VF 500 stuff

Dunno if I posted it or not, but I was trying to sell the little 84 VF 500 I have on Craigslist. Well after one test drive, I started wanting to keep it. The tester never called back, and I deleted the ad the next day. I just really like that little bike. Anyhoo, now I am back to the same old diagnostics with it. I had another friend come and listen to the strange tapping noise I have and he said he really thinks it in the top end so he suggested a valve job. As far the smoke goes, he said it was steam so he said it could be a cracked head or head gasket. So anyway, I'm thinking I'll go ahead and try to undertake fixing this engine. Before I do get to taking this apart, I was wondering what all things I need insofar as parts and any special tools I should order beforehand. I want to do this job ad try to keep a running thread here cataloging it both in text and pictures so that we'll have it. My son will be coming to stay for the summer so it'll give us something to do when we aren't riding the other bikes, and if we can get it all fixed up, then he'll have a nice bike to ride... So far, it starts easily and I can ride it around, but I need to get the engine worked out, track down a short, and do all the little maintenance things that come after sitting around. I bought some mystery oil as another rebuild thread I was reading last night mentioned using it in the cylinders. Should I drain the oil then put some of this stuff in and run it a while or what? Oh, btw, I am not a mechanic so this bike may never run again after I get started on this. This will easily be the biggest motorcycle project I've done. I have only rebuilt a one cylinder 2 stroke before so this should be interesting...

 

yummy. I'll do that pretty soon then. The 1/2 qt in the oil, not the hotcakes (although I did read something about doing a shot of it to cure some such ailment)

Cools. Thanks, Jamie. I'm sure I'll have all kinds of questions while I ruin this perfectly good motorcycle. Maybe, just maybe it'll run again after I tear it apart. It's a nice dream to have anyway. Lucky for me, it's a 3rd street bike so 2 others have to break before I'm out a ride.

That's probably the smart thing to do, but... My thought was, I really like the sound of the V4 and I already paid for this bike. I've got a whoppin $300 plus registration and a few bucks here and there so this is probably a good bike to try and learn on PLUS, if I ever have to work on the internals of the VFR, then I should at least feel a little familiar with it. I've got my fingers crossed and I haven't even torn this thing down yet. I'm hoping to track down my short before I tear the bike apart. I did do a little plastic repair the other day when I had some free time, also.

 

Update: I talked to local salvage yard and he has entire parts bike for $150. I may go take a look at it tomorrow and bring it back to try and get one good bike out of two. My wife may kill me, though, if I drag another bike in.