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On 8/7/2019 at 1:24 AM, VFROZ said:

The only concern with the ones you point out is no cooling.

I've bought these:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Nighteye-72W-9000LM-H4-HB2-LED-Headlight-Kit-Hi-Lo-Beam-Globe-Bulbs-6500K-White/252920366279?epid=6026513713&hash=item3ae33a84c7:g:noAAAOSwwvtb08nX&frcectupt=true

And I'm very happy with them.

They dont shine the light forwards, but back towards the reflector.

They also have a cooling fan and fit the 5G.

Light output is high, and low beam cut off is the same as stock bulbs.

High beams are much much better.

I do wish they wern't so white, I prefer around 4000K which is still white but I can't seem to find them.

Oz,

Actually, those LEDs caught my eye because they don't have the cooling fins or fans. I was thinking they might be another newer generation of LED headlight. The technology changes so fast these days. I see others with the cooling fins designed inside the lens capsule. And your Nighteyes are available here in the States too. I'm guessing the heat generated from the LED circuits is not a problem under the instrument display.

 

Like you, I prefer a color not quite so dazzling as the 6500K lamps. But that seems to be the current standard, unless you want to go for a different color entirely. (blue?)

 

Thanks for your experience. I expect everybody will be using LEDs very soon.

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I have been running LED's in place of H4 halogens for a few years, starting with the Cyclops and now just using any generic Chinese bulb. I have used fan-cooled and no-fan, one key difference is the no-fan bulbs will run just the high or just the low emitters, the fan-cooled units will keep low on all the time and add high when you select high beam; so you keep good near illumination plus add the long distance light. Regarding heat, the LED's are generally consuming a fraction of the power of a halogen and converting more of that into light, so my view is they will always run cooler than halogen. I've also experienced using a 100W halogen bulb and that had enough heat to melt the plug connector on the back...

 

Provided you get LEDs in which the position of the high and low emitters mimics that of the the halogens, you will get near-enough the same beam spread.  And you also need to make sure you have a low beam cut-off shield which confusingly sits in front and below  the low beam emitter, so you don't dazzle others. There are "H4" bulbs that have an H4 base but nothing remotely close to the correct configuration. 

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On 8/6/2019 at 10:38 PM, GebruikerNotLID said:

 

JZH has taken pains to explain to me how anything but the genuine Honda bulbs just won’t work right behind the factory lens. (Re thread beginning Sept 20 2018) Generic H4s kindof don't work because the bulb gets tilted in the fitting, causing alignment problems. But these LEDs would not only get tilted, they seem to have the light emitters in an entirely different place. Look at the photograph. They're side to side, left and right, when they should be top and bottom. I think.

 

I didn't mean that you could only use OEM Honda bulbs, but if you use something else (on a US-spec bike of that era) you will have to do some mods--and some mods are better than others.  There is a mod to the 3rd/4th gen headlight unit that is, in my opinion, very elegant and effective.  That is the Bob Peloquin H4 mod, which involves dremeling the headlamp housing to make regular H4 bulbs fit perfectly, but it is not for the faint of heart.  Then there are mods to regular H4 bulbs, which vary from the okay to the horrible.  Whatever you do, remember that the exact position of the light source (filament, HID capsule or LED) is very important in a reflector headlamp system, so if you just "slam it in there" your beam pattern will almost certainly suffer (and isn't that what you're trying to improve?)

 

Good luck with the Philips.  They're usually decent quality, but I kind of gave up on worshiping OEM stuff when I discovered that Philips itself was marketing (evil) HID conversion kits in Asia.

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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On 8/7/2019 at 6:34 PM, Terry said:

...I have used fan-cooled and no-fan, one key difference is the no-fan bulbs will run just the high or just the low emitters, the fan-cooled units will keep low on all the time and add high when you select high beam; so you keep good near illumination plus add the long distance light. Regarding heat, the LED's are generally consuming a fraction of the power of a halogen and converting more of that into light, so my view is they will always run cooler than halogen. I've also experienced using a 100W halogen bulb and that had enough heat to melt the plug connector on the back...

 

Provided you get LEDs in which the position of the high and low emitters mimics that of the the halogens, you will get near-enough the same beam spread.  And you also need to make sure you have a low beam cut-off shield which confusingly sits in front and below  the low beam emitter, so you don't dazzle others.

This is good stuff to know Terry. Thanks. Lots of good information. I'd never have guessed about the emitter cutoff on high beam for uncooled LEDs. And your comment makes sense about mimicking H4 bulbs too. Some of the LEDs have emitters on the sides rather than top and bottom. Some on 4 sides. Top and bottom emitters seem best to me, at least for lights that will work in generation 3 VFRs. Thanks again.

 

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On 8/8/2019 at 9:14 AM, JZH said:

I didn't mean that you could only use OEM Honda bulbs, but if you use something else (on a US-spec bike of that era) you will have to do some mods--and some mods are better than others.

...and I didn't mean that you meant only OEM bulbs would work either. 🙂 You see how my own attempt with standard H4s went on the first try. I wouldn't have the guts to try the proper modifications as developed by Bob Peloquin. I'd end up with the bike in a thousand pieces, scattered across the garage. And LEDs seem the obvious choice of the future.

 

BTW, Philips came through with a replacement bulb. So your faith in them can be partially restored.

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Body work

 

I’ve been alluding to the generally dismal condition of the plastics since I started reporting here. They were awful when I bought the bike and they haven’t magically improved in the past 18 months. I want to be positive about this, so ‘awful’ is not actually an entirely bad thing. It means I can experiment without worrying that I’ll make things worse. They can hardly get worse. Cosmetics were not an apparent priority for the previous owner. Or probably not PO-1 or PO-2 for that matter…

 

We’ve had a couple pretty hot days and evenings here in Connecticut, and it being August my riding mates are on various family vacations, so I decided to make a first attempt. I wanted to start modest and see if I could come up with a working procedure that’d give me an acceptable result overall. I’ve read lots of tutorials here and elsewhere online. Some of you have been good enough to encourage me too. My feeble attempt last year at vinyl wrap didn’t work out. And getting anything done professionally was never in the cards. So it's going to be rattle can paint from here on in. Happily, it appears that relatively good things can come from regular old spray paint. So, off we go.

 

Even though I can envision beautiful paint schemes, my goal is more modest. Decent rather than spectacular. It's never gonna look like this...

 

970003847_londonvfr2.thumb.jpg.749f705b4b714f679c4da5beb76e630a.jpg

(pic shamelessly stolen from UK based VFRd member, VFR. I can't find your source page now).

 

Instead, I've been using Lorne's 92 for inspiration. Not that Lorne's bike isn't just as fine as this white one. But at least his scheme is within reach. Thank you Lorne!

 

 

Paint choice

 

First things first. I was thinking I'd get to pick my color. Yay. When the whole bike is a mess, you are free to begin from scratch. That was my original thought anyway. The bike came from the factory painted Honda granite blue, otherwise known to most people as metal flake black. Various previous owners must have used generic black on the plastic bits. Those bits appear to have been scrounged not just from Honda black VFRs, but also from Honda red VFRs and Honda white VFRs. They are not in great shape.

 

If I were ambitious and experienced and brave, I’d go for something radical…like that pearl white above, or even RWB. But I’m not patient enough and you know my level of experience already. Brave? Yeah, sure. So for this first attempt, I’m sticking with black… So much for color choice. The thing is, the gas tank is in decent shape. It has some scratches but I think those can be mostly polished up and out, and I don't want to mess with anything more than I really have to. That means the plastics paint scheme has to complement the gas tank color. And that pretty much eliminates lots of good colors. VFR red…out. White…nope. Yellow? Not my thing. None of the VFR colors match black as easily as well, black. There it is. It's probably easiest. For a first attempt anyway.

 

So, off to the DIY store. In Connecticut that usually means Lowe’s. And there you get lots of choice in spray paints, and even when limited to only black color spray paint. They all promise good results. It was gently suggested I try Krylon paint over other brands. That was okay by me. I have no opinion. I read labels until I got a headache and then, just because I couldn’t decide…I grabbed this stuff.

 

 IMG_2206.jpg.eebbec320c9b63726981f620ed492f48.jpg

 

 

Fusion Gloss Metallic Black Stainless. No runs. No drips. No errors. Fusion because you don’t need to prime separately...and it sounds cool. Gloss Metallic because the gas tank has that metal flake in it. Black because well, there was no Krylon Honda granite blue. It was not so expensive. On sale for about $5 a can. I splurged. I’m guessing I’ll need three or four cans for everything. No runs. No drips. No errors. We'll see about that. I also took some Fusion Aluminum Silver Gray Metallic. I might maybe get creative with some exotic grey among the black if I think I can stand the excitement 😁 We’ll see. One step at a time.

 

Then there's Clearcoat. Clearcoat is a tough call. It confuses me more than anything else. One generally accepted drawback to any rattle can paint is it won’t be as tough as a proper professional spray. Clearcoat protects it. Near as I can tell, I should go for 2K clearcoat…which is a kind of epoxy that is shiny and tough and especially resistant to things common around motorcycles, like oil and gasoline. But it's dangerous to use. The 2K will kill you if you breath the vapor...

 

Product Description

A high-gloss 2-component clear coat for the permanent sealing of coated surfaces. Especially developed for parts and repair refinishing. This product has a long-lasting resistance to weathering & chemicals. It is quite easy to polish. SprayMax 2K Clear Coat has a highly smooth flow and an excellent filling capacity; it is especially used for larger surfaces (1 or 2 car parts).

This product contains isocyanates which are toxic to the respiratory system. A respirator mask is mandatory when using this product, or any product with isocyanates. 

 

https://www.spraymax.com/en/products/product/clear-coats-and-spot-blender/2k-clear-coat/

 

 

In any case, Lowe’s doesn’t sell 2K clearcoats, so I just got regular old clearcoat. Yeah. Not sure. It can be returned if I don’t use it anyway.

 

Meanwhile, no more stalling. Time to get an idea of what I was up against. Um, if you have a weak stomach for this kind of thing, it might be good to look away now. As I've said, the bike has most all the required plastic pieces in one form or another. The smallish tail section seemed as good a place as any to dig in. If the paint doesn't set up properly here, then I'll rethink the whole process.

 

The tail sections on third generation bikes came in three main separate pieces: left, right, center. Plus a couple smaller bits. Later I think Honda just made one big U shaped piece.  Anyway, here is what the tail looked like...

 

 

IMG_2200.jpg.f7c41257ae76e56b81e980e927b1aefe.jpg

 

 

IMG_2203.jpg.10b958fafd608e28a017654b0d835b57.jpg

 

 

The pictures don’t really do it justice. The previous paint job may have been done while the bits were actually on the frame. With a brush. There is no sign of any finishing work. The effect is sortof a lumpy semi-gloss finish, accentuated by several drips and runs. There are gouges in the plastics that were just painted over. Even by my middling standards, come on… sanding out a plastic gouge takes about 30 seconds. Also the three sections are mostly held together with zip ties. The old tabs are just gone. I might weld it to one piece.

 

 

ABS plastic

 

I learned from youtube that ABS plastic…which is the material we’re talking about here…can be essentially welded with what I think is acetone. By welding, I mean the plastic just melts when exposed to acetone and then rehardens in a new shape when the acetone evaporates. And that means it can be pretty easily repaired and made as good as new. You can also make and add ABS patches from any old scraps. Where do you get ABS scraps? It’s everywhere. The black stuff they make TV sets out of…ABS. Computer cases, VCRs, radios…there are mountains of the stuff in junk yards littering the world. Cut the bits up in any handy shape, smear on some acetone based goo, wait 30 seconds or so and you’re done. Yes, it’s messy. And some folks like to use other things for reinforcements, like fiberglass webbing. I just used ABS to repair all the cracks and holes. It works fine I think.

 

(Ed. Dutchy and Snowman11 have recommended other options. Dutchy suggests Superglue with baking soda. Snowman uses Plastex. I have no experience with either of these yet. But maybe in the near future, especially if my method doesn't work out.)

 

Anyhow, I prepped some. That meant dismantling, cleaning up and fixing cracks. Then I wet sanded with 220 grit paper. I started out with 500 grit but progress was too slow and the scratches too deep. 220 worked better. After that, I went again with 500 grit. The bits in the tail are generally small so it didn’t take forever. I did it all by hand. Even a palm sander would be too big for such a job.

 

I wasn't sure when I had prepped enough. The gouges all came out but even 500 grit sandpaper still left plenty of tracks, and the earlier paint was still not completely smooth in places. I didn’t want to take all the old paint off if I could help it, but I just didn’t know. Anyhow, first attempt, right? 

 

(Ed. It turned out that even 220 grit sanding was probably sufficient. The finer scratches were just smoothed over by the relatively thick Fusion paint. YRMV)

 

After sanding, I wiped everything with some alcohol.

 

I read that the paint works better if you warm it up. That seems a clever idea. So I put it in a bath of pretty hot water for a few minutes. The directions say lots of light coats, every minute or so. Lots of shaking. Got it.

 

I ended up using maybe half a can. I don’t know how many coats I did. They were all light coats. Right away I noticed something unexpected. The paint isn’t black. It’s a kind of dark grey, closer to the color of my wheels. I suppose I don’t mind all that much, it'll still match the gas tank, but I didn’t expect it.  Now I'm thinking the bike might come out looking like a 2 wheel Honda Civic. The boys back at Krylon marketing might try labeling it differently in the future. 

 

IMG_2210.jpg.faeb1d71eeccb2570d747378eff2b242.jpg

 

 

But, yes. No runs, no drips, no errors. In that respect it looks okay so far. Decent. I have to wait now. I don’t know what to do next. You can see, the paint is not glossy but textured metal flake. It came out thick enough so all the small scratches and swirls were smoothed. I thought I’d be lightly sanding and then polishing and maybe painting more. But I might get away with just polish to get it to shine up. And no clearcoat. At the moment, that’s what I have in mind. Ever the lazy optimist. Krylon says 48 hours to completely dry, and seven days to cure. So I’ll put it back on the bike after tomorrow and try polishing next week. Meanwhile, here it is so far...

 

 

IMG_2220.jpg.6c9b3e3925b883c9ba9f9897dc852b01.jpg

 

 

Yes? I really like the way the tail section now looks like a 1950s kiddie car, or bobsled...or something 🙂  I'm satisfied that I can continue with the bigger bits. And, much as I hate to ruin a perfectly good red seat cowl, I plan to paint that too.

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Body work, continued

 

Man! I thought this thing was ugly on the outside! Every single piece of plastic on it is damaged in some way. No foolin. This job has been taking me waaaay longer than I'd anticipated. Rats. I am missing some good riding weather this weekend.

 

I've been proceeding with the ABS weld process rather than Leon's superglue or Snowman's Plastex. But I have both those in my head as backup. My ABS plumber's goo seems to be doing the job. One difficulty I'm having is that a previous owner used bondo in places. It's crumbling and detaching. Important tip: bondo is not the repair of choice for ABS. What a pain. I have to clean it out as best I can and rebuild around it.

 

Here's one for you experts. Can you identify this piece?

 

IMG_2271a.jpg.eefede829cf89b03204698e9f6498254.jpg

 

 

Is it:

a) a piece of a Sony television set, circa 1998

b) a piece of a Philips VCR, circa 1998

c) a new piece to my mid fairing, 1992

d) all of the above

 

If you knew the answer as d, then you have some idea what I'm doing this weekend. The piece took me easily an hour to make. It's actually cut more or less to size. Custom made for this gap here, on the right mid fairing:

 

IMG_2272a.png.d389b239306f434cb4cec888eeee67c2.png

 

 

I made a reinforcing tab on the back to try to stabilize it. The thing won't be anywhere near invisible, but I'm hoping to make it presentable once sanded and painted. In any case, it'll beat a big hole in the fairing. 

 

This is the kind of thing I'm doing that's slowing me down. And don't even get me started on the front blinker surrounds. 😒

 

(Ed. I have since been told that, in this kind of situation, most sensible repairers would fashion a slightly oversized rectangular patch, then cut out the irregular damage bigger, in the rectangular shape of the patch. Saving much time and effort, and getting a better result too. I'm an idiot...)

 

 

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Body work continued continued

 

 

So I was texting to a good friend about my progress so far today, and I sent him a few pictures with questions. This is a guy who sometimes works on classic cars and boats for fun. He does fantastic work. Show quality work. He said I was doing good too! Yay. He said I have some talent. Yay. He said he thinks I’m more than half done by now… Huh?

 

Half done? Half?! You bet your butt I’m more than half done. Try 90% done. Half done. I never said I was Rembrandt. I just want to get this thing back together and ride it. I’m wasting some gorgeous weather here sitting in the garage when I should be on the road. And while I admit that tinkering with the bike is kindof fun in a spray-paint-induced-loopy kind of way, it’s not what I’m in this for. Enough is enough. Half done.

 

You all can see for yourselves. This is the kind of result I’m getting. I don’t have many before pictures but this is now…

 

IMG_2283.jpg.7c8f7e827b699b10557e60fd0502060e.jpg

 

 

You see that panel patch I fashioned myself? That's from the previous entry. Bear in mind the circled part had been nothing at all. A hole. If it were perfect, you wouldn’t see it. If my nitpicking friend did it, you wouldn’t see it. According to him, if I keep at it, you won’t see it. Tough. As a concession, I may take another whack at some mid panel lumpiness. (see below)

 

IMG_2282a.jpg.b874ba46e9b8775a9dce934b3a1663f7.jpg

 

It means waiting for the paint to dry then re-sanding down to the plastic to get it smoother then repainting. I’m told that’s part of the deal. If you don't do proper prep, you risk seeing big flaws after painting. Too damn bad. You see those flaws in the finish? That’s my signature work. I made those. If anybody doesn’t like them, they’re welcome to come down here and give me a hand. I'm starting from scraps here, give me a break. For now I’m going back to the garage… I have other bits to do while waiting for the paint to dry. Half done. I don't think so. 😒 😁

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Since you are also staying in the Netherlands, you damn sure are expected to be a Rembrandt, van Gogh, Escher or bloody Rietveld!!!! :goofy:

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On 8/24/2019 at 9:50 PM, Dutchy said:

Since you are also staying in the Netherlands, you damn sure are expected to be a Rembrandt, van Gogh, Escher or bloody Rietveld!!!! :goofy:

 

Is that why they’ve been trying to throw me out all these years? I’m not Rembrandt? Jeez, You guys have high standards for foreigners. I wish somebody would tell me these things. I could've been taking a few painting classes…

 

I was going for this…

 

vfr750bb.jpg.edc3d9946bdf81373fc09f2a70071db7.jpg

(Lorne's 92.  http://www3.telus.net/lorneblack/vfr750_stock.html )


But now you make me see I should’ve been trying for this…

 

custom.jpg.bae10c5c408f8236d77a2cf62a24af42.jpg

(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/325174035594837852/?d=t&mt=login)


Curiously, I couldn’t find an online picture of a VFR in such dutch technicolor. Go figure.

 

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Closest VFR paint job I can recall is owned by someone on this forum (whose name escapes me, but he's from somewhere near Sacramento). 

 

694743556_RC36-IIVFRRacer.thumb.jpg.5d58340e0867bdca360ffb2f12f49c92.jpg

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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On 8/26/2019 at 11:17 AM, JZH said:

Closest VFR paint job I can recall is owned by someone on this forum (whose name escapes me, but he's from somewhere near Sacramento).

Jeez Louise. How can you tell there's a VFR inside there? 🙂 These paint schemes are fun. And could actually have the benefit of covering up shoddy body work that someone of lesser skill might produce. 

 

As it's turning out, that someone is looking like me. The bike is back together...sortof. And the paint is curing for a few more days before I can try polishing but boy, what a boring color it's turned out. I'm going to have to see what the marketing folks at Krylon have to say for themselves labeling this paint black. If I can get a luster on it, it'll be better.  And maybe some seriously bright decals. Think neon. But the best I can say just now is that it's better than before and I'm only out about 20 bucks. I'll take a couple pictures of course. I have to take a break. I did other stuff too... 

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Break from body work

 

Waiting for the paint to dry I’ve had time for a few other things I’d been avoiding.

 

Silicon Rectifier

 

IMG_2296a.png.c7e2d1e3f500da12354c4f8b41f7295a.png

 

 

Remember this? Of course not. Why would you. It was one of the first posts on this thread. There's a little diode buried in there. I got a new one as soon as I took the bike home 18 months ago. The neutral light kept coming on at every pull of the clutch. It's discussed here:

 

 

Way back then I took a look inside the fairing and couldn’t even find the thing in the wiring harness so small is it. Then I ignored it all for a year. After a while, I even stopped noticing the light. But yesterday with time to dig around, and the guidance of JZH, I looked again and found it, sure enough, hidden behind one of the coils, all wrapped in black tape. The job only took 10 minutes. I couldn’t get the harness out so I just cut open the tape on the exposed side with a razor blade and swapped out the diode. With Oxgard! Or was it dielectric grease? 

 


Oil Change

 

Another job I’d procrastinated on. The previous owner said the oil had been changed just before I got the bike, and since it was honey colored then, I took him at his word. That was 18 months and several thousand miles ago. He used a Hondaline filter and said he used genuine Honda oil. I don’t use either.

 

This is one of those topics endlessly discussed and most everyone has an opinion. My own was adopted from the guy at California Scientific, for some reason located in Missouri, the Show Me State 🙂  https://www.calsci.com/  I guess Missouri Scientific just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

 

If you don’t know the site, and have a few minutes, you might take a look. I recommend it. The guy’s written about different sorts of biking issues, and he doesn’t come across uninformed…although sometimes his personal sensibilities might make you raise an eyebrow. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been updating much. Most of his information is now 10 or 15 years old. But much is still relevant. And he writes about oils and filters at some length. For oil in his own bikes he uses Rotella T6 synthetic. This stuff. Now I do too.

 

 

IMG_2297a.jpg.f735ffaaf93137a47ec4f808848fc83c.jpg

 

 

Since he published his own report, the oil has been JASO MA/MA2 approved so you can trust the Japanese Bureau of Standards if you are wary of the opinion of some random guy not from California.

 

IMG_2298a.png.a221d7b74334a9b69b7fe19c95000ea3.png

 

(It’s JASO DH-2 certified as well, so you are approved to use it in your diesel truck, if you have any left over from the bike)

 

The same guy dissected a bunch of oil filters. He recommended Bosch and Purolator Pure One. Sounds good to me. I got a Purolator this time around. I’ve since heard rumors that Purolator has slipped some after being bought out by another company. If my bike blows up, I’ll let you know.

 

I’m sure Honda is marketing and selling perfectly good synthetic oil and filters. But so is the automart.

 

 

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Body work, part four…and counting

 

 

So, the bits are back on the bike. And I've been for a few shake downs. Since painting and cleaning, it runs smoother faster stronger quieter. Whoda thought? 😉

 

I never really posted any detailed pictures of the plastics from last year when I took the bike home. Here’s one side, with a few, not all, problem areas circled…

 

IMG_0712a.thumb.jpg.a1bcd021b0f0445cdcf6a5cbfdabd2b9.jpg

 

 

I don’t have a similar picture of the other side. You’ll have to imagine it. It was about the same.

 

As of now, the overall finish of the new paint is okay. So with a certain reservation, I can recommend the Krylon Fusion Metallic paint. It covered up my mistakes pretty good. It didn’t drip or run. It smoothed over small scratches. There’s no orange peel. It’s just a textured metallic matte finish now, but it should get glossier when I polish it up or clearcoat. My biggest gripe, my only gripe really, is that their metallic black isn’t black. I wanted black.

 

Here’s the full selection of Krylon Fusion Metallic paints.

 

IMG_2263.jpg.98704980ffa76fe2c0fdbf30d2e32086.jpg

 

The palette doesn’t easily lend itself to the average VFR. Rose Gold motorcycle anybody? But the silvers and grays are more typical. To be fair, the black stuff I got actually does come out about the color of the cap on the can. So maybe it was wishful thinking on my part to assume black meant…black. They have it on sale for $5 from time to time.


For real VFR colors, the Krylons may come closest to the sheen of the Honda factory sword silver color? Maybe? At least that's the idea I'm getting. I don't think I've ever actually seen a bike that color in real life. My paint is substantially darker I think. This picture is off the net...

 

swordsilvervfr2.jpg.edcbae1456d42bafb65c6e2bf40f75aa.jpg

 

 

Need I add that mine isn't looking any where near as good as that. But if you squint hard and wait until dark, from a distance...nah, mine still doesn't look like that. Never mind. 😁

 

I'll go through a couple problem areas for anybody interested.

 


 

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Problem areas. 

 

Here’s the partial list. It’s a pretty long list.

 

Mid fairing

 

That right mid-fairing is still in rough shape. Besides the poor outer appearance, the structure had been reinforced in back with bondo. It won't even fit right.  I actually had problems slotting it back into place between the upper and lower fairings. I took a slightly...well let's say relaxed approach to that. I removed the upper bolts from the lower fairing and replaced those with zip ties. That allowed me some leeway in fitting in the mid fairing between the upper and lower ones.

 

IMG_2331a.png.c110a121eb3c475af85c6f1af9454175.pngIMG_2332a.png.a6d7b28ced9af2afaa4c8c0578a934b6.png

(These are pictures of the upper connections on the right side of the lower fairing. They're covered by the mid fairing when it is installed.)

 

You can see how the fairing can now hang just a little lower than it would with the bolt installed. I could've also bent the bracket down I think. That extra half centimeter gives me enough space. But why is that space even necessary? Dunno...

 

And are zip ties good enough? Nobody will see them under there, but I don’t know if they’ll work long term. My worry of course, is going out for a ride one of these days and coming home with several fairing pieces missing. Left behind somewhere on the road. So I’ll be monitoring everything carefully. Previous owners had also used more than a few zip ties in place of lost dzus bolts. (The front lower fairing is currently held in place only by zip ties. I really have to get a supply of those bolts soon. They're not the kind of thing you can find at Lowe's)

 

My take is that the ties should work okay so long as they are not pulled too tightly. None of the factory fairing bolts directly contact any plastic panels. They all have a fat head buffered by fat rubber washers. The body panels must need a little room to flex and absorb shock or else they'd crack. In places where a zip tie had been cinched tight on this bike, a crack always developed. Of course, the ties also look sloppy. That’s a different matter.

 

Still another right mid-fairing problem is that dodgy aft dzus bolt.

 

IMG_2336a.png.7d78172ca88dcef15c8955b21394d3ed.png

 

 

That was one great big hole that I simply glommed ABS glue into. There is no other reinforcement there at all. My guess is that somebody tried to remove the panel once, and forgot to remove that aft bolt, then ripped it right through the fairing. Nice. It then became one of the zip tie repairs. I let the glom of glue dry, smoothed it ...not enough... and drilled a hole through it. I’ll be keeping a close eye on that one too. You can see it's not recessed like it should be. 

 

The lower fairings had these rusty Phillips head screws. 

 

IMG_2333a.jpg.0471cdc45ca5fdb7a6a64c648a472ab8.jpg

 

 

JZH characterizes them as evil. Boy…and how! I barely managed to get them out and I’m not taking any chances putting them back. I replaced them with regular bolts along with a fat rubber washer. Yet another thing to watch. A little trick I picked up somewhere along the line is to put a tiny drop of rubber cement onto a bolt thread at installation, to essentially make a lock bolt. The cement isn’t anywhere near strong enough to hold against a wrench when you want to remove it, but it keeps the bolt from backing out on its own. The rubber cement always stays rubbery.

 

IMG_2335a.jpg.c62561fec6bcd69ff7394480c26ab558.jpg

(Lower fairing with a leftover bolt. I think that bolt belongs in the tail fairing. Oh, I hope not.)

 

 

Headlight valence

 

The headlight fairing valence thing is missing some kind of support structure. There are only two side screws, left and right, hidden underneath there. There were also two screw-in nylon rivets that were attached to nothing but air...

 

IMG_2302a.png.30dded8dcea30a04f632d3366bbf7346.png

...These nylon rivet things, attached to nothing at all...

 

So I removed those and ran thin zip ties up around the headlight fitting inside. You can't see the ties. They’re just acting as safety lanyards so I don’t lose the whole thing over a bump. I’m thinking I should make a simple ABS plastic support for inside there. It shouldn’t be hard to do. It doesn't have to be pretty because nobody will ever see it. But I’ll have to remove the whole assembly again. Maybe on a rainy day.

 

The upper tab is not great either. The whole thing is out of position because that lower support is missing...

 

IMG_2306a.png.d5e63c37d18a7addb81046b260843ec2.png

 

 

Annnnnd the tail fairing is a little jiggly too. I didn’t weld it. Just more zip ties. They worked before okay. Need I add, I'll keep an eye on it as well.

 

Whew. What else? I'll think of more...

 

 

 

 

 

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  • Gebruiker changed the title to Another RC36.1 Restoration
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JIS, not Philips....   And therein lies a root cause of mangled bolts....

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On 8/29/2019 at 5:42 AM, Dutchy said:

JIS, not Philips....   And therein lies a root cause of mangled bolts....

 

JIS? I never heard of it. This is good stuff Leon!

 

I also just discovered that Phillips heads are designed to "cam-out". Near as I can tell, that's engineering talk for strip... They're designed to strip?!

 

Phillips screws by design were created to cam-out; a process in which the driver is meant to jump out of the screw when a certain torque was reached. There are many theories to why, such as dangers of over tightening on airplanes, or tool longevity, but nevertheless at one time or another everyone will experience a Phillips round-out as a function of its cam-out design. 

 

http://rtstools.com/jis-vs-phillips-screwdrivers-and-where-to-buy-a-jis-screwdriver/

 

Thankyouverymuch for pointing this out. It's always fun to learn obscure new facts. Not that I'll be putting those mangled JIS screws back in. The bolts I have in there should work fine.

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2 hours ago, Dutchy said:

Do you have part #10?

 .......annnnnd yes, I have no part number 10. For that matter, I don't see a part number 8 laying around. And it's not obvious to me how #8 even fits in there unless it's a substitute for #7? 

 

I'm also wondering if bolts number 52 are the ones I used for the lower fairing...replacing the JIS(!) screws. If they're the same thread, then that could be the case...

 

So thank you again. I'll try to scrounge a part #10 from somewhere, although I also think I could make something up pretty easily from scraps of my tv/vcr casing. 🙂

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Next time you are in the Netherlands:

IMG-20190829-WA0003.thumb.jpeg.5e17e44536172d06cbb62251a8d76dd5.jpeg

 

4th gen, might fit yours

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In some markets, rules require headlights hi and normal beam lenses to appear "separate". In Italy for instance it is not required, hence #8 is fitted as standard

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On 8/29/2019 at 9:36 AM, Dutchy said:

Next time you are in the Netherlands:

IMG-20190829-WA0003.thumb.jpeg.5e17e44536172d06cbb62251a8d76dd5.jpeg

 

4th gen, might fit yours

 

Oh boy! According to partzilla, it’s the same piece...although I’m afraid to ask how you may have come by a spare...

 

CCC322C0-26FB-4EE6-B220-8C8B8121D9B7.thumb.png.b7425758070504e93d51277a75d5c4b0.png.30778f4381cb1b486c1b06adf05f9c79.png

 

 

 

I’ll be back there in a few weeks. Please don’t lose it. Thanks!  

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Yes, 8 is for Italy, 7 is for everywhere else.  The Italian headlight unit was a single-bulb design, actually.  (I have a #8 for my FP because I like the look of the dual bulbs without the #7 divider.)

 

The Air Guide is actually a more common part than you might expect.  Not only will RedSlut's part fit your bike, but you already have one!  Bizarrely, Honda used the same VFR part on the CBR1000FP...

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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17 hours ago, Dutchy said:

One of redslut's last remaining pieces...

 

Ouch. I was afraid of that. On the positive side, isn’t it reassuring that bits live on in new incarnations…and on new continents. We’ll have to dedicate the air guide to your old bike. Maybe etch the name in there, hidden from the world. 

 

I’ll be back there soon. We’ll work something out. 🙂


 

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