Member Contributer Mikey Posted September 8, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted September 8, 2017 LOCO can mean several things, insane in the membrane, cuckoo in the coconut, short for Longmont Colorado, where I live, and sometimes all three. I knew better but put off needed maintenance in order to keep riding around the Rockies. On one such ride in the foothills rolling along around 65mph I decided to take the next right and see if bison are near the fence at a local bison farm and snap a picture or two. Bison love Honda's, they do not like Harley's, everyone knows that. Flip on the right turn signal, pull and push on the brake lever and pedal and swiftly sail right past my intended turn. Fortunately for me there wasn't anyone pulling out of the road. It was right then and there I knew brake maintenance couldn't wait any longer. The 18 year olds brakes needed attention, so a complete caliper rebuild was on the to do list. If your going to rebuild calipers, might as well get all new brake hoses, rebuild the masters, and upgrade the entire braking system. Dissemble and find moose snot and bison spit in the cylinders, not too surprised. Was surprised at how many pistons were not operational, probably 50% of them were pretty tight (read way too tight) in the bore. They all cleaned up nicely however. If your going to remove the forks to replace the steering head bearings might as well get the JD Motorsports upgraded fork internals, and while that is being produced deep inside the top secret JDM engineering labs, why not have the fork lowers powder coated black along with the top triple clamp. The PO had something on their keychain that marked up the top triple and I couldn't get it cleaned up short of powder coating it. Also purchased a brand new rear shock from JDM. Decided it was also time to replace all of the coolant hoses, thermostat and the thermal fan switch. This requires actions similar to an archeological dig. There was evidence of minor leaks at most of the hose connections and the o-rings in the aluminum elbows where coolant enters the cylinder heads in the Vee were transformed into mush. The other two aluminum elbows and associated o-rings on the outside were looking fine for 18 year olds, replaced them anyway. Lots of hoses in there! Also replaced the fuel filter and gasket. The SM and any other guides just instruct you to remove the bolts and pull the fuel filter/fuel pump/curly stainless steel wooly filter material out, simple as that. Only my experience was similar to pulling ten pounds of poo thru an opening only meant for five pounds of poo. Thankfully I didn't break anything outside of a sweat. Moving on to the pretty stuff, had the headers ceramic coated, old weather worn headers below, and after ceramic coating above. We have Tail Tidy's, so why not a passenger foot peg tidy, got the idea from one of the Carvers (how many of them are there anyway?) and asked our resident fabricator Sebspeed if he would make a set. Powder coated of course. Seb was more than happy to help. While it was no doubt a lot of work it was totally worth it. The brakes and suspension are superior to the systems supplied by Honda 18 years ago and it is now ready to go the next 18. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VFR4Lee Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 While you're in there is a slippery slope indeed. Err, nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuelx Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 SWEET work! Dude, your garage is SICK Clean/orderly!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer VFROZ Posted September 8, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted September 8, 2017 Good work mate. I'm considering making a muffler bracket as well so I can get rid of the passenger pegs. You've motivated me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer HighSideNZ Posted September 8, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted September 8, 2017 Good work. Where did you get the coolant hose kit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer VFROZ Posted September 8, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted September 8, 2017 My guess is AR3 Performance. https://www.as3performance.co.uk/silicone-radiator-hoses/road/honda/vfr-800/ AU$163 for a full kit is a good price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Mikey Posted September 8, 2017 Author Member Contributer Share Posted September 8, 2017 HighSideNZ and VFROZ, I did get the hose kit from AS3 Performance, all silicone, reinforced, very well made. Also purchased the clamps from AS3, far superior to the OEM clamps. On a 5th Gen, that's 13 hoses and 26 clamps!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer KevCarver Posted September 9, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted September 9, 2017 Wow, nice work! Brand new bike! (That was me with the rear peg tidy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Vee-Ef-Ar Posted September 9, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted September 9, 2017 Can you do my brakes too? Nice motivation mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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