VF500F (1986) fuel line placement

Hello everyone. I'm about 75 hours into rebuilding an 86 VFR500F and am getting close. The bike was a basket case so I did not see how the fuel lines were setup. #1 problem is there's no fuel pump and I don't see a space for one. Was the '86 gravity fed from Honda? Anyone have experience with gravity feed on the '86. #2 problem is there seem to be 3 places to supply fuel to the carbs - two carbs have brass fittings and the other two carbs seem to get fuel via a common black rail assembly. Do I just create a system to split the fuel 3 ways? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!! Please see attached picture.

 

shell out for a service manual. or go to honda parts house .com and look up your bike.
after that, on my 86' 700, what you're labeling as #3 could either be a overflow or fuel line- problem is, i have two sets of those three way lines ( fuel and overflow) and none of those exposed connections. do the carbs facing us have those connections on the opposite side? (derh.) as for the pump, on mine it is a Mitsubishi low pressure pump that shuts off when a certain pressure is reached ( pretty low i hear). a replacement is 150 bucks. it runs ( again on mine) from the underside of the tank ( appropriate connection) over the coolant overflow, to the pump which is mounted under the rectifier on the rear chassis, it then goes back * through the pump's connections side by side 360* over or around the overflow tank to the carbs. 5/8" fuel lines, inline fuel filter- aftermarket is fine( seriously), and unless your tank has the fuel petcock ( fuel shutoff) built in, go *TRY* to find a fuel valve that will fit a 5/8" line.

TL;DR: http://www.hondapartshouse.com/oemparts/#/l/hon/50540603f870021c54becb3a/1986-vf500f-ac-parts , buy the service manual somewhere, pray you can get a fuel pump. don't forget to flush the main fuel passages into the carbs- i found a spider and a piece of plastic in two of my filters tonight, so i feel pretty stupid.

 

5/8" fuel line are you sure, it can't possibly be that big?

 

you can measure them yourself, but those just barley fit over my fittings so...... yes, i'm sure. but if thats your only question you should be fine

 

Let it be known the '86 VF500F has no fuel pump

Mystery solved - there is no fuel pump in the '86 VF500. The '84 and '85 do have fuel pumps but Honda made a running change in '86 deleting the fuel pump, changing to 30mm carbs and I'm sure there were more changes. Clymer stinks and doesn't diffentiate between the model years. The line from the petcock splits into two sections that pipe directly into brass fittings at the rear of the carb assemblies. The black rail is an overflow that connects all four carbs so leave the short (4" or so) rubber line in place.

 

What sort of tank do they have fitted to these? I have no idea

 

What sort of tank...

Not exactly sure what you mean. The gas tank design is standard with a petcock that bolts on underneath. Slightly difficult to attach the fuel lines when mounting the tank. I put an extra clamp on my main fuel line and attached some string to the clamp. Pulled the string hard to the rear of the bike when mounting the tank and was able to force the fuel line onto the fitting that way. Used a two part epoxy product to prevent rust in the future.

 

Tom if it is the standard shape as the previous models you will only be able to use the top half of the tank of fuel without a pump because the tank outlet is lower than the inlet to the carbs and gravity feed won't work uphill unless I have something wrong

 

1986 VF500F - Honda designed the '86 with gravity feed

All I can say is that Honda made a design change for the '86 VF500F. It's gravity feed all the way from the time it rolls out of the factory and there is no fuel pump. As I mentioned earlier this is a source of confusion to all partially because of the Clymer multi-year manual covering the 84 - 86 VF500 and some Magnas. The manual missed the changeover to gravity feed in '86. I haven't seen the factory manual but of course would expect it to be accurate. Note that I ran my '86 for the first time yesterday with about a third of a gallon of gas. Of course I ran dry in my neighborhood a little while later. I couldn't hear anything sloshing around in the tank so it must have been almost completely empty.

 

I would love to know how they made that work, if they were able to make it work on that model why couldn't they make it work on the others