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Tom's Vf1000F Revival


tomk1960

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Making good progress there. I have just bought the equivalent model here in Australia. I'm learning with you! :cool:

cheers Will.

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Definitely replace the carby insulators - much easier to get carbies back and no splits or leaks.

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Got the other coolant tube out today without too much fuss, but it was definitely in there good. Then I drained the oil and pulled the valve covers. Here's a shot of one of the cams.

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The lobes looked to be in nice shape and the others look similar. No excessive wear that I can see. The cover gaskets were glued onto the covers, so I have to assume that they were off at least once for an adjustment. Perhaps this engine led a reasonably good life. So the big question is this - should I spend the nearly $300 for the top end oiler kit? This will be the time to install it if it's going to be done.

The valve covers went down into the shop and looked like this:

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After spending at least 15 minutes of cleaning the gluey crap off the gasket surface of the rear cover, it got degreased and then got blasted.

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Hopefully I'll have time to finish both of them this coming weekend, along with the coolant tubes. Then that will be it for VF1000F powder coating until the fall.

Once I get the valves adjusted, it will be time to start putting things back together. I'll be looking forward to it.

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Tom, the holes the head water pipes go into were full of caked on muck. The Dremel with a green scourer type wheel was my friend to clean them out.

The cam cover gaskets were glued in by honda at the factory.

One of my 1000r cams is nearly identical to yours with respect to the lobe fretting. I am going to keep an eye on it, oil mod, and do frequent oil changes.

Pm me at 1100.net about oil mod kits.

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I guess your powder coating the valve covers ? should look good.

Absolutely - no way will I put those grungy covers back on looking like that! I'll be using a chrome base and high gloss clearcoat on these. It ends up looking like polished aluminum. I have the same finish on my Super Sport valve covers and the finish looks just as new now as it did a couple years ago when I installed them. I'll post pics once I finish them this coming weekend.

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I've made more progress refinishing parts this week. If you recall, the coolant tubes looked pretty bad...

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After blasting and washing, they got a coat of zinc primer, which is sprayed on in powder form and partially cured in the oven:

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And here they are all finished in low gloss black, very similar to the original finish:

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The alternator cover was a mess and had to come off:

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And here it is tonight after I refinished it:

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The valve covers are next and then I'll be in good shape for reassembly once I finish the mechanical work. It's coming along.

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Tom I wish you were closer, I would be sending boxes of 1000R parts to you for coating. Looks superb.

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Tom I wish you were closer, I would be sending boxes of 1000R parts to you for coating. Looks superb.

Thanks Jeff. I wish I could help you out, but I imagine shipping costs would be atrocious.

I had a DOHC valve cover to do for a customer, so it was a good time to take care of these hideous things at the same time:

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Chrome basecoat followed by super durable wet clear topcoat and voila:

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This is what my tank looked like when I got it - paint was virtually flawless except for one evil dent:

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My paint guy in West Virginia was able to repair the dent, repaint just the upper white area, and then clearcoat the entire tank. He even did a little touchup work on a few chips down below in the blue corners. It came out GREAT!

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A couple more small odds and ends and the refinishing work is done for now. This weekend the valves will get adjusted.

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While I've been waiting for my valve covers and one final coolant-related seal to arrive, I took care of little odds and ends that needed cleaning up and detailing. The valve cover bolts were pretty disgusting and had some light rust starting on the tops of some of them.

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A few minutes on the buffing wheels and they cleaned up nicely. Not perfect, but presentable for sure.

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I was going to wait and put the forks on after I reinstalled the lower radiator, but since a missing seal is holding that up, I went ahead with the forks. Easy enough and it's so nice to be putting parts back ONTO the bike instead of taking them off.

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Can someone tell me what color the calipers were originally? Mine look more grey than black, and I'll want to know before I remove them for refinishing and rebuilding.

My top end oiler kit is here and will be a piece of cake to install with the carbs off and oil lines out of the way. That should be on by the end of the week

Within another day or two I should have the rest of my parts and can really go to town with the remaining assembly work. I'll post more pictures and updates again soon.

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I've been busy and have made a lot of progress in the past couple weeks. The valves are adjusted and the cam lobes were in good shape, so there was no premature wear due to poor top end oiling. Then the refinished valve covers and new gaskets were installed to complete the job.

Just to make sure that there's never a cam wear issue, I installed a top end oiler kit from Dave Dodge. With the carbs off and plenty of space to work, it was a piece of cake to install.

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The oil lines coming up the side of the engine and are fairly innocuous, since they're covered with black heat shrink tubing.

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The new lines replace the original steel oil lines that originated from a banjo fitting on the left side above the transmission.

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Look close and you can see the refinished coolant tubes which were all reinstalled with new O-rings and seals. I took THX113's advice and removed the caps to make sure there were no clogs.

Other work completed includes the rebuilt/refinished front end installed.

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The brakes haven't been refinished yet. They were working fine when I brought the bike home, so I'm just going to flush them and re-bleed with new fluid. This winter they'll be rebuilt and powder coated. Maybe sooner if I get my hands on a spare set of calipers and an extra master cylinder. Anyone have a spare they want to sell? Braided lines are part of the plan too.

From day one I thought the rear fender was god-awful to look at and that it made no sense on this bike.

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There was no way I was going to leave it this way, so I bought a spare rear fender on eBay and cut it. Then I glass beaded it and rubbed in a healthy dose of Vaseline. You can see the excess still on the fender in the picture below. The next day I wiped off the excess and ended up with a brand-new satin finish.

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A galvanized T bracket from Home Depot made a perfect license plate bracket and a strip of bright white LED's are tucked up above to illuminate the plate.

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There - that's much better.

My friend Mark in WV did his magic on the tank. He fixed the dent, repainted just the upper white section and then clearcoated the whole tank. It came out great.

TankFinished_zps4704b06e.jpg

The carbs will go back on this weekend and the chain and sprockets will be replaced as well. Then I can fire her up and sync the carbs. If all goes well, I will be registering the bike next week and my goal of having it done by July 4th will be met. We'll see how it goes.

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Yesterday I wrapped up the bulk of the work on the bike. The rear sprocket was bolted on and the wheel reinstalled with the new chain, then adjusted. Front and rear brake systems were flushed/rebled, the return holes in the master cylinders were unplugged, and the same was done with the hydraulic clutch. Then the carbs went back in followed by the airbox. Installing the inline carbs are easier - the "V" configuration is a bit challenging if you don't know any installation tricks

.

Today I flushed out the cooling system and filled it with a 50/50 mix of distilled water and antifreeze. Then I hooked up my aux. fuel tank, turned the key, and hit the starter button. The engine fired up within a couple seconds and was idling nicely within a short time. After I got the air worked out of the cooling system, I buttoned things up and took a couple of pictures.

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It rained off and on for most of the day, so I didn't get a chance to ride it until late afternoon. It was a short ride for only a couple miles, but it ran GREAT. Can't wait to really run it through the gears.

There are a bunch of things left to do, such as do a proper rebuild of the entire brake system, clutch master cylinder and slave, refinish the center stand, exhaust mid-pipe, etc. For now I want to ride and enjoy the bike and when riding season ends, I'll dig back in.

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Thanks guys. I still have more to do, but I've made good progress. I registered the bike today and got it inspected without a hitch. It runs pretty well, although it seems to stumble a bit around 6000-6500 rpm if I jump on it. I need to check carb sync and am also a bit suspicious of the 29 year old coils and wires. I was thinking of upgrading to a set of CBR600 F2 or F3 coils (plenty available on eBay) and new wires. Any thoughts or suggestions?

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