86 VFR orphan rescue

Removing the steering stem was a classic episode of man vs. nut; 3/8" ratchet? nope, 24" breaker bar? nada, electric impact driver? not happening, HEAT + impact driver: winner! Man then celebrated victory by making a grilled cheese sandwich.

Here's the steering stem & yokes removed. Note the lower stem bearing is lacking grease. I used the Michelangelo method to remove the bearing races (ie. hammer & chisel).

PXL_20230319_200841857 by chuntera posted Apr 2, 2023 at 10:13 PM

 

Forks are WIP

Here is detail from the lower race. You can see a small indentation, it doesn't look like much but you could feel it turning the handlebars.

20230326_005427-0 by chuntera posted Apr 2, 2023 at 10:13 PM

There was a similar notch on the inner race

20230326_124934-0 by chuntera posted Apr 2, 2023 at 10:13 PM

I used a dremel cutoff disc to remove the inner race from the steering stem. I only needed to cut through the thinner section of the race for it to let go. This left the race in good enough shape to use as a drift to bang the replacement into position. v4dreams has a blog post about this.

PXL_20230326_173127666 by chuntera posted Apr 2, 2023 at 10:13 PM

 

So I punted on repainting the brake calipers but decided to do the fork lowers. They had some corrosion and fair number of chips.


I used a 180grit abrasive wheel to remove the paint and deep scratches. Then I went over it with #320 wheel to smooth out the dips/waves from the #180.
In the photo, left is after #180 and right is after #320


Next came wet sanding with #400


After cleaning, I put on a coat of etching primer followed by three coats of black appliance paint then let cure for about a week. It's not a pro shop quality paint job but I can live with it.

 

On fork lowers, good prep and a resilient finish is most important. Once you bolt everything on, little quality issues aren't a big deal, it's gonna take some abuse anyway.

Good job

 

I thought I had posted something here last fall but maybe I didn't hit the save button.
The frontend is back together. Forks rebuilt & new brake lines. The radiator was disassembled, cleaned & fan shroud repainted.
I replaced the shorter radiator hose sections but re-used the longer pieces.

 

The wheels sent to a local shop for powder coating.
Incidentally I went to order pivot works wheel bearings and found the part no's had changed to all balls

 

Last fall my 87 vfr700 started leaking from a fuel tube joint. They were last rebuilt in 2016 by mr. squirrels, so 7 years on a set of orings.
An extra set of almost-complete carbs came along with this 86 orphan bike.
So I spent the last 4 months rebuilding carbs.



The general process
- steam clean
- teardown
- soda blast
- fix broken stuff/missing pieces
- ultrasonic bath
- reassemble

I sourced some orings and tygon fuel line from Joe @v4dreams and others bits I ordered online.

The sets had various problems, some fixes were more successful than others. One carb went to a local welder to repair a broken mounting tab. He said the cast aluminum contains a lot of filler metal.

Here is a comparison of before/after. For this one the intake plenum was blasted with "real" blasting media. Soda blasting is tedious but does brighten the carbs bodies.

 

Over the winter, the wheels went out for bead blasting & powder coating to a local shop. Had to pull out bearings, valve stems, etc. Finally got new the bearings and seals in this week. Waiting for new valve stems.
Checked out tire options, which are limited in this size. On the upside, 2nd gen tires probably half the cost of new treads for a 5th gen.

 

VITON O-rings are the best now, not the older classic rubber stuff.

 

Last year I stripped the old brown powder coat from the engine cases https://vfrworld.com/threads/look-honey-here’s-a-rwb-ya.60861/page-4#post-644018

Then I put them in a box and promptly forget about them. I rediscovered the box recently and the cases were almost totally oxidized.
Spent some time wet sanding the worst bits of oxidizidation, then sprayed a coating of etching primer.
They will be repainted soon. Its almost impossible to get the original textured brown finish with spray paint. I will have to choose something else for a paint finish.



I recently repainted the cases on my 87 vfr satin black. This was a quick job while I had bits off the bike to check valve clearances and change clutch plates. The satin black isn't bad, it doesn't really pop but it doesn't look out of place either.

 

For my 88 I just did a general media blast and went with VHT clear. It didn't cost much and I think it looks cool without trying to look cool. lol

 

Is that a repaired frame or something else going on? Looks to me like an early frame with some bonus welds!

 

Shelved the engine covers for a while because I can't spray paint worth shit. First coat the paint was too thin and I got runs. Second coat the paint was too thick and I got orange peel. Also regarding paint contamination, don't spray paint in your basement while the clothes dryer is running.

Instead I pulled the swingarm & shock linkage to clean & lube bearings.
The service manual recommends moly paste for the upper shock mounting. Not sure why it doesn't do the same for the rest of the linkage.

 

Looking good brother....Painting is such a crapshoot unless you have a well ventilated room and plenty of light.

I would give up painting if I was rich.

 

The swingarm and subframe are back in. I did a general clean-up plus re-greased the swingarm & linkage bearings and replaced the grease seals.
I'm re-using the old chain and tires for now, they will be replaced later after everything else is back together.





The wheels have 3M white reflective tape, its not obvious in daylight but shows up in headlights.

 

Finished painting the engine covers. I painted a black base then sprayed on a low gloss clear mixed with a yellowish-bronze mica powder. A final clear coar went on top of the mica coat.
The result is somewhat reminiscent of ther original textured colour. The low gloss helps to hide my painting mistakes.



I did a bunch of tests with mica powder to find something I liked. The stuff in the bottle has almost no relation to the final product.
The one on the left is yellow-bronze powder I used, the right is an orange-bronze test piece.

 

Love it. Nice application.

 

That came out about as good as my powder coated set honestly as far as color match goes. Looks great. IMO trying to color match to a surely faded part anyway is not needed, make it close to whatever you think the brochure color shows, call it good.