Guest Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Great work! Not many that would tackle the bodywork, GFY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Finally making some progress ! Thanks to Her Majesty the Queen we had a couple of extra days off work this week so that I could work on the bike! So the frame and wheels came back from the powder coaters, they've done a great job even if the paint on the frame & swingarm is a touch pimp! The wheels and other components look great in Satin Black - I wish I could have had more of the bike powder coated instead of painting. I also got the tank blasted, after InvisibleCities advice above, and the only pin-hole that came through is below the fuel tap:- The bodywork is coming on, and after a bad experience with filler primer, all the plastics are now in grey primer (except the lower fairing ducts!). Next step is to complete the paint on the plastics, and prep the tank. There are a good few dents which will need attention, but at least I know it's rust free now. I need to find someone who can mix up the correct Honda colours, as the shop I went to today couldn't mix up Candy Aleutian blue, because ICI apparently never reverse-engineered the paint. Does anyone know of a good substitute? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer InvisibleCities Posted June 6, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted June 6, 2012 Looking great! Glad to hear the tank is okay with the exception of the one pinhole. The lower corners, on the VF500F's tank, can be troublemakers and you are ahead of the game if yours are sound. I used Casewell's Gas Tank Sealer on my '84 (as noted). Not sure if this is available in the UK but if you can get it this product is top notch. Re. The OEM colors, ColorRite offers these. Again not sure they ship to the UK though. Looking forward to seeing how this all comes together. I have a hunch this is going to be one sweet F2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoke4ndmears Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Looking great!!! Great choice going back to black with the wheels. I've been thinking of white, as it looks fantastic, but would regret it when trying to clean those F2 wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer InvisibleCities Posted June 7, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted June 7, 2012 For reference here are the OEM colors ('84 US model) and the ColorRite codes: NH-104M-U Pleiades Silver Metallic - ColorRite NH104M NH-138 Shasta White - ColorRite NH138 PB-127C-U Candy Aleutian Blue, ColorRite PB127 R-134 Fighting Red, ColorRite 134 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Looking great! Glad to hear the tank is okay with the exception of the one pinhole. The lower corners, on the VF500F's tank, can be troublemakers and you are ahead of the game if yours are sound. I used Casewell's Gas Tank Sealer on my '84 (as noted). Not sure if this is available in the UK but if you can get it this product is top notch. I have a hole in the tank lower corner, under the fuel tap, roughly 3mm in diameter - do you guys think that the tank sealer would be sufficient to seal this, or should the tank be fixed by another method? I am a bit concerned by welding in these hard-to-clean areas - what method is recommended for tank fixing in this area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer InvisibleCities Posted June 14, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted June 14, 2012 Welding shut and then sealing the tank is probably the best method. If I could ask can you post a photo, of the rust damage, for reference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 So today I turned my attention to the fuel tank. The pin hole revealed by the blasters is shown below;- So I managed to weld it up using the MIG, and I have some POR-15 tank sealer on the way to make sure it doesn't cause any problems for a while. While the welder was out, I managed to weld most of the side stand up, I'll have to do the foot-lever and stop once the swingarm is in the bike, and I've found the centre stand spring! Hopefully getting some paint this week, so the grey parts in the garage will start to look like a proper RWB Honda again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer InvisibleCities Posted June 16, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted June 16, 2012 Cracking good! Once you have the tank sealed you'll be in good shape. A lot of VF500F tanks suffer from this malady. Most likely this is caused by improper long term storage, i.e. the tank was not properly drained of fuel and the interior coated with motor oil. When this is not done condensation settles into the lower corners and rusts the tank out. Glad the one pinhole is all you found! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Looking to get some paint this weekend, the bike is all now in grey primer. Purists look away now I am struggling to find the exact Honda colours, and think that the Fighting Red R-134 is a touch orangey anyway, so am going to use alternative colours, to the original 1986 layout/scheme as seen on the bike at the start of the thread:- - Shasta White - code NH138 - Original Honda colour. Got to have something original on there! - Audi Brilliant Red - LY7J - Nice strong red, redder than original. - Lexus/Toyota Indigo Ink Pearl (US) or Dark Blue (UK/Europe) - 8P4 - Lovely deep pearl blue, possibly deeper blue than the Candy Aleutian. Close enough to the original, whilst working with the stronger red. Hopefully I'll be shooting some colour this weekend! Got to try and lay out the stripes first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer InvisibleCities Posted June 21, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted June 21, 2012 Looking forward to seeing the paintwork! For a bit of inspiration, a very well done (IMHO) modern day take on the classic RWB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 Managed some progress today. Got my tyres fitted yesterday, and checked the balance. Only needed 10g on the rear, the front was pretty well spot on! And I managed to finish the centre stand off, added the lever and stop, so that I could use the original rubber pad that used to be in the LH silencer. Checked it with the spring in place to make sure there was still some tension in the spring at the retracted position. Clears the tyre nicely! I am waiting for a large delivery of new parts from David Silver Spares (major UK Honda parts supplier, specialising in pre-2002 Hondas, www.davidsilverspares.co.uk), which should allow me to get the bike to a rolling frame. This will mean that I can wheel the VF and the CX outside to have more room to finish spraying the panels. It's too tight in the garage at the moment, there are parts everywhere! My first go at painting the tank was promising, but highlighted every single flaw! So I have started virtually from scratch again! By the time I get this finished I just know it'll be the dead of winter and it'll be too cold to go riding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 I was struggling to find a front mudguard (OK, fender) for this, so for the princely sum of 1.98 plus postage I acquired 2 CBR400 mudguards off fleabay. I got the first one thinking I might be able to use it as-is, but the part that would fit between the forks is too wide towards the back. So I got another one, cut them both in half and plastic welded/bumper fillered them together. I'm hoping that they are joined together well enough, and that the bracket will support them adequately. The CBR mudguard won't fit on the VF bracket so I have designed one and put a little spoiler on the back, inspired by the VF1000s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoke4ndmears Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 That's a pretty good red! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Yet another inspiring build. Nice job indeed and tastefully resto-modded. Very curious to see how the exhaust works out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 So this weekend has been very busy on the bike. I have now got a rolling frame! Forgot to take any pictures of that, but that has allowed me to wheel both bikes outside to gain some garage space. So this weekend I have been painting the panels I prepared previously. I am by no means a professional painter, but seeing as it's cost me no more than time and the materials I am quite pleased with how the first panels have come out. My friend Stu did the decals for me, and I'm really pleased with them too. There are some parts on the frame that will have to come off for paint/powder coat but it's great seeing the bike start to look like a bike again. I'd forgotten how much smaller and lighter it is than a CX Eurosport! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer thor294 Posted September 2, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted September 2, 2012 Interesting. the tank/rear look the same as the US version, but the front is very different. Looks like a fun restore! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer InvisibleCities Posted September 4, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted September 4, 2012 Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Rebuild is progressing slowly, and there are more parts working their way onto the bike. I'm preparing to fight with the carbs to get them back on, and may have to buy new carb rubbers. I think I'll try with the existing ones one last time first. Can anyone tell me if the VF500 is supposed to be fitted with carb drain tubes from the nipples on the bottom of the float bowls, and if so where do they run? I can't find them in my stripdown pictures, or on any online fiche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 My VF750 and VFR750 never had any drain tubes off the carb drain nipples. I suppose you could add some nice clear ones though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted September 30, 2012 Author Share Posted September 30, 2012 Great, thanks Veefer! I am slowly getting to the stage where the bike can be fired up, and don't want fuel sitting in the bowls over the winter, in case the bike doesn't make it onto the road this year. Might get some plastic Y-pieces and tees so that I can connect all four to a drain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 To drain my carbs before each winter, I cut apart a tall, narrow 1 litre oil jug lengthwise, so it was able to fit in-between the vee of the cylinders and underneath the carbs, so that when I opened the carb drain screws, the gas would flow into the oil container. I would drain 1 carb, empty the container, and repeat. It worked good, and I didn't have gas draining all over my engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazVF500 Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 Been making some progress on the bike lately, I eventually got the carbs back on using some tips from this site and others, by soaking the rubbers in boiling water, using a little oil, and hugging the carbs on using a piece of wood on the airbox lower against my chest and pulling on the lower frame rails. I'm not that big a guy so I couldn't put enough weight on the carbs to get them in. Must have been quite a sight, I'm glad there are no pictures of that! I've decided to wrap my exhaust in order to keep the heat away from the fresh paint. The thinking behind it is that there used to be a pipe running beside either side of the lower fairing, but now with my new exhaust I've got 2 down one side, and don't want the extra heat to affect the paint or the plastic of the bodywork. Unfortunately i ran out before I could do the whole exhaust, but never mind. So now she looks like this:- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer InvisibleCities Posted October 6, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted October 6, 2012 Super! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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