3rd Gen (1992) Project

SO, I admit that I am NOT the most regular guy for maintaining my motorcycle. I actually feel kinda bad for the shape that I let this old girl get in. I bought this 1992 VFR 750 off of craigslist. Long story short, I was about to return home from Afghanistan, wanted a motorcycle, but didn't wanna spend too much. Looking through pictures, this thing caught my eye. Not too aggressive stance, "custom" paint job, decent shape, low miles and low-ish price. So, I bought it.



Drove it for a couple of years then went to Korea, Had to leave the bike behind, where it sat in storage for two years. Plastics dry rotted, didn't clean it before storage, short notice in the winter. Now, she's back out and NOT quite where i want her to be, mechanically that is.

 

There are a couple guys on here that may be bribed to do the carbs. When ToeCutter comes on he can give advice as to that. Plastics are not all equal. The chinese knock-offs are questionable at best. Several guys tried them and still went oem.
Other than that, try and get the honda common service manual and the specific service manual for your bike. Our links are not working so you will have to go to vfrd (the other site) to get them. These are too big to email and you will need the info in them.

 

I have the Haynes service manual, a download of the Honda service manual, enough Bondo to repair the broken plastics, Might have to replace some with Air-tech plastics though. She had 4th gen exhaust system that got busted by a speed bump in North Carolina, couldn't get a replacement so i got a 3rd gen set from Ebay for $65. Trying to decide where to get a new/used silencer for the 3rd gen with the accumulator. Looking at Delkvic. Stationed at FT. Campbell, KY looking for someone to give me ideas on how to get the engine out so i can clean/inspect it properly.

 

Haynes are usually good, but its crap compaired to the actual tech manuals. The common service book is required as it has all the generic information needed and the specific manual is for all the things that are specific to that bike.
I bought my specific service manual, but downloaded the common and a copy of the specific for traveling with. Both pdf files open on my phone.

Bondo on plastics is not a good idea. (Rubs forehead) lets leave it at that.

Depending on skill and knowledge you could fix that 4th gen exhaust......your call. Especially if you got a 3rd gen exhaust for 65$.

How are the electrics? When your ready to deal with them, you should unwrap the harness and clean it. Dishwasher works well, if nobody notices. Look for burn marks, splits, cracking and general deterioration. The connector pins are easily removed with an eye-glasses flat blade screw driver. Do one at a time if your replacing wires. That way you wont miss on or mis-pin one. Emry boards for fingernails work wonders on cleaning pins that dont have to be removed. Hockey tape works great for wrapping everything nice and neat, and being cotton based it withstands heat well. Dont for get to put a bit (the size of a large pea or so) of dielectric grease in each connection to prevent issues and above all else, do not use that old battery! Its admittedly 3yrs old, just replace it or it will kill your charging system. And no your multimeter can not test a battery by its self, batteries can show good voltage but have no life in them. Also, led lights remove load on the charging system, if you go this route, monitor the R/r temp carefully as that current has to go somewhere and usually ends up as heat. Use silver heatsink paste (get from computer shop) between the r/r and the frame. This will do two things. Makes a better frame connection for the r/r and allows the frame to act as a heatsink for the r/r thus prolonging its life.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the bondo... studying up on ABS welding right now

 

R/R connectors before


and after


also replaced starter relay and wiring harness, soldered/heatshrink on the stator wires as the connector was fried.

As far as the 4th gen exhaust, it was broken... behind where the front pipes connect to the central collector assembly, i just decided to go with original style exhaust. The "new" one had some rust on it, so i got at it with a wire brush/wd40, sanded it down, and had it coated with heat resistant coating.

 

Use temp controlled soldering iron, cheap flat tips and only enough heat to get it to start to melt. Find a filler plastic of similar color that can be used to add some material to the weld. This is exactly like gas torch welding only everything melts fast and darkening material is due to to much heat. I have used a small piece of metal behind the weld to hold everything in place to get a good weld. If there is distortion in the weld it will just continue to break along the original line.
Once its welded together, use 120 grit sandpaper on a chunk of 2x4 to smooth out the high spots. Weld fill the lows and resand. Move to 300 and then 600 wet in stages to smooth to finish. Blend with 1200 wet and dont use alcohol for the cleaner.

Whatever you read, abs cement is not a good option. It works but it also eats the plastic to bond. This leaves a very hard spot prone to breaking.

 

That collector weld area gets hard as the metal heats and cools. Simply heat with a tiger torch until red and wrap and slow cool it over 5hrs and it will be close to original hardness. Then re weld it together.

Wiring looks good. I dont like butt-splices due to their high failure rate. Especially when heatshrink tube and wraped and soldered connections are easy, fast and dont fail.

 

I much prefer to use the solder and heat shrink combination as well since that's what i usually use at work. I am an Apache helicopter electrician, btw.

 

Ah! So you understand the stupidity of cheap and quick. You are in welcome company. Btw im a telecom engineer (own my own small business) and currently a locomotive electrician (cant beat the benefits package nor the very good wage while my business grows).

 

Here are the rest of the pictures i have... in no specific order.

 

Considering this muffler to go on. 199.95 price tag.

 

I think that would look good, but thats just me.

 

For what it's worth... i have the Delkevic mid size oval can in chrome and I love it. I changed out the stock 1990 collector headers to a later Delkevic set and plopped that can on. With the baffle in it's still very reminiscent of running that bike with no exhaust, which I loved but it was just too loud. Anyway... thats my recommendation.