87 VFR 700 Work day!

I'm planning to head home for a work day in two weeks. It's been a long winter.. well not really... but when you're 400 miles from your bike, it sure feels that way. The plan is to run through the basic maintenance as per the manual and make sure everything is in top shape. The windshield is cracked so that will need replacing. I'm also planning on installing a HID lowbeam kit because I'd rather see and be seen (and that's what all the cool kids are doing these days right?). I've thought about replacing the foot pegs and perhaps the bar end weights as they're a bit scratched up. Finally, I've got a boat load of parts I need to go through, and sort out the keepers from what I'm going to part with. I'll post a list of stuff in case anyone is looking for something.

The good news is that my dad agreed to lend a hand with tools and some labor time... in exchange for a hand giving the old '62 Austin Healey a little mechanical love. It's basically going to be a grease fest in the garage and I can't wait!!

She's tucked away in the back, but there's still some nice toys in here!


Lastly (the one that comes after finally I guess..), I've poked around looking for some HID kits and found a few I've liked but didn't know if anyone had any experience with HID kits in the 1st or 2nd gens. There was a post in a forum here but the link is dead now so it isn't much help. Any info would be much appreciated!!

 

Gens 1-2-3 old-school wiring is thicker, larger gauge and more coppery in most places than on later gens, and maybe more reliable.

 

I love the Austin's man. I want to own one so badly

 

Well, it's kind of been a comedy of little things. The work day has turned into somewhat of a work week... Parts I was waiting on have been slowly trickling in. Day 1 started out with a fuel leak when she fired up. Fortunately it was just a stuck float or something of that nature and a little carb cleaner and the leak was gone. Swapped out the oil and the filter no problem, and then attempted to check the front brake and clutch fluid levels. I say attempted, because checking the clutch level became a two day affair. One of the screws was stripped so we tried an easy out. Successfully removed half the screw and then managed to break the easy out off in there as well. Guess who carries 4m .7 taps? Well, no one. Tracked one down at a local mechanics shop and finally just re-threaded the darn thing. Replacing the windshield took me a bit of time as well, screws were just short of flush with the headlight mount so I couldn't seat the nuts properly. Ended up pulling the whole upper fairing off to get it on. For someone who has never worked on a bike before, as long as it's taken me to do the simple things...I think I'm becoming addicted... Still waiting on the light kit, that'll make 4 days of work for an oil change, new windshield and a new headlight! I took some pictures as I went along... Not sure how I feel about the purplish screws on the windshield.

 

Glad to hear that your able to resolve your issues that you've encountered during your maintenance fest. I enjoy tinkering like your doing as well. Takes me awhile to get things done though and I sure could'nt make a living at it. I'm in the middle changing fluids, brake pads, installing upgraded suspension, and removing the HID high beams that the PO had installed. One more weekend should do it. Enjoy your project and then the ride.
John

 

Finally got everything in and installed!! Now I just cant figure out why the front left indicator light won't go on. Seems to me like there may be a problem with the actual wiring as I got it to turn on once but it was solid and as soon as I flicked the switch it went out. I'll be trouble shooting that the next time I get home. The new headlight is fantastic! I can actually see what't in front of me at night! The dual hi/low is actually a nice feature to have. I'll have to play around with the height a bit but all else looks good. As for this hurricane snow....
Before:

After:

The troubled wiring:

 

With a comfortable place to work and you need any other winter projects, you can take the time to straighten out any bent or flattened oil cooler and radiator fins with a small blade to improve airflow and reduce drag, the type of slow work done next to the computer or tv, sipping ur brew.