My 1st carb rebuild has begun! 86 VFR750

Well, the bike wouldn't start on it's own. After about an hour of trying, we determined the gas was bad (still had some leftover from before in the reserve that didn't drain) and so we added some booster to the tank and pull started it to get the thing to burn. The sparks were good, and it turned over but wouldn't catch. So, pulling it behind the pickup with some rope and about half way around the block it sputtered to life and ran. It wouldn't keep itself alive without playin with the throttle and we could hear it suckin air on each revolution. Got it back to the driveway and sprayed some carb cleaner near the boots... guess what? Yup, the boots are fried. She's suckin hardcore at each boot. Anyone know how much them things are and where the best place to get them is? Otherwise, the bike is together and ran... pretty intensely in 3rd gear above 3k rpms.

 

mr lazy,

im sure there is other sources, but there is a guy here in atlanta close to me. link here: Motorcyclecarbs Carburetors, Carburetor Parts and Carburetor Restoration that his entire existance is MC carbs. cant remember his name.

when i needed a bowl gasket for my 86, the going rate everywhere online was approx $45 for each "kit", and i thought there was a possibility that i might need 2 gaskets, so i was looking at about a franklin. i found this guy on the web, realized he was with 10 miles of me, and he sold me the one gasket for about $10 i think. i also got to pick his brain about my carbs in person. i ended up getting by with one.

my impression is that he can get nearly any part that is readily available related to the fuel system. it is what it is: he dont give the stuff away. but thats just where we are with some of these parts for these 25 year old classics.

 

I ordered mine from a local Honda dealer, got them in 3 days $13 each. About $11 online but shipping is $15+.

 

yeah one of my manifolds split trying to get the carbs on my dealer got me one for 15 buccks not bad.

 

also keep in mind that next time you do this you need to jump the fuel pump off the battery to fill the carbs to get her to start. See toecutter, he has a post on this. Otherwise, you will be pulling behind a truck again. Fuel only pumps when it is running otherwise.

 

Thanks guys, yeah my buddy Josh found the part in the catalog in school tonight. Nice to have access to the real programming instead of the online version. Honda's MSRP is like $14.88 so I'll be looking at about $50 or so. Sucks. Now I wish I had ordered them when I first bought her and had some extra cash. Damn me for bein a cheap ass!!! LOL

Have to make some calls and see where I stand financially before I can go forward now. I'm SO close to getting her on the road, all thats left is to get her running and dialed in. Insurance is paid for the year (full coverage) and registering her shouldn't be all that much once I know she'll pass emissions. Starting to piss me off a bit.

 

well i will have to give you props. it takes a big set of brass balls to want to jump into a carb job on one of these bikes. ive been there, and it sucks for real. lucky for me i was rejetting my carbs so i didnt have to jerk around with clogged jets...i just replaced every jet i had.

one thing i have to say is that youll definitely walk away from this project a more educated mechanic. the carbs on these 1st gen vfr interceptors is a very difficult job, and getting them reinstalled is a task that horror stories and nightmares are made of (seriously, youll hear the horror stories all over the forum, and youre probably still having the nightmares!!)

one thing i wanna give you that may help is the ridiculous amount of documented data that ive collected for these bikes. i dropped it all on my web server for everybody to access. the URL is: http://lambethnet.dnsdojo.net/vfr/ you can find all kinds of useful stuff there including the factory service manual, parts microfiche, and other goodies. the fiche is espically useful when you need parts cause you can get the part number from there and just go to the honda dealer, hand them the part number, and tell them to "sell me THIS part!" and not worry about a parts counter jockey whose never seen your bike, much less knows anything about it. believe me, knowing this info beforehand has saved me a lot of headache.

 

Thanks, Chris. I knew I was getting in over my head, but as I've stated in prior posts and in my introduction - I'm not attending MMI to just learn a little bit and hope for the best. The only way I'm gonna get what I want out of making this change is to get my hands into whatever comes at me and do my best to get the most out of what I learn from it. OK, the 750 was probably not the best bike to sink my teeth into from the start, but it's been a dream of mine to own one and now that I have her I'm happy as hell. I'll be even more happier when I get her to start up without draggin her ass around the block behind a pickup truck, though! LOL

And thanks much for the extra info on your website. I've been hunting for an original owners manual, but a copy will do nicely. Also, thanks much for the Honda Service Manual. That will pair nicely with the Shop Manual I printed out (same as you have on there, too).

Lots of great stuff on your page! For reference though, the HA-7084 is not the proper air filter for the '86 Interceptors. The correct K&N filter is the HA-7587.


So, nothing done with her tonight. I do have the cash for the boots, and made a new contact that works in a parts dept who is gonna see what HIS price is on a set of boots for me in the morning. If his price is lower than the $10 each at Bob's Cycles - who says he has them but needs me to bring in a non broken one to compare it to cause his dumbass apprentice ripped open nearly 200 packages of boots trying to find one to match for a customer and destroyed the wrappers with the part ID's on them... yeah, that's what I was thinkin too... - and he can get them pretty quick - like NOW - then I'll go through him. Otherwise I'll be takin a trip to Bob's after our new python arrives in the morning.

Side note: stumbled over a package in the laundry room that peaked my interest. Was a horn that I bought for my Mustang and never installed. Got that crazy smile on my face and immediately went out to the garage to take the puny Honda horn off of the bike and replace it with the manly mega loud dual tone get the hell outta my way horn! LOL Fits snug where the original was. Turned the key and the battery was still pretty beat from trying to start her up Monday, so the horn didn't sound all that great - but it's hella louder than what she came with!

Battery is back on the charger...

 

Carb boots were ordered today. I pulled the boots off (getting pretty good at disassembling that part of the bike, had all four boots in my hands in less than 25 minutes!) then took a cruise to Bobs Used Cycles where I was told he had new boots in a box that were out of the packaging. Total lie, it was a giant box (2x3 foot and 18 inches deep) full of various boots from all different models of Honda's. Out of the 200 or so boots in the box, there were 2 that closely matched the busted boots I had brought with me in a baggy, but they were so rock solid that they wouldn't do me a bit of good. Hell, they were harder than the ones I had brought in!

My buddy's friend never got back to me about whether he could get me a set on discount, and I'm already looking at Tues for delivery so I just went ahead and ordered online through Apache. Cost me $9.56 per boot - which was pretty decent - and after tax and shipping it came out to $50.41 - still better than the dealer price I was quoted - $67.55 with tax!

 

It will never run again.

 

And how do come to that statement onedark?
Carbs ain't rocket science man.

 

From what I've read on his other posts on here, onedark seems to only be on here to stir shit up and be the antagonist. Kinda stupid to join a forum designed to help each other on a certain platform only to try and get a rise out of the members by posting stupid crap and proving to everyone just how ignorant of an asshole you really are and see how long it takes for the moderators to ban you from the site. Must've gotten tired of getting bumped off the Yahoo boards.

 

according to Apache Honda, my carb boots will be here at the house by noon tomorrow. Maybe, just maybe I might be able to ride around this weekend??? *crosses fingers*

 

Nice I ve been trew this last year I had a leak trew the carbs and they also needed to be cleaned

 

Maybe GoForaRide is back.

 

So, been waiting this past week (since Thursday when I placed my order) cause I was told by the dealer that the carb boots were in stock in the Anahiem warehouse in California and that it would take 3 days to have them transferred over here if I placed the order through them. To save money, I ordered them online and was told they would ship from Anahiem in 3 business days... I just got the UPS tracking info tonight... the package originated here in Phoenix! I don't know if they shipped it thru their own deal or not, but if I've been waiting a week for a set of boots that were here in town this whole time I'm gonna be a bit upset!

SCHEDULED DEL 03/19/2010 11:00 A.M.
03/18/2010 9:43 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN PHOENIX, AZ, US
03/18/2010 7:24 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

 

OK, so the boots came in on Friday around Noonish. I had to run an errand and by the time I came back they were here and I had to head to school... so I didn't get to it then.

Saturday my girlfriend took me to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium, which was an all day thing so nothing then.

This morning, my buddy Greg (of all people) came to the door at 9 am and was all "when you workin on your bike? You got the boots right? Lets put them on!" If you remember correctly, this is the guy that fucked me up in the 1st place.... yeah. So, I sent an IM to my buddy Todd who is 2 classes ahead of me in school and was like "Dude, whatever you're doing today... it can wait! Get over here quick and help me get my bike running!" LOL So he rushed over and I stalled as much as I could. By the time we got out to the garage and took the cover off the VFR, Todd pulls up on his F4i and Gregs like "what's he doin here?"

Now that I had my reinforcement, I started reconstructing the bike. I put on the fresh boots and loosened the rails. The carb popped right into place, one foot at a time. I then put the plate on and started to settle it into place when Greg started his "your doing it wrong" shit. I looked at Todd, who knew exactly what the story was and he stepped in and looked under the carbs "nope, right on the mark Harry... keep going." That's the way the rest of the reassembly went, with some cracks about how I don't know what I'm doing and that it won't run and all.

Confidently I put the filter, tank and fuel lines back into place and hooked up the battery. I then primed the line, which REALLY ticked Greg off who kept trying to hit the start button on me. Todd explained to him how the pump worked and we just kept kicking the on/off switch with the key "on" and it pushed the fuel right through. It fired up and ran pretty rough with a lot of hesitation. I looked at both of them and they were like "Well.. wtf?" And then I remembered about the gas issue we had last time and how Greg had dumped all that Octane Booster into it. "It needs fresh gas" I said and pulled the key.

Greg threw up his hands and left while Todd and I ran down to the station and got some fresh high test and then to Auto Zone for some DOT4 and a vacuum system for the brakes and clutch. We got back to the house, dumped all the crap fuel mix out of the tank and filled it with fresh stuff. It fired up and ran pretty good, no assist from the choke or the throttle. It did have a slight miss to it, but otherwise sounded pretty decent. We then hit the brake and clutch lines (which looked like rotten piss) and filled it with fresh synthetic.

For shits and giggles, we took the bikes out for a spin about 3 miles out and back. By the time we got half way I noticed that the bike didn't want to idle easily at stop lights. We made it back to the house and now that she was fully hot throughout the engine and trans (radiator and fan work great btw), there is a noticeable knock on the right side of the engine. Also, found on the floor of the garage was a small spring (prob for the clutch under the carb is what I'm guessing - which explains why the clutch doesn't go all the way back in by the handle). So, 2 issues I have on this bike now are:

1) The carbs aren't synchronized... and by that I mean when you pull the throttle just a little bit, 2 of the carbs butterflies will move about a 1/8" before the other 2 will. That's not normal, and neither Todd nor myself understood why. He adjusted the springs on the bottom of the carb as best as he could but its still not great, although the idle is much better.

2) This knock on the right side of the motor is bugging me. It's not noticeable at all when its cold. When its at normal temp, its pretty noisy and you can tell it's coming from #4. I'm wondering if it's the timing? I've done nothing with the engine as far as that part of it goes and I don't know if that is something that its needed from the start, but I'm pretty sure that it does.

SO.... I'm waiting for a check to come in the mail (prob get it Monday) and when it does I'm putting a 90 day tag on her and buying some fresh oil and coolant for it. I plan to change the oil before riding it any further (maybe fresh oil will resolve the knock?) and then I'd like to take it up to the school to have it sync'd and dialed in for emissions. My buddy has the tools and the ability to do a timing adjustment (if that's what it needs) but he lives on the other side of town. Therefore, my question to you guys is...

Can I ride this thing with a what I believe is a timing knock without worrying about killing the motor? It's 45 miles to school from my house, and also about 55 miles from my place to my buddy Joe's to be able to fix it. I've seen on here where it's been a 50/50 whether riding it is ok. Some people are like "if it's not that bad of a knock then run it, these things are indestructable" and yet I've also seen "even if it's a little bit off, you need to adjust it before you screw it up bad!"

HELP! I'm soooo close to getting her on the road, I don't wanna do the wrong thing here. I'm open to opinions......

 

Lazy I read your post after I pulled my carbs out of my bike. Needless to say I Havent had nearly the issues you have had, we got my carb of in about 30 seconds from disconnect of all the bolts and hoses that is. I'm inspired that you got yours running again cause I have yet to hear mine run. My riding buddy had it running I just heard it over the phone so I know she runs but was worried about my carbs not working again. My issue is the little rings that connect to the ends of the plastic tubes are garbage and we got to find them. Besides that mine didnt even need cleaning. So I found my inspiration in your post that we will be ok. Be patient man on getting her on the road it will happen just remeber the more time you spend getting her right the less time you will be down correcing problems later.

 

Are you talking about the fuel tee O-Rings that connect to all the carbs? They are a special size and cost a small fortune from Honda, but I bought extras, If you need them PM me your address and I'll mail you enough for all the fuel and vent tees.

 

.......so what was your favorite animal at the zoo ??