Hi, I have a vf1000 getting back on the road, but on inspection the carby trumpets (between carby and top air box mount/aluminium housing) have shrunk and gone hard[:(] they are about 3mm smaller in diamiter and dont fit onto the carbies. Can these be replaced with 'o’rings or are the trumpets VERY important to performance. new trumpets are about $60 each, only one available in Australia and as i have already spent a fair bit on the bike (budget biker), i cant afford this cost at the moment. does any one know how to soften and enlarge the trumpets? any sugestions? would boiling them in a souce pan full of water for half an hour help? I was going to fit 'o’rings between carby and aluminium box but not sure if trumpets are of critical importance. please help as i have no regestered ride at the moment.
Cheers.
It is possible that heating in hot water or with a heat gun can help.
Dont think they are critical but it is essential to have airtight fitting beween Carbs and air box reason 1 to keep dust out and reason2 to keep mixtures correct. New one as rare as hens teeth or rocking horse dung.
Thanks Andy, I will try to soften them in hot water, if that doesnt work i will fit 'o’rings to the groove in the carby to seal. i was told that they are critical to the low end tourqe and if shortend give better top end ond worse bottom end, have you heard of this?
Cheers.
Hey Paul,
You will probably need to get used to buying parts for these bikes from overseas. I have been sourcing parts for a while now and very little has come from Australia. In saying that though, there is still some stock in dealers around Australia. If you don’t know the part numbers you need then download the parts catalogue off this website. I believe the part you are after is 16141mb4671.
The best place to search is online with
http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/ (these guys are excellent and you will get new parts but they are in England)
http://www.partmart.com/ (handy for finding dealers in Australia with what parts you need)
http://www.econohonda.co.nz/ (handy also cause they are closer in NZ than Europe)
http://www.cmsnl.com/ (good also but are in the Netherlands and can be expensive)
It is satisfying though when you find what you need after searching for a while. I have now have a complete brand new outer skin for my VF1000F2 after sourcing parts from all over the world.
Good Luck.
Aaron
hey feellas,
just boiled the trumpets for 10mins then stretched them by hand to get them to the same size as the carbies.
worked exlnt. bit of rubber grease and away we go. just need to chuck the carbies in now. cool 
hopefully no more issues and can set vaccumes set evenly.
OK, thanks for the info Aaron, i checked the sites out and to my amazement, the prices and availability are far supperior to Australia. good to know for the future. I dont think i will buy too many more parts from Aurtralian suppliers as i had a simillar experiance when rebuilding my XR600 (Hot cam from Aurtralian supplier was $380.00, from USA off Ebay delivered was $200.00) it pays to shop around.
As it turns out the carby trumpets went supper after boiling and stretching. carbies went in a lot easier than expected too with a little bit of rubber grease around the grommets and a gentle push, but checking the grommets didn’t fold over (I used a hook screw driver designed to remove radiator hoses to unfold them) now timing all done and carbs finnished, oil mod done (with shmick oil guage braised to original pipe), bottom radiator rebuilt and top one on its way. All that is left is fork seals and spark plug leads and reassemble.
I should have been taking progress photos but slipped my mind. will take some potos and post when finished. Cant wait for my new (old school) ride to be finished. do these things handle well? Do they get up and go?
Cheers.
Glad heat worked my both hanle well and get up ango on about a par with my much modified Yam fj 1200. welcome to vf nuthouse
Hi again, just thought i would update you guys on how my project is doing. It is a 1984 VF1000F and it is going EXLNT so far. Not quite finished but getting close. fork seals? piece of piss. radiators are both checked and back in, piece of piss. tuned the carbies last week and only needed a slight tweek to even the vaccumes, piece of piss. everything has gone back on it and looks great, BUT, i need to do the collector box seals which i have got a set coming, left front and right rear indicators are not working but i am sure is just a blown globe or wire come loose and i need a new battery. need to save some money and put rego on her as well. i am having troubles getting photos off my phone but as soon as i have it sorted i will send them to TEAMBIF for the gallery. Wont be long and i will have a fresh bike for Phillip Island supers early next year and i can retire the old XR to the bush and give her the good life. cant wait to get this thing on the road and see what she can do. I hope i am not let down after the work that i put into it. Cheers for now.
Hi All,
Got the VF out yesturday to check if it needed anything else for regestration. Had troubles cranking over even on jumper leads but managed to start it. Every thing worked as far as lights etc and it sounded great so i couldn’t resist on giving it a go up the road and I was pleasantly surprised on the power of the old girl. I didn’t even try and left 3 black marks up the road from back wheel powering on and also lifted the front wheel twice by accident :). these things go better than my GPZ900 ever did. tried to start it after doing some checks to make sure no oil leaks etc and starter motor wouldn’t turn the engine quick enough again, i did some checks and turns out the starter was fried. so more repairs needed before i get it on the road.
i will ring around to source one today maybe, if i get time.
cheers.
G’day mate
they are frustrating suckers aren’t they , but stick with her I’m sure you’ll get there . I took mine for a 3 hour spin the other day and on the way home (about 20 mins away) i got an oil leak from the rear rocker cover which dribbled on to the exhuast and sent a heap of smoke out the back ,I was pissed of to say the least but back in the shed for some more work !
Bluey.
I just serviced the starter by fitting new brushes and cleaning up the commutator with fine emery paper and it now works perfectly[:)]
yeh windy, i bought a set of brushes and springs from Action Suzuki (local Honda dealer) and cleaned up the comutator last night. going to fit brushes and springs on the weekend and see how she goes.
Bluey, where abouts in Australia are you, i am in Fairfield NSW.
G’day Paul,
I’m down in South Australia Mt Gambier , how did you go with balancing the carbies ? I have been thinking about getting a set vac gauges but don’t know if i would use them that often (they are not cheap) . Do you have to use a special tool for the adjusters.
thanks Bluey.
just got a set of gauges from ebay for £29.00 plus £5.00 postage
normally sell for £55.00 and they are like new[:D]
Now I can do my old vf1000f balanced up for summer and I can charge my mate for tuning up his gsxr750 slingshot which just had the carbs cleaned to make it run correctly[}:)]
Hi Bluey,
maybe we should catch up next Feb/March for superbikes at Phillip Island? a bunch of us leave Sydney on the Wednesday morning, Cooma pub for lunch then stay somewhere Wednesday night, ride to Trafalgar and stay at my brothers mates place Thursday night and then track side camp all weekend till Monday, then ride home again.
i have had the mercury vac hoses for a long time and can’t remember how much i paid for them (about 90 bucks at the time i think), i went to MCA at liverpool and bought the addapters for about $14.00, the adjustment wasn,t that hard, i could do the front carbi’s with a very small screw driver and i didn’t use any special tool BUT had to switch off the engine and twist to FULL throttle to get to the adjusters of the rear carbies with a small spanner. the adjuster screw sits to the front and could get to it with the little spanner. my brother bent a spanner 90deg to do this with the bike running but i couldn’t be bothered heating and bending an old spanner. little bits at a time is the key (about 1/4 of a turn).
i didn’t do the rockers when i was doing the cam timing but should have, rear left (no.1) was about twice of what it should be. finished both rears but need to remove bottom radiator to do the fronts. i will start it and check oil flow before i put rocker covers back on just to make sure. these bikes arent as hard as others i have worked on and i am enjoying the challange very much (when the misses and kids leave me alone)
Hi Windysolar1,
you have got the right idea and maybe i should be charging my brothers and mates to work on thier bikes but with 10 bikes in the shed of which 7 are mine (mostly cheapies for the kids to ride), i lose track on what i work on. OR maybe i should just open a workshop/wreckers???
bikes in the shed are 50cc chopper, JR50 (brother inlaw’s), PEEWEE50 (best mate’s), jongshen80 (peewee80 replica but NEVER had an issue with it and the kids love it) RM80HD, 125thumpster (my girls cant get enough of the 80 and 125), 250quad, YZF600 (my best mate’s), XR630 and the VF.
Happy riding.
CHEERS.
How about this for a job ?
My older brother moved to Topeka Kansas over 10 years ago to get married,
His Job in the UK was a Car Mechanic,
When He got there he had a job ready at a college teaching car mechanics
But 2 years ago he Moved to Topeka High and guess what he teaches?
Transport
This includes rebuilding Bikes,Cars,Jet skis,Vans,Boats,Tanks,etc.
And he get paid well to do as well,and He gets 3 months off a year in summer time.
The cars and bike are donated free from people and the trade.
Cannot see him returning to the UK any time soon.
I miss my Bro and the roads that never end
They get big hail stones in Topeka,A windscreen is essential
hey windy, sounds like a good job. maybe i should do something like that over here. i enjoy working on anything with an engine in it. cheers.