First bike 1985 VF 500F any help appreciated

Hows it going guys I'm new to the forum. Picked up my 85' vf500f for $900 with 18,xxx miles on it. Replaced air filter, oil filter, spark plugs, starter switch, front tire, and changed oil. Seat was badly torn so I replaced with a new cover as well as spray painted/clear coated the windscreen (I know cheap fix but looks ok) b/c it was badly discolored from god knows what. The bike has been down on both sides from previous owner and I had to take the rear turn signals off since they were hanging from coat hangers and duct tape. large dent in left tailpipe as seen you can see in the picture. I know I bought a beater but I am a huge fan of the old school interceptor and would love to do an economical restoration.

I am ordering a carb rebuild kit and manual but have never taken apart a motorcycle in my life so I am flying blind. Also, the headers and exhaust system are rusted so I am thinking about having them sand blasted and then heatwrapping/sealing them myself but am worried about decreasing the life of the headers.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. This is my first bike and I bought it knowing it would be a project. By the way I am in the DC area (Northern VA) if there are any fellow riders out this way who could point me in the right direction. Thanks.

 

What did that poor liscense plate do to you!? Sounds like you payed to much, I would have personally saved up another 1k for a decent running bike cause its gonna cost you more than that to fix what you have done or have planned. Anyways its a great bike, I can't give much advice cept use the search box at the top right side of the webpage and you'll prolly find something you want answered.

 

Haha the license plate isn't valid anymore anyways. I need to do some repairs before inspection and registration. I took the rear fender off when I removed the turn signals. I am going to put it back on as soon as the new signals come in the mail. I know that I overpaid for the bike and my only excuse is lack of experience with motorcycles. I had a shop take a look at it and everything checked out perfectly except the carbs and the dent in the exhaust. A buddy of mine just rebuilt his carbs and is going to help with the rebuild on mine. Do you really think it is going to be that expensive if I do the carbs myself? I hope my situation is not as desperate as you make it sound. I am just a poor college student trying to ride haha.

 

Welcome to the group!

VF500F's are great bikes --- but --- they have to be maintained.

As a first step - inspect and adjust the valves. This is one of the key components to the longevity of the engine.

Here is a link to a bit more info:

http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-generation-1983-1989/30834-valve-clearances.html

In terms of the carburetors - if you are rebuilding them yourself a good guide to purchase is Mike Nixon's 'Cleaning the Honda V4 Carburetor'. While not specific the the VF500F it covers the early V-Four carburetors with a lot of good tips and tricks for the weekend mechanic.

Here is a link to Mike Nixon's web site:

Welcome to The Motorcycle Project

Good luck with your project and please keep us posted on the progress!

 

Naw if you do everything yourself won't be to bad.

 

Search all these points on this site for more information

- As IC said, focus on known trouble spots before cosmetic stuff.

- Get a shop manual

- DON"T take the carbs off of the plate! That spells disaster for even moderately experienced wrenchers. Limit yourself to the float bowls, jets contained there and the slides. Pull the pilot jets and blow out all passages with compressed air. Visually sync the carbs by aligning the throttle plates on cylinders 1,2,3 relative to cylinder 4 using the three tiny holes in each bore as references. This will get you in the ballpark, but you should do a real carb sync when you get everything together. Be prepared for a heck of a time getting the carbs back on the bike. Again search here for tips on getting them back on, and syncing, etc. You can sync yourself using homemade tools, see my recent thread: http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-generation-1983-1989/30292-homemade-carb-sync-tool.html

- Here is my similar restoration, fyi: http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-generation-1983-1989/29875-interceptor-500-low-budget-project.html

Good luck to you. Post lots of questions here. This site will be a great help to you.

 

you can save yourself from paying 25-40 dollars on a manual. i was able to purchase and download a pdf file off of here through paypal. cost me .75 cents and didn't need to leave my seat. of course you will need a printer and a full ream of paper to print it all. i just used my works. lol

found it under the first gen forumns. good luck