Out For My Last Ride Of The Season And Look What I Found, Bought, And Just Sold...

[tomk1960]

Michael is of course joking. When he first got that VF750, he was skeptical about it. I told him that it would rival his 900F in regards to acceleration and power and he said "No way." Now that he's been riding it a while and has fallen in love, he'll tell you that it's faster than his 900F. Never say never - he's another convert.

[arrow]

Great thread, I love how folks here fix and bring old machines back to life. This was already in great shape, but still...

I'm curious as to how the cam problems were solved in the VF750. I remember reading that the cams were actually OK, but the placement was not totally horizontal (off by a very small degree?) and this led to oscillations which resulted in premature wear. Was all the VF line afflicted, or just the 750? How do the current owners fix this problem? Sorry for the questions, it's just that I searched around and couldn't find satisfactory answers and thought this would be the best place to ask...

[tomk1960]

I can't really tell you what was done to resolve any cam issues that took place way back in the 80's, but here is an excellent write-up by Mike Nixon that explains the real issue. It's well written and makes a lot of sense. He was there, working for Honda when this was all going down.

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/v4_cams_what.html

Glad you're enjoying the thread. I'll have more updates tomorrow as I get closer to finishing this bike up.

[tomk1960]

Here's how the bike sits as of this afternoon:

You can't necessarily see everything I've done, but it's a fair amount so far. Besides the overhauled carbs, adjusted valves, coolant system flush, coolant tube, O-ring replacements, a lot more has been finished or will be done soon. This past week saw me finish rebuilding the forks, mount and balance new Battlax tires front and back, new chain, (old one was frozen in numerous spots) new wheel bearings front and back, rebuild the clutch slave cylinder, and a fair amount of cleaning. The calipers and master cylinders have been thoroughly cleaned and are ready for the new K&L kits. I have new EBC pads ready to go in. I estimate another 3-4 hours to get everything back together, bled, and ready for Rice-O-Rama. I think I'll have it ready in time.

[VFR4Lee]

Man, that frame looks so skinny.

Seems like a good example of it takes more work to rebuild something,

than to build it in the first place. Keep on going.

[arrow]

I can't really tell you what was done to resolve any cam issues that took place way back in the 80's, but here is an excellent write-up by Mike Nixon that explains the real issue. It's well written and makes a lot of sense. He was there, working for Honda when this was all going down.

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/v4_cams_what.html

Glad you're enjoying the thread. I'll have more updates tomorrow as I get closer to finishing this bike up.

Great link, it explains everything in perfect detail...

[Kel]

Looking good Tom.

[tomk1960]

Inching closer to completion. Last night I rebuilt the 3 calipers and 3 master cylinders, along with the slaves. Tonight I bolted the caliper brackets and calipers back on, hooked up the lines, and bled the front and back brakes. I have a nice firm lever and pedal now and no dragging. Tomorrow I'll bleed the clutch system and it will be ready to ride. Lots of cleaning and polishing to do between now and Sunday, (Rice-O-Rama) but it's getting exciting to be so close to mechanical completion now.

Somehow I think a plate from one of the others in the garage is going to accidently find it's way over to this bike in the next day or so. ;)

[Kel]

Can't wait to see it Tom. I keep telling myself that I'll start detailing my bike tomorrow...I've said that the last 4 days. I thought today was the day...but I'm thinking maybe tomorrow.

Odds are very good I'll end up just hitting it with some Honda Polish Sunday morning. Any precious spare time is spent riding. Oh well.

[bswiles]

Well after much thought I've decided not to bother with my interceptor any more. I'll be buying a Harley. If anyone wants my bike, I left it at work in the trash and walked home this morning.

May I have your carbs, cams, sideplates, and radiator? You know...since you are just throwing them away

[bswiles]

Inching closer to completion. Last night I rebuilt the 3 calipers and 3 master cylinders, along with the slaves. Tonight I bolted the caliper brackets and calipers back on, hooked up the lines, and bled the front and back brakes. I have a nice firm lever and pedal now and no dragging. Tomorrow I'll bleed the clutch system and it will be ready to ride. Lots of cleaning and polishing to do between now and Sunday, (Rice-O-Rama) but it's getting exciting to be so close to mechanical completion now.

Somehow I think a plate from one of the others in the garage is going to accidently find it's way over to this bike in the next day or so. ;)

Looks great Tom...I love the fact you are getting another old one back on the road...congrats

[tomk1960]

As soon as I got home from work yesterday, I got right back to the Interceptor. It took a little longer to bleed the clutch master cylinder vs. the brakes, but that was probably because of the extremely long line going from the MC to the slave. After all the air was out of the line, I could tell that the slave wasn't pushing the rod to activate the clutch. I was a bit puzzled by this, so I unbolted the slave and watched the piston as I carefully pumped the clutch lever. I got the piston to move out close to the edge and then stopped and bolted it back on. A few pumps of the lever and voila - the clutch was working.

I rolled the bike out into the driveway and after sitting for a few weeks, she fired right up. It was finally time for a test ride. I live on a quite side street with a cul de sac, so I headed in that direction. I immediately noticed a distinctive "badump...badump...badump" every time the wheels went through a revolution. That didn't feel right, so I went right back and into the garage. Since I mounted and balanced the tires myself, a little inspection was in order. Sure enough, even though the front tire was holding air fine, I could see that the bead wasn't fully seated in the rim. 5 minutes later, that was straightened out and my next ride felt a lot better.

Tonight I'll focus on cleaning and waxing in preparation for Rice-O-Rama on Sunday. As of last night, this is how she looked:

Tomorrow a REAL ride will be in order.

[tomk1960]

The bike is done and after a few hours of detailing, it's ready to show tomorrow.

As suggested, I didn't go refinishing everything like I did with my VF1000F. I left this in it's original condition, which is excellent. The condition of the front end's finish was still really nice:

The original paint is still nearly perfect. A wash and a wax brought the shine right back.

Most important, the bike is now mechanically very sound. Work done includes:

Rebuilt entire brake system front to back - master cylinders, calipers, new pads

Rebuilt clutch master cylinder and slave

Rebuilt front end - new fork seals, bushes, and dust caps

Adjusted valves

Completely overhauled carbs

New Battlax tires

All wheel bearings replaced

Coolant flushed and replaced

New Big Crank battery

Next week I'll get it registered and start enjoying it. This was a fun project and wasn't quite as involved as my other Interceptor.

My next project bike just arrived...something completely different.

This one is going to require a little more work.

[Switchblade]

Dam looks good !!!

[Guest]

Tom,

That is a nice bike. Glad I looked up this thread after seeing it at Rice O Rama yesterday. I have three in a shed.. one I rode a few years ago, I need to get the desire back to get it back in riding shape this winter for next season.

[tomk1960]

Finally got to take the bike out for a "real" ride today and boy, what a blast. It runs absolutely great and I'm thrilled. It revs up nice under load and has plenty of power, shifts smoothly, and the brakes are very nice. This will easily kick my '82 CB900F's ass, although I still love that bike too. Then came the photo op:

Too bad there's only a couple months of riding left. It's going to fly by.

[Guest]

I can't really tell you what was done to resolve any cam issues that took place way back in the 80's, but here is an excellent write-up by Mike Nixon that explains the real issue. It's well written and makes a lot of sense.

I had an 82 V45 Sabre that suffered the 'soft' cam shafts, luckily I picked up a complete bike as a spare and someone had replaced the cams and all the rocker gear as well as fitting a modified oil feeder. The new cam had still looked like new at 85000 klms when I sold the bike.

[bswiles]

Finally got to take the bike out for a "real" ride today and boy, what a blast. It runs absolutely great and I'm thrilled. It revs up nice under load and has plenty of power, shifts smoothly, and the brakes are very nice. This will easily kick my '82 CB900F's ass, although I still love that bike too. Then came the photo op:

Too bad there's only a couple months of riding left. It's going to fly by.

Tom, You need a 500 to complete the trifecta!

[tomk1960]

After riding the VF750F for several weeks, I decided that having a 750F and 1000F Interceptor were somewhat redundant. If I had never owned the VF1000F, then I wouldn't know what I was missing. But every time I took the 750 out and twisted the throttle, I missed the ridiculous power that the 1000 has. I didn't want the 750 sitting idle for long periods of time in between rides, so I decided that it needed a new home. I put it on eBay several weeks ago and it was sold within 7 days. A guy in MD who absolutely loves these bought it and is very excited to have it heading his way. Today the shipping company arrived and I watched it carefully loaded up and taken away. Mixed feelings for sure.

I'm glad that I was able to bring this one back to life and get it in really good running condition. It's now going to be enjoyed by a new owner and hopefully a new member here soon.

Next project already underway...'78 GL1000!

[CornerCarver]

Kudos again on an amazing reclamation of a classic, some say the classic, sport bike that started it all.

That 1 litre V4 power is addictive and hard to live without once you have experienced it.

Congrats to the new owner, maybe he will chime in here when he takes delivery of that beauty.

[tomk1960]

Congrats to the new owner, maybe he will chime in here when he takes delivery of that beauty.

We will be staying in touch and I'll encourage him to join the forum. He already has a low mileage 750 and seems to know quite a bit about them.

One thing I noticed with the VF750 was the clip-on's had a slightly differrent downward angle from the ones on my VF1000F. I actually liked them a little better and may try to find a used pair to swap over.

[VF1000RS]

Congrats to the new owner, maybe he will chime in here when he takes delivery of that beauty.

We will be staying in touch and I'll encourage him to join the forum. He already has a low mileage 750 and seems to know quite a bit about them.

One thing I noticed with the VF750 was the clip-on's had a slightly differrent downward angle from the ones on my VF1000F. I actually liked them a little better and may try to find a used pair to swap over.

Just remember that the 750`s fork tubes are 39mm in diameter and the 1000`s are 41mm. I`m sure there is enough built-in beef that you could have them bored out.

[Kel]

That bike and the new owner are lucky you got your hands on her. We all thank you.