather. This will have to be trimmed from the one you use on the front head. I used a pair of dikes because I forgot to trim it before installing.

Bikebandit shows some bearings but no rings. You may have luck at other online places. I've also had luck with dealers that can search other dealers' inventories. I don't know if there is an online application for this.

-Jake

 

my 500 has gave me three years of awesome service! i've rode my bike just as hard as these newer bikes im able to hang corners with newer vfrs and some 600's if my motor just self destructed on me i'd fix it these bikes are becoming more and more rare who cares what problems they have had or do have, i could pick any bike apart and find its flaws, the first gens has shity valve springs crappy suspension etc...but its still a great bike i got enough money in my bike to buy a really nice new bike its your bike and your money but if it was about money why buy a bike period there all money pits, funny the guys that bashes these bikes doesnt even own one!

 

Ya Matt, I'm hangin' on to mine until I can't afford to fix it anymore, or if I can predict it, just before that!

 

Good points...these bikes gave most owners really good service.

I've seen mint and original examples of certain gen one bikes (VF500F and V65 Magnas) bring surprisingly good money on the used market.

 

Quick update:

Got the valve swapped out, bolted the front head down, found out that I had the rear cams out of time, so I tore into the rear head and noticed a couple valve tips that look bad. The bike sat for over a week, and I pulled the engine off tonight, and popped the rear head off.

I got the gaskets from partsnmore.com. There are a few o-rings that I wish the kit had with it, but I'll be ok without.

On a side note, and I may start a new thread if I don't get any info here, what about eliminating the resonance chamber where the exhaust pipes attach, and replacing it tih some tee connections instead?

 

Sounds like you are making some good progress. Glad to hear you are getting things dialed in.

I'd be interested in a new thread on modifying the exhaust system if you are looking into this.

Also, I've enclosed some light reading on the valves - Honda's Service Bulletin No.7 from back in the day:

 

It's been tried many times before. To my knowledge it's never worked out very well. Once you fabricate the necessary parts and dial in the lengths properly you would have as much time and effort as building a header from scratch (read: a lot). You can't just connect the dots. That's what folks have tried and the results are a significant loss of power. The reason for this is deep in exhaust theory, but suffice to say the path of least resistance won't get you there.

 

I would be down with a DMr '4-1' if this is still on the clip-board