Found a 1994 4th gen to rescue :)

Discussion in '3rd & 4th Generation 1990-1997' started by sruss67, Dec 4, 2021.

  1. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    Ten years ago I found my first 4th gen VFR750 and fell in love with the bike, did a heap of work servicing it and rode it occasionally.
    I sold it when we decided to move from Qld to Tassie and have tried a couple of bikes since, and a project bike that is about done.
    Scrolling through our local Gumtree as I do daily and an ad for a CB750 1994 caught my eye, it was in fact a VFR750 like I owned previously :High5:
    I contacted the seller to find out what info I could, and a bit of history.
    The bike has 141xxxkm and hasn't been ridden since 2012, but has been covered and kept out of the weather.
    The owner is selling as she hasn't been able to ride the bike since parking it in 2012 due to ill health, unfortunate for her, and fortunate (maybe) for me.
    She was open to offers with no price listed, so I arranged to view the bike today and drove the hour to take a look. The pics show what I found.
    IMG_20211205_110523_resized_20211205_031946925.jpg IMG_20211205_105646_resized_20211205_031947405.jpg IMG_20211205_105530_resized_20211205_031947823.jpg IMG_20211205_105555_resized_20211205_031947638.jpg IMG_20211205_110126_resized_20211205_031947194.jpg
    I figure at the least the bike is going to need tyres, a battery, all fluids, carby cleaned, fork seals and oil, a heap of love and time. I am not even sure the engine will turn over, so I asked if she would take $500, and to my surprise she accepted my offer.
    Left a deposit and will go back next Sunday to pick it up and bring it home.
    Best take a pump to inflate the tyres so I can load it onto my trailer.
    This will be a long term project as I am about to renovate the exterior of our home, and need to finish my 85 DR250S and sell it.
    Very happy and somewhat excited to hopefully get this beauty running next year and rideable again. :aussie:
     
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  2. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    you scored BIG TIME !
     
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  3. rhoderage

    rhoderage New Member

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    The exhaust and fairings alone should be worth more than $500...good score indeed... it looks really good for having sat 9 years!

    Looking forward to the refresh...
     
  4. ridervfr

    ridervfr Member

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    thats what i paid for my gen3 bike in 2013, EXCELLENT DEAL!!!! I knew mine turned over, thats it. Brought it home on my trailor. I want a third one damn it!
     
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  5. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    Nice. That was a deal for sure.
     
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  6. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    Thanks, guys, yep, reckon I should have been wearing a mask and carrying a gun :cool::Peace:Seems I stole a great deal.
    Really hoping the engine turns over freely as that will be the telltale sign to proceed.
    Any tips on what I should do to check the engine?
    Is there anything I should pour in the spark plug holes to sit for a while, and I will obviously need a new battery, or I guess I could crank it manually?
    Cheers for the kind words, I am excited to be getting another VFR after missing my original one.
     
  7. ridervfr

    ridervfr Member

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    when i picked up mine, the battery had a enough juice to bump the starter and hear that the motor turned over. You could take the plug off on the clutch side put a socket on the end of your breaker bar remove your sparkulators, and turn the motor over that way I guess. You could pour a bottle cap of your favourite marvel mystery oil or some light penetrating oil in each cylinder if you want.

    Once thats done, your gona be into the carburetors, (replace those insulator bands, and the T stat along with the o'ring) then the brake systems, tyres, maybe chain/sprockets. It goes on and on. Nice thing is once everything is dialed in, your golden. I like OEM stuff but there are some other brands you can do ok with. I also did the fuel rails on both sets of carbs on my gen3 bikes. Guess you could wait on that one, main goal is to get bike to go down the road :wheelie:
     
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  8. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    Thanks for the tips @ridervfr
    Yes, knew I would essentially be rebuilding/servicing pretty much everything on the bike.
    Might be time to invest in an ultrasonic cleaner for these carbs.
    The rear sprocket looked to be in good condition, will know more once I can get the bike home and dig into it some, which won't be for a while yet due to the renos being a priority over my Christmas holidays.
     
  9. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    ultrasonic cleaning for carbs is for WORST cases only, not needed in 90% of cases. gasoline on a toothbrush does a good enough job most times. soaking carbs may lead to throttle shafts that freeze up during storage.
     
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  10. ridervfr

    ridervfr Member

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    we have all that fancy stuff where i am, i like carb cleaner and compressed air. just wear your safety squints cause it burns when it gets in your eyes. :mech:
     
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  11. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    Great advice @squirrelman and @ridervfr
    That is pretty much what I did with my DR250 rebuild and it worked well there, will do the same once I open this girl up.
    Cheers
    Shane
     
  12. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    Sunday was the day to go and collect the new project

    Loaded my car with an aluminium plank and the trailer with the new wheel chock/block holder fitted, drove the 110km to collect the bike, loaded her up, and drove back home.
    The aluminium plank was an idea I had to allow a shallow angle when pushing (manhandling) the bike up and onto the trailer, and worked bloody well.
    I inflated the tyres to the recommended 36 and 42psi and wheeled her up and on, tied down and the journey home was good. Stopped a few times to check all was okay (why do we do that when we know all is good, haha) and unhooked the trailer once back home.
    Unstrapped the bike and gave it a quick wash to get the dust and a bit of crud off it.
    Lots of little bits of corrosion on the aluminium parts, it looks like brake fluid has leaked onto the front wheel, there is a crack in the left fairing at the frame mount, the chain looks to be fubar, exhaust headers look corroded, yada, yada, yada

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Not sure what the go is with the "horse head motif" on the fairing, maybe "Tangles" was part of the Aussie Mafia...................I know he played cricket for Australia.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    The fork seals etc will need redoing, forks repainted, fairing also at some point.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Cleaned up reasonably well for sitting 10 years, and love that it came with the Staintune muffler, these are a sought-after upgrade for the VFR.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    The final pic is how the bike will stay until I am able to make enough room inside our garage to wheel her in.
    Better get the house reno's done pronto.
    Sorry for so many pics, just that it gives me a good reference of how the bike was when it arrived at its new home.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2021
  13. ridervfr

    ridervfr Member

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    Nice pictures! My 93 was in similar nick. You got lucky to find that bike btw, if it was available in my state, I would have gone for it too!
     
  14. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    Very, very lucky, and very, very happy. These are not common to find here in Tasmania, on Mainland Oz there are many getting around still and several for sale. I was fortunate that this was incorrectly advertised and close to home
     
  15. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    nice find. can't save that knackered chain, so replace it. how many km's on dat bitch ?
     
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  16. Jim McCulloch

    Jim McCulloch New Member

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    Very nice score. Looks like a solid project.
     
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  17. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    141xxx kms traveled.
     
  18. sruss67

    sruss67 New Member

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    Went looking for a tool kit or owners manual and found the motherload for a bike of this age.
    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Found the original oem tool kit including the pin spanner for chain adjustment on the rear wheel (saving me $50), owners manual and original purchase information.

    How funny to end up with a bike from Qld, where I found my first 4th gen Vfr750.
    Nice knowing some of the history, seems a few owners have loved this bike, and now it is my turn.
     
  19. Simon Edwards

    Simon Edwards New Member

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    Maybe too late for this but...
    Pop out all the spark plugs and spray a healthy dose of Fogging Oil into the bores. Do this twice over two days and cover the plug holes to avoid it all evaporating away.
    Remove the carbs and clean the varnish from the pickup tubes and jets - plenty of advice on this in other threads on here. You'll need new float bowl seals unless you get really lucky with the old ones. Likewise with the O-ring seals on the two T shaped fuel feed pipes.

    Clean the contacts on the stator to loom connections. Then do it again on the RR to loom connection. See "The Drill" for the next step for the RR and loom - which will only really matter once you get it going initially.

    Assuming you will only be starting it just to see if it works first time around, just check oil and coolant levels. Once its working you should of course replace them asap.
    First time that you try to start it, before you actually go to start it you should first put the carb end of the long fuel feed pipe from the pump into a container and allow the pump to work fresh fuel through for a minute or so. After standing for 10 years and having manually drained and flushed the hoses first, the fresh fuel came through a bit gritty and bright green for a while on mine - yuk. Something made of Copper was decomposing gently in there. It then ran nice and clean after a while, but you don't want that muck in your carbs.

    Only after the oil in the bores has had a couple of days to reach all the rings should you attempt to spin it over.
    The carb work will give you a chance to start it if it spins freely, and you can do it whilst you are waiting. You don't even need them fitted to spin the engine on the starter just to see how free it is.

    You could borescope the engine first. But that would be up to you.

    Oh, one other thing: When you start it for real...
    Having put that oil into the bores and having let it sit there it will soak into the carbon deposits and all nooks and crannies behind any open valve ports. So there will be a period during the first start where it naturally burns off. Usualy taking some of those deposits with it. During a successful first start the newly created thick grey oily cloud that just engulfed you, your house and maybe your neighbours houses on both sides is perfectly normal as this happens. All the stuff you dripped onto the header pipes will be joining in too. These may generate enough smoke that they appear to be on fire. Its all part of the fun of the initial re-start of a project bike.
     
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