Guilty of neglect

[fabio222]

Hi everyone,

 

It's been a while since I was on here, which kinda matches with my use of the VFR these days. Ever since getting my own shed, a Deauville for the regular commute, a bargain of a VFR 800 VTEC just before the pandemic hit, a small camper, a dog, and general house jobs, along with working full-time, it's not been easy to find the time that I used to devote to it.

 

That said, it's not been forgotten either. It's still a beautiful dark green 1997 model which has seen me through thick and thin, working away as a daily commuter to college, then to another part of the country (was the central character in a long letter I wrote to Bike which earned me a subscription and a set of Pilot Road 2s for it!). It's benefited from the expertise shared on this forum and with the odometer well past 90,000 miles, I'd love to see it approach the big 100,000 with some grace. No more cold, salty mornings, or being drenched in winter rain.

 

I started my quest yesterday evening and soon realised that not only had I neglected the VFR, but I've neglected my own spannering skills too. As they say, if you don't use them, you lose them. Taking a look at the list of jobs to be completed, I remember that I need to check the charging system, when I put it away the little LED on the dashboard was telling me that it wasn't all that healthy. There's no longer a chain on it, that was left behind on the motorway during it's last outing, thankfully without causing any damage. Does that count as one of my nine lives? The rapid deflation of my rear tyre on the VFR 800 on the same stretch of motorway probably counts as another. 

 

Taking the rear bodywork off, I was disappointed to see the fuel lines and other bits and bobs covered, here and there, in mould which might very well contain a cure for Covid. Who knows? I say disappointed because this is no way to treat a 25 year old bike which one has professed to love. I'm a tidy person, it's not my style to tolerate mess, and yet, here it is in it's most organic form. The one thing I did manage to do was keep the battery charged and the bike will start, but with gummed up carbs, a sniff of throttle kills it. I attempt to take the tank off but the fuel hose from the tap doesn't want to budge so I remove it from the fuel filter at the other end. I have a jug with me to catch the fuel as it comes out but completely forget to turn off the fuel tap itself. It even takes me a second to just put my thumb over the hose to stop it pouring out. I'm very out of practice. Thankfully, I have a little bit full of cat litter and sawdust for situations like this and scatter that around but it's already after eating through a good bit of the floor paint. Ronseal, apparently, doesn't do what it says on the tin, anymore.

 

After cleaning up, I removed the tank, the airbox cover and air filter, grab my can of carb cleaner and give the trumpets a good spray. Again, the bike starts and the fuel pump ticks (it's an aftermarket one, much louder than standard) but even after liberal spraying, it won't manage to reach past 4000rpm. My guess is the high-speed jets in the carbs need a clean, the whole thing needs a clean really. However, after 15 minutes of spraying carb cleaner, running the engine a bit, and breathing air which is now composed of half-burnt petrol, I have to stop. It's been lovely to hear the v-four fire through the unbaffled Delkevic end can and good to think oil has been pumped around the various passages. It's no victory though, and those carbs will need to be pulled off. The whole bike needs a spruce up. 

 

Still, there's less winter ahead than behind us, Spring will be here soon, and with it renewal, and longer days. Can that sense of renewal apply to this old 25 year beauty? It's up to me. I really hope so. 

[Dutchy]

Go on son, go for it!!!  

[fabio222]

1 hour ago, Dutchy said:

Go on son, go for it!!!  

I'll do my best. Great to see you're still on the site Duchy - I recognise your name from when I was a more regular visitor! 

 

Here are the two girls in the shed. The 750, in particular, shines up well enough but fairings can hide so much dirt....

 

[TimC]

Sorry to hear about the issues with your older VFR.  I can relate to being rusty with wrenches once in a while.  Easy stuff I can do, harder stuff I either take longer than average to do, or I ask for help from a good friend who is a much better mechanic than me.

 

I can also relate to neglecting riding.  I'm a musician on the side, and when I got busier a several years ago I only averaged about 1,500 miles a year for a couple years.  I guess I lost my passion for riding at the time.  Thankfully it came back in spades the last couple years.

 

Good luck getting the 750 back into full running condition and enjoy the season to come!  🙂

[cbkenison]

I'm in the same boat. I was hit by a left turner years ago and just now rebuilt the carbs and replaced the fuel joint o-rings so it didn't leak fuel all over the place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yys_Y0zm8EY

I've got an exhaust leak, a mirror, and the bodywork to sort out. I've given up on finding a decent tank, somehow mine still holds gas and looks ok on the inside.

 

Overall I've replaced: stator cover, clutch hose, mirrors, radiator, fan, coolant hoses, frame slider, shift lever, right passenger grab handle, windscreen, oil cooler and hoses, brake master cylinder, left rear set, slave cylinder (might have to replace this again, the one I got seems to leak), left handle bar.

 

Yours looks to be in mint condition 🙂

[fabio222]

14 hours ago, cbkenison said:

I'm in the same boat. I was hit by a left turner years ago and just now rebuilt the carbs and replaced the fuel joint o-rings so it didn't leak fuel all over the place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yys_Y0zm8EY

I've got an exhaust leak, a mirror, and the bodywork to sort out. I've given up on finding a decent tank, somehow mine still holds gas and looks ok on the inside.

 

Overall I've replaced: stator cover, clutch hose, mirrors, radiator, fan, coolant hoses, frame slider, shift lever, right passenger grab handle, windscreen, oil cooler and hoses, brake master cylinder, left rear set, slave cylinder (might have to replace this again, the one I got seems to leak), left handle bar.

 

Yours looks to be in mint condition 🙂

You've done a lot of work, fair dues to you!

 

By the way, that exhaust sounds lovely! 

[cbkenison]

11 hours ago, fabio222 said:

You've done a lot of work, fair dues to you!

 

By the way, that exhaust sounds lovely! 

Thank you. It’s a header back two brothers system, I cut the pipe about 3 inches shorter to line up visually with the tail end of the bike. 

[fabio222]

I spent a good bit of today in the shed working on the bike, with a little help from my best friend who is also a fellow VFR owner. 

 

It was one of those work sessions where, although not much was actually done, it was therapeutic, interesting, and renewed my appreciation of this fine and beautiful machine. The first thing we did was to pull the carburettors from the engine. Obviously, with the engine as a 90 degree vee, this can be a little fiddly but it can be made easier but judicious use of silicon lubricant spray. Having removed the side panels, undoing the allen bolts and those lovely Dzus fasteners. Although not usually a topic of conversation in your local bar or cafe, Dzus fasteners are a fascinating bit of kit, invented in the 1930s by a Ukrainian-American engineer, WIlliam Dzus, who went on to found the Ukrainian Institute of America in 1948. Not only were his quarter-turn fasteners used on VFRs, but long before that they were integral to aircraft in locations where vibration might be an issue. A nicely set up V4 doesn't vibrate but it certainly makes removing the side panels a little easier and, maybe, makes one think of the racing heritage behind the RC36. 

 

Anyway, back to the carbs - having let the silicone spray work in to try and loosen the boots connecting the carbs to the engine (the single figure temperature ensuring that anything plastic or rubber was about as flexible as bulletproof glass), and making sure the bolts securing those were loosened, it was time to pry them off. I've done this plenty of times before and always find that a piece of wood is the best thing to use because it won't damage the body of the carbs, nor the engine or frame. After fighting with the wood for a while, I decided to go with something more heavy duty and invoked the use of a hammer handle. This popped off the rear carbs and the front soon came off too. Before luck had a chance to get involved, we stuffed some tissue into the inlets. Nobody wants to be searching for a bolt only to remember that it may have dropped into cylinder #1, or #2, 3, or 4. 

 

You'd think that we immediately tore into cleaning the carbs but we didn't. Instead we cleaned grime from the outside of the engine using a toothbrush, some WD40, some brake cleaner, and some rags. Whilst it would never be a concourse restoration, and it's going to be very smelly when that engine gets up to temperature in time to come, it made quite a big difference. We were also able to make a big difference to the throttle and choke cables, spraying lubricant through them and seeing a lot of old dirt flush through the other side. Seeing the engine casing clean up, even if, really, I'm not even half way there yet, along with cleaning and lubing those cables, made me feel like the bike is finally being looked after in the way I used to before, and the way it deserves to be. Perhaps I'm not guilty of neglect any more...