620dark
You can always get it running with time or money.
So I seem to have a bike hoarding problem, as a fourth orphan Honda has followed me home.
This one is a 1983 VF750F Interceptor, apparently the second fastest bike in the world in 1983. No, I don't know what the fastest bike was.
This is what it looked like new:
I responded to a Craigslist post for this bike, as the tank and fairings looked in good shape, and I've always loved the '80s looks of the Interceptors. After some back and forth, the previous owner and I agreed on a price, and I picked up the bike a couple days ago.
The problems were pretty much the standard laundry list for an '80s Honda that sat for a year+:
-No clutch action
-No front brake action, but both calipers frozen on the rotors
-No rear brake action
-Starter doesn't work when button is pressed
-Stiff rusty chain
-Old Metzler tires
-Throttle turns, but doesn't snap back closed
-Unknown condition of the top end - these motors are know to have "chocolate" cams (thanks PJ ;D) that end up with excessive wear on the cam lobes due to poor oiling and improper adjustment
-Dead battery - bone dry
-No turn signals - probably bad flasher relay
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
I attacked the brakes and clutch first after I brought it home, as it was late and this would determine how many hundreds I'd need to spend on seals and rebuild kits. However, I was able to get the front brakes and clutch working without changing anything other than the hydraulic fluid. Well, and drilling out the seized screws holding down the cover on the brake master.
I had to "exercise" the pistons in the front calipers by pressing them back in with channel lock pliers. I also took the opportunity to remove the pad pins and clean and lube them as well as the caliper slider pins. Sil-Glyde is your friend.
The secret of getting the air out of these '80s Honda clutch and brake systems is to start bleeding at the banjo bolt where the hose attaches to the master cylinder. Put a paper towel under the union, fill the reservoir, and pump the lever 3 or four times and hold it. Then, crack open the banjo bolt at the master cylinder. You may or may not get some air or fluid out. Repeat until you are only getting fluid out of the union. Then, move on to the caliper or slave cylinder, and attach your length of clear tubing going into your clear jam jar to the bleed screw. It will take a while to bleed out all the air, and make sure you don't let the reservoir run dry or you'll have to start over.
Once I had pressure to the front brakes, I was able to "exercise" the brakes by running out the pistons, press them back into the bores, run them out again, and so on until I was happy with the action. I ran a lot of fluid through the system until the bubbles were gone and the fluid coming out was the same color as what I was putting in. The clutch slave started working with a "pop", after following the same bleed procedure.
The rear brake bled out ok, but the hose between the reservoir and the master cylinder is leaking like a sieve. Ebay to the rescue - a foot of hose is about $4 shipped.
Heartened, I moved onto checking the cams. I pulled off the valve covers to reveal absolutely beautiful cams. I mean, the metal under the covers was spotless and the cam lobes and everything else under there looks brand new. The only issue I saw was that everything was dry from sitting. Some oil can action with my favorite Rotella 5w-40 helped alleviate that issue. I also added a couple of tablespoons of ATF to each spark plug hole to help free any stuck rings. I really dodged a bullet here.
Also, the coolant I drained to remove the upper radiator (to remove the front cam cover) looked perfect. The oil looked like it had been changed yesterday, and was full. Someone took care of this bike at some point.
Next, I moved on to getting the starting system working. After some testing, I determined that the starter solenoid was clicking on as soon as the ignition was turned on. The solenoid itself was fine, but someone was triggering it without the starter button being pressed. I determined that the neutral safety switch was working, but the clutch safety switch was not. Still, when the bike was in neutral and the start button was pressed, the headlight went out but the starter did not crank.
Bridging the starter terminals made the motor turn over, which meant that even thought the solenoid was being triggered, but not enough to spin the starter. Some tracing back pointed to the starter clutch diode. I removed the diode, and the solenoid clicked off. I tested the diode with my multimeter, and found the thing was conducting electricity poorly both ways. It's cooked! Hello Ebay...
Also, yay for the motor spinning over!
That's as far as I've made it with the work so far. I'm waiting for parts to arrive to get the bike cranking over on its own, and I'm also going to build a testing fuel tank for the next step. Stay tuned...
This one is a 1983 VF750F Interceptor, apparently the second fastest bike in the world in 1983. No, I don't know what the fastest bike was.
This is what it looked like new:
I responded to a Craigslist post for this bike, as the tank and fairings looked in good shape, and I've always loved the '80s looks of the Interceptors. After some back and forth, the previous owner and I agreed on a price, and I picked up the bike a couple days ago.
The problems were pretty much the standard laundry list for an '80s Honda that sat for a year+:
-No clutch action
-No front brake action, but both calipers frozen on the rotors
-No rear brake action
-Starter doesn't work when button is pressed
-Stiff rusty chain
-Old Metzler tires
-Throttle turns, but doesn't snap back closed
-Unknown condition of the top end - these motors are know to have "chocolate" cams (thanks PJ ;D) that end up with excessive wear on the cam lobes due to poor oiling and improper adjustment
-Dead battery - bone dry
-No turn signals - probably bad flasher relay
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
I attacked the brakes and clutch first after I brought it home, as it was late and this would determine how many hundreds I'd need to spend on seals and rebuild kits. However, I was able to get the front brakes and clutch working without changing anything other than the hydraulic fluid. Well, and drilling out the seized screws holding down the cover on the brake master.
I had to "exercise" the pistons in the front calipers by pressing them back in with channel lock pliers. I also took the opportunity to remove the pad pins and clean and lube them as well as the caliper slider pins. Sil-Glyde is your friend.
The secret of getting the air out of these '80s Honda clutch and brake systems is to start bleeding at the banjo bolt where the hose attaches to the master cylinder. Put a paper towel under the union, fill the reservoir, and pump the lever 3 or four times and hold it. Then, crack open the banjo bolt at the master cylinder. You may or may not get some air or fluid out. Repeat until you are only getting fluid out of the union. Then, move on to the caliper or slave cylinder, and attach your length of clear tubing going into your clear jam jar to the bleed screw. It will take a while to bleed out all the air, and make sure you don't let the reservoir run dry or you'll have to start over.
Once I had pressure to the front brakes, I was able to "exercise" the brakes by running out the pistons, press them back into the bores, run them out again, and so on until I was happy with the action. I ran a lot of fluid through the system until the bubbles were gone and the fluid coming out was the same color as what I was putting in. The clutch slave started working with a "pop", after following the same bleed procedure.
The rear brake bled out ok, but the hose between the reservoir and the master cylinder is leaking like a sieve. Ebay to the rescue - a foot of hose is about $4 shipped.
Heartened, I moved onto checking the cams. I pulled off the valve covers to reveal absolutely beautiful cams. I mean, the metal under the covers was spotless and the cam lobes and everything else under there looks brand new. The only issue I saw was that everything was dry from sitting. Some oil can action with my favorite Rotella 5w-40 helped alleviate that issue. I also added a couple of tablespoons of ATF to each spark plug hole to help free any stuck rings. I really dodged a bullet here.
Also, the coolant I drained to remove the upper radiator (to remove the front cam cover) looked perfect. The oil looked like it had been changed yesterday, and was full. Someone took care of this bike at some point.
Next, I moved on to getting the starting system working. After some testing, I determined that the starter solenoid was clicking on as soon as the ignition was turned on. The solenoid itself was fine, but someone was triggering it without the starter button being pressed. I determined that the neutral safety switch was working, but the clutch safety switch was not. Still, when the bike was in neutral and the start button was pressed, the headlight went out but the starter did not crank.
Bridging the starter terminals made the motor turn over, which meant that even thought the solenoid was being triggered, but not enough to spin the starter. Some tracing back pointed to the starter clutch diode. I removed the diode, and the solenoid clicked off. I tested the diode with my multimeter, and found the thing was conducting electricity poorly both ways. It's cooked! Hello Ebay...
Also, yay for the motor spinning over!
That's as far as I've made it with the work so far. I'm waiting for parts to arrive to get the bike cranking over on its own, and I'm also going to build a testing fuel tank for the next step. Stay tuned...