1984 Honda VF500 F2

Hello all!

Got myself the bike mentioned in title.
Not many of those 80's bikes still riding around in my part of the world(Croatia, EU) so when I accidentally run into one in the ads that seems decent, I bought it. Spur of the moment.
So now that I have bike, I need to do something with it
Idea is to make it reliable and safe for everyday commuting and weekend rides and, hopefully, restore it to its former glory.
There's an introduction thread called "Nevermind...", and on suggestion of respected member Captain 80s , I started this thread about bike.

On 1st and 2nd glance bike seems ok.
I took all fairings and tank off.
All fairings need repairing, and last paint job is awful, I will leave them for last.
Tank seems ok, noticed minimal rust inside. I see some lousy repairing on sides. Original fuel switch not working and not connected. I will check it thoroughly when i strip the paint down.
Frame seems ok. Some minimum rust on it. Swing arm is damaged left side, will see what's with that.
Front fork is leaking on right side, but that's on the rebuild/upgrade list anyway, so it will be dealth with.
Electricity is ok, starter, horn, hi/lo lights and switch working, brake light working all turnlights and switch working, not original i think, look to new. Didn't check battery condition yet,working for now.
Dashboard working(all lights and gauges).
Engine is running.
Throttle is not returning back as it should.
Brakes working. Chain saw better days. Running of ideas what else to mention.

All in all, it has decent chances to become nice, reliable old school bike for everyday use.
All you experienced riders and V4 owners probably realized by my posts that I'm big but just enthusiast for now. And not too much mechanically experienced.
Didn't ride motorcycles since teenage years, and then it was reckless, without driving license, equipment, we didn't even wore helmets(country was in war in those years, early 90's, so police didn't have time for us). We rode Tomos, MZ's, old Jawa's, XT350's, we even had Cagiva Mito 125, that was a screamer... Good days...
Anyway, we did everything totally opposite of today's ways and standards and luckily survived.
Then I realized that girls like cars more and at age of 18 got driver's licence, bought myself some old car and from that times I rode maybe 200-300 km's on 2 wheels(mostly on scooters).
Never lost that wish to ride again so here I am

 

The bike as bought:

Here's old girl without her clothes

 

Wheels, front, back end:




Tank:

 

Posted the pics in hope that some of you guys will take some of your time to look at them and notice possibly important issues that need to be addressed.
Also, I've been told to aquire carb rebuild kit, so I see lots of googling/youtubing about carbs and their parts in my future
Off course, I will let experts work on things like that

 

All input, warnings, advice, critic etc. are very welcome

 

I think you got an EXCELLENT starting point for a nice restoration.

Certainly looks to be complete (and that is important when it comes to finding parts) and so hopefully general clean up and you will have an OUTSTANDING BIKE.

PLease keep us posted with pictures and questions so we can help you along.

Best of luck.

 

Nice Bike, Congrats.

Id recommend you buy a full carb kit with all the o-rings, needles & seats, linkage bushings etc. there are some good videos out there on cleaning and rebuilding Honda V4 carbs. you can find the links tot he videos if you go to v4musclebike.com and click the "Carbspa" link. I followed his videos (8-10 of them) when I did my VF1000R carbs and they were priceless.

Carb kits from Billys Out Back are good, Ive used them quite a few times

 

Yes, that's on to-do list. I went to check Billy's site. Said 24$ shipping to Croatia, that is acceptable, I think, for delivery from US to EU.
Also, I found different kits with different parts included, so probably the first step is to take the carbs off, to see what I really need, right?

 

At the VERY LEAST, you need to do float bowl o-rings and the fuel tube cross-over o-rings.

 

My advice is get the kit with a full set of 0-rings & gaskets along with needles and seats etc, the kit with the bolts and screws is optional and not necessary if your bowl-screws are in good shape. you'd also want to check all the sync springs are intact on your carbs, they often go missing and Billy's has those too.