RVF400 in the off-season

Coolant pass through complete!

 

ooohhhh lookie lookie!!!

Feels fuckin good to have that taken care of in the middle of the bike, doesn't it?

 

Valve’s completed, luckily had a shim mis-sized so I ended up with just the right amount of sizes.
Took the duc for a walk. I love that bike. And now I can close up for the day and enjoy the super bowl. Go eagles!

 

Hell yeah! I feel proud of my builds when I go all in. Looks sweet when people check out your bikes too. Thanks dude!
Got the thermostat housing back together and a little JB weld curing for the week. I will clean it up once it cures. Also replaced the o-ring on the little head coolant passage.

 

What are we doing today?

 

Pretty sure fuel orings have not been changed ever. Thoughts? The Tan tube. FYI.

 

It doesn't look overly flattened, but the residue on it screams, "I've been in here a while!".

 

Yeah, the other o-rings look pretty dang good, but once I got to fuel it was a different story. Maybe they are not original, but old and over heated. Either way time to change.
The hardware was fairly corroded together, so it must have been a while.

 

Never thought these little seals would be so hard and brittle.

 

Carbs back together! All cross tube orings, choke seals, and carb seals replaced. Gasoline cleaned and synced. Just need to buys some fuel hose and I can perform a leak down. I guess I could use the old tubes, but I would rather use freshies.

 

I came pretty close to asking Mike Norman to help me install FI, as he has done it successfully. In the end, I just couldn't justify the cost in my mind. I knew it would be way outside my budget comfort zone, so I didn't even ask how much his system cost him.

 

If the carburetion wasn't pretty evolved and dialed-in by this era on the V4s, the devil on the shoulder could have been a touch more persuasive.

 

I can only imagine the cost..I wouldn't mind giving Flatslides a try. $3500

 

The problem is not the carbs, it's the parts and that set of carbs on the RVF is the only thing they were ever used on. Also too much plastic, IMHO.

 

Don't do it, man, these RVF's don't run good without the airbox and the snorkel, without a lot of work. Spent hours on the dyno and we finally got it as close as possible for a street machine with no snorkel. I'm sure you could spend more hours of time getting them to kind of work, but then you wouldn't have the airbox. I saw them on WeBike and when I discussed it with Evan Steel, he started chasing me with a dead blow mallet. He said there was a good chance you'd never get them to 100% work on the street. FI would have been awesome on the RVF.

 

Ultimately, what ended up helping it the most was the Ignitech programmable ignition with the HRC "TT" ignition map with a "modified" HRC base jetting kit from Rick Oliver. The HRC map was good for a solid 6 HP. It's also running the same jets in all 4 carbs. With staggered mains, it didn't run as clean.

 

Ok so no flattties, good I just saved myself 3500, thanks Norcal. Of course I get sick and take 2 days from work, but I feel good this afternoon and super bored, let’s perform a leak down.
Put in a little over 4 ounces and she puked, but I think it was a dried stuck bowl. Little tap on each, refill and all seems good. Each drain works and each bowl appear to keep fluid so I have achieved success I think. Been sitting 1/2 hour and nothing. Anything I should do before I consider them sealed? Oh and yes I am using the old hose. Sick kept me from buying some in town.

 

Oh and I was saving this for the NSR which has RVF forks, but it won’t work on that so they get to go on the RVF! 50% off sale way long ago.

 

If you lived closer to me, I'd invite you to my casa and unload all of the RVF stuff I have. I'm never going to do anything with it. If you're ever in Tucson, PM me. Prolly the only thing I'll try to sell is a pristine set of stock wheels.

 

I may take you up on that offer. Wife and I were hoping to explore the country more. Just not sure when. lol