I need to hire / buy the valve spring compressor tool so that I can change the valve guide seals on my 1984 VF1000RE.
I am trying to get the tools and parts together before I strip the head off the bike but I cannot find any size details for the tool only a tool number (i.e. 07757-001000)
Below is the dimensions of a tool for sale at Halfords:-
Valve spring compressor with jaw opening 35-142mm
Throat clearance 150mm
For petrol and diesel engines
Complete with 30mm and 25mm collet release adaptors
I measured the plate outer diameter at 25mm. You need 10 to 15 mm inside for the small pieces. Distance from the inner valve to outside is 90mm and you need 120 mm hight.
Thanks Faxe for all the effort with measuring your cylinder head, if I understand your measurements correctly it looks like the Halfords tool I mentioned above should work.
Also thanks Frew for confirming that the Halfords tool will work.
Fry
Quick update for those that have helped, I purchased the valve compression tool from Halfords and it is suitable. I have completed 4 valves (No 1 cylinder!) so far including dimension checks (all in spec so far although I struggled a bit as my manual has the free length dimension for the outer and inner valve springs around the wrong way!!), new valve seals & lapping the valves to the head.
12 valves to go!
Hopefully by the time I have done this the cams and rockers will be back from Phil Joy & the head gaskets arrived.
Fry
Bloody hell @Faxe I reckon that is the most comprehensively stuffed VF conrod I have seen? Looks like the big end bearing has failed, broken the cap and the crank has hammered the piston up the bore?
Is it from one you own, would like to know the story, if you know the cause?
Yes you are right with your assumption. They story is a little bit longer. Arround year 2000 i bought a 85 VF1000R US version. It was painted in british racing green. You can find a pic here with Triumph stickers on it. Bridgestone used it for BT45 qualification in Germany. In 2001/2 it failed with rocker arms broken. There were some message groups (yahoo) where I posted about my trouble. Some guy told me I could have his VF, he just wants to get rid of it. I’m located in Bochum, some friends with better repair knowledge lived near Hannover and the bike was at the swiss border.
I picked the guy up near Kaiserslautern, drove to his mother, picked the bike up. It was 86R with 84F engine. He told me he had to change it, but still has the old engine. So when I dropped him, we put also the old engine in the car. He told me, he was on a trip home. 50 km before the destination, the red oil lamp came up. He thougt he could do this 50 km and stayed with 200 km/h on the highway. I doesn’t work as you can see. As the F engines are cheaper he built in one of those.
My plan was to make one working out of two broken engines. In the end I bought a reworked engine (new pistons, cylinder bore + 0.5 mm and new bearings for crankshaft).
The upper engine housing had a hole. There were some pieces from the piston. The valve guides were cracked due to the bended valves.
Wow Faxe,
a sad story of how to wreck a bike!
Re your reworked engine: I’ve heard lots of people claim rebored engines, but never seen oversize pistons to suit? Even the bearings are hard to get now, as you’d be aware. I can imagine that it’s too expensive to fix the old R motor now?
Cheers
Greg
