Where to start with 86' VFR700F that hasnt been touched in over 5 years?

Stock needles are a good sign that no one has drilled your slides.

 

Sexy

 

Carb cleaning, Valve Inspection: Complete

I have valve knock on the (I'm pretty sure) #1 Cylinder as you can listen to here: [video=youtube;60gECaclWPU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60gECaclWPU&feature=g-hist[/video] (Please tell me how the synch job looks) I also need to do the idle drop

I still have backfire on deceleration so now would that mean vacuum leak in the exhuast? I never did a compression test so I'll also do that.

 

Fixed the knock I heard last night. I think I didn't have it on the compression stroke when I had adjusted it initially. Whoops! So it ran great for a bit then I pushed it to the limit by revving it up to around 11k and now Im getting knock from one of the front cylinders...

 

Redid front cylinders. Ride around for a bit. knock comes back again.

 

Wash the bike and start looking for new tires before you kill yourself. Pull off every part thats fairly easy to get off and look for evidence of critter infestation.

Probably crud in the tank and old gas. The battery is probably toast or close to it. Look for old leaks in places like the fork seals.

Start seeking out other "enthusiasts" with the exception of harleydoods who know bikes and solicit some help. Why not harleydoods you ask? They will tell you to take your bike to a shop and pay five grand to get it running then offer you $29.95 as a trade in for a fat boy.

 

So now that my carburetor seems to be good (no more fuel leak and while I'm figuring out the valve knock situation, what are other things that I should make sure of to get the engine to run as good as possible? I still get backfire on deceleration and according to my various books, and internet research, thats a sign of a vacuum leak? How does one search for a vacuum leak?

 

Lots of bikes have a decel sneeze, and it's nothing to worry about. Your plugs look lean, so try dialing the mixture screws out 1/4 to 1/2 turns.

 

Valve Knock? - YouTube Here's the latest video in tragedies.

 

Valves tick, they don't knock, a matter of definition.

 

"Tick" sounds better than knock. It sounds like chopsticks instead of fists on a door.

 

Mine are pretty noisy, too. Always have been, I checked the clearances, and all is good there. Although they're getting due for another check... Lots of miles this summer.

 

Hey! Good to see you're back! Hope all is well in your world.

Its new though, Woody. Its a very clear ta-ta-ta-ta-ta. Bike runs better though... Did you check out the video? It sounds like #4 is making the most chatter and you can really pick out the specific valve (or two) thats making the sound.

 

Hey, Scott !:redface: I listened to your sounds and suspect it's coming from a valve as you thought.

Go ahead and do a compression test next, and don't ride the bike while it's sounding like that.

 

I just wanted to get a video of it. I will get a set of compression testers and do that.

 

Compression Test numbers

Dry

1: 125
2: 120
3: 120
4: 130

Wet (I was not able to see exactly how much oil I squirted in but I tried to put in the same amount. I initially got 300 on cylinder 3 and then got 275 on the second time. Im guessing it had excess oil in it? It literally took 5 engine turns to get to 300. It was almost instantaneous.

1: 210
2 :210
3: 275 (300 on first try)
4: 240

Bike was cold on both tests, unfortunately.

 

How many baffles/spacers do you have in your supertrapps? Yours are shockingly quiet compared to mine (I have 8 in each). And yes, that's far, far louder than the valves on my bikes. Mine have a mechanical clicking, but it's far quieter than that.

Have you checked the valve lash? And have you checked that the scissor gear/springs are in place? IIRC, the race bikes with the geared valvetrain didn't use the scissor gear, and would make a racket like that at idle (but went away with rpms). Yours didn't seem to go away with rpms.

 

The valve tick is a new occurance since having adjusted the valve lash. I've been getting some guidance on here on how to approach the issue. I was told to do a compression test before rechecking the lash so I went ahead and did that. The tick definitely does not cease when rpm's are raised.

I set the lash according to factory specs so maybe I just need to tighten them up a few thousandths. Not exactly sure which is why I'm listening to more skilled folks.

As far as the spacers, I have 8 as well if im not counting the one nearest the pipe (we're talking about the ridges right?) As far as "shockingly quiet" I'm pretty surprised. When the bike is revved in my garage you have to cover your ears. It's so loud that I feel bad taking it for rides after 10pm.

 

Ok, then the mic didn't pick up the full sound. Here's mine:

VFR700F SuperTrapps - VFRworld Photo Gallery

Did you need to adjust any of the valves? It's possible that the adjuster moved while tightening the locknut, and now they're too loose.

 

Well after I torque'd, I rechecked them...

Mine is just about as loud as yours I think but yours sounds perfect! So clean and no backfire or crappy little hiccup sounds. You still have to stop by when you can to take a listen in person.

I wonder if having all of the fairing removed would significantly lessen engine noise? I feel like I only hear exhuast on yours whereas on mine, the engine is so prominent even before I had the valve tick.