New member from Ireland

Hi folks,

Refugee here from VFRD. I have had an account here for a long time but never really used it but here we are now!

I'm the proud owner of a 1997 RC36 (green) and a 2003 800 VTEC (red).

Sad to see VFRD go, much in the same way I was sad that the old Bikers Oracle VFR forum went a while back, but I'm very glad that VFRWorld is here. Great to see some familiar usernames too!

Thanks for having me.

 

Also, for some reason the board thinks I'm from Israel. I've tried to change my location in preferences but it won't stick...

 

I've never seen a green VFR. Is that an exclusive to Ireland or Europe in general? I know Europe has always had a wider color choice than the US.



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Glad to make your acquaintance fabio222.

Regarding the country/ location, do you use a VPN perchance?

 

Welcome to the site

 

VFRW [used to] think I'm Brazilian... There's a "country" field in the profile, but that didn't seem to influence the flag! I do often use a VPN, but I've never used a Brazilian VPN...

[Edit: it now seems to have changed my flag to correspond with my profile. Must have only "saved" it the last time I looked into this.]

Welcome Fabio!

Ciao,

JZH

 

No VPN and I tried changing the country but it didn't seem to work. Maybe another time.

Anyway, my 750 is the last of the breed (1997) and has just over 90,000 miles on the clock, about half of which are mine (the other half being previous owners). I've had the wheels powdercoated in silver, replaced the front calipers with equivalent ones from a Hornet (exact same caliper but a slightly different colour). The rear shock was rebuilt by MCT in England (this was before Brexit made this sort of thing impossible) and the front forks have Progressive USA springs and slightly heavier oil. VFRness, LED voltmeter, and a slightly different seat cover complete the picture.

Reason I did the Hornet calipers is because I was looking to refurb the front calipers and found an Italian seller on eBay with a full set of hornet calipers, pads etc all for less than the cost of new seals and new pads. They're the exact same caliper bar the colour and, given they're brand new, work really nicely.

Here it is: https://ibb.co/HLk6GpbR

By the way, it currently has a coolant leak. Seems to be coming from the water pump. Is there a seal which tends to go bad after a while? Hopefully I don't have to replace the entire pump.

 

It can leak from the hoses, or the pump shaft seal. There is no Honda repair for the latter, but such seals are available and the pump can be rebuilt. Not something I've done, personally, though. You'd need a hydraulic press, but the shaft seals are easily available.

Ciao,

JZH

 

Thank you. Sounds like a pain in the hole.

Maybe I'd be better off just finding a secondhand water pump and throwing it on. Otherwise the bike might not see summer at all. Between a new baby and a toddler it's hard to get the time and dropping it to a shop isn't really an option I want to entertain, I mean I'm finding it tough to get a place to even put tyres on my 800.

 

Don't bother getting a seal for the water pump, you need a special tool to remove and fit the new one without damaging the pump

There used to be a guy in the USA who advertised on eBay but he sold up a couple of years ago, no idea who bought the business or if they're still doing it

 

Did someone mention an excuse to buy another tool?!?

I'll let you know if I ever attempt it, I guess.

Ciao,

JZH

 

Thanks for the responses folks. I don't have the tools nor the time to be able to pull the pump and press out that "interior" oil/water seal. The "outer" o-ring would be an easy one to do though and I'd renew that if I fitted a used water pump anyway.

Just a matter of finding the time.