1992 VFR750F Rescue

[Captain 80s]

Picked this up last year.  1992 VFR, 50K.  $500

 

 

All there except the side stand trim (as usual).  Didn't run, but I was very confident it just got parked after talking to the owner.  It was his Brother in Law's bike who passed.  2020 tabs.

 

 

Time to dig in.

 

Carbs out and lose some bullshit while I'm at it.

 

 

Split the carbs to clean and replace all the o-rings.  And back together for a bench synch.

 

 

[Captain 80s]

Cooling system out to restore and get all new o-rings.

 

 

Everything restored to go back in.

 

[Captain 80s]

Rebuilt carbs in.  New insulators are like cheating when installing carbs, they almost fall in.

 

 

The rest of the intake system installed.

 

 

Custom D&D Slip-On installed for the first run.

 

 

 

[Captain 80s]

OK.  Time for some oil and fuel and see if we were right.

 

Started instantly...   after I installed the bolt for the wire harness ground!!

 

 

 

OK.  Now I know I can spend some more time on it.  It will get the rest of the systems completely gone thru with some nice parts and mods I've been collecting for it.      

[Captain 80s]

I had pulled the shock and removed all the PAIR hard lines too.

 

 

And then made some block off plates.

 

 

It was nice to get that done and out of the way. 

 

[PorradaVFR]

Looking forward to seeing more! Great thread so far.  🙂 

[St. Stephen]

"Lose some BS..."

 

I must figure out the same plumbing on my RC-51: remove all the CA EVAP stuff. Checking VFRD sucks because it reminds me how minuscule my garage skills are despite decades of VF/VFR ownership.

 

 

 

[Lorne]

6 hours ago, Captain 80s said:

Picked this up last year.  1992 VFR, 50K

 

What are the fairings like? There are a lot of tabs on 3rd gen bodywork, and on my '92 more than a few were broken.

 

I know this isn't your first rodeo, but might I offer some suggestions? 

     Third gen turn signals were originally on stalks. But the red lenses either side of the brake light can be converted to turn signals, and tidy up the back of the bike. It looks like the previous owner did this on your VFR. I think they look better in amber, like the 4th gen has, and they are a direct replacement - though you may have to sort out the wiring.

     Speaking of bodywork, I've attached pics of my '92 as stock and after a few changes. I really didn't like the purple/grey VFR decal and bought a set as used on the black 1990/1991 VFRs in Europe. they are similar to the one on red VFRs, but with a gold shadow instead of silver. I applied red tape on rear fairings just wide enough to cover the purple. 

     I have a spare pair of those decals and would like to see them get used, so ping me if you are interested.

     Condom-less mirrors from the 2000/2001 VFR800 bolt right on. Non-VTec handlebars are a little taller - 5/8"? Their locating tabs are in a different location, but easy to sort out. To be honest, I can't remember if there was any clearance problems with the fairing/windscreen. 

     An easy way to spruce up the appearance of the fork legs is to strip the paint then polish the raw aluminum. Actually most of the leg is pretty smooth so I mostly I was cleaning up mild corrosion from where the paint had chipped off. They stayed shiny for the next 2 1/2 years & 20K km.

     Lastly, one of the fellows on the old mailing list, Dave Matthew, found that a 2" diameter VDO clock could be fitted to the left side panel. There's a round knock on the panel near the front of the tank. That is where Euro models housed the fuel switch. Here's a link: VDO Marine Clock

 

Best of luck with your project.

 

 

[JZH]

5 hours ago, Lorne said:

Lastly, one of the fellows on the old mailing list, Dave Matthew, found that a 2" diameter VDO clock could be fitted to the left side panel. There's a round knock on the panel near the front of the tank. That is where Euro models housed the fuel switch. Here's a link: VDO Marine Clock

 

Best of luck with your project.

 

 

 

As this is a VFR, possibly a better use for that location would be to fit a voltmeter!

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

[Captain 80s]

Yeah...  not my first rodeo...    I own a 95

 

 

I flipped a 90 last Summer...   before @ $400

 

 

After...   sold for $2300

 

 

 

 

[Captain 80s]

On 3/31/2023 at 10:15 PM, Lorne said:

 

What are the fairings like? There are a lot of tabs on 3rd gen bodywork, and on my '92 more than a few were broken.

 

I know this isn't your first rodeo, but might I offer some suggestions? 

     Third gen turn signals were originally on stalks. But the red lenses either side of the brake light can be converted to turn signals, and tidy up the back of the bike. It looks like the previous owner did this on your VFR. I think they look better in amber, like the 4th gen has, and they are a direct replacement - though you may have to sort out the wiring.

     Speaking of bodywork, I've attached pics of my '92 as stock and after a few changes. I really didn't like the purple/grey VFR decal and bought a set as used on the black 1990/1991 VFRs in Europe. they are similar to the one on red VFRs, but with a gold shadow instead of silver. I applied red tape on rear fairings just wide enough to cover the purple. 

     I have a spare pair of those decals and would like to see them get used, so ping me if you are interested.

     Condom-less mirrors from the 2000/2001 VFR800 bolt right on. Non-VTec handlebars are a little taller - 5/8"? Their locating tabs are in a different location, but easy to sort out. To be honest, I can't remember if there was any clearance problems with the fairing/windscreen. 

     An easy way to spruce up the appearance of the fork legs is to strip the paint then polish the raw aluminum. Actually most of the leg is pretty smooth so I mostly I was cleaning up mild corrosion from where the paint had chipped off. They stayed shiny for the next 2 1/2 years & 20K km.

     Lastly, one of the fellows on the old mailing list, Dave Matthew, found that a 2" diameter VDO clock could be fitted to the left side panel. There's a round knock on the panel near the front of the tank. That is where Euro models housed the fuel switch. Here's a link: VDO Marine Clock

 

Best of luck with your project.

 

 

 

The bike did have the stalk rear winkers on it, but they were trashed.  I wouldn't have kept them in any case.  I have some amber lenses already, but I`m not sure which way I'm gonna go yet.  I might make the red lenses running lights and signals.

 

Its gonna have some original style mirrors at first.  My 95 had 2000 mirrors on it when I got it and came with the brand new originals.  The weathered 92 mirrors went on the 90.

 

Forks are pretty rough.  I have a real nice set of 97 forks that will go on, along with a 97 wheel and rotors.

 

If any thing goes in the fuel valve blanking plate, it will be a Honda Voltmeter.

 

Graphics wise, I will be eliminating the whole purple stripe and VFR.  I already have a plan to update it, but keep it OEM looking.

 

Body work is OK, but yeah, I've got some tabs to repair.  Done quite a bit on other projects.

[Lorne]

On 4/1/2023 at 4:10 AM, JZH said:

As this is a VFR, possibly a better use for that location would be to fit a voltmeter!

Touché. 

[Lorne]

I look forward tossing what you come up with.

I fitted the spare grey seat from my '91 VFR, and quite liked the look. (shameless excuse to show an old favourite)

 

 

 

[Captain 80s]

5 minutes ago, Lorne said:

I look forward tossing what you come up with.

I fitted the spare grey seat from my '91 VFR, and quite liked the look. (shameless excuse to show an old favourite)

 

 

 

 

I like that too.  Way more than I thought I would.

[Captain 80s]

Brakes next.   Had to get out the special tool.

 

 

Shadow 1100 master cylinder I keep primed and capped.  Compressed air wasn't budging the pistons.  I forgot to pump them out most of the way before removing the lines.

 

Pistons out.

 

 

Not great, but about what I was expecting.  So I had collected some parts in preparation. 

 

Here's the "new" calipers I sourced.

 

 

That's more like it.  Should be a simple clean, inspect, red rubber grease, assemble.

 

Bike had near new front and rear EBC pads in it, so that's nice.  Master cylinders were clean inside and worked perfectly.  I have a full set of stainless lines for the bike too; front, rear, clutch. 

 

 

[bmart]

Any pics of the insides of the calipers?

[Captain 80s]

4 minutes ago, bmart said:

Any pics of the insides of the calipers?

 

I'll update later, but pretty decent I think.  The only thing really preventing the brakes from working properly was the ring of crud / corrosion on the pistons preventing them from retracting.  I'll clean up the pistons and see how bad the pitting is for possible use on another project, might be able to assemble one more "good" set out of all the left over parts.  I have a 3rd set that I threw together as some place holders on my Hawk project before finishing the F3 calipers.

[Dutchy]

Them pistons may buff out prettuy well on a polishing wheel

 

Thesedid 

VF400F

 

 

The inside was yuck

 

 

[Dutchy]

Any tips or <corporate speak alert> best practises on the lettering on the control pods? 

 

The "white lettering" on my Morini is pretty much gone.

I know how to operate the indicator switch ... but it would look nicer if it reads L and R

[Captain 80s]

8 hours ago, Dutchy said:

Any tips or <corporate speak alert> best practises on the lettering on the control pods? 

 

The "white lettering" on my Morini is pretty much gone.

I know how to operate the indicator switch ... but it would look nicer if it reads L and R

 

I've never done it, but I've thought about transfers (like out of a model kit) and then a matte clear coat.

[Captain 80s]

On 4/4/2023 at 1:31 PM, bmart said:

Any pics of the insides of the calipers?

 

Here's the set off of the bike.  Not terrible, but pretty sure there's a fair amount of crud / corrosion under the dust seals that was contributing to the lack of proper action.

 

 

In contrast, here's the set that I sourced for this project...

 

[Captain 80s]

Restored triples (97 lower clamp) with new tapered bearings and 97 clip-ons.  Steel braided brake lines, FR & RR, and Clutch.

 

 

97 forks with RT .90 springs.  Stock front wheel has been hand polished and waxed with restored lower mile rotors.  Placeholders until I paint a 97 wheel with floating rotors.

 

 

Restored controls, custom D&D slip-on and hand polished / waxed stock rear wheel. 

 

 

I left a good portion of the old RT passenger peg bracket for the rear cowl mount and I'm going to mount the FOX TC res off of it after it's rebuild.

 

Waiting for some shift rubbers to come in.  Brake line "stay" is temp so I can roll it around and take a test ride before I get decades of chain grime off of the chain guard.

 

 

Lots of stuff need more love, but not this round.  Bleed brakes and clutch and start polishing bodywork. 

[Lorne]

1 hour ago, Captain 80s said:

97 forks with RT .90 springs.  Front wheel has been polished and waxed

 

Your '92 is coming along nicely. A couple Q's about you progress:

The top triple looks nearly scratch free. Did you refinish it or...

Are the wheels and fork legs painted, or polished ally?

 

 

[Captain 80s]

12 hours ago, Lorne said:

 

Your '92 is coming along nicely. A couple Q's about you progress:

The top triple looks nearly scratch free. Did you refinish it or...

Are the wheels and fork legs painted, or polished ally?

 

Thank you!

 

I restored the top triple.  It looked like this...

 

 

Wheels are original 1992 painted finish, forks are original 1997 painted finish.  The wheels have quite a few imperfections that get lost after being polished and having everything bolted up.  The forks were some very nice low mile items I bought.

 

 

 

[Captain 80s]

Here's some of the small items that were restored...