Scan 'em if you got 'em - VF500F Head Gasket Patterns

Discussion in '1st & 2nd Generation 1983-1989' started by invisible cities, Jun 13, 2010.

  1. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    Ha....well in this case I was glad for the advice to change whatever you can get to that's degradable rubber while you're in there. On something like that everything is so cheap it makes sense to do it. The "other" approach I've used in the past and it's hard to stop: "You spun a bearing, so you need new bearings all around, and while you're in there (famous last words) you should do new valves and guldes and keepers and may as well do a coolant flush and water pump and by the way....how old are those plugs?"

    Before you know it, I've got a new engine.

    So unless the labor was prohibitive (back when I was paying someone to do my work....this is pre-www days), I started taking the "replace what's broken" approach. Admittedly, it's not for everyone.

    By the way, I just got off the bike and it's held tight: no leaks. So happy for the advice all around.
     
  2. jrodrims27

    jrodrims27 New Member

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    My old bike has been running so well, it's now my daily commuter, lane splitting galore at rush hour, very dangerous at night though. Well, next thing to fix has emerged, going on 32 years old now, my speedo gave out on my way to work this a.m. Probably the old gear gave out, time to start ordering parts and taking off front wheels. I've "accidentally" taken her to near red line a couple of times and all is good. It's just so easy to do when you drop down to 3 or 4th and give her all she has. Valves are all checked and adjusted and of course still a little clattery at idle. So nice to run her hard and not have to worry about overheating anymore, she's staying right at midway during stop and go and 1/4 to half way (depending on outside temps) while cruising. She's living strong right now! IMG_20151205_093555.jpg
     
  3. WGREGT

    WGREGT New Member

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    Glad to hear it's still good a few weeks after the job. They do have a tendency to run a bit hot in my opinion on my 84 and 85. I put like fan switches on both so I can turn on the fan a bit earlier than letting the bike decide when to do it.
     
  4. jrodrims27

    jrodrims27 New Member

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    I went with some 86 head cooling idea stuff. First, I went with a curved hose from a cb600 hornet going straight from the radiator to the water pump instead of the steel pipe, it won't collapse under high revs either (I totally checked that), then I went with the 86 coolant tubes out of the heads as well as an 86 thermostat housing. Both have wider openings. Also I went with a lower temp fan switch, it kicks on right when the temp reaches half way. It seems to run cooler than it did when it was new if I remember correctly. It hasn't even come close to 3/4 of the way now no matter how hard I run it or how slow the stop and go traffic is, we'll see how mid August and September goes. IMG_20151205_093621.jpg

    Update: Jan. 20th - Still running awesome, still my daily rider, I have an FZ-09 but I still prefer riding my little ceptor, I've put almost 1000 miles on it since getting it all back together... runs cool, still haven't reached 3/4 of the way on gauge, getting about 42 mpg, had her over 100 mph briefly on new year's day for the first time in about 25 years or so... just a great little bike when running right, not a single issue right now, speedo gear replaced and fine now...oh man! probably just jinxed it!
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2016
  5. Ian Cox

    Ian Cox New Member

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    I will be removing my 85 heads soon so I will upload pics and serial numbers....
    whilst here I have a question:are pistons and rings interchangeable on Magnas and interceptors,and other engine parts?
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2015
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