84 VF1000RE - The "gods do I have to fix this too" partial restoration thread

84 VF1000RE - Partial restoration thread

Just over a year ago I bought my self an 84 VF1000RE as a classic bike to ride while the 85 VF1000RF and 83 CB1100F get their ground up rebuilds.
I had looked at the bike a few months before when it was first advertised but it had been unregistered and the price was far too high. Some time later I get a call from the seller who wanted to know if I still wanted the bike at the price I had suggested before. The bike had been re-registered (including (theoretically) put over the pits to make sure it was road worthy) about two weeks before I bought it. Because of that I didn't look too closely at the bike when I bought it. Big mistake on my part.

Despite the supposed trip over the pits, the bike;
-Had no working brakes (not front, not rear, nothing),
-The rear disk and left front disk below minimum thickness (scrap metal time)
-An 8mm fuel line was shoved over a 6mm connector resulting in a huge fuel leak
-No fuel filter in the system

I got keen at the start and rebuilt the front brakes with a NOS mastercyl, new pistons, and new seals. Then time and enthusiasm ran out and I have put little time into the project.

Since then I have been fixing things in my spare time but this weekend I put some serious time aside to work on the bike. and I have actually made some noticable progress. Completed this weekend was;

-Removed swing arm which was cleaned of 29 years of crap, the right side pivot bearings were replaced, left side repacked with moly 60, one of the pivot bolts was replaced with a used but good one (not rusted out like the one from the bike)
- Swing arm chain protector replaced
- Cleaned all of the frame from the motor backwards, as well as all the filth from the chain around the front sprocket,
-Shock linkage was stipped, cleaned, bearings repacked with moly 60, seals replaced where necessary (the top shock mount bolt was only screwed into the nut about half way and would almost certainly fallen off in a few hundred km)
-Original shock replaced by shiny new Hagon which I had on the shelf
-Replaced rear wheel with one from an 86 as the original wheel was not only painted gold but the six bolt holes for the rear disk were stripped and the bolts had been glued in place. The later wheel is in very nice condition, bearings good and it has the larger sprocket hub.
- New bearing installed in sprocket flange/hub
- Used rear disk installed (9.4mm thick),
- everything cleaned and reassembled, every bolt/nut torqued according to the service manual,
- Rebuilt rear caliper installed,
- Next will be stainless rr brake hose and NOS rear master cylinder, that will pretty much complete the rear end.

Up the front it needs a new big radiator, front fork rebuild, valve adjustment, new leads and plug caps, and new plugs. I will also install an original exhaust system from some of the spare systems I have. I happen to really like the sound of the original pipes and also want to maintain the value of the bike as much as possible.

I have some before and after photos but I can't be bothered loading them tonight.

 

Here are a few photos of the work in progress;

What I started with;



With the wheel out - pretty filthy;




Some more grime;





Clapped out old shock and more grime




Same again



From grubby




To mostly clean



A spare part conveniently lying around in the shed (44mm top mount);



New bits in place




Wheel, rebuild brake caliper and second hand disk installed



Up close to the old and new (well nicer used one)


All torqued up

 

Hang in there, it's starting to come together nicely.

 

Well the next job is that the used chain I put on has one very tight section. When I set the chain tension to the tight spot the chain pretty much lays along the top of the swing arm at other points. Lazyness and tight fistedness want to use the used chain and sprockets at least for a while but I think that may be a dead in the water idea.

Alternatives I have are a NOS honda chain for a CBR600 (sealed/continuous chain), a new FTP x ring chain at $68 from ebay (slpit link), a NOS honda CBR1100xx chain (rivet link), or a $200 RK x-ring chain.

I am tempted to put on the FTP chain and see if I get a few thousand km from it over the used sprockets as the bike will not be riden very hard. The FTP chains have terrific performance - they inspire terror amongst riders. From what I can find online they may be indian or chinese and have very mixed reviews ranging from 10,000km life (maybe the distributors contributing to forums?), stretching beyond uselessnes in one track day, to catastrophic failure within weeks.

As for sprockets I have a fair few NOS ones to fit (sizing is the same as the boldors) and the AU combo was 17:43.

Oh well, probably just have to pull the swing arm out for the third time (the second time was after forgetting to put the chain in during the rebuild - DOH)

 

Finally got back to the bike today, removed the swing arm for the third time to remove old chain and fit NOS Honda chain (from a cbr600) as well as new sprockets.
Then started to reassemble all the electrics and fuel pump parts between the shock and the rear mudguard. The rear end of the bike is finally finished. Now for the front end.

 

Hey love it! Another older V coming back to greatness!! Looking good. Just take everything off clean,paint, adjust and then put it back on. That's all you have to do?

Hey, have any extra dual headlite setups down there you wanna sell?

 

Hi Greyvf570f, I have chased down some spare headlights for my 2 bikes but they won't do you much good as the lenses are different for Australia and the US - we drive on the correct side of the road so the spread is to the left with the right side of the beam aimed lower.

I am not really trying to restore this one - just to get it safe and ok to ride while the 85 model is being restored. It has become a much bigger job than I fugured on. Everything I look at has been messed up by someone in the past 29 years. I can't just bodgey things up, I have to get them back to factory specs for safety and performance. All this takes time of course.

 

Thank God the bike found you and was rescued from a sad and ugly death. If you haven't seen Hobit88 thread on his bike, its a DEFINITE read--------Enjoy, OH and the CB1100F is one of my all time faves, back in
84 my bud had one and I always drooled over it, but I had my brand new 750 Interceptor so I was a happy camper.

 

Duccman, I have read hobits thread and think it is an amazing bike.

I am re-assembling the rear brakes and can't figure out the setup where the hose to the rear caliper attaches to the top of the rear master cylinder.
On the diagram it shows an oil bolt, then washer, then hose, then some kind of metal guide (part 15 on parts diagram), but no second washer.
Does the "stopper, oil bolt" take the place of the second washer? I am putting on stainless lines (goodridge from memory).

The diagram;
Powersports Company | Honda Power Equipment | Honda Dealer Wisconsin

 

Keep on keeping on.....lookin gooooood. OH...its Hopit88...hate calling people by there wrong name.

 

Nice work there. The bike is looking awesome..

 

Small gains today;
Rear brake bolted up and bled.
rear mudguard plastics cleaned and put back on
Tail light cleaned, new Honda globes and back on bike
horses tail at back of wire harness cleaned up and silicone grease applied to all joints
noticed both coils were split horizontally so of course replaced both
replaced rear plugs
replaced rear plug wires with NGK reds
Half way through replacing front leads and plugs.

I keep creating clean bits on the damn bike which show up the 29 year old dirty parts, which I then have to unwillingly clean.

 

HA! You're just going to get it in safe, riding condition while you restore the other one huh? I've got news for you...your OCD won't let you do a half ass job. You WILL do a great job on this one and we and your bike are thankful. Keep up the fight and keep the pics coming...it won't be long before she's done.:thumb:

 

I think having a high AR index is probably essential in working on old bikes worth restoring (not this bike this time round though). My 85 VF1000RF will look like new when I finally finish that.

I only bought this bike to ride while the 85 was being restored. I also am getting pressure from a riding buddy who has a ~95 R80 and an 08 F800ST, he wants to be able to go on an "Old ride" every second week and as the scooter is the only thing roadworthy at the moment, "old" rides are out. Not that there is anything wrong with riding the scooter (comfortable, fast, good fuel economy, good handling - I could go on for wome time on this topic) but riding a classic would be very satisfying.

 

Like a Demtel ad "but wait there's more"

Having finished the rear end and nice new plug wires and caps, I could not help noticing that the steering stem was missing the lower dust seal and the forks were leaking a bit.
So, over the last couple of days I spent some time taking the front end off for a front end rebuild.
I picked up a set of used but good forks from a wrecker on saturday (originally to have the lowers painted while the original set of forks was still on the bike to keep it mobile), stripped them down and they look nice inside. Now that the other set of forks are off anyway, I will strip them too and send oiff the best set of lowers for painting.
I have a set of Forks by Frank tubes for both bikes and once the lowers are painted I will build a set of "new" forks for the bike. Meanwhile I will do a dodgy rebuild on the other set to keep the bike mobile (well mobile around the shed).
I had already cleaned up and painted a lower triple tree for the other bike but got a NOS part later, so I will put new tapered bearings into the steering head and use my refurbished lower triple tree.
Probably a good time to check valve clearances while radiators and front end off - the neverending story.

 

Stripped my 4th set of 1000R forks today, 3 out of 4 were assembled wrong (not by factory).
Will be sending 2 pairs of fork lowers out for painting this week.
Steering stem bearings show some wear now that I have them cleaned up.

Some photos of the recent work;

Spot the problem here;


Sorted out now;


Rear end complete (ish);




Bit of cleaning in starter motor area;


Exhaust collectors and spares for the projects;

 

Another week of small wins. The spare set of VF1000RE (84) forks I bought were in fiarly good nick so I have picked the best internal components to be put aside for the final fork rebuild (with painted lowers and Franks new fork legs).
The other set of parts which were still in very nice condition are being used to make a set of temporary forks. These should last me until the painting is done and the second set rebuilt. These will be getting used seals and orings. I rebuilt the right leg today and will do the left leg tomorrow.
Next will be new steering head bearings.
Then deciding on whether to swap the carbies for the rebuilt set from the 85 model bike (decision base on whether I can be bothered or not).
Finally put cooling system back together and maybe have a rideable bike.

 

Other than completing the front fork rebuild there is not much to report on the 84 model but I did finally get the motor out of the 85 model and now have one frame and 4 fork lowers ready to go off for painting. May also send off a pair of ML7 NOS mirrors to be painted the same red (my 85 is the euro colour scheme) as the rest of the parts.
Sandblasting and painting the frame will set me back about $400 and probably as much again for the other parts. Oh well it is only money, if the wife doesn't find out that is.

 

Things have slowed down a bit at the moment. Too much domestic supervision to spend much time on the bikes.
Got a set of Japanese (Nachi) steering stem bearings for the project this week. Will get the steering stem finished in a day or so then have to tackle the somewhat intimidating valve clearance check and set before putting forks and radiator back in.

 

I'm up to spring selection for the 84 1000R.
The choices are;

Original springs used
"Progressive" springs
Ikon standard duty springs (progressive)
Ikon heavy duty springs (progressive)
Race tech 0.95 linear springs

I weigh 95 kg without riding gear. Intended use is country touring with a little city riding.
I would appreciate advice on what would be a good spring to use.