Just got a *Free* 1986 VF500

I know I should probably do multiple posts regarding different topics but maybe I can just get away with a slight intro thread regarding a few concerns I have on this new-to-me motorcycle.

Somebody gave me a 1986 vf500f. It was partially disassembled (sprocket/chain swap), bad battery, hadn't run in 1 or 2 years and apparently it had running issues last time it was running. The guy had laid it down pretty good and dented the tank, removed some paint etc. The front fairing was damaged, he removed it and then lost it somewhere. The gauges were also removed and an aftermarket digital gauge was installed that uses a magnetic pickup on the wheel for speed, it's actually pretty nice.

I got it home, put in a new battery and it fired right up, it wanted to die with the throttle open, so I drained the gas and removed and cleaned the carbs/jets. I flushed the coolant, changed the oil and filter, did the clutch fluid and my next step was the front and rear brake fluid, although both feel solid. I had it out running on the road after I got the new sprockets and chain installed and OH MY GOD... the thing is a rocket, seriously. I mean my first and only bike is a 78 kz400 with rings that are on there way out, but I was utterly blown away by the power of this bike. It's incredible.

Now the bad news, or the nitty gritty. So when I was putting on the new countershaft sprocket, I noticed the shaft had some play and doesn't feel very smooth to turn. So the bearing is probably toast, or being toasted. It doesn't really affect the ride but I believe the seal is leaking oil onto the collector because of the play, and there will probably accelerated chain and sprocket wear from the play in the shaft. Are there any other ill effects of running with the bearing like it is? Metal chips thrown into the engine? Bearing seizure? I imagine I could just pull the clutch if that occurred.

The major concern I have is that the front forks leak pretty badly because of some light pitting on the fork tubes. I'm fairly certain the leak reaches the rotors so this is a huge safety issue, and it probably won't pass inspection with it the way it is. I'm dragging my feet on insuring, registering, and transferring the title of this thing to me because of the above concerns.

Does anyone have straight/non-pitted forks for sale that will work on this bike? I don't really want to replace the triple clamp, just the tubes/legs. My plan with this bike at this point is that because of the rough condition, I may either flip it real quick to someone cheaply or just ride it if I can find some forks that don't pose a safety threat. I really want to fix it up completely but my life is pretty turbulent right now having just graduated, looking for jobs, moving out of the family home.

 

:welcome:

You might be able to polish out the pits with #1000 sandpaper ?? What do you have your degree in ??

 

Thanks for the welcome and the reply! I read about polishing the forks, and most of what I've read seems to indicate that polishing out the pits still decreases the diameter of the tube to the point where they will eventually develop a leak. I've never tried this though, so it might be worth a shot. It seems like rebuilding the forks is lot of work to find I've just ruined the seals again, especially if I went for the OEM seals which they say on this forum is the only way to go.

Oh, and my degree is a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, which I got at Virginia Tech, Go Hokies!

 

:welcome: to the nuts house
Good luck bringing the Ole girl back to life :thumbsup:

 

Welcome! That was my dream bike in HS, never did get one, but I did have a V45 Magna for a while and really that's where I fell in love with the Honda V4 motor. If i was only to be so lucky as to get one for free! Good luck with what ever your plans are, but if you do decide to sell it, post it up on the forum classified section, this would be good place to find a buyer. Note on the pitting, I took off some light pitting on a set of forks not too long ago and had no leakage trouble. It's all going to be relative to how bad the pitting is.

 

I think I've fallen for the V4 motor as well! What was your process for removing the pitting? 1000 grit sandpaper as was suggested above? Thanks for the response.

 

For your fork seals use 400 paper with the grit TOWARDS the seal. It works good. I've tried it. Here's a write up:Fork Seal repairs - ADVrider

 

If I remember correctly, I had 600 grit wet/dry to smooth out the rough bits. Just gave it a light "dusting", I didn't go too crazy and it got rid of all the rough bits. I did this before replacing the seals and so far no issues.

 

if you decide you do need "new" parts let me know

I have a great set of front forks, brakes, rotors front & rear, wheels & some misc. of a 84 with 5,xxx miles

Lancaster, ohio here

 

That's the best possible education for a VF500 rider !!~

 

Welcome! I just traded my dual sport for the 86 vf500.. I'm glad to hear you are pleased with it. Did you mention how many miles are on it ? take care buddy!

 

An old trick we use for runners with fork seal leaks, is to strip the leg & then use a rotary wire brush to clean the pitted area up & rub over with 600 grit wet & dry to get the leg smooth, then degrease the chrome leg. Now mix some Araldite (hard expoxy resion of your choice) and fill the voids where the corrosion was, use just enough to fil the voids & then when set, use a very sharp edge to clean off as much excess as possible & again use 600 grit wet & dry to smooth that area. Fit new seals & off you go leak free. It's not pretty, but it works.

 

This is a real Heath Robinson approach, but after you have cleaned up the fork legs, put an extra fork seal in instead of the dust seal.

 

I liked the idea with the sand-paper superglued to the beercan. That was the ultimate, Also thought ^Ice-Hunchins comment aboot your degree was apropos...Cheers and happy/wrenching-riding adventually...

 

Okay, great responses everyone, thank you! I'm actually at Tech right now working on VTBOLT, my senior design of an electric motorcycle to race in the FIM eRoadracing series. I'll be here working on that for a couple days, but when I get back home I will continue to play with the Interceptor.

When I start working on it again I think I'll try the repairs suggested in the order of the least amount of work to the most amount of work/money. I'll be doing the sandpaper-beer can trick for sure. If none of that works and I'm stuck leaking, are the early forks the same as the 86? As in will my calipers, fender/brace, wheel, axle, etc transfer over to a set of 84/85 legs/tubes? If so I will probably buy them from Big3. Thanks so much for the helpful replies, this is a great forum.

Oh yeah and today I swapped an extra rough seat that came with the bike and an old stereo for a gauge cluster, fairing mount/stay, headlight bucket, and a rough upper fairing at New River Cycle Salvage! Now I just need a speedo cable, black plastic gauge cluster cover, and windshield. Although it would be cool to have the original colored upper fairing, even in rough shape. Does anyone have one for sale? Or the other stuff I mentioned?

 

Follow-Up

So I've been doing some more work to the bike. As far as the forks go, I tried sanding the pits and the seals but I've still got significant leakage, so the bike will need new forks soon. I've had some issues with air getting in the coolant system which I believe I have successfully traced back to the overflow tube, which I fixed at the bottle (the rubber had come apart). I also replaced the radiator cap since I noticed coolant spitting from around that area once or twice.

Luckily the guy who gave me the bike found the original upper fairing, after some fiberglass work it's rigid and mounts up as it should. I'm waiting on a gauge cluster and speedo cable from ebay to restore the front end to original. It had an aftermarket Acewell gauge, which when the PO installed he cut almost all the wires at the stock gauge plug with less than half an inch of wire sticking out of the plug. So I had fun soldering all those back up. Everything seems to work now, although the neutral sensor has been kind of flaky.

Now the rather bad news, every time I ride I get a lot of oil dripping onto the exhaust and causing smoke. I though maybe the clutch pushrod seal was to blame, so I tried the heat shrink fix. It basically made no difference, so I'm fairly certain it's because of the bad countershaft bearing. I've looked at RonCiere's thread and it looks like a big job to do, and parts seem next to impossible to find. The damn thing runs so nice and strong that I want to fix it, but re-using old gaskets because there aren't new ones doesn't seem like a great idea, and I have no idea where to look for a new bearing/shaft. Help? Support? Ideas? Here's a pic as she sits now.

 

I could be wrong and I have never been deep into a Vf500F before but having worked with other Honda models I can say they bearings are just bearings. Very few manufactures will spec a ball or roller bearing specifically for an application. In the majority of cases the bearings you need can be sourced from a bearing suppler. Even the seals tend to be standard but it takes some sleuthing to find the correct match. Gaskets are another matter but, with care, you can make your own. You can even get a whole transmission on ebay for around $50.

To me there is nothing better than bringing a bike back from the dead and fixing the neglect and damage inflected by others.

 

Thanks for the response Big_Jim,

I just drove 10 hours yesterday to pay $60 for a 1986 engine with ~25k on it. Since the 1986 engines seem about as rare as hens teeth, I figured I couldn't let it be scrapped. Anyways, on this new to me engine, the output shaft bearing feels perfect. Evidently it was ridden until the oil started to look milky. So new head gaskets were installed (???) these are impossible to find, they said they paid around $200 on ebay.

Apparently one guy working on it over torqued the head and broke the block (!!!), see the picture. The holes are right underneath the head bolts. So unless a jb weld repair is possible, the block is trashed. Regardless of this, they were not able to get the timing correct. They said they had 2 mechanics come over and both said the timing was not right. So they were never able to get it started after all the repairs.

I'm thinking I have enough parts to make one good engine from the 2 that I have. Even though those new head gaskets have been torqued, since it was never run, I feel as though they may be usable on mine. I think that mine are going since it tends to get really hot while stopped or moving slowly. The other part is the output bearing/shaft. I think I should just be able to swap these into the low end on mine with new pushrod and output shaft seals and be golden. At any rate, here's the pictures, looks like I'll have some work ahead of me:

 

The '86 engine is a good buy. There are small but significant differences in that motor that address some of the oiling issues in the first two years. I am not an expert so I do not know if the block castings changed but my gut feel is they are the same. Most of the changes were items like a deeper oil pan and a higher capacity oil pump. You should be good to go reusing the head gasket. I know this is never done but back in the day, they were often reused with good effect. I would get a can of spray "Golden Seal" It works just like its name. You spray both side of your head gasket with this gold colored spray. (Hang it on a wire to get an even coat on both sides.) What you end up with is an even coat of very tacky sealant. It's not glue so you can get it off but it works a treat. This is an old British bike trick for fiber head gaskets that are prone to blow between cylinders.

I wouldn't be surprised if that block couldn't be fixed and without complete bottom end disassembly.

 

So, you think the block is repairable? Maybe JB weld up those two holes? Judging from my go-to parts diagram source, the crankcase part numbers are difference between the 84-85 (11000-MJ8-040) and the 86 (11000-MF2-710). Also thanks for the tip on golden seal, I was wondering what people typically use for this type of work. Oh yeah and the oiling improvements the 86' has over the 84-85 are why I drove 5 hours each way to pick this thing up.