Unhappy VF500F. Help Needed

Ok...... Lets see if I can get this all straight... About 6 months ago my VF crapped out on me on my way home and wouldn't restart. I was too busy to try and fix it so rego lapsed and it sat in the corner of the shed for a while. My father offered to have a look at it for me and came and picked it up. He worked on it on and off for a month or two, which brings me to where I am now. When he first got a hold of it I remember him saying there was nothing wrong with it, that is started and ran fine for him. He decided to change the plugs for me anyway as we knew they would be pretty old. When doing this he managed to snap one in half..oops.. So off came the head. It was taken to a head engineer and the plug was successfully removed. As part of everything being reassembled, the valves clearances were done, the cooling system was flushed, carbon build up was cleaned up, carbs were cleaned and new plugs were put in. He also tried to fiddle with the needles. This is were I'm concerned. With the carbs pulled apart he also lost a few of the springs that join the throttle to each carb. The first thing that concerned me was that when the carbs were reassembled, the throttle tabs (sorry if this makes no sense) were not direct aligned. This resulted in the spring that joins them to be on a weird angle. Is this right? The second problem is the home job needle adjustment. I didn't see what he did, but he told me that the needle position isn't adjustable so he cut small grooves in the needle so he could move them. I think he was trying to make the mix richer.. He insists that adjustment was tiny Along the way coolant managed to get into the oil and we had to change it. I can't remember why that happened... The oil is clean now.... He also did a home job of fixing some tiny holes in to muffles by wrapping some plate ss around them and riveting them on. Yikes... So now I have a bike that starts and idles better than it ever has. It has a distinctly different note (rivets?) but is down on power. There is a massive flat spot between 0 and 7 - 8 grand (more than usual). The engine sounds odd too. Before this was all done the temp gauge never moved off 1/4, but normal riding sends it up to 4/5 and the fan cuts in. I also ran a couple of tanks of fuel through it without lead replacer.... I am convinced there is more exhaust coming out of one pipe than the other. So I bit the bullet and took it to a mech. They reckon it is fine! Bullshit.... Its been turned into a sad old man. It used to be a willing little Jack Russel. What's my next move! I'm sure there is something vital I've forgotten....

 

I just found a 1997 600 Bandit with low Ks that is super cheap. I wonder if its time to move on..... Man I wish I could afford something with decent power. I want my ZZR 1100 back!

 

Alot to take in , are the springs still missing between the throttle shaft paddles?

 

No he replaced them. But not with "official" parts...

 

Hate to do this to you but you need to start from scratch and pull the carbs back off and check the boots and go over the carbs with a fine tooth comb. It is the little things that will cause problems on the first gen's.....especially with the smaller cc bikes. Pic's may help.

 

i don't think I'VE GOT THE TIME.. ITS MY ONLY TRANSPORT NOW SO IT CAN TBE OFF THE ROAD FOR VERY LONG.. LOOKS LIKE I MAIGHT HAVE TO LOOK AT THE 600 BANDIT

 

Should the throtle shaft paddles be offset from one an another at all or should they lined up exactly

 

Is this a good option to try and fix the carbs? Does it matter that mine isn't an F2?

Dynojet Jet Kits suitable for a Honda VF500 F2E (1984)

 

Dynojet is evil.....best to back up and return the bike to a normal running condition before going foward.

 

why are dynojet kits evil? i was hoping the stage 1 kit would be a good replacement..

 

+1

The carburetors on the 500 are relatively complex. If OEM parts went missing it would be best to start over on the rebuild. Taking the throttle bodies off the base is not for the faint of heart and really should only be attempted if you have logged in some serious carb rebuild hours.

If the carbs suspect, best to get them back to stock before attempting jetting.

In terms of jet kits, Factory Pro is the best option. Dynojet requires drilling the vacuum slides which is not the way to go.

 

its a bit hard to visualise what I'm being told, as I was not the one who did the work.
I'd love to get the VF running well, its a great little bike. I just don't think I've got the time to get this all done. My father will be a little indignant if I give him a to do list....

I wonder if I can find a set of rebuilt carbs for sale ssomewhere, that would save some time..

 

I think Dynojet gets the shaft on these forums, and factory pro get's all the love. I went with dynojet on my Kawasaki, even though members on that forum raged against it. Bike runs great, feels great, etc. At best I will conced that each kit affects each model bike differently, but i will not agree that factory pro is better. The only way to really put this to the test is to take said bike, throw in a dynojet kit, dyno it, throw in a factory pro kit, dyno it, and compare. All further discussion on the topic is really just a my penis is bigger than yours discussion.

That being said, the dynojet or factory pro kit will not help you, it can only hurt you. The carbs are a mess, the jets are probably just fine. There may be some clogging in there, some things may be off, I really don't like the non oem springs idea. It needs to be completely rebuilt, or find another one on ebay. It sounds like a carb problem to me, but I'm just a guy in the US that's never seen or heard your bike on the other side of the world. Also, I just don't trust local techs with these carbs, they are awful and awesome and difficult.

 

I've just been looking at a microfiche and I can't see the needles (they are probably there, I just don't know what I'm lookin at). I thought it might be an idea to get a hold of (as suggested) some OEM needles and springs. But I can't find the part numbers. When replacing the needles, are there any other parts that need doing at the same time? I figure it can't hurt to replace them, as my dad tells me they were reasonably worn. I'm hoping he will be kind enough to do the work for me and lend me a car while he does....

 

Ferrarone,

They carbs have been totaly cleaned so I doubt there is any clogging. I'm not sure the needles are fine if they've been dicked around with. The springs bother me too so I'll try to get a hold of some new ones. Can you tell be if the throtle shaft paddles are ment to my perfectlt on top of one another?

 

I think I know what you mean by this. There ares two springs and a metal plate between the paddles, and the adjustment screws on them adjust the sync right? I have seen 3 of these carbs and none of them were perfectly aligned on top of each other. I think it's a result of age. I did a complete rebuild and only managed to get them a little more aligned.

The needle situation sounds like a mess to me. I'd buy stock ones on ebay. Do you know if he changed the jets? And the non oem springs might be good at idle, but react differently as the throttle is opened, throwing the carbs out of sync at times and causing dead spots, but that's just a theory.

 

Thats the ones... No matter how hard we tried (this was the one thing I helped with) we couldn't get the paddles to alighn properly. The offset was quite extreeme. He didn't replave the jets, should we doi this too? Your comments on the springs sound spot on...

 

The other thing I was hoping someone could help me with was to do with the "sender". The mechanic told me that there is no reason that the bike should be over heating and that someone probably just bumped the "sender". What does this mean and how do I check it?

 

is this what i need?
Honda VF500 Interceptor VF 500 Carburetor Carb Jet Kit: eBay Motors (item 230418559942 end time Oct-27-10 09:43:19 PDT)

 

hello? Anyone?