VF500F guys, I've been searching for parts to get my old bike road worthy again. I found out a couple of interesting things along the way that I thought I'd pass on to somebody out there. For the 86, it seems that it uses the same valves as the VTR250 (V-TWIN). Those are still made in Japan I think and there is a 2009 model for Europe. They're expensive $20 to $45 each but if you only need a couple, it wouldn't be so bad. Also, the valve cotter/pin clips are the same for a bunch of different models including honda outboard boat motors... so I think those are still made and highly available. I bought some springs from a place in the Netherlands for 1 head, that's all they had and it was about 120 bucks...not cheap but not too crazy either... I was hoping they used the same valve springs but no, the VTR250 doesn't seem to use the inner spring so that's a totally different part number. Another interesting thing is that it uses the same needle jet retainer clips as the VT600 and a bunch of other models. I've ordered brand new $18 vacuum slides from China and they worked great! As most of you probably already know, the brake pads are very available and pretty cheap.... It's amazing what you can find on the internet.... the days of driving around junk yards and calling a million places are over for me... There's one more thing, my 30 year old hoses look new but they're old so I decided to buy a set from a junked/totaled 2014 CBR500R for $20 bucks, they even sent me the vacuum hoses from e-bay, they're the same sizes pretty much with some trimming here and there. The thing that surpised me is that the radiator looks almost exactly the same size only with the filler on the other side and no temperature sensor port. So, I bought it and one of those in-line temperature sensor adapter for the radiator hose and that temperature sensor works fine with the old fan right now. I'll be trying to fit the new radiator and post some picture when it's done. I bought the FSM from ebay for $25 bucks and I'm having a bunch of fun planning my next thing to work on... best of luck to any VF500F riders still out there. oh, and I got a complete set (3 for the front and one rear) of new braided brakes hoses/lines from England for about $135 bucks...they're WEZMOTO mine are 30 years old, so hopefully these are at least decent...
Thanks for the info. I have a ratty looking but great running 86 vf 500 and am glad to hear anything new about parts availability. Now, if we could just locate a source for valve springs...
I ended up using hoses from both a CB600F hornet (big ones) and the smaller ones from a CBR500R. With the hornet hoses you can eliminate that pipe below if you want, mine was all rusted and corroded. For valve springs, I found some with CMS, I think they're in holland but they only had a few. England might be your best bet or maybe see if one for the VTR250 might fit... you valve guides and retainers are pretty available as well as actual valves you just gotta do a bunch of searching.
so I kept riding.... but the running a little hot suddenly turned into consistently running near the top of the gauge after high speed or hard acceleration... flushed everything (after changing back to my old, bigger radiator) and alas, it's a head gasket!! DAMN IT!! Sure enough, bubbling in the radiator neck that got worse after I completely flushed the system. Electrolysis must have gotten to the head(s) or gasket(s) because the coolant had looked fine but was pretty damn old before I started working on the bike again. I didn't think to change it since the bike was pretty much almost unused the past 2 or 3 years.....So now, time to pull some head(s), I have an abundance of parts and sets of gaskets now, it's just a real pain. Hopefully, I won't run into a cracked head or block, but we shall see.... I really do enjoy working on the little bugger, it's just trying to find all those "spare" hours isn't easy for me. Word to the wise: CHANGE YER COOLANT! Even if the bike is just sitting....It's so damn easy with these bikes....ughhhhh...
Appreciate sharing the coolant warning, just picked up my '84 vf500f and since it has a sketchy history this info is helpful.
best of luck bro, unfortunately you'll need it. I've had mine since new but it has seen it's years of neglect, just when I thought I had everything all cleaned, rebuilt or replaced with the thought that the one solid item making the bike worth saving was the engine... I get a blown head gasket... uggghhhh.... luckily though, you can get complete gaskets sets pretty easily on ebay and partzilla has a bunch of stuff too if not, there's a place in the netherlands called CMS that even has oversized pistons and rings but they're not cheap.
I've got an 85 VF500F just short of 20k miles (5k mine) I'm ready to give away for a six pack to anyone willing to pick it up from West Los Angeles and handle the DMV fees. High sided it a year ago, busted clip-on and dented tank along with fairing. Intended to fix it, but after a year the dream has died of neglect. Was starting, getting in gear until battery died this month. Loved the ride, would like to see it live on in some form.
wow... really? I live here in San Diego so it wouldn't be too much of a trek to get up with a crappy little u-haul or a borrowed truck, are you sure and serious about this? You could get a decent amount parting it out although it is a big hassle in the long run if you're not into that kind of thing.
Yeah, I'm sure. Getting ready to move, don't have a garage, and just moving the controls onto the new handlebar became a screw-stripping debacle. If you're coming through Escondido, I'd like to raise the beer stakes to some growlers from Stone. The main goal is to keep Miniceptors on the road. That little V4 is so darn cute.
