I havent had my FE very long and right from when I picked it up Ive known I ought to check the oil strainer asap. When I referred to the manual I could see it was going to be a tricky one as the front exhaust pipes and balance box run right by the sump where its housed and it looked to me like theyd need to come off. I slept on the idea for a while thinking about disturbing those rusty pipe joints etc
No-matter I decided - I need to check that strainer. When I got to it … the thing was gundged up a treat with silicone gasket goo and general sludge right across the mesh. I took a tooth brush and white spirit and spent nearly an hour getting it back to how Honda intended it. It was very satisfying and also horrifying when I saw just how much crap there was in the bottom of the container.
Anyway, now shes good as new and Ive got to weld some new throats on the standard silencers / mufflers so theyll slide back onto the balance box again. <b>Question </b> The oil filter I took off was non standard ( with no markings ) - so what is the filter to go for if you dont want to be ripped off buying the Honda one ?
hi martin, yep its a real eye opener sometimes when you take the sump off a bike, i think sometimes its a fair indication as to the kind of life the bikes had previously.
years ago when the cams failed on my vf, i decided to split the crankcase and check the main bearings for ware… good job i did, the mains were showing a little ware so i changed them (they were readily available at that time and were only about £3.50 per shell), but more interestingly there was a 2 inch piece of hacksaw blade wedged across the oil strainer mesh , don’t think that would have been helping any.
As to your question on oil filters, the last few i fitted were Hi Flow, not for any other reason than it was what my local bike shop stocked when i bought the oil, although since fitting the top end oil kit my choice is limited to KN 303 which my local shop doesn’t stock, so have to purchase off the web at twice the price plus postage.
Hi Martin,
I had the same problem with my cans not fitting the new collector box seals so i had the local muffler shop make me 2 pipe ends with clamp slots for $20 and welded them on to the cans. they worked a treat. If only i new the cans were shot then! [:I].
Still serching for a cheap second hand set of cans. [:)]
Cheers.
Way back, a mate of mine had an old VFR 750 with a LOUD 4 into 1 pipe. Jeez that sounded Luvlee.
Are the piston spacing / crank angles the same on the VFs and the VFRs ?
The CX`s are nearly 360 but not quite - strange but true