VF500F Valves

Thanks for reposting that service bulletin. I had seen it on here before, but couldn't find it again. I'm just wondering if those caps are available out there anywhere? I searched google and found a lawnmower shop that had them. They want $8.95 for them, and I'm sure that's per valve, as stated in the bulletin. I think that would be a better fix for me, as I know that the valves in my parts engine aren't perfect.

 

Glad the Service Bulletin is of help. I found a complete set of 'caps' listed on eBay from a Honda dealer that was clearing out their inventory of NOS parts. This was about a year or so ago and their price was very reasonable. I haven't seen a set come up since, but this does not mean that they are not out there. This said, if you are looking to get your engine up and running now perhaps you can see if this shop will give you a discount for a complete set of 16.

 

I'm still at it with this thing. I haven't really gotten anywhere, other than an idea. Maybe Jamie can help out here?

At the recemmendation of a machinist we work with at the shop, I was lookikng at Ferrea valves website. I see that the Hurricane/CBR600F(1) has a very similar sized valve. I wondering it this would work to replace my valves? I don't know what the keeper groove looks like or anything though. Also, what's the chance that the springs would work as well? I think Ferrea has some for that application as well. I just want to get this thing back on the road!

 

I too am a fan of thrift and would agree that it is important to have a realistic set of goals when working on a vintage bike. Still, from the perspective of restoration and custom modification - diving into a project bike with the goal of breaking even on a resale isn't something I consider to be a priority. This is of course respectfully written as I followed the thread on your VF500F and was impressed with your ability to get the bike up and running on a shoestring budget.

 

Interesting post - have you approached Ferrea Racing Components with finding a match to the stock valves and the inner and outer valve springs?

 

I'm pretty sure that would be more expensive than I would want to put into it. At this point, I'm looking for an inexpensive way to get it back on the road. One day I would LOVE to restore it to original condition, and at that point I would consider something like that.

Eventually, if I can ever afford it, I would like one of the anniversary edition RWB Interceptors, and restore this one for nostalgic reasons.

 

Honda was really good about being consistent with their designs, so I would not be at all surprised if the CBR600F parts fit. If nothing else they might be close enough to "make" work.

 

Here are the specifications from the Honda Service Manuals:

'87 CBR600F Hurricane





'84 Honda VF500F:

 

It looks like the spring free lengths are significantly different (1.44mm is significant) but nonetheless they still might work. It's worth a shot!

 

It's looking like the stem diameters will work! The head diameter looks to be the same as well on the exhaust valve, and the 600's valve is 1 mm larger. I would think seat could be cut to accomodate a 1 mm diameter increase. My main concern is the keeper groove location, and design. The overall length is pretty much identical, or at least within 1 mm, which I would think could be adjusted.

I have sent an email off to Ferrea asking about what they might have that would work, or what the cost would be to have something made. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can find more info about the 'cane valves!

 

Please keep us posted on what Ferrea Racing Components has to say - hopefully they have had some experience working on VF500F engines.

 

Latest update on my VF500.

I haven't been very motivated until recently, so that bike has been sitting for quite a while. I swapped valves from the spare engine that I have, and there were enough to put it back together for now, while I figure out what I want to do for a longer term solution. I finished bolting the engine back together, and installed it back into the bike yesterday on my lunch time. I went back to the shop this evening for a couple hours to get some more done. I got it all back together and started. Well, now I must have more problems, because it's backfiring like crazy at lower rpms from the front cylinders, and just not sounding right. It also won't idle. I have a feeling I need to redo the timing on the front cams, and I'm hoping that is all. I really don't want to pull it back apart. I'm nearing the point of draining the carbs again and letting it sit until I have enough money to replace everything in the top end. I was thinking about picking up a set of heads that I saw for sale for $50, but I can't verify the condition first.

I guess I'm just frustrated.

 

I feel real bad for you. It's pretty frustrating. I had so much fear getting mine started after pouring so much time into it. Fortunately for me, mine worked. However, I had little voices in my head that made me recheck my work on the heads so many times. Everything seemed right when I did it all one evening, but a little voice said to call it a night and check it all again the next day before bolting the head covers on. Glad I did because I found two errors.

I hope that it is something simple and that no damage was done. When you turned the rotor while it was on the bench and after everything was torqued down did everything sound normal? Did you wire up the coils properly?

Good luck to you.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems JPorter.

One of the reasons I don't wanna pull my engine apart to repair it is fear of buttoning everything up and then having to pop it open again to fix something.

Good luck to you.

 

Yeah, it sounds like you didn't get hte cam timing correct. That's super easy to do, don't feel bad about it. You will want to be sure and check the compression again just to make sure you didn't tweak a valve.

One tip from experience: do not try to re-time the front cams without also timing the rears too. You need to at least pop off the rear cam cover to see the index marks. It's easy to try and shortcut the process by just looking at the front head only. You've got a 50/50 chance of getting it right - which means you'll almost certainly get it wrong.

 

Because it sounds like most of the work will be on the front head can this be done without pulling the motor? I think I would try it that way and if it became to difficult I would pull it out for the bench.

 

That's how I will be handling it. I need to also get the seals for the coolant tubes, the o-rings for the heads, and the irregular shaped seals that go on the engine block in between the heads.

 

Hope all goes well with the reinstall. Please keep us posted on the progress.

On a side note – did you hear back from Ferrea Racing?