VF500 Starting Issue

Also, one other thing. There's a heat shield bolted to the front of the carbs. With this shield installed, you have to remove the radiator in order to remove the carbs. Many people reinstall the carbs without that heat shield, because it makes subsequent removal easier. This is a mistake! The carbs will get heat soak from the radiator, which can cause hard hot starting.

Charles.

Hrmm. I'm not seeing the heat shield on the bike or in the manual. Any chance you could link a picture of one?

Hrm, now that you mention it, I'm not entirely sure the baby V4 motors have that. I know the larger motors do. Looks like this on a v65:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321795523706

And this is a 700 Interceptor heat shield: http://www.ebay.com/itm/311923490431

I remember one of my Magnas being an absolute nightmare to remove the carbs. Might have been the V65 and not the V30. No... wait, the V30 was a nightmare too, but for different reasons. Anyhow, if you don't have a place for the shield to bolt to the carb plenum, you're probably okay.

Charles.

Yep! No shield here. Still have to pull the radiator to change spark plugs, which was really frustrating.