A long overdue intro to my VF700 restoration

Background: After eating gravel a couple of times on my old Ninja 500, I gave up riding for a few years. About six months ago, the itch came back in a big way, and I was it off to Craigslist for me. The previous owner of the bike let it sit for four years, and said it had some serious running issues prior to that. 50K miles on the clock didn't sound too great, but after I got the engine fired and running the obsession took over! I figured for 300 bucks I could fix a couple of things here and there and have a beater bike that I could tool around town...

As I got her:

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And then I found you guys.

Here we are, four months later:


-Simple mock up for inspiration


-F2 wheels with 42T rear sprocket mouted


-New tank with no rust!


-Broken rear tail


-No worries!


-F2 shock for Jamie's mod


-New rear seat - I'm not so much a fan of the shiny leather but I'll cover it if it bugs me too much. The important part is that it's all in one piece!


-Time for a new chain, maybe?


-New chain and sprocket set


-Obligatory carrier


-Plastic repair? It might be cheaper just to try and find another fairing but not many are left in good condition it seems.


-I'm going to guess that this is what caused the original running problems. The tank was COMPLETELY rusted. There was left over sediment throughout the filter, the lines and the jets.


-You can see here where the rust has started to come through the paint. Definitely a fireball waiting to happen.


-44T sprocket that came with the kit. If anyone needs one, let me know.

Paint:
-I like the lines on the '85 a lot more than the '84. Really it's just that funky downward curved line on the tank that throws everything off for me. My current idea is to go with the stock '85 scheme, but invert the colors:


-Stock lines

But then invert the colors to look something like this (my apologies for picture stealing if this bike belongs to anyone on the forum):


I recently found a motor with 16k and good looking cams that's probably going to be transplanted sooner than later, and I'm still waiting to hear back from DD on the oil mod kit. I may end up doing it myself, but the idea of drilling the case just doesn't sit well with me.

Last but not least, does anyone have any idea how these go back on??

-I have the tubes capped off for now, but I'd much rather reburn the HC vapors if the system is already in place instead of venting them to the atmosphere.

More pictures/updates to come!

 

Wow....keep up the good work.

 

Thanks! I just got the motor out yesterday, actually. I've been steadily hunting down parts for the past long while so I'm pretty excited to actually start sinking my teeth in. I don't know how much work I'll be able to get done during the wheel with a job and school but hopefully I can have it fully stripped to frame this weekend.

 

I have a gen 1 engine I picked up out of a crash for 80 bucks. The cams were swiped out of it for another bike but if you need a good engine and have another set of cams let me know.

 

Hmmm, thats's not such a bad option, considering the $500 I'm about to spend on this engine. Unfortunately for me, I don't have a set, and finding good cams is the hard part. Do you know how many miles were on it?

 

I like where you are going. Keep us informed

 

TOESTER is a good one to keep around ..he has a plethora of technology tucked deep into his mind...

good luck

 

Update

Update: I decided to strip it down this weekend to get the frame ready for paint:



-Saturday's progress



-Finally. This bike has a lot more parts on it that it looks like it does...

A few points of interest:



-I don't know how well you can see it here, but there's definitely corrosion in the head. I don't have a borescope, so I can't tell if it's gotten behind the valve seat or not. Either way, it's not what we like.



-Noticed some serious rubbing on the inner right side of the front fender. Is this a sign of bent forks?

The next step involves a lot of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and waiting for quarter century old parts.

 

Quick question:

Does anyone know of a suitable method for getting the needle bearing out of the swingarm?


I've tried the old grease-pack method:


I also tried the cheap blind bearing tool from Harbor Freight. Nothing seems to be working. Can it be done without the Honda SST?

 

I used a blind bearing puller to get mine out. It was the slide hammer type. The book shows a different type. More like a threaded puller. You'll just have to keep working on it. That's the only way to get it out. May want to try and head the swing arm area to expand the aluminum then try again.

 

I don't know how I forgot about the torch. Thanks for the tip.

 

Sweet thread! Where did you find swing arm bearings?

 

Oh man I wish. I can't find a new one (they're discontinued), so I'm going to leave it in and just repack it with grease. I was trying to remove it to reduce the risk of something unfortunate happening during the powdercoat process, but I think I'm just going to have them very carefully cover it. The last thing I want to do is ruin a bearing that's going to be very hard to find. I wish I could take it out and take some measurements of it. I wouldn't be surprised if NTN makes a newer one that's similar in dimensions.

 

Did you try ebay? There is a set for the VF500 up there...

Honda VTR250 VF500 VF700C VF700S Swingarm Bearings #25: eBay Motors (item 300430868626 end time Aug-22-10 15:46:05 PDT)

 

I've looked a few times but haven't ever seen any for the 700. The Sabre/Magna bearings aren't interchangeable are they?