Brother graduates from OSU in 4 more days bought him an 84 VF500

Okay gang time for an update and a few more questions.

I have a complete motor once again. Yesterday I put both heads on and the complete valvetrain in both.

Here's my question now. According to the clymer (I know, I know clymer sucks buy a FSM) I time both heads with the "TR" index mark. Is this correct? If so, what the hell is the "TF" mark for. For those who have disassembled and reassembled a VF500 head, was the hardest part for you getting the cam gears mounted to the cams? I had a hell of a time getting those on there and I think maybe I was doing something wrong with not providing enough slack with the tensioner. I lined up those small holes on the tensioner and put a finish nail in there.

I just want to make sure on those timing marks that I am not supposed to time the rear head with TR and the front head with TF before I button it up and put it back in the bike.

One more Q. In the clymer it says the lobes on the cams for the FRONT head should be pointing to 1 o'clock (exhaust cam) and 7 o'clock (intake cam). I have the motor on TR and the index marks on the cam SPROCKETS are perfectly aligned to spec... BUT BUT BUT, the cam lobes look more like 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock. I was praying to God that I wouldn't have an ounce of doubt that I had the timing correct but that little bit there is enough to make my skin crawl. Like many clymers I have read, sometimes numbers can be off and I think this may be the case.

To my understanding the important parts are to have the crank in the correct position, and the cam sprocket marks correct. The reference to the lobes in the book is just so you don't have the cam rotated 180 degrees to the exact opposite side. The cam can only go in the sprocket 2 ways. Call me paranoid, but I just want a few questions answered before proceeding. Thanks guys, we're almost there!

 

I haven't been on here for a while. I just got up to speed on your project and I had so many flashbacks to my project last year!

Regarding your timing mark question, I had the same issue:

http://http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-generation-1983-1989/31004-timing-marks.html

I don't think there is any issue with reusing the head bolts, it's done all the time.
Good luck to you!

 

Toss that Clymer ;-) Here are the FSM cam install specs:

 

Thanks for linking me to the thread, it put me at ease. I know I have everything perfect because I experienced the same exact thing with the front head exhaust cam. Had to turn the motor off of T|R to get that cam to lay flat and I bolted down one of the camshaft caps to hold the cam in place and turned it back to T|R.

I ended up buying new head bolts. Put too many hours in this bike so far to have something crazy happen because I didn't replace the head bolts

 

Thank you once again. Oh how I love those FSM pictures!

 

Good luck with the rest of the way. I know the feeling that you have in your gut right now and it's kinda stressful.

Just remember that all this hard work will easily be undone if your brother doesn't respect the age of the bike and it's "sensitivities".

 

You got that right. I'm going to be praying to 100 different gods when it comes time to hit the starter button.

I think he will be okay with it. He has no experience on the road and he's scared shitless about riding. He isn't wild by nature like me so I think he will respect it. I'm going to have to be on my best behavior as well and not push it too hard.

I might even wire a shift light to the coils to help remind him to keep the rpms low.

 

Progress update:

Yesterday made some good head way with the bike.

-Torqued all head bolts and valve-train components.
-Adjusted all valve clearances.
-Installed new gaskets for all covers.
-Installed motor into the bike ( was way easier then I expected )

Going back over there for a little bit today to add oil, oil filter, install radiator, and hopefully get the carbs mounted. Ohhhhh boy we're close now! :guitar:

Only snag we ran into was installing the valve covers, my brother broke a valve cover bolt and instead of trying to extract it from the camshaft cap/guide we just replaced it with one from the other motor.

This sucker might run today if I don't run out of daylight. Definitely gonna drag it outside and work in the nice weather we have today. High of 81 holy cow.

If one of you guys have time could you link me to a few pictures of the engine from different angles so I can properly route all the cables, vents lines, fuel lines etc.? Thanks!

 

Nah, you can use them over several times without any problems. I hope you haven't already purchased new ones! I hope you get to ride today!

 

Didn't get to run the bike today but made some more progress.

-Mounted exhaust
-Mounted radiator and filled it
-Mounted carbs ( I swear these carbs went on better than any carbs I have done on a bike)
-Mounted air box
-Installed coils, plugs and wires
-Added oil and filter
-installed old chain and sprockets (for now)

Tried to start the bike but coolant was leaking pretty bad out of the water pump area. I'm gonna have to do some reading there on what I may have to replace. Bummer cause she was just starting to catch with the starter button. I also need to bleed the clutch out, I have no resistance at all in the lever. Hopefully the waterpump area leak isn't a big problem cause I just want to be done with this sucker.

 

Okay gang another update:

Just found out yesterday that gasket and oring kit for the water pump is on back order so I ended up making my own gasket with some sheet I had laying around. Fixed! It was just the waterpump cover. Back to getting her running...

I don't know anything about vacuum fed gas tanks so I probably have her hooked up wrong.

I got the bike started with a little help from starter fluid. BAM she started right up and died a second later. Big smile on my face gotta tell ya. I tried and tried again and again and could only get it to start and run for a second and it dies. Fuel starvation. I have the main gas line running directly to the left side of the carbs and I have a small vacuum line running to a tit just below one of the intake boots. Is this correct? Why are there 2 vacuum tits? I'm a little confused on the vacuum feed setup.

Anyway it seems like the bowls fill up fine and it will allow me to start the motor only for a second and then it's not getting any more fuel. I hooked up a clear line to the bowl drain screw and it doesn't look like it's filling up very fast.

After this I decided to see if the fuel pump would work. I ran brand new gas line from the pump to the tank and from the pump to the carbs in the correct orientation and flipped the key to the on position. Made a bunch of clicking racket that eventually stopped. Sounded similar to my own bike when the pump fills up the bowls till it senses pressure and shuts off. Same thing when starting the bike... starts up and runs for a second and dies. WTF!!! Hooked up the clear line to the bowl drain and i'm not getting any indication of gas flow from the fuel pump and now it doesn't make any noise. I'm kinda at a loss right now with no experience chasing fuel starvation.

Any pointers?

 

You should be able to go with a gravity fed system directly from the petcock to the carburetors, without any negative effects.

Re. the vacuum diaphragm saftey feature and how this works, more info can be found in this recent thread:

http://vfrworld.com/forums/1st-2nd-generation-1983-1989/34594-petcock-leaking-issue-help.html

Sounds like you are getting close. Glad to hear that things are starting to come together.

Keep us posted on the progress!

 

Invisible beat me to it. I was just about to paste that thread. I real feel for you. Hang in there.

 

Once again I thank you. I wish I could share a round of beers with you guys after this sucker is all done!

 

cb, I have to fess up.

I posted some bad intel on the head bolts. After reading JD's post, I read through the FSM. I didn't find anything specific regarding these bolts being a 'one-time' item, so I checked in with a tech that I know who has a ton of experience working on Asian bikes from the 70s on.

He said that this is a common misconception and that the head bolts can indeed be re-used. Apologies for posting that you needed to purchase them new. I think you have already installed them at this point. I guess on the uptake you have shiny new bolts! Apologies again.

 

No virtual beers at project end for you now, IC! (joke)

I'm sure he will forgive you.

 

Haha no biggie IC, it can't hurt to have new ones and it's not like it was an expensive part or anything. :wink:

 

5x5, cb. I was actually told by motorcycle hobbyist that the bolts are a 'one-use' item, so I took this to be true. Lesson learned. When in doubt it is always good to do a double check with a Factory trained tech who has logged in many hours working on these bikes.

Glad things are going well with the engine resto. Keep us posted on the progress!

 

Is another 500 up and running, cb? Hope all worked out with the rebuild.

 

I've been wondering as well. CB - what's up?

btw - did you play with the choke at all when you were trying those starts. My last 500 needed careful manipulation of the choke for cold starts.