Matt Tries – 1984 VF500F Overhaul

Discussion in '1st & 2nd Generation 1983-1989' started by Colddevil, Feb 14, 2020.

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  1. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Man that sucks. I have kept my radius of operations short 'cause I don't relish walking the bike home! Have to build trust slowly!
     
  2. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    For sure--I've been sticking around my house as I monitor it. I only ventured further off Saturday because I knew I had a friend I could call on if I got stuck. So the petcock is just something I need to be cognizant about. Not certain why I wasn't able to prime it by sucking on the hose nor why the vacuum hose to the petcock doesn't have a perfect vacuum. That seems like an issue. I pulled it apart a few weeks ago and everything seems fine. And fuel runs fine when the bike is running. I know I remember seeing a document on VFRW somewhere about how to modify the stock petcock to operate without vacuum as ON/OFF/RES. I'll probably look into that. In the interim, I'll probably just cut a length of 5/16" hose and store it on the bike. That's all I'd need to get it primed by siphoning some fuel out of the tank and connecting to the carburetor inlet. Probably not the healthiest resolution, but you pick and choose your battles.
     
  3. Diving Pete

    Diving Pete Member

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    its not worth fighting this one - yes you can modify the petcock ala race style - honestly you are wasting your time if your petcock works as it should. I always switch mine to off when stopped. just build the muscle memory...
     
  4. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    Yea, this is a better take. I'm pretty diligent about turning the fuel off because of an incident on another bike where the crankcase ended up filled with the entire fuel tank's worth of gas. My little lucky stall out near my house ought to be the event that reminds me to turn it on.
     
  5. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    I've done the vacuum delete on couple 500 petcocks. Pretty straight forward, pretty much just cutting out the center of the diaphram and using it as a sealing o-ring. There's a write up somewhere.
     
  6. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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  7. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    New (used) speedometer gear drive resolved the speedometer issue. Cleaned and greased the replacement and installed the same as the previous one. Seems to work fine after 45 miles, some of them at freeway speed. Not sure what I did wrong to break the tab on the previous one because the plastic gears and everything still looked good. Oh well, it's working now.

    Weather permitting I'll hopefully be taking the ~80 minute ride out to Road America to catch the MotoAmerica Superbike Series & Vintage MotoFest on either Saturday or Sunday. I believe this will be 12 years since I've had the bike out there. Back when a couple friends and I bought a school bus on eBay and were far more fun than we are today.

    217110_504353721864_9913_n.jpg

    Ahhh daughertymotorsports. That's where I'd run across that article. For some reason I thought I read it on a Word document included with Billy's Outback carb rebuild kit. Thank you.
     
  8. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    You are getting all of the details knocked out. Hoping it will be a bullet proof moto for you, after all of your effort. I have a school bus at the races story too....1981 US national at Laguna Seca. Roberts and Spencer on 500's. The old track, before they put in the infield.
     
  9. lsc86

    lsc86 New Member

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    Ha! Reminds me of Hank Jr. "All my rowdy friends have settled down".....
     
  10. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    Thanks to an international pandemic that gave me extra time to work on the bike and a whole lot of help from this community, I was able to make my goal of taking the VF to the bike races at Road America this year. Wasn't so sure that was going to happen a month ago, so thank you to everyone that's helped me out with a lot of the (often stupid) questions I've had on here. I really appreciate it.

    Still have a whooooollleee lot more work to go. There's more vibration in the footpegs than I remember, the steering bearings need to be replaced, probably should do the chain and sprockets, and it needs a new rear shock. Plus all the cosmetic things I want to do once those mechanicals are sound.

    But today was awesome. Road up to Elkhart Lake early by myself since I couldn't find anyone else to go with. The bike felt great on the freeway--just buzzy resonance in the pegs at certain RPM ranges I could drive over or under. I actually really enjoyed going solo though. I got to see so many unique bikes and being on my own I went out of my way to try to talk to more people about theirs. Turns out just about every person over the age of 40 had or wanted an Interceptor at some point in their life!

    2020-06-27 15.58.12.jpg
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    Road America is always pretty, but today was about the best I've ever seen it. Perfect weather. Didn't see another 500, but I did see several 750s and a 1000. I was looking at this 750 when I noticed all the old plastics in the guy's tent. He was looking to unload a bunch of it. He didn't have any with him, but I may have a lead on where to find a 500 gas tank. He's not too far from me, and I have his contact info. Also going to see if he's got a 500 belly cowl.

    2020-06-27 14.17.15.jpg

    So anyway, today was awesome. Still lots to do, but progress is progress.

    Album of all the pictures I took if anyone is interested. Some pretty sweet machines in there. https://imgur.com/a/752LCys
     
  11. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    Oh, almost forgot. The last thing I did last night before heading out. I had to remove the word "GEAR" lest I perish of embarrassment. :Rofl:

    2020-06-26 21.51.59.jpg
     
  12. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    You earned that day with a lot of hard work. Hope it was as good for you as it could have been.
     
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  13. lsc86

    lsc86 New Member

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    Glad you made it, well deserved shake down run! Been a long time since I've been to the Elkhart national races, but historically it almost always rained at least one of the race days. Some pretty good stories from the Horse & Plow bar at The American Club in Kohler back in the day..... We had big rains in southern WI on Friday, but Saturday and Sunday were absolutely perfect. Gotta get back there one of these years.

    Wonder how much of that VF-750 was true race bike parts? Some look legit period correct for sure.

    Stumbled across this bit of swag the other day, from Elkhart race in 1991. Scott Russell on the front and Jacques Guenette, Jr. on the back.
     

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  14. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    Sweet hat! I'd never seen a radiator like was on that 750, it was pretty wild looking. I've been emailing back and forth with the owner a bit. He doesn't have much for the 500, but he has some 700/750 parts if anybody is struggling to find any.

    The typical weekend for those races, first weekend in June, seems to inevitably be plagued with bad weather. I'm really hoping it can somehow get pushed back on the schedule. Last year was the first time I went when I can remember it not raining. Instead, it was cold. The first time my buddy and I ever took the bus there was for the bike races in 2006. We hadn't really done too much work on the interior yet luckily, but that first night it rained buckets. We had no idea how many holes there were in that thing, and we spent the entire first night taking on water and shuffling around buckets and coolers and whatever we had to try to keep from sinking. It was hilarious looking back on it. The next year we went with a bigger crew and it poured again. One of the bikes wouldn't start and we ended up lifting it in through the back. Then the damn bus got stuck in mud when trying to leave, and we ended up getting a tow out from someone in a truck. I've had a lot of great times there.

    Everything has been pretty much downhill since then, lol.
    bus.JPG

    But yea, 85°F and sunny was far preferable this time! I need to get my CL350 running for the 4th of July. Then it's back to putting the wrenches down for a bit and putting some miles on the VF while the weather is awesome.
     
  15. lsc86

    lsc86 New Member

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    First time at Elkhart was '87 for me, man seeing Rainey, Shobert, Schwantz, Polen in person after only images in magazines and occasional VHS bootleg race tapes was incredible. And those sexy HRC VFRs growling next to the screaming Yosh GSXRs, simply awesome. Saw my first Ducati race bike there too, hardly anyone even knew what they were. Place is so huge though, have tried mountain bikes, pit bikes, quads, walking, always seems to be a compromise of some sort. Back then you could walk down and sit behind the wall at Canada Corner and the back kink, truly epic views.

    Again congrats on getting it mostly sorted and look forward to your progress reports.
     
  16. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    It's awesome you got to go have a day like that on your 500. You deserve it, good job.
     
  17. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    nice work

    i went to RA first in nineteen sixty four........watched bruce mclaren and denny hulm win races.
     
  18. Colddevil

    Colddevil Member

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    I'd love to take a time capsule back then and see what it looked like and compare it to now. Both the track and the overall experience.

    Anyway, I took my VF out for the first time at night since this year. I totally forgot that I had switched all the gauge lights to LEDs a few years ago after I had started taking it apart. It was so bright and crisp compared to the incandescent bulbs. It may take a bit away from the stock feel since the light isn't as soft and dim, but as a quality of life simple upgrade, I'm happy I did it.

    I've been switching off riding between the VF and my SV650. If there's one thing I'm certain of it's that I am buying a new YSS rear shock for the VF. Sort of like a toad being brought to boil, I never noticed it because I didn't have something to compare it to. But hopping off the SV with a Penske shock to the shot shock on the VF, it smacks you right in the face. There's a whole world of suspension out there I don't know anything about and need to start learning.
     
  19. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Good call on the LED's on the dash. I need to do that also. Do you happen to remember the bulb number and light intensity? I was looking at one of the bulbs the other day and the base is really thin. I had some dash bulbs out of an my old Nissan D21 pick up and they were just a little too wide to go into the VF500 socket.

    Sounds like a shock my be in my future also. Will be watching to see how it goes.
     
  20. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    Any "VF" should have a shock in it's future.

    Plus, your shop door needs a stop.
     
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