Greetings from a VF addict in Africa

Hi, I am a V4 addict.

I have a VF750F which has had an interesting history.

After I purchased it and ran it uneventfully for a number of years, I lost the faith and got married. New person I thought cared a lot slowly made it clear she had no mind for the machine that took me away to my own thoughts and places. She refused to share riding days and got more and more sulky and eventually managed to get me to use it less and less. This was part of a general mind control exercise on her part which was (mercifully) ended some 5 years ago. While I was away from the former joint household sorting the legal paperwork she sold the bike for a ridiculous sum as a one of many spiteful actions. She refused to tell me who had bought it.

Well, it seems the bike and I are not meant to be parted forever as some weeks ago I got a call from a local dealership to ask me what I wanted to do with my bike! Seems she had not been able to give them the title papers (as they were in my deposit box) and so the bike had sat around for 5 years. Eventually the GM did a trace and got hold of me.

I now have it back after settling them the silly amount they had paid her.

There are, however, problems...

At some stage they had decided to prep the bike for re-sale and had taken the carbs off to clean them. They have unscrewed them from the lower air-box plate.

I got a box of bits with them saying "some linkages are missing-sorry" .

I have spent some time going through it all but it seems that all that is really missing is the top airbox, screen over the intake trumpets and serviceable fuel tubes (cracked off)

Other than that, all seems fine - all electrics still work, the motor turns over (checked first by slipping into gear and rocking the bike - all free and easy - at least they had taped-up the intakes).

Anyhow, time to get her back on the road but I will need some assistance and will post in the appropriate forum with specific questions. I mainly need to try and find a schematic of the fuel lines around the carbs (Several searches on the web seem to come up blank) find the routing of the cross-over tubes for fuel and air and then re-do all master and slave cylinders for brakes, clutch etc. I will also be replacing fork tube seals, coolant hoses and flushing the cooling and lubrication systems.

I have had numerous motorcycles in my lifetime (From a SS50 to a 400F, 550K, 750F, 900F2 Bol D'or) and instructed for an Advanced Rider Centre for many years but the VF is my all time favourite.

It challenged on every ride and even when I did my utmost best on track days or in twisty mountain passes it seemed to only slightly raise an eyebrow and politely ask "Is that all you want me to do for you?"

Can't wait to get back to freedom again and I trust this forum will be a great resource to asssit.

 

Try any one of several US online parts suppliers. Some have views of microfiche images of systems and subsystems.

Make sure you are looking at the right image. Nomenclature is not standardized. ie you may have a bike that was destined for your part of the world and carries a slightly different set of identifying alphanumerics.

One contributor here is a countyman of yours.. Knows his stuff..

Not a clue on where you get parts. OEM there is likely as it is here. $$$$ Suppliers here deal in aftermarket parts that IMO work just fine.

 

Hi Badbilly
Thanks for the tips.
I have just spent the afternoon musing over the schematics in the shop manual I downloaded from this forum and fiddling with various combinations of fuel and air cross-over and have cracked it. (I will create an easy to follow schematic so that others may benefit)
Went to a local motor parts supply store and found the O-rings needed for all the cross-over pipes, jets and other locations in the carbs for around $1 US in total.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning varnish from old fuel from the jets, inlet screens and other stuff on the carbs. Diaphraghms were fine and it appears all sorted now except for the cruddy plastic T-piece that connects to the main fuel feed from the pump which is cracked...I know someone with a lathe and so will quickly make up one in Aluminium tomorrow as the plastic one is bound to crack again at some point - $30US from a US supplier I found on the web works out to $60 with postage and the ally tubes costs me about US$2 this afternnoon for a 2 different diameter lengths long enough to make up the fuel inlet T and the air cross-overs.
With our hot climate plastic is not going back in there.
Your point on parts numbers is well taken and I have already found out that the fuel tap on my bike is way different to the one shown in the shop manual - it is far simpler and needs only 3 O rings and no large rubber gasket - a win!.
Also the VIN number label does not carry the year as that was not legislated here at the time.
Also of course, no emission control crud at all so that makes things simpler - I can ignore whole chapters in the Clymer and Honda manuals eaceful:
As for perhaps linking up wth a countryman on here, I guess I can do a search via country for members?

 

I am not the man BB alluded to, but welcome aboard nontheless. Hope you get her sorted.

 

I can help to distinguish between a 83 vs 84/85 if your going that route.

 

We have an East Coast/West Coast thing here too. North and South too. We also got those damned Canadians to deal with, followed by the Puerto Ricans and the Mexicans and a whole shit load of South Americans.

"It takes a whole village to raise an old motorcycle."

 

Where are the pictures of this "alleged" bike?

 

Love the story though, does she know you have it back?:wink:

 

So you lost the bitch but only misplaced the bike. Sounds not bad in my books. Born again Biker Eh?
Wished I could help you out but hell, I don't even know what a carburetor is. Is that something you install below the kitchen sink?

Welcome to the sight. Now that you have your life back, take a moment to take a few pix of your real love and post them up.

 

You may have had dealings with a Chris Magree from your CB days, he seems to mostly deal with CB's annd CBX's but he's pretty clued up on Honda's in general. Failing that,I found a guy in Pinetown (don't know exactly where on the East coast you are) that talked the talk, haven't used him though.

 

Hello All
Thanks for the greetings and welcome messages.
To business:
The "seller" probably knows its back in loving hands...small town...news travels.
Plan to go pick up son on it for one of his week end visits soon....HAS to be done!
Pinetown is just down the road (literally) so will go look-see if you can give the details?
Photos coming soon.
Work gets in the way of fun, even if self employed.....

 

Right, here is a photo of the "alleged bike" (That made me chuckle...considering the many legal papers that swirled around its heads a few years back...)

The first photo is as it arrived from the dealership after standing for ages and before it moved onto a work stand. Generally all appeared less fraught than I expected - save for the cardboard box of carb bits.

The second is after the carbs had been put back together (not as difficult as I expected) and the first one closest to the camera cleaned and serviced. 3 More to go.

The one of the top of the engine shows the accumulated crud from being stored in a dusty warehouse and also the gaping hole where the air filter box should be- This item they have not returned but I got an invoice for an air filter! (Nowhere to be found of course...)

Sent them an e-mail but was told tough! So will pursue this with their local HQ.

The fourth shows what happens to gasoline when it stands for years. It eventually evaporates and leaves varnish behind...will be cleaning that after the carbs are all attended to.

Will now move the rest of the re-commissioning shots and comments to a thread in the first generation section.

 

Grey VF750F - Thanks for the offer to help sort the exact year. Wouild appreciate that. What gen do you need?

 

I have an 83 which I let sit for too long with gas in the tank, shame on me I know, hope you have better luck trying to clean tank than me. I saw a picture of someone cut apart, and the trouble is there are several convoluted tubes inside that would be very difficult to clean. I did manage to salvage sending unit for gas gauge, as they easily rust out. Have another tank I can use, but needs to be painted. Gummed up tank has a major dent but paint is ok. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

ALLY : ".... there are several convoluted tubes inside that would be very difficult to clean."

Even with 110 psi compressed air ?? Doesn't acetone remove tank varnish......or just make it worse ?

 

Hi Squirrelman

I used to drain the tank for winter storage and that was the status when the bike went AWOL so not much fuel, if any, was in the tank.

The dealership did put some in to try and fire her up (who knows when?) so it is only a small amount of residue.

I have run some carb cleaner fluid back through the outlet pipe and it ran out of the appropriate hole in the petcock face. Ran it through the other holes and some swished about in the bottom of the tank - seems there is no total blockage. Will be running some more through then using an air line to clear it up as best I can.

Am spending today cleaning the tank. First need to clear the rust scale before sorting the lines. Will then re-fit petcock and float etc and run a test witht he pump line to see that I am getting the correct amount of cc's per minute out of the tank - also a good way to check the pump (cleaned up last night).

Then, time permitting, tackling another carb or three.