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  1. ...I bought this lightly used 2 year old VFR750, and haven't been without a Honda since then; several VFRs and a handful of VTR1000F. I'd bought the bike late that afternoon, and being early March it was a dark, damp first ride to visit my folks. I'd love to have it back, and in that condition.
    11 points
  2. I've been spending the winter scanning some of my old slides & negatives and this week I came across these two photos. First pic shows my 2nd VFR800 barely an hour after taking delivery back in Feb. 1999. It replaced my stolen red '98 and this time I opted for superfast yellow instead of yet another red bike. I'd had it fitted with a 3rd gen 8-spoke and both wheels painted a glossy pearl white. Beacon Hill park, in Victoria, is my goto spot for new bike pics. The 2nd pic shows my '91 VFR750 on it's final long ride, near Courthouse Towers in Arches NP, Utah.
    10 points
  3. Count me among those . . . swapped mine during the Covid lockdown in '20, was great to have something to do whilst stuck at home. Main things I can think of * 5th gen engine bolts right in to the 5th gen frame - no mods needed. * The "cushion" (Honda's term - I would call it "swing arm mount") that connects the swingarm to the engine is different - requires a 6th gen version to mount to the engine * Yes, the swingarms are slightly different * 5th gen uses remote coils with HT leads, 6 gen is 3 wire COP setup. This is the BIG thing to contend with in doing a swap. I retained COPs. Alternative is to source 5th gen harness and ECU and swap all that over. * 6th gen rads are larger, IIRC 2 additional rows * 5th gen cylinder heads are about 1 1/2" shorter - creates no issues * Shorter heads mean that the cam timing marks no longer appear through the inspection hole in the 6th gen frame (most people don't know why that hole is there). Makes valve adjustments more difficult. Suggest checking valves prior to doing swap * Despite cylinder head differences, throttle bodies are a direct swap * Hoses, thermostat, everything cooling system is interchangeable * If keeping 6th gen electronics, you WILL need a VTEC solenoid connected to the harness or you will get a no-start * 5th gen has a smaller alternator than 03 and up 6th gens. Currently swapping a 6th gen alternator over. * Despite all the similarities in the engine block, water pump, etc, 5 & 6 G alternator covers are different and do not interchange. * As mentioned above 4th through 6th gen gear ratios are different. The 5th gen is under-driven by 1 additional tooth, makes for about 200 rpm or so increase at 70 mph cruise. Barely noticeable. * Power output is indistinguishable. Honda did not add VTEC for power, torque or any other discernable butt-dyno reason. Maybe emissions, marketing, or who knows why. I don't miss it, and I do NOT miss the insanely difficult valve adjustments on the VTEC - the main reason I swapped it out. * Despite keeping 6th gen electronics, there is no VTEC "hit or kick" . There is a subtle change going through 6,800, but if no one knew about it, they would have no idea - nothing like it is stock. * Wheels and front rotors are interchangeable. * 6th gen brake system has 2 proportioning control valves vs 5th gen 1 - bleeding procedure is similar, but different. The linked brakes are plumbed differently between the 2. * 6th gen has available factory luggage * I have seen 6th gen tanks swapped to a 5th gen - doable but requires trimming the 5th gen bodywork in the front where it curves around the tank * 6th gen has available ABS. I've read that about 10% came with ABS, but I know of no documentation of that. On 1 occasion I was glad to have ABS, for me a good addition. * 5th gen has more room under the seat. That's probably more than anyone wants to hear. Owning both, I don't note much difference between them. And now, having one swapped, there's even less. If it weren't for ABS and the factory luggage for long-haul riding, I would probably stick with the 5th gen. However parts are getting harder to find for them, so I don't know how much longer they will be practical for daily or long trip riding. There are still times when I start the 6th gen that I just look at it and still can't get used to hearing that whine from the cams. For my $, that was the best engine Honda ever did or will make. I'm super happy with it.
    9 points
  4. Gentlemen, I give you VIN# 00089. Looking nearly as good as the day I brought her home from the dealer back in May 2001. She's not perfect, but I'd say the time spent in the garage has paid off nicely. Cheers, Justin
    7 points
  5. Hello! I'd like to introduce myself and my new (to me) 21,000 mile 1999 VFR! After riding vintage motorcycles for a while (1970 CB450K3 and 1969 CL350K1), I decided it was time to get a commuter that would be a little faster, more reliable, and most importantly.... FUEL INJECTED! After a lot of research and soul searching, I decided the VFR should fit my needs nicely. It's a substantial bump in HP, with a more comfortable riding position than a supersport, and it has that unique powerplant - apparently I have a thing for unusual valvetrains. Once I decided on a 5th gen VFR (it had to be fuel injected and it had to have that gear driven valvetrain), I waited until a clean one popped up for sale near me and pounced on it! A 1999 VFR in very nice condition, with all the OEM parts (muffler, signals, passenger pegs/grab handles) included, and just one problem - it doesn't charge the battery. Upon taking off the fairings, the reason why became quite obvious: Luckily, the stator and wiring seem to be good. No internal shorts when tested, 20V AC at idle and just over 50V when revved, even across all three legs. I just had to order a SH847 from Eastern Beaver with wiring kit and I should be ready in time for the season! So while I wait for that to ship, I've been cleaning, restoring it to OEM condition as best I can, and taking quick jaunts around town in an attempt to satiate my impatience. Thanks for the help - this forum was a great resource in diagnosing my charging issue and determining a course of action - and I hope to stick around!
    6 points
  6. The bike spent some time in a carport and the right side showed some fading from exposure to the elements. A light polish makes a difference in no time. That Italian Red pops nicely. Even with 39,000 miles the headlight cover cleaned up great. This piece was missing when I got the bike back. It's a bulb cover under the headlight assembly. No bulb on the US bikes but I wanted the cover in place regardless. Fuel tank cushions were also missing, now installed. Fairing bracket missing from the left side, now installed. Even got a new tool bag and rubber band. I noticed that the turn signal switch was sticky. Took it apart, cleaned and lubed inside. Now it moves freely as it should. All that remains now is to polish the windscreen, tail and side fairings, install and final wax. I ordered a taller windscreen that will be here soon, we'll see how well it works. I'm hoping it will direct the wind blast a bit higher. Also need to figure out how to polish some discoloration near the bottom of the Staintune pipe. I have a few metal polishes to try out. Getting closer to a real shakedown run. Cheers, Justin
    6 points
  7. LEDs are such a cheap, easy and effective mod. Highly recommended. You only need 5 for the backlights in the cluster. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08229N2Y5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Did a test spot with the polisher. I first used a rubber wheel on a drill to remove this old decal, then lightly hit the area with 2000 grit wet sand, followed by an initial pass of Ultimate Compound on an orange pad. Turned out nice. Before polishing: After:
    6 points
  8. I used a little MAF cleaner that I had on the shelf. Didn't take much. I suspect carb cleaner would have worked as well. Just a few light, quick sprays to remove the old lube that was on the contacts. I then added a little brake lube that was out since I did the rear brakes. Worked great. On the turn signals (and all of the plastics) I used Meguiar's Ultimate polish on a white foam pad with my dual action polisher. For small pieces like the turn signals it can be done by hand if you don't have a DA. Just clean the part, add a bit of polish to a clean microfiber, use circular motion with light pressure for maybe a minute. Wipe off when done to reveal the shine, repeat as needed. If you want to polish the tank and fairings, a machine polisher is the way to go. I was a bit surprised to find that the plastics on the bike are single stage paint (got some red paint transfer on the pad) and only the tank has clear coat. They did polish up nicely though. @Grum I tried some Autosol metal polish on the pipe and it worked very well. Thanks for the tip! The bike is basically put back together at this point. Just waiting for some clear weather for a shake down run and some outside pics. Cheers, Justin
    5 points
  9. Slowly making progress as parts come in. New hotness vs old and busted. Nice to be able to get an OEM part to replace the original with the failed epoxy repair. Now with Honda blue coolant, sorted! Honda oil and filter up next... Looking good. With new oil and coolant I started the bike and let it warm up, checking for leaks and luckily none were found. I also wanted to confirm that the cooling fan functioned correctly. I let the bike get up to 230* F and the fan did not kick on. After the bike cooled down I put it on the side stand and topped off the coolant level, then went to the manual. Per the manual the fan should kick on from 208*-216* F. So, following the manual I tested the fan motor by running a jumper from the fan motor switch connector to a ground with the key on. Fan motor works. Then I tested voltage, looks good. I thought I might need a new fan switch but decided to do a continuity test first. I put the switch in a vise and attached the leads from a multimeter. I then heated up the switch base with a propane torch. After a few seconds of heat, the multimeter confirmed continuity. I did this 3 times just to be sure. On the last one I listened to the switch as it cooled down, and heard the click. Reinstalled the switch and let the bike warm up again. This time the fan kicked on right at 219* F and off again at 206*F. I let that cycle 3 times before calling it good. Next up, rear brake pads. The fronts are fine but rears were getting low. There is a very good chance these are the rear pads I installed many years ago. (The damage on the left pad is from me using a flat screwdriver against the old pads to compress the pistons) Caliper cleaned, pins lubed, new pads installed and everything torqued to spec. Torqued the front calipers, axle bolt and fork pinch bolts. Found two caliper bolts that were slightly loose. Good to have peace of mind on these things. Next up, more polishing and more OEM parts to install. Added bonus, the weather is starting to warm up nicely! Cheers, Justin
    5 points
  10. On Friday I bought this 1993 vfr 750. Unbeknown to me, it's a 4th gen 93. I love the sound of that V4 singing And the raspberry pearl black is perfect to me.
    5 points
  11. Thanks Grum. It is a fun and somewhat mysterious project so far. Today I began cleaning things up. Took the rest of the body work off to inspect and wash inside and out. The fairings came out nice. I will machine polish all of the plastics before they go back on. Always interesting to see factory markings on the inside of things. Found more evidence of the left side drop, the gauge cluster is cracked on the lower left mount. I just took it out and super glued it back together. Luckily just the housing was cracked that I can see. Everything else looks ok. Took the opportunity to put LEDs in the backlighting slots as done on my other bike. That needle indicated 155 mph exactly once with me at the helm, in Death Valley around 2002. Actual speed would have been somewhere in the 140s but it was all she had. Still faster than my buddies Ducati 900SS at the time. We were headed to Las Vegas for Ducati Revs America. Ironically, after doing some top speed runs out in the desert we both got pulled over just outside of Vegas for doing 20 over. Found two more missing fasteners, and a lonely zip tie in place of one. The excess wasn't even snipped off. What kind of neanderthal put this bike back together? lol Just taking my time, trying to make a difference... Chain and sprockets are recent so they can stay. Little by little. Cheers, Justin
    5 points
  12. Welcome to the forum, Johnnie! I've never done track days, but I rode a 6th gen. VFR for over 14 years for a great variety of uses - commuting, touring, sport-riding in the twisties, and even lazy Sunday fun rides for a few hours. In my opinion, the VFR's strength is its all-arounder-ness. It's capable enough to embarrass less experienced or talented riders in the corners, but if they're on newer liter bikes, they'll probably whiz right past you in the straights. But if you're only doing track days and not racing, I think you'd have a blast on a VFR on the track and on the street. The V4 engine is just a terrific blend of power and character, especially when revving it from mid to high rpms. The big plus for many VFR owners are its ergonomics. I can't imagine riding a supersport more than 30 minutes at a time, but on my old VFR I frequently did all-day rides and trips where I rode 400+ miles a day. It's a bike that will get you to the good mountain roads comfortably enough, rather than having to trailer it, so you can enjoy the ride to and from, not just in the twisties. VFRs are not light, but the others above are right - once you're moving the weight is a non-issue. And the additional heft does make it more stable, including in high winds. And as others said above, too, it will run forever. And the wealth of information on this forum is a huge plus to VFR ownership.
    4 points
  13. Welcome to VFRD Johnnie. The question you're asking is almost impossible to answer as it comes down to personal preferences and expectations. I think everyone on here is by definition a fan of the VFR line. I'll try to offer my perspective and I'm sure others will chip in. The VFR is a fantastically well designed and built machine and the 8 Gen you are thinking about includes a number of improvements on niggles from earlier versions. It handles very well in a neutral way and can easily walk tall among sportbikes on the road in the right hands. The VTEC transition is almost negligible now and in my mind gives you 2 engine characters in one machine; a softer response below 6500 for cruising about (and circa 60mpg), or a bit of a hooligan from 7000 up if you're going for it and plenty fast enough for the real world if you value your licence. Bags or torque and sublimely smooth. It is quite heavy compared to a GSXR or R1 but the weight disappears when moving. It's also a taller riding position than a superbike or supersport. This makes initiating turning a little bit more effort but it's also more stable - particularly noticeable when it's windy. The higher seat height also means you probably won't and don't need your knee on the floor with one cheek off the seat unless you're really pushing. So it really depends on your personal preference. If you want race style flickability and raging superbike acceleration in a light package that has you lying on the tank testing your knee and wrist joints on every ride, the VFR ain't it. On the other hand if you want a well mannered road bike that will get you where you want to go in comfort and then offer good scratching potential and fun on your favourite curves, the VFR fits the bill. If you can, try to ride before you buy.
    4 points
  14. I've used this stuff on the lower exhaust on my 8gen. Keeps it nice and shiny. Picture - Lower exhaust after 90,000k's.
    4 points
  15. "Gaslight" directed by George Cukor in 1944 and starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Basically the bad guy husband in the 1880's in London tries to drive his wife crazy, including turning down the gaslights and then pretending nothing was wrong. Not a bad film for its era. I'm pretty sure this key bit of information will solve your rear shock issue immediately! 😎
    4 points
  16. A tiny big update. I wanted to do this for a long time but there is not alot of options for keeping this priced within my budget - untill I realized this was something you could buy as bolt on mod for ducatis. So one week later my panigale bolt on cover arrived and it turned out perfect. I wanted make this as low profile as possible so I had to move the filler neck inwards. The ring is welded on the outside and the neck from the inside. This makes me able to inspect the clutch and watch it rotate with ease! You see it's kind of a hassle to remove the clutch cover as the supercharger pulley is glued, the belt needs tensioning and of course the right fairing needs to come of. Now it's a 10 minute job to change the clutch. If someone know how to remove the text on the anodized ring id like to know how without having to re-anodize the whole ring. It's not engraved and it's on top of the anodozing.
    4 points
  17. Understanding how an air box works and the reasons why a stock box is a safer bet... If you have ever had the gas tank off your late-model sportbike, you will notice that the front of the fuel tank doesn’t hold fuel; it holds an airbox. In the old days, when you bought a new bike, it had an air-filter case attached to feed the carburetors or the fuel-injection intakes. All the sharp, young guys would immediately rip off the filter case and replace it with four sock filters. Reduced airflow resistance. Much better performance. One day in the late 1980s, they began to rip off the airboxes of their new bikes and their engines fell on their faces. They lost a bunch of performance. “This can’t be happening! Putting on sock filters always worked before.” But it turns out the industry found a way to boost performance by making what is known as a resonant airbox. We have all in an idle moment blown across the mouth of a beer bottle and heard the "whoooo" of the bottle resonance. As air goes across the mouth of the bottle, it creates a low pressure, which causes air to flow up. That deflects the air away from the mouth of the bottle. Then the air goes back in, the airflow from your mouth goes back across, and the cycle repeats, rapidly fluttering and producing that deep tone. The compressible air in the bottle is acting as a spring, and the slug of air in the neck of the bottle is the mass that vibrates against that spring. This intake airbox from a fuel injected Honda is just a glorified beer bottle. Instead of the engine blowing across the mouth of it, its four throttle bodies are sucking from the box, pulling its pressure down. Air rushes in through the ducts in the fairing to fill up that low pressure. The next cylinder sucks the bottle pressure down and more air rushes in and restores the pressure. If the volume of the box and the mass of the air in the intake pipes are correctly chosen, the box will hum like the beer bottle. The trick is to get your engine to draw air from the box when the pressure is up and then the box refills when the pressure is down. And that is why ripping the airboxes off and putting on old-time sock filters resulted in a reduction in performance. In a specific zone of rpm, a resonant airbox can boost your engine’s torque by 10 percent. That’s worth having! My friend Stephen called long distance from England because he just installed a $900.00 HRC air box on his RC45 and saw 120HP on the dyno... mmmmm... together we wondered if the stock box be modified??? We found that stock RC45 throttle bodies are 46mm but the air box was restricted to 40mm... no problem... I'll bore the air box out to 47mm on the milling machine... I drew up plans for 47mm bell mouth based on the stock 40mm bell mouths and purchased a block of black Delrin... I'm not happy doing repetitious work but I labored long hours to machine 4 each bell mouths with my best accuracy... Don't you love when a plan comes together especially if it turns out perfect??? Now I had an unrestricted air box with my own 47mm bell mouths... it was the best I could do to replicate HRC $900.00 air box... not to mention I wanted to keep my home made K&N filter... Time to put the Mod to the test on the dyno... this is Dave at Chandelle Motorsports... No joy... I lost 1.8HP on the dyno... so bigger is not better in this case... a whole week worth of work shot down in flames... it seems Honda got the intake velocity right for a stock pipe after all... air boxes are like tuned instruments... alter the holes and the tune just makes sour notes and power suffers... Mr.RC45 fueling is not the problem... my air box will remain stock because our air box works like a finely tuned instrument... any wild ass guess mod disrupts this highly engineered resonant to where to you're producing nothing but sour notes... The airbox inlet tubes, or “horns”, are specifically designed to provide a resonance that can increase the total airflow by up to 10-15%. Second guessing these can cause the engine to loose power and increase the intake noise as in my case... RC45's stock intake horns are there for homologation purposes only and do not directly feed into the airbox only the HRC intakes feed ram air into the airbox...
    4 points
  18. For a variety of reasons I last rode my VFR over a year ago - zero miles in 2023. Today I threw off the cover, dusted off the cobwebs, cleaned and lubed the chain, then replaced the battery and started it for the first time in a few months. Fingers' x'd that I'll manage to get a ride in this year.
    3 points
  19. Hello again fellow Vifferini! Some of you may have read my long winded story here of getting back on a VFR after a 15 year absence from riding. I then posted the clean up thread here about that bike. Since purchase I have put about 10,000 miles on it having an absolute blast riding around the fine state of Utah, USA. The warm weather season is short but we do have a handful of excellent roads with endless scenery. The bike is set up just like my first VFR and it runs perfect. I couldn't be happier with it. Well, the plot thickens...which is to say I tracked down and bought back my original VFR. The one that I bought new in Northern California back in 2001. Yes, my actual exact bike, VIN #00089. Turns out the internet can be an interesting and effective tool. I actually got in touch with the owner a couple years ago but he wasn't ready to sell at that time. Finally, in recent weeks he let me know that he had upgraded and would sell it back to me, and at a very reasonable price. I was more than pleased, and my teenage son and I made plans to pick it up two states away in California. Not wanting to drag my small open trailer 1800 miles there and back, I wondered if a motorcycle would fit inside the wife's minivan. The Google machine quickly confirmed that I was not the first to consider this, as I found multiple pictures of various bikes shoehorned into spaces more commonly filled with soccer moms and soccer kids. That said, we had to test before the drive just to be sure. After some general measuring I figured that if we removed the windscreen and mirrors from my current VFR, we might be able to load it through the side door, which is exactly what we did. "Easy does it. Left a bit! Watch the ramp!" Success! Even got the doors to close with room to spare. Took it right back out and put it in the garage, neighbors shaking their heads, unsurprised at my usual shenanigans. So with that confirmed we made our way out to CA to pick up the original machine. Let me say this, one-on-one time with your kids is absolute gold. While going to get my old bike was cool, 20 plus hours in the car with my son was the real highlight of the trip. He's a fantastic kid and we had great time making new memories doing something that wouldn't make sense to most people. We arrived just after dark at the seller's home after a full day's drive. It was great to meet the gentleman and trade a few stories. I pointed out the small scratches on the clutch cover. "Yeah, that was me, trying to put it up on the center stand one day wearing flip flops and it slowly went over on it's side on the driveway. Not my first bonehead move." It was so cool to see that it still had every mod that I had installed more than 20 years prior, save the Sargent seat, but I'll just use the one from my other bike now. Looking over the bike further I noticed that he had the db killer installed on the Staintune, something I never used in my ownership. "Have you heard it without the db killer?" I asked, reaching for my set of Allen keys. "I didn't know you could remove it." he said. A few seconds later I had it out and fired up the bike inside his carport. Let it warm up for a bit and then gave it a few mild revs. "Whoa you can't have it now!!" he said jokingly, "I should have removed that a long time ago!" We both got a laugh. Every VFR guy has their favorite pipe, an uncorked Staintune is mine, though a period Micron is a close second. The Staintune look and sound just can't be matched. I removed the windscreen and mirrors, having done this exercise once before, and we loaded up the bike in the minivan. I strapped it down securely using the factory seat anchors and several ratchet straps. It was almost as if the van was made for this type of thing. We journeyed back home and put the bike in the garage, with some new memories and a new chapter to start. Seeing double, this looks familiar. The more recent left, modded to resemble the original, right. It even has my original plate on the back as plates stay with the vehicle in California. So what now? Get organized, make the punch list. Gotta go over everything to see that it is clean and up to spec. Fluids, charging system, brakes, etc, a nice winter project. The seller provided me with some receipts of maintenance he'd had done recently at a shop near his home. New plugs, valves checked (all in spec), new coolant and brake fluids. Mentioned an issue of stumbling in lower revs that the shop couldn't rectify. Also mentioned a slight coolant leak on the left side and a dent in the left radiator. Interesting but no worries, I have time to look over everything and make it right. When I sold the bike in 2006 it had 26,000 miles on it. Now it shows just 39,000 miles. I can live with that. In general it looks to be in decent shape still, just needing to be gone through a bit. I first removed the side fairings to have a look at things underneath. Hmmm...of the 18 or so fasteners I removed, only 3 were correct and all were finger tight or less. Luckily you can still order the correct ones from Honda. It's clearly been down on the left side at some point. The coolant leak is from an epoxy repair attempt at the bottom of the reservoir. Actually glad to see it's not from the engine casing as the reservoir is easy to replace. Odd repair though. The left rad is indeed dented on the bottom and the bracket bent slightly, though it is not leaking. It will work until I can get another one. When I removed the tail fairing some of the tool kit fell out of the left side, clanging onto the garage floor, and there is a small crack on the left of the tail fairing at the franken bolt insert. Yeah, it's definitely been down. But....(and it's a big but), whomever dropped it did put on an OEM side fairing so that's a win, and everything else I can deal with quite easily. I also took a chance to check voltage and saw 13.70ish at idle and a solid 14.44v at 4,000 rpm, right where it should be as far as I understand. I'll keep an eye on things once I start riding it later. I made a list and ordered a bunch of fasteners and a new coolant reservoir, OEM oil filters and fluids. Just going to take my time and enjoy it. More to come. Cheers, Justin
    3 points
  20. Another sign of how different the different years of RC24 are. The 88/89 uses the same gearbox as the RC30 (although different ratios), with the exception of the shafts and gears themselves all the parts are RC30! ...but the actual gear change shaft comes out in a different location hence the different lever!
    3 points
  21. if the coolant level falls too far below the temp sensor the reading will not be correct. best to check under the rad cap cuz overflow bottle level could be misleading
    3 points
  22. Obligatory Dutch biking pic from yesterday's ride: So, "two or three weeks" turned into a few more, and then when I finally got back to London I was too busy to touch the (motor)bike. Typical! From the previous post in this thread, it appears that I will need to press the steering stem back into the triple clamp and sort out the steering stops. Drilling the clamp would be easier without the stem in place, but I can't locate the holes correctly without it. But, I do have my own press, so in the stem will go, and commence the measuring I will. If I can't drill the holes with the stem in place, out again it will come! (An hour, tops?) Beyond getting the forks in place, it occurs to me that I might need to order or make brake lines. Grrr. (I hate making brake lines. Stainless steel hates me!) I'll see what I've got in boxes that might work--I'm sure I've got something that will work, if only temporarily. Alternatively, I may have some bulk, clear-coated -3 line, but the question is always re the stainless steel hose ends, which I generally only buy with specific projects in mind. I'd really like to avoid having to measure and then wait for the hoses/hose ends to be delivered, but we'll see... Ciao, JZH
    3 points
  23. My 5G gasket(s) finally came in, which gave me the confidence to remove the 5G stator from its cover. I got to measuring the differences between the 5th and 6th gen versions, and it would seem that about the only similarity between them is that the inner mounting diameters and bolt patterns are the same. That's where it ends. I'll lay out the measurements I took below, using a digital slide caliper. Some of the measurements could be made accurately and repeatably, but others were somewhat guesses where the wire wrapped around each of the poles. It probably requires an electrical engineer with familiarity of these types of alternators to definitively say whether this makes a difference to power potential at various RPM's of each - definitely beyond my ability. I measured in inches - apologies to metric folks, but you get the idea. 5G 6G Inner mounting circumference 1.65 1.65 Outer circumference 4.23 4.54 Core thickness 1.05 .89 Height of pole(s) above core .84 .90 Width of each pole 1.40 1.30 Depth of pole .54 .59 The last 3 measurements took some estimating. The wiring obscures the true measurement, so I did my best to keep it consistent. The last item is interesting. The core appears to be a stack of plates vs a solid block of machined or cast metal. The 5th gen clearly has thicker ones. I used a fine dental pick to drag over each , counting each click as it slid across. The 5G core had a count of 22, and the 6G a count of 46. I could be off by a few - regardless it's quite noticeable just looking at it. But does that make any difference to the power potential of the stator? My intuition says no, but if not then why would Honda make such a significant change? Lastly, the 4 mounting bolts are significantly different length. I put the 6G core in the 5G cover and ran the bolts down by hand. Something seemed odd as I encountered resistance from the bolts but the core had play in it relative to the cover. Be careful if doing this swap and using the 5G bolts - with the 6G thinner core, shorter bolts will be required or the result could be stripped threads in the cover. In summary, the 6th gen stator is larger diameter, thinner, with poles (both have 18) that are taller but narrower. Possibly this allows for more wraps of wire which might be helpful - not sure. At any rate, it's not clear to me what this swap might accomplish. My real interest is in improving output at idle, as voltage going down the road is a steady 14.5v. It's mostly at stops particularly when the fan is running that things go south and I see low 12's for voltage. I am running an 847 R/R, so it's not OEM. If there's anyone that definitively knows if the differences in two stators would produce different results, it would be great to hear. Cheers
    3 points
  24. Yep. Seems like I do. Even pissed at myself.
    3 points
  25. We have a member here that goes by Throttlepimp. His name is Kevin Sigler, he does graphic design and has been creating and fabbing gauge faces and decals for a long time. He's supplied all my decal and gauge face mods for my business and bike projects for almost 15yrs. Countless transactions with nothing but good results - including a set of gauge faces for a second gen VFR like yours to replace sun faded ones. He's not on here much, so shoot him an email at throttlepimp@gmail.com. Tell him you are a VFRD member, and that I sent you. He already has files and color match for your gauges saved from my project. Customizing a face for your voltmeter will be very easy for him.
    3 points
  26. that's 24 years old??? I swear I bought my '98 brand new just a few... uh... shoot, that was a little while back, wasn't it.
    3 points
  27. Exhaust system, fresh linkage, rebuilt Fox installed. Disassembled the clutch, scuffed and cleaned the metals, installed new EBC springs. Installed the serviced starter motor.
    3 points
  28. Ricks's has stator cover gaskets. They're $13. I'm running one on my '98 with a Rick's stator. https://ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/Honda-Stator-Cover-Gasket-25_109
    3 points
  29. Hand-washing the inside of your fairings? Love the attention to detail! Lovely time reading through the initial post and will follow along. About the zipties, I just have a nice pair of side cutters and flush cut right to the housing. Always comes out damn near perfect with no stickout - never cut your hands again and it looks quite tidy!
    3 points
  30. I can tell you this...I leave many of my zip ties long these days if no one sees them. The short ones cut up your hands when you're working in tight spaces!
    3 points
  31. Well I went to the show. I'm addicted to the drug they call motorcycles. It was sad once again. No new motorcycles except maybe Suzuki GSXS8r. Only positive bought a new REVIT summer riding jacket. Honda stand was sad. No new bikes except for CBR 650r eclutch. Poor Honda. Where is the Honda CB1000 hornet or Yamaha XSR 900GP? We get squat. Only positive , I own one of the best all around motorcycles ever made. Ride safe everyone riding season is getting close.
    3 points
  32. to this day, it is the only bike I've slid both wheels on while going round a fast speed turn.
    2 points
  33. There's a balance involved between the starter valves, the idle stop screw and the wax unit nut. If you mess with one, you may mess up the other inadvertantly. Another member unwisely messed with the "unadjustable" starter valve screw (#4?) when synching the throttle bodies and closed those down more than they should be (but they were all nicely in balance 🙂). That resulted in the idle stop screw having to be wound in in much more than usual to get the warm idle correct to hold the starter valves open enough. And that resulted in the starter valve opening mechanism being held unnaturally open when the engine was cold to the point where the wax unit wasn't adding any cold opening to the SVs at all. Which means the cold start idle speed was unpleasantly low. If you can verify that the wax unit is changing it's length as the coolant temperature is changing but just not by enough to lift the SVs open when cold, then I would have a crack at changing the unadjustable nut, but at the very least mark the "factory" position before you start so if/when it all goes tits-up, you can return to the original setting.
    2 points
  34. There were a lot of "grey imports" into the UK in the mid-late 1990s, and at the time, most European models only illuminated one of the headlights. So, unless you check your frame number, you may never know for sure if yours was grey imported into the UK where it was sold as "new". Or, you might just have a blown bulb! But if yours was a grey import, the grey importer would probably have fitted a UK-spec headlamp unit (to get the dip right), but may not have bothered to change the wiring to allow both bulbs to be used. Bikes which were factory-designed to have only one lamp illuminated on dip/low beam often lacked a lo-beam relay, as V4 Rosso mentioned. So if you do convert to use both bulbs, you should add a lo-beam relay. Otherwise, you WILL ruin your headlight switch, eventually. Honda 400cc grey imports had similar wiring issues, not from having only 1x 55w/60 H4, but from having 2x 35w/60 H4s. People used to throw in regular H4s, not realising that these bikes only had relays on the hi-beam side. Many fried headlight switches ensued... Ciao, JZH
    2 points
  35. ha ha! I think that this forum, and others, seem like our "babies." A lot of time goes into them from frequent posters with many more single time visitors (not you) barking about the completeness and timeliness of free answers. It isn't...equal in that regard. I get a lot from this site, so I try to give a lot...and like most of us, don't take offense if at all possible. People are what they are...when they are. You never know what is going on in someone's life or in their day. 🙂
    2 points
  36. In case you guys haven't already seen this.
    2 points
  37. I've long been a VFR fan, and in fact a '96 VFR750F was the first bike I ever bought new... I think I was on a VFR forum way back then, but it's been a minute. Since then, I've done a lot of riding, drag racing, road racing and touring and 20 some bikes later, I'm back to a Honda V4. I sold my last bike (FJ-09) about 3 years ago because I was tired of the homicidal drivers where we lived. We've since retired, and it was time to get back on two wheels. Last weekend, I picked up a very clean '07 Interceptor in Freddie Spencer colors. Back when these came out, I loved the look, but the VTEC was a bit of a turn-off, and what I really wanted was a 1000cc VFR, so I never got that interested. Today, these bikes are a really good value, and I had forgotten how nice the Honda V4s are to ride. Even if it doesn't have gear driven cams... 😉 Anyway, I'm sure I'll be scouring the forum for info on the bike since it's been a while since I had a VFR. Looking forward to many happy miles!
    2 points
  38. If I were betting, I'd blame the dealership for doing something stupid before I'd blame Honda.
    2 points
  39. I would take another hit with that lighter, chill out with a finger of bourbon and look at my killer bike with it's new custom Volt Meter.
    2 points
  40. Nice bike …..the shopping rack spoils it IMHO
    2 points
  41. The WSBK app is completely useless, filled with bugs, and crashes constantly. Even if it worked, there isn't much on it. It has been like that for many years. I don't understand why they don't fix it. I've written to them tons of times. The GP app is better, but still nearly useless compared to the website (which is also gone to crap the last few years with giant pictures creating endless scrolling, but sharing very little actual info without a LOT of clicking around...something that used to be taboo in design). I'm not sure if either is on Start TV apps. My new Roku Ultra came today. I'll poke around once I have the courage to set aside a week for "quick setup!" Let us know if you find anything! A few hints: To nav WSBK easily, you may want to choose the "news" link. You'll still get a site designed by kids w/1/30th of the data you want without scrolling...but you'll get news. If you select videos, they've "helped" again and separated them by their topic choices (not user/your filtering choices). Good luck. I hate it. You can see highlights "easily." My favorite is to select Calendar, then Round, then Schedule. From there a normal human can look at any given day, then any given event (race/practice/etc.) for any group and view results (text, thank the Gods), or watch the races directly from links on that page. If you set your initial link to calendar instead of the home site, you won't see results, which they love to post so that the race-watching is immediately ruined for everyone who was looking at that screen. I start on calendar for MotoGP also, but the interface was designed by preteen teletubbies. If you want to see more than one or part of one thing...you're going to have carpal tunnel from scrolling and clicking 72 layers in. As I'm fond of saying...Humans, the worst.
    2 points
  42. For those interested, Formula one teams did a lot of experimentation with velocity stacks in the 60ties. It was called air resonance charging if I remember correctly. The idea behind was that the air in a long stack with certain conical profile and diameter to length relation could be accelerated in the intake by resonance. There were even books in the engineering section of my school about it. I played with this many moons ago on my first underpowered car and limited funds. These were cool times
    2 points
  43. I bought from this place: https://www.ebay.com/itm/201413374648 Seems to work fine, lots of options on eBay too.
    2 points
  44. Good job I machine polish paint cars and bikes.. A good wash may be sufficient for some, a good wax when required.
    2 points
  45. So I got a cheap set of collet blocks and a 12mm collet to produce the flats, it turned out pretty good for a drill press. A shot of flat black would be good
    2 points
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