86 vf500f cam chain noise

Im looking at purchasing a 86 vf500f. 19000 miles . ive read keep the revs low and honda recomends valve springs at 40000 and those are nla. bike runs great. but at idlle there is a noise in the crankcase. like a rubbing slapping noise. i assume this is the camchains. chains stretched or the tensioners are weak. how hard is it to fix or replace the tensioners? are these avalible anywhere? ive never owned a honda before but i like the low weight and the looks of the early vfr. i can work on/fix about anything . im also a machinst and can make things after hours at work i found a honda service manual i can buy if i buy this bike . anything else i should look for before i buy it . thanks

 

I think we may have the same thing

I bought an old 86 vf500F with 22k on it and it has the same thing going on. I just adjusted and readjusted the valves, rebuilt slave, rebuilt carbs, and im getting ready to sync it and i still have this noise in the front right side of my crankcase. i used a stethoscope to pinpoint the sound which was not the valves or the camchains, but i think it may have to do with the starter clutch right behind the right crankcase cover. im going to pull mine off after i sync it tomorrow. Ill try to make a new post with pics.

Ive heard that if these things have around the 20k milaege usually they have proven themselves as "good bikes". I recently read that in 86 the maintenance schedule was increased to 8000 miles on the valves. they wanted to reduce the amount they were adjusting the valves since it is a time consuming lengthy process. i took mine apart twice. it wasnt bad. they are nice bikes too. pretty quick! saw a guy with an 86 vf500f at the gas station with 4000 miles on it! said he bought it for 1500.. dont know if he was lying but that seemed cheap. anyway, if you are able to follow basic FSM instructions you should be fine.

 

Camchains on the VF500 are overengineered and very rarely fail. Tensioners are reported to fail but all the info is very well documented on this site. You will find pictures, guides how to fix, the lot. Well worth searching out.

 

Thanks much I will do more searching

 

Thanks for the info . please let me know what u find. I assume your thinking the starter drive gear is kinda rattling around in there after it disengages . there are 3 vf500 s on craigslist in my area right now 2 86,s and one 85. Two of em got over 30,000 and the one I'm looking at buying has 19,000. But the paint is a little rough and faded and the exhaust is kinda rusty but I figure I can do all the cosmetic work cheaper than trying to find valve springs And worry about it blowing up. To me there a awesome looking bike but just wish parts were easily avalible. Did u just clean your carbs or did you have to replace anything like needle and seats or floats. I've never worked on khien carbs before. I assume there a CV slide type carb similar to a mikuni?

 

the carbs are a CV style but since its a V4 they are a little tricky to work on. model year 86 has many "subtle" differences from the 84 and 85. the FSM isnt "always" right. Valves are standard 0.006" all around and float height is 7.3mm, the stock float height for the 84/85 is 6.8 I think and valves clearences are different too. the needle float valves on the 86 are 2.6 instead of 2.4 on the 84/85. I opened my carbs up which had original jets and needle valves in them with all the original phillips head screws too. my fuel tubes between 1/2 and 3/4 were aluminum already. I reused all my jets, dipped my carb bodies (and jets and needles and everything). the jetting on the 86' is 35 slows all around and 95 mains in the front carbs (2 and 4) and 92 mains in the rear carbs (1 and 3). I think the stock 84 and 85 are 90 mains. california models also have different jet sizes. the 86 carbs have a 30mm bore carb and the 84/85 has a 32mm carb. all and all they aren't too bad to work on, but whatever model year you get make sure you read all the notes in the FSM. I could have had mine taken apart, dipped, and reassembled in a day. I dont dip overnight though. had a bad experience where berrymans carb cleaner turned some old 79 GS750L carbs super dark (didnt try to pollish). instead i shoot out all my passages with berrymans aerosol carb cleaner, then i boil all the jets and bodies in water then blow out the passages with compressed air. then i dip them for like an hour then i reboil the bodies to remove all the crap from the inner passages. I always dry them vigorously after i boil them too, though most of the water evaporates from the heated carb bodies. This has ALWAYS been the fastest most effective way of cleaning carbs for me. I also use thin electrical wire (splitting the strands) and clean out the jets and ESPECIALLY the idle jets. they cant be removed and usually clog first (why most bikes that have sat idle poorly).

you should contact Billy C on here if you need parts for your carbs. I ordered an oring kit, allen head screw set, and needle float valves for my carbs. Important thing to note is all the differences between the model years. Ive had 2 84 vf700F's before and the 86 vf500 is similar in many ways but also very different. they did go to the gravity fed system in 86 as opposed to the fuel pump in prior years. Cosmetics usually arent too bad. I LOVE the original paint and red seat and forks on my 86. I did replace my front fairing (which was original and had been cracked by a prev owner). Only cost me about 50 bucks for original painted front with REALLY good paint. clear coat is nice and no cracks. But my old one really wasnt that bad. I wanted to find the lower fairings but they are usually super expensive.

Ive said alot of the differences between the model years here but there are also more that have to do with the camshafts and top end too that i dont know much about. Availability of parts usually isnt an issue for me (besides body parts). All the original stuff on my bike still works great (electrically, hydraulic braking/clutch). Sometimes thermostats go out. I fooled with mine and cleaned it and got it working again. radiator fan switches can go but those can be replaced pretty easily. the only part i couldnt find was the carbs boots and mine were stiff! I ended up boiling mine and they soften up pretty quick and stayed relatively soft. some people use wintergreen and heat to soften theirs but this seemed expensive and cumbersome to do for little pay off. they end up just sitting and not being touched anyway.

You are correct about my theory on the starter gear/clutch. jeremy is right about the camchain tensioners. I did some research on that when i first heard the noise and found a guy who replaced his a while back because he had a noise similar to the only we are having. If i remember correctly the noise did stop for a while but then cam back in a few thousand miles. Maybe while youre looking at the bike you could grab a stethoscope and try to pinpoint the noise. you be surprised at how sensitive they are to changes in noise. I used my ear and thought it was my top end front valves and rechecked them and they were perfect, then i used the stethoscope and found the noise right behind the right crankcase cover. I could only hear the clicking when i was right over the area where the starter was. I didnt even hear the clicking through the stethoscope when i put it near the camchain area in the front (pretty close to starter/ right crankcase) so you can pinpoint a noise very easily with one. Sorry this was lengthy! Can never have too much information when trying to buy a bike!

 

I decided I'm going to buy the bike. Picking up tommrow