The VFR that wasn't but now is.

So I finally made it through the California DMV with my 7 month old (to me) 1986 VFR750. With the help of this forum and people whose names shall be changed to avoid prosecution (Capt 80's will be referred to as Silvia Wiss), my VFR is legit in California. Thanks Silvia!

I will be doing a mild conversion on this bike. The hard part will be ( this is where yall forum peeps come in handy), identifying the actual parts on this bad boy.
Issue:
Sold and regd as an 1986.
Color, wheels (17"), forks 41mm suggest otherwise 88-89?.
Frame is from England and is only 11 digits.
Engine is at least a cast with 748cm size.
Feels like the rear shock is too short or way too soft, but does have the adjuster on it, so it is Honda.
Forks have air fittings (schrader valves?).
Digital clock (doesn't work)
19k mileage.
shifts, rides and runs smooth (little old fuel symptoms but no highway speed yet).

I would like to do the Hindle exhaust set up and some F2 wheels to start and possibly carb rejet, although I am terrified of the V4 carb layout. Rework the brakes, hoses and such. The biggest thing I would like to achieve would be weight reduction. She is just plain heavy in my book. She also needs oil change, coolant change and some detailed cleaning and powder coating. I have the full set of red bodywork that is in pretty good shape but there is just tooooooo much red!!

This adventure will kick off soon and I can't wait.

 

YES!!!!!!!

Stoked for you. Youre gonna love it, especially slightly modded.

 

The carbs are not that scary. Pretty easy actually. They are just slightly tedious and require a dedicated work space.

Yours truly,
Silvia W.

 

The bike is essentially a 1988. Which is good.

 

More pics.

 

Previous owner installed a manual fan switch. Not sure if they were paranoid or the thermo sender is out. The fan and switch work. The fuel gauge may not work, but the inside of the tank RUST FREE!! I have only had less than a gallon so maybe the gauge would work if full or at least more in it. Chain and spockets are toast in my book. 520 conversion or would that be too light duty. My race sv had 80hp but only weighed 365lbs and had the 520 conversion performed. Is it the weight or the load that would keep me from possibly doing that conversion?
As others have noted in the past the lower portion of the frame is heavily welded. It does not quite look amateur but it does concern me a little. I will clean and inspect the underside as part of this teardown.
Plenty more questions. that is all for now. need to go back to sleep.

 

Today's quality 520 chains would be just fine for conversion on this era VFR. Modern large displacement track bikes that make way more power run them just fine. I wire parallel fan switches on my bikes regardless of the thermo-switch status. They tend to kick in pretty late and I like to get slightly ahead of the curve. Plus it was nice last night for a little extra warmth coming out of my lowers on the ride home from dinner.

 

"The biggest thing I would like to achieve would be weight reduction. She is just plain heavy in my book."
Dude, you have VF1000F. Ride that around then get back on this. It will instantly feel lighter.

But seriously, the exhaust will probably be the most realistic weight reduction your gonna be looking at. Without heavily modifying things like subframes and upper cowl stays, your gains will be marginal. There's a lot of systems on this bike that have to go somewhere. And naked VFRs of this era simply look stupid imo.

The best way to make it "lose weight" is to upgrade the suspension and wheels. In typical Honda fashion with a properly set-up suspension, as soon as it gets rolling it will "shed pounds". It transformed all my VF1000, especially the ones with wheel swaps. I ride my modded VF1000R with wide 17" wheels thru the winter. When I got back on the RC26 in March this year, it felt like a toy!

 

One of the nice things about which year you ended up with is that you already have 41mm forks (and triples). The F2 wheel will bolt right on and use your rotors and calipers. Decent (straight) F2 wheels are getting harder to find. If you don't care about a speedo you can do a 90-93 VFR front wheel and bolt everything on. Throw some RT Emulators in those forks and defeat the TRAC system and you're looking pretty damn good up front. Other 41mm Honda forks will obviously slide in there too, like F3, but then you have to run the F3 wheel and disks. My next RC24 build (with the same Euro 41mm lower triple) will have 1992 VFR forks with 1994 F2 internals for the bigger disks (than 86 VFR and F2) and better looking fender than F2. Very similar dilemma to slightly upgrading the Hawk front end.

On the rear a good shock with ride height adjustability is recommended. The rear F2/3 wheel swap is not bad, but for any option there is at least some custom components required, like a brake bracket and/or wheel spacers. I have done 4 different versions using varying hardware combos. The F3 rear wheel is 5.0" compared to the F2 4.5", but is also not as strong making finding a straight one from a wrecker a little harder.

 

so how did you get hold of this very special bike ??

 

^^^Auction. I bid before I had a chance to inspect. I didn't realize the bike was even at the auction till it rolled across the auction floor. In retrospect, I learned my lesson. As bad as you can imagine what people do to bikes it can always be worse. My wife was like, "did you just buy a bike?". "Yep a cool VFR". "oh.. I hope it runs"...super sad face.. The first photo was during the "what did I do phase". I pulled parts until we could see piston heads and then tapped the starter to verify movement. From there it was fuel tank/fuel pump operation. Luckily the bike fired up with a little spray of brake clean over the intake boots and choke.
Then I was bleeding out the clutch hydro to get engagement. Again, luck. totally works and super nice tranny. Oil is trash but I have just been running it up and down my driveway to keep fluids moving through systems. All the lights seem to work and since it was from the UK it has the cool flasher trigger!!! Bike doesn't leak but it may once I change fluids out.
I think I will do a short highway ride once I mount my new California plate!!!

Damn you Capt!! lol so much quality info.

 

Beautiful bike mate, I am a bit envious of the 41mm forks and 17" rims, and your bodywork looks in great nick too. Having said all that, on the stock 16/18 combo and original weedy 37mm forks, my 86 handles pretty damn well on new tyres. I am pleasantly surprised at the internal condition of my bike at 105000km, and the transmission is much nicer than my 2017 Yamaha MT-10. The clutch master on mine weeped a little when I first started riding it and I suspect a bit of crud in a seal, as it sorted itself out with use. I recently had the master apart and the bore is perfect as is the seal. Honda did make these things out of some quality materials I think.

Captain80's is the bomb, he's been super helpful to me as well (but don't let this go to your head Capt).

 

Minor update, but excited!! I found some sweet looking (straight, clean and white) F2 rims on ebay with free shipping...whaaaa and 14 day return policy. They had the rear disk for sale separately but I asked if they could throw that in for free if I buy both rims. Done.
Now I just need the sprocket carrier, wheel spacers and rubbers. hehehe. Not sure if I should go used on the rubs or new. New is like $80 shipped and used is about $30. The racer in me says new. I think I can get the carrier shipped for under $35. I am going to hold out for the 520 conversion on the sprocket. If anyone has better prices or stuff they don't need let me know. Spacers may be the hard find. back to work..shhhh

 

gasket kits. when I search individually hardly anyone has a listing for 1988/89 honda VFR750. rando search on google comes up with amazon-Athena set. Would this work for my bike, which is an 88-89? Do 86/87 vs 88/89 vary much on the engine gasketing?

https://www.amazon.com/Athena-P400210850702-Complete-Gasket-HONDA/dp/B06XMQJHN8

Also, exhaust systems. Would a full exhaust for an 86/87 fit an 88/89?

 

I know the exhaust system changed significantly from the 86/87 to the 88/89 as did the centerstand; your bike has more of a collector box between the headers and mufflers, whereas the earlier bikes have headers directly into the mufflers with a cross-over pipe between. However I don't know whether the engine castings are the same, and the muffler mounts are a welded steel part of the rear subframe, not bolt on alloy like yours.

I got a clutch gasket from wemoto, it is a pattern piece but nicely made.

 

You've got plenty of other shit to get together (like spacers), and hubs are almost always good used with that huge sealed bearing. Get one with rubbers so you can mock everything up. Then when it's all done, buy some new ones if needed.

We already know a machinist that will make the spacers you need for a GREAT price.

 

I'd go ahead and do the 520 conversion, its not that expensive and the weight reduction on rotating mass is a big plus. I have run 520 conversions on my track bikes (1000 cc RR's) with no issues and they have been flogged properly.

 

Alright the moment I have been waiting for (7 months). time for a "flush" oil change and test ride after I bleed the brakes. This will be the first ride above 30mph. A 10 mile jaunt to the fuel station and back on aged tires and an unknown motorcycle.. full gear required. I am going to dump the oil it came with, put in some semi-good moto oil and then do another flush when I get back. Then some Amsoil and further inspection clean up. I hope she goes well. Try and keep her under 100. lol I will report with pics and descriptions later tonight. It begins!!!

 

i'd suggest you take some tools along just in case...............