New member first question

Owners Lounge
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Hello all.

New member here, leaving early AM to travel 600m North to collect a reasonably clean '85 VF1000F2, had my brother [local] look at it he reckons 10’000km showing is almost certainly accurate.

Please anticipate many questions, my current bike of last 8 yrs is a 1969 Triumph TR6, a nice and well sorted machine that makes all of 42 BHP at 6500 RPM !!!

Not that I ever rev it that hard, mostly getting maximum of maybe 30 BHP so I reckon I will notice a difference in performance with the VF ?[:D]

This seems a good forum, pls be patient, I do have metric tools which is a good start I guess.

First question:

Tyres are I believe to be 120/80V18 and 140/80V17, are radials available and are they worth presumed extra cost ?

I can live with crossply tyres, will be doing mostly fairly moderate speed touring in dry weather.

Comment re brands and types would be welcome, I can get Bridgestone, Dunlop, Pirelli etc locally.

Cheers T

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Bridgestone BT45 as good as anything on these bikes have done trackday with them and they good for everyday use HAPPY V4 DAYS

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Thx Andy, bike is fetched from afar and I have now spent a couple of non stress days getting it ready for recommissioning.

I had expected to be challanged in reverting from British bike mindset to Japanese design and that proved true, I worked as a Mechanic at Jap dealers back in the early '80’s so am not unfamiliar, we worked on stuff like FJ1100 Yams and the like.

The Honda sure is an eye opener though, the first water cooled bike I have ever owned and I can honestly say the first with a decent frame and suspension.

I raced Z1 Kawasakis back when they were the best, the frame and suspension were OK as a road bike but bump the power up [easy to do] and on slick tyres the chassis was way overmatched.

Exciting two days with the Honda, the tank has rust but not too bad, I have the use of an optic fibre TV thingy which gave a good view of the tank internal.

I have flushed old fuel and some rust with alcohol and will buy a heap of 1/4" nuts and scour loose rust by shaking the tank then repeatedly flush/shake with detergent and water and then fresh water before again dehydrating with alcohol before treating with Phosphoric acid type “rust” converter.

I have removed idle mixture screws from all four carbs and drained the float bowls whilst spraying carb cleaner into the idle circuits, got some orange water out of two carbs.

Three of the four carbs had idle mixture screws set at two full rotations + 15 deg from bottomed, the other probably 20 deg further in.

Opinions re idle mixture screw settings ?

I found the fuel pump and fuel filter also, discarded the “Emgo” fuel filter and re-plumbed with fresh hoses for a larger fuel filter, spare filter and tools to change will be onboard due to the rust issue.

Fork seals tomorrow and then Wednesday oil and oil filter will be available, will check valve clearances before then, really glad the carbs do not have to be removed for that.

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Welcome to the forum.Tyre choice is a matter of taste I have found.Std sizes are 100/90-18 and 140/80=17.Avon roadrider AM26 have been rated on the forum although I have never been able to get on with either Avon or Metzler tyres.Bridgestone BT45 work well but have a high wear rate.Michelin have replaced the Macadam 50 with the pilot Active quoting a 20% increace in mileage.We have mac50 on our F2 and find grip levels superb both wet and dry.If you want to go radial the rims will take 110/80 front and 150/70 rear using the usual pressures 36/42psi.Radials make the steering feel more positive,have lower wear and are available from most manufacturers.You pays your money etc.Regards BIF

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PS Idle mixture screw setting two and a half out as a base BIF

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Reply to Bif re tyres and such disappeared into the ether.

Ebay ad for what I bought.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Honda-Boldor-VF1000F-/300639065585?pt=AU_Motorcycles&hash=item45ff7c15f1

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looks like you will be having a lot of fun in 2012

welcome owner of a classic

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G’day Tiger, looks like quite a good buy!

I’d be interested to hear how you go with the fuel tank rust removal, mine has a few small patches I’d like to get rid of.

Cheers

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Thats almoest identicle to mine only difference is silver stripe down tank first view looked to be mine so much i had to go out to see if mine was still there

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Cheers Blokes

Made a device today for rumbling the tank on a piece of pipe which will be attached to a Ridgid pipe threading machine tomorrow, I will take 'photos but posting them may be beyond my skills.

Intended to replace fork seals today but temp got to 40 deg C outside and would have been 42 deg in the shed.

Learned how to change headlight globes tonight and found two 100/90 H4’s !!!

Honda wiring/switches must be robust to survive attempted transmission of that much current, both globes were functional but frosted which is a sure indication of insufficient voltage, more evidence of DPO [Dumb Previous Owner] shinegans.

That said it is notable that someone of skill and intelligence had taped over the holes provided for headlight adjustment and access to the upper headlight mounting bolts, obviously weatherproofing.

Will post tomorrow re de-rusting of the tank.

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Hi Tiger, used a length of chain (the stuff used to hang lighting) instead of nuts to clean out tank of initial rust, found this easier to remove than lots of individual nuts from the tank. Then made up a solution of rust remover (hammerite - rust remover dip - can be mixed with water - large bucket full) and left this in tank over night.

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Thx VFC, tank is de-rusted via the “thrashing machine” and that worked well.

Chain would have made the process easier, the result was good in the end, it is difficult to watch an irreplacable tank whizzing around on a Heath Robinson device, even if of my own invention.

Needless to mention that I had forgotten the filler cap key when attending my friend’s factory but easily loaded the screws into the tank via the fuel gauge hole which was then taped over.

I have had to work [during annual leave] for a couple of days but engine oil and filters arrived so I drained the sump, bloody drain plug had been glued in with that shitty thread replacement bodge glue rubbish.

Obtained the necessary helicoil kit today and since the fork tubes have to come out anyway I will back the bike into the bike lift tomorrow morning and get into it seriously.

My eldest young bloke is home on leave and his muscle will be most welcome, I am concious of the weight of the Honda.

On the bike stand will ease removing the front fork and after dropping the lower radiator I will get clear access to the drain plug hole for the helicoil.

This sort of thing is meat and drink for me,

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Helicoil in with no drama, however got into checking valve clearances and the rear cyl cam cover sure is fun first time around !

Good news is that cams and cam followers are in good condition.

Whilst removing the top radiator found that the top nozzle had been partialy flattened, welds on the fairing frame joints indicate repaired crash damage.

Call to a man I know who recommended a good radiator shop, I will have the rad good as new by Monday, all rad tanks these days are plastic so needed to find a Tradesman.

Rear bank valve clearances were fine but found LH exh front cyl clearance wide and buggered if I do not have a 10mm ring spanner !

I will get one of those tomorrow and button the top end up.

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Hey Tiger
Just want to hear any news? I’m especially interested in your carb’s. Draining reddish water don’t sound nice to me!
My VF2F didn’t run for almost 10 years, and I got a lot of hard work to get the carb’s running well again.
I can warmly recommend you to buy one of these Ultra sonic cleaners available on the market, meant to clean jeweleries and watches. They can remove dirt and shit from corners you never dreamt of.
My bike is still a bit dead in the middle range.
Do any of you guys here have some helpull hints on jetting the VD-type carbs?
Anyway, hope to hear if you succeed to get the carb’s running?

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Hi Kurt

Apologies, it has been a while since I posted.

In the meantime I removed the carbs for cleaning and glad that I did, used an ultrasonic cleaner but still had to clean the polot jet emulsion tubes by chucking them in a cordless drill and “reaming” with a short piece of line trimmer line, worked well as the nylon is softer than brass but removed a significant amount of encrusted rubbish.

Not too much of a drama getting the carbs back on, good information here and elsewhere helped a lot.

Rode the bike around the back streets here on Friday afternoon and runs smoothly, taking it easy but also easy to tell that it will be blindingly fast compared to the old Triumph [:)]

Wet this weekend so removed the front wheel and had a new tyre fitted, the Bridgestone on the bike was half worn and at least 4 yrs old.

The back tyre is similar age and condition but I will run that whilst I get the bike sorted.

Fairing is off now also, I have a bloke coming around tomorrow to make and fit braided S/S brake hoses, 25 yo std hoses worry me a little.

Gearlever linkages are quiet sloppy, I have new rose joints and a friend will bore and re-bush the lever pivot for me during the week.

Hopefully next wekend will be reasonable weather and I can then burn a couple of tanks of fuel to get to know the bike, weight and power will take some getting used to I reckon.

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Hi, I built this for cleaning out motorcycle tanks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJJBSvgMWvk&feature=youtu.be but I dont yet have any pictures of the inside, I need to get myself an endoscope, in the video the tank is off a Honda CB175 which is ok to use shotblast or glass bead in as there is no fixed internal filter like on the VF, Phil.

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Hi Phil

This fixed internal filter you mention intrigues me, really important that I learn more as fuel starvation is not my favourite thing.

Could you elaborate please ?

I know there is still loose crap in the tank but looking for the inline filter to collect that, I figured to change / blow back the external filter several times over the first 1000 miles but an internal filter is another kettle of fish.

I have replaced the fuel tap with NOS from a good bloke in the US and noted the strange Honda design.

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[8D]Love the tank cleaner and it fits all types

Low Tech Rules[}:)]

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I put some photo’s on this site a while ago showing the inside of the VF tank. http://forum.vf1000.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=498
I also have a picture of the filter on Photobucket http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll30/philjo_photos/?action=view&current=fs1e010.jpg&newest=1#!oZZ27QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs284.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fll30%2Fphiljo_photos%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3D100_0853.jpg%26newest%3D1

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Thanks Phil
I have an endoscope of sorts in the form of a Ridgid “See Snake” and used that during the tank cleaning process but did not see that weirdo bullshit in the LHS rear of the tank, difficult to inspect and not looking for it.

Forewarned is forearmed.