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New project, 85' VF750F restore/rebuild to road standard


Guest abbott

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Guest abbott

First off,

Hi all I'm james and my dad Duncan may post from this account too,

we have just bought from ebay for £23.22 ($37.50) an '85 VF750f ( judged from paintwork and what i can see).

Firstly this is my first ever bike project i have tinkered with cars before but this is my first time with a bike.

564824_10151247660461747_618591746_9506401_1934030279_n.jpg

So af you can see its in a right state at the moment, no tank, seat, fron fairing, front lights. but it does have a spare engine

I haven't even seen this in the flesh yet these photos are nicked from the ebay page.

so my questions are:

Where would you start with something like this?

What would you recomend to read for 'basic reading'?

and finally is it actually what i think it is? ( the ad only described it as a 'honda 750 motorcycle')

thanks and i look forward to posting more and getting this baby on the road!

James

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Welcome to the insanity of 1st. generation ownership!

Ooh & to the forum as well!

Spent your tyme reading the threads in early Vfrs, excetra. See if you can get the bike to fire up, then decide if it is really something you want to tackle. You will most likely have more money in the bike then you will get out of it, & have to understand & except that going in!

Good luck & I hope you have a blast fixing her up & finally riding her!

Paul

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Im not really concerned about money at the other end of it i dont intend selling her ever if i get her up to road standard!

ive already been heading through the other posts. And they both scare the life out of me and make me want to do this even more

the guy is 'unaware as to if it starts or not' as he found it in a barn or garage or some thing like that.

Hopefully ill pick her up tomorow or the day after.

right back to trawling the threads!

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Also im not sure if should take it back to how it looked when it left the factory or make it sorta streetfighter styled, im a big fan of the naked bikes ( dont burn me at the stake for the heresy). my main reason for this is looks, also it saves on getting a new front fairing which s most likely to cost me a lot. what do you guys think?

apologies for the double post!

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did you say $37 thats crazy! I love the vf's. great to see someone put another ion the road. good luck.

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  • Member Contributer

Welcome to VFRD from across the North Sea :tour:

The VIN plate should tell you what it is....

Wish my dad was still around so we could tinker on an old bike.......

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Veefer I have started on that one already, and scanned through dozens of others.

Nedhills, yes $37 the guy doesnt even kno what it is just that its a ''honda 750'

i will put up more pictures when i get it,

is there a list of which VINs mean which bike ( my guess at the moment comes from the paint on th back end )

and how do i find the FAQ section (i am likely to be being very blind on this one)

now off to ringmy uncle and beg to borrow his trailer!

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  • Member Contributer

The VDS of the VIN on your bike will tell what it is....

Honda_VIN_Table.jpg

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excellent, thanks for that one. 40 minutes till i ring the guy to arrange collecting it!

and yes am i pretty much acting like a kid on christmas eve!

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right! my new baby is home and god is she in a state!

both wheels are locked up, the whole exhaust systems knackered.

time to clear out the garage and give her a new space to sit.

will return later with piccys and so on!

Finally frame number ( its not a VIN as far as i can tell) is RC15-2013751

is there a guide for what these mean?

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ahhh after 3 hours in athe garage we have progress!

now the front wheel turns freely but will still need to revamp the brakes all round.

but honestly what approach do you guys think is best?

M dad wants to do the work without dismantiling as much as he can

whereas im all up for taking it apart and getting a section at a time perfect.

Also i mentioned the 'spare engine' with it. well it is a spare engine... from a bandit or something similar as far as i know no hondas have suzuki branded in line 4s

also the clutch slave cylinder was detached when we got the bike nd the bolts are missing, is it still possible to manually turn over the engine without this fixed?

Thanks muchly

James

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Wow, spare Suzuki engine? Sell it as-is!

You really need to go through the engine first and get it running to decide if the rest is worth saving. Motor shot = cut your losses and part it out.

Carbs will need dismantled and cleaned for it to run properly. You can rotate the engine by hand with a wrench without the clutch slave attached.

Sounds like IF the engine turns out to be ok, the next order of business is a complete strip of the brakes, wheels and bearings. The brakes are likely frozen almost solid, and will never work properly without a complete disassembly and cleaning plus new seals. That is assuming there is not a ton of corrosion on the caliper bores or pistons.

Good luck, and you'll need the factory service manual to guide you!

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luckily when tinkering the pistons and bores seem ok to me, not much corrosion just grimey

as a testament of how long this has sat i have found 3 different spider egg sacs in different parts!

soi can manually crank the engine over?

WIIIIN!

also can you get a key made to match a barrel or will i need new barrel and keys ( such a dunce question but i do search before i ask here )

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If you take the barrel to a locksmith, he might be able to help.

But you'd better ask how much first, and judge whether it's cheaper to buy a new used one first with keys.

I would Hotwire it first just to get it running, and rig up a temporary fuel supply line into the fuel pump, instead of using the standard fuel tank.

Then you're not buying $$$ parts before you know what you're dealing with for overall condition, etc.

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Right bad news first, the conrod is broken ( i think) as theres only about 180 degrees of movement when cranking,

but good new i have started stripping her down to get to the serious work as soon as i can!

heres the end of day one prgress piccy!

556122_10151266991731747_618591746_9522232_1787817412_n.jpg

you can see i dont have the best work space but it will do till we get to the engine work which ill clear up fully for.

my brothers even offered me his engine stand to use

all the part are bagged ad labbeled in a box behind the bike ( except for bits which are impossible not to identify!)

right thats me done working for today!

time for beer and rest :)

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Welcome,

I've found a certain online auction site to be treasure trove of bits and pieces, when rebuilding my VF1000r.

I would stick with trying to do a sympathetic restoration rather than turning it into a SF.

This may be a stupid question, but have you drained the oil to check the state of it, what colour and are there any bits of metal in it. If a rod had gone, i would expect all sorts of nastieness.

If you take the plugs out and put a long dowel onto the piston crown, can you feel all of the pistons moving, again if a rod has gone one of them will not move in time with the crank rotation.

Cheers

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Hi Duc,

Im guessing by sympathetic you mean restore to all or as mant as possible origional parts?

the only problem i hav with doing this is that i much prefer naked front ends to faired plus as this bike came with virtually no bodywork it will probably cost a chunk to get the fairings.

on the other hand the fairings are obvioulsy a bonus in terms of fuel efficiency and originality.

I wouldnt go for an extreme streetfighter look, definatley wont balls around with the frame work or anything.

anyway, i will check the oil tonight and see the results, then im going to get to work to get the engine out and fixed/cleaned up

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No problem, try the dowel or long screwdriver down the plug hole. I used to do this with my RD to confirm a holed piston........again.

I am probably not that far from you. Give me a shout if you need a hand.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers

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ill definately do that if im ever really stuck. I live right by gatwick airport so ill give you a message if i ever need another set of hands that know what they are doing!

RIght the girlfriends gone home so im off to the garage, list of jobs, drain oil, check piston movement, and tidy up ready for engine removal!

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Hi guys which thread do you think has the best Carb rebuild info in?

I know i read one night before last awhich was good but cant find it again

and wheres best to order the rebuild kits from ebay or shops?

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todays update can be surmised in one spledid four letter word rhyming with duck.

with the carbs off ysterday my plan for todday was back wheel off engine ready to be taken out tomorow.

but thats where my pland cae unstuck or rather stuck the left nut of the rear wheel is tightr than anythng and wont budge despite many different approaches, wd40 to losen any corrosion, taps in various reccomended places with both rubber and metal hammers, but nooo sir it wont budge my last opton is to split the nut according to my brother but i dont want to do that unless i have to, so todays progress was basicly 5 or so nuts loosend and an hour swearing and grunting at a last one.

any last ideas of how to get the begger undone?

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3 ad a bit foot long breaker bar was used and failed but i like the idea of applying fire. always appeals to me somehow

will give it a try tomorow

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