me and my project...a history

Ok, so I've posted a few times and done the typical noob-ish ask questions then ghost out sort of thing. I plan on being a regular on this board from here on out, so I might as well introduce my bike and I properly... I hope this is in the right place.
I have been into motorcycles since I was old enough to know the difference between 2 wheels and 4. My Dad raced MX and enduro back in the late sixties/early seventies and owned many bikes. Mom hated them due to an accident, so Dad and I both were bikeless. My experience wouldnt begin until the ripe age of 15, when I rode/wrecked a KZ440 for the first time. After that it was a long time before I had one of my own to wreck. Now, at 32, I have rebuilt an 82 CM450 from parts, started a basketcase 72 350Four project (still on the back burner), abandoned a VF500 project (doomed to failure, sadly), rebuilt a 91 Bandit 400 which is my daily rider now, blown up a VTR250 (the wife's bike...oops!) and now have inherited an 85 VF700F Interceptor from my brother in law. Ever since I heard my first V4, I have lusted after an interceptor of any sort. I worked at a motorcycle dealer for about 2.5 years. While everyone else was into the CBR/ZX/R1/GSXR types, I was the only VFR fanatic. I got to take a 98 home once and put about 200 miles on it. That sealed the deal. I would own an interceptor somehow. Enter the "project" ...He bought this bike from a "friend" for 600bucks, got it home and it would never fire again. He jacked with the carbs and the fuel pump, made a mess of things, broke some tabs on the side covers and just generally made a bad thing worse. He sent it to me to work on to see if I could make anything of it. He tells me" I have already pretty much written that thing off as a loss. Whatever you can get for it, I'll split with you fifty-fifty" Alright. So I have put a grand total of 10 dollars into it with gas, primer, and some black paint for the hard parts. Not my first choice of Viffers, but hey, its a V4. This pic is where it is right now as far as progress goes. The upper fairing is beyond repair, so I'm going naked for a while until something comes up on ebay. Bike has approx. 49k on the clock. Someone had painted it a hideous green/purple chameleon color ON TOP OF the decals. You can still see some of it on the tail section. Cleaned everything up some, got rid of as much ugly as I had the patience for at the time, did a valve adjustment, fully cleaned the carbs (even the crazy little filters) replaced a couple of springs in the throttle linkages and it runs. Wont stay running too long though. I'm still trying to figure out how to hook up my manometer to balance the carbs and see if that works some bugs out. It's missing the airbox and the inner snorkel things that mount to the metal plenum under the airbox (which I have, but cant seem to make fit). I will know a little more about how it runs once I have some restriction on it and the carbs balanced. Yes, that is my lawnmower gas tank wired to the side there. The inside of the tank was worse than I thought it was, and will have to be treated soon. Donor tank from the Yard Machine= not really, but it makes the testing easier! Like I said, this is a real low-budget project... I have two girls, one is 2 years old, and the other is 2 WEEKS old, so money is definitely tight. Sorry this is so long, but somebody somewhere (no names:wink said to give an honest history! Now you know me and my VF.

 

she will clean up and run for you...don't forget to think about doing the oil mod on it...might save you some wear and tear

 

Welcome. Sounds like you have caught the VFR bug! From what I have heard, you might want to do as Crustyrider suggested. An excellent contact(s) for these bikes is squirrelman, and jamiedaugherty. Good Luck!