1986 VFR Restoreof Japanes import

I sandblasted and painted a set. Turned out great with really good adhesion and durability.

They will polish back up, but it's not great stainless and gets ugly again fairly fast.

 

Thanks, figured the stainless would discolor. First prize would be ceramic, need to see what they gonna charge for ceramic

Question about end cans and options I have the originals which I would like to keep as they're in pretty good nick, but the black chrome is scratched to hell. Polished it today and was just wearing it thin...

Any suggestions?
Gloss black the chrome and satin the rest? Hoping to keep as close to stock as possibe

 

Yes. Once the black chrome is light, you're done in my experience.

 

Another question, i've cleaned u the master cylinders on bothe the brake and clutch, but want to respray them with VHT Caliper paint, but i worry the curing in the oven at 200 C for an hour will mess up the plastic sight glass? Thoughts?

I am also hoping to use dot5 paint friendly fluid?

If the dot 5 will work i might just go ahead and shoot em with silverand clear 2k

 

Your system is not designed for DOT 5. And DOT 5 is not a great brake fluid either. That being said, do whatever you want, it's your bike.

Just paint what you want and 2K clear, don't worry about baking it. 2K can def withstand the occasional drip or small spill if it is addressed as it happens. I put parts in my garage attic to cure, which is hot as fuck but not melty hot. I would absolutely do a spray test using 2K on whatever paint you choose. Duplicolor lacquers out of a can don't have a problem with it. I've done many.

 

Ok...awesome...thanks again for the advice.

I think im going to go the 2k route, thanks cap,appreciated

 

Also had a mould made of an existing bum box made up... came out ok. Would have loved an original...but this will do until i find one

 

Some more disassembly today and the long partnof cleaning all the much off

 

Ever onwards...painting and cleaning

 

Quick question about the fuel sender... the wire on mine is broken from where it's soldered onto the sensor... it's it just a matter of resoldering?

 

nice work. OCD in control ?

 

Also, i could NOT get the front engine bolts off i tried everythingshort of welding something to them... sadly enginen is getting refreshed in frame.

 

Therapy

 

I don't have OCD, but I call it CDO so it's in alphabetical order.

 

Not just the headers!

Bit late to the party but I was going to suggest you don't remove the engine unless you *need* to.

I ended up cutting those ones off on mine... and the other issue is the rear lower engine bolt. It sits in a U under the engine where it corrodes and seizes for fun. Has a piddly little internal hex to remove that isn't man enough to remove it. I had to cut the last one off but back then you could buy them new still. You can't now.

If I was to do over I'd mill a hex into the section between the frame and the engine so you could undo it before sticking it in...

 

Yeah.. thise little barstuds (pun) are not coming out. So engine is staying put. Got some covers done ,tappets tommorrow and valve gap.

Sprayjob is by no means perfect, but its good enogh until i find out more about the bike as i have has her running only once(where she sounded quite good), if needed i can go back into the covers

 

Yours on the front there are external hex bolts too, the newer one has internal hex's so you can't apply as much torque to them either. They're open to the ends and in an area that gets all the spray from the front tyre... add in 38 years of corrosion and I'm not surprised they're not budging!

I mean it's not a naked bike where the engine is on show so I wouldn't overly worry about being perfect!

Just beware, I notice that you've removed those bolts to the rear heads and they have spacers behind them... if you accidently leave the spacers out and tighten the bolts up you'll crack the frame!

 

Thanks mate, yeah they are in the box,still to tighten all the engine bolts.those front bolts I will tackle one day if the need arises,(weld a great steel bar into e


A few questions

The water pump, I foolishly took all the bolts out and off course I played with it and it came loose, along with the oil, it's back in now and not leaking... Recommend new ring? honda still have these?

The clutch on this was dry as a bone.. rod was encased with muck. So I got new seals from honda.
The barrel that the piston slides in now has no surface irregularities I can feel, how good is good? Should I Dremel polish it?

Thermostat is apart as well, orings are toast... Anything special with these? Gas proof not needed I assume? Will the coolent effect them?

Carbs are cleaned , but need to still bench test the float levels, been reading a lot about this, does anybody have the bowls orings size?, I read somewhere you can fit a round one in?

Anti dive front forks. Is this more hassle than it's worth...pitfalls? I mean I would like to keep the bike original but hear allot of people just block em off? Advice?

Thanks for all the help

 

If it was out, I would have replaced. If it is loose, I would probably replace. Not the end of the world to do it later if it leaks, but... it's easy now.

Water pump to engine Qty 1
91302-MB0-013 O-RING (32.95X2.62) (ARAI) 2.58

If you have a source for FKM/Viton o-rings you can save some money, as it sounds like you might need some more orings.

FKM O-ring 32.99 x 2.62mm

Not exactly sure what you are describing here. Slave cylinder? Clean and smooth is fine. No need to "polish", but I don't think you would harm anything.

Thermostat housing Qty 1
91311-KE8-000 O-RING (47.5X2) 2.01
FKM O-ring 47 x 2mm

FKM/Viton 76 x 2mm
Perfect fit that others here can attest to.

With properly rated straight rate springs and the correct oil height (not quantity), the TRAC is unnecessary (imo) and just makes compression damping harsh. If you remove the snap rings, washers and spring from the damper rod, that disables TRAC Anti Dive. Does not alter the appearance of the stock fork. With the stock damper rods I wouldn't go any heavier than 15w oil, which I think is a tad too thick and also makes compression harsh. Sometimes I will mix up a custom ratio of 10 and 15 for something around 12, but I usually just stick to 10 in stock forks.

 

There are diagrams and part numbers here: https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/750-MOTO/VFR/1986/VFR750FG/10151

So water pump first. Both O-rings are available still. I'm going to presume a JDM bike is the same as a UK/SA bike in the major details.

The one between the halves p/n 19221-ML7-000

The one where it fits into the crankcase is 91302-MB0-013 which is a 32.95mm x 2.62mm O-Ring. You may be able to get that elsewhere.

Personally if the O-ring was still round, pliable and it's not leaking I wouldn't worry about it.

Clutch slave, I wouldn't polish it. Likely to damage more than make things better. If need be you can get new ones from Web!ke Japan for pretty cheap (certainly cheaper than you can get them from Honda UK, Honda SA may be different!), I got one recently for mine. The 86 is a slightly different p/n but they're the same price https://japan.webike.net/products/24972097.html looks like 930 ZAR for the part and 691 ZAR for shipping.

Thermostat O-Rings also still available, big one between the halves 91311-KE8-000 - 47.5mm x 2mm that one. Little one onto the block 91331-PC9-003 - 21.2mm x 2.4mm

So, you *can* still get a carb gasket set. Bloody expensive though as you need 4 of them! 16010-ML7-305. Again cheaper from WeB!ke than Honda UK https://japan.webike.net/products/24972073.html To be fair its not just the float bowl O-ring, does also include the 4 microfilters and all the other O-rings.

Afraid I don't know what size it would be for just that one.

I have to be honest that I've never bothered bench testing the fuel heights! One thing of note that I've seen with bikes that haven't run for a while is that the float valve needle has a little sprung plunger on it. When I've rebuilt some carbs that has been seized solid, while it might free off while in use I've made sure it's free as without it the valve is more likely to bounce and let more fuel in than needed.

Anti-dive... waste of time. It was an attempted solution to crap damper rod forks which manage to both be under-damped and at the same time harsh and crashy! So they stuck in overly long soft springs and then attempted to constrain things with anti-dive.

Stick stiffer springs in, emulators and heaver weight oil. It'll look utterly stock externally but they'll actually work. Not particularly cheap but I really wish I'd done it to mine about 40k earlier! Now the 86 is a bit crap vs the 88/89 as they have 37mm forks (rather than 41mm on the later bikes) but they still can be massively improved.

Put the bike into this along with your weight and riding style to give an idea of suitable springs etc https://racetech.com/product-search/#14 The USA only ever had the 86 VFR750 btw so everything is applicable to yours.

Finally... yours as a JDM model I believe is restricted. If you get hold of a full power ECU (only from a 86), bin the extra limiter box and do a minor bit of re-pinning connectors you can get a sizable power increase.