Hi All. New to this site. Ive just bought a Vf750f 85 that has not been on the road for 20 years and not started for 10. After a bit of fettling she now runs. Tick over she sounds good. Light throttle there is a clanking from the rear rocker cover and slightly less from the front rocker cover. Slightly more throttle it disappears then back again with a bit more. Covers off and camshaft and followers look good. It sounds to me like the chain adjusters... springs gone? If so where can i locate new ones...thanks.
My 83 1st Gen starts and runs quiet. No adverse noise from the rocker boxes. The power plant is very smooth. There is evidence the engine has been out of the frame but no known history. 8800 miles on the odometer as the bike was stored or abandoned for some time. 400 miles to shake the bike down and to cure some bad carburetor work. Installed a top end oiler kit just to feel safe. Planning on an 800 mile trip up the Hiway 1 coast in California. Can the bike be trusted or am I sitting on a potential time bomb? The cam tower issue on these early bikes is always on my mind.........
There's bound to be current experts here on the VF750F. My experience was as an owner but back in 1984 so not really very current! The weak points on these engines are the cam/cam followers and the camchains and tensioners. IIRC both issues were addressed or at least greatly improved on the FE models. The top-end oiler kit was a pretty common modification to improve oil flow to the cams which prevented the rapid lobe/follower wear that sometimes occurred. A sloppy camchain usually presents as a buzzing/rattling at 2-3000 rpm. On my VF the tensioners and chains were replaced, the chain was actually changed in situ using a chain breaker/press. There's some secret stuff involved in correctly setting the valve clearance on these engines as there is a single forked rocker opening two valves and I believe the rocker can rock slightly while setting one valve. Do a search. To answer chancy's question are you sitting on a time bomb, I think the answer is no, but you are sitting on a 30+ year old bike and although you have low miles, lots of bits fail with age especially rubber bits like carb diaphragms and boots, so you would have to expect more repairs will be required than a 2015 VFR800. If you've already covered 400 miles then I would say go for it. You might suffer a complete shut down if the regulator or alternator call time, but that can happen to any of us. I doubt you'd suffer any more catastrophic failures provided you've done the sensible stuff like changing all the fluids, this is a HOnda after all.
