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+1 to the above posts, fuel efficiency isn't about fuel cost for me, it's about being able to make it to the next gas station in the rural parts of the PNW. I as well like to stop and stretch before riding through a full tank, but that doesn't mean there will be a gas station around when I stop to stretch.

Hi all, I definitely plan on getting to the hydraulics soon enough, but they're not on the top of my list just yet. As for the ignition I'll be taking the passenger peg/ bracket assembly with the keyed seat latch to the lock smith tomorrow in hopes they'll be able to make a key for it, and crossing my fingers that it's the same key cut and it'll match my keyed ignition so I can wire that back up properly. After sitting at work all day today itching to get home and continue wrenching on the bike, I realized the reason I probably hadn't been able to get it started was I kept giving it gas (flooding the carbs) and using the who-knows-how-old gas that was left in the tank. After I got off from the ole' 9-5, I picked up a new bottle of carb cleaner and filled my portable gas tank with new, fresh gas. I drained the old gas out of the tank, filled it with new gas, sprayed the intake stacks with a squirt each of carb cleaner... and after a few pops and bangs, got the bike to idle for a full 10 seconds!!! Even enough for a quick rev!!! I was beyond excited, and the bike sounded healthy, aside from the gummy carbs. I decided that hearing it run for that split second was justification enough to start doing the basics of getting it running and idling reliably. I then took off the carbs and gave them a quick once over. pretty much every jet is clogged shut and found a broken off choke-plunger, but they look good on the inside and may only need a good solvent soak and jet cleaning/ bowl gasket replacements. My hands were too dirty to grab my laptop to view the amazing write up by the lovely gentleman that made this guide http://v4dreams.com/maintenance.html and continue the carb teardown, and I was too lazy to wash my hands, so I tore down the front end to give myself more room to continue repairing the harness up front and start mounting the radiator/ oil cooler. Honda does know how to make a practically indestructible bike!! The moped you may see in the back ground of my pics is an 18' Grom with 4k HARD miles. I've redlined the thing in every gear since I purchase it new and have tried to blow it up so I have an excuse to build the motor, but to no avail. It's the most fun bike I've ever owned and will probably never part with it! Better to go fast on a slow bike, than slow on a fast bike!! Tomorrow is beers with my buddies, so probably won't make any more progress until the middle of the week.

Let us know if you get it running, and you decide to continue. From my street fighter bike, I have a start/stop switch from a 3rd gen I can give you - yours if you want it! It may not be the right part number, but it will work, and it's FREE!

If she works out to be solid mechanically, maybe a solution to the wiring mess could be to buy a used harness. They're around on ebay for reasonable money.

Replace bolts after 29 removals.

Back in January, when it dawned on me there would be no more VFR's made , I bought one . A good deal was done and I did go for many accessories. I always wanted a red one, so Victory red it was. I went for the Akrapovic exhaust, hugger, quick shifter , panniers and a Powerbronze double bubble screen. Having covered 165 miles so far since last Friday. Its still between 3-6C here and it feels it . Having 2 5 th Gen VFR's , its all fairly familiar. Everything fell to hand and the seating position is a little bit sportier. Other than the horn and the indicators being swapped round everything else is exactly where you would find it. It rides very nicely but the suspension is hard. I have softened it down a notch at the back , seems to have helped and I will do the rebound later on as its still too hard and I am no lightweight at around 105 kg. There are 2 things which I havent quite got to grips with yet. The back brake is one. It feels very ineffective atm and the pedal feels long. Maybe the rear brake needs a little running in or perhaps It needs bleeding . I will get it seen to at the first service at 600 miles. The other thing that does bother me is the quick shifter. I'm kind of thinking its a bit pointless. Certainly the standard gear change and clutch are buttery smooth in operation and the gear change is very different with the quick shifter. Whilst I have got used to its size I still say to myself I will take that off when I get home after every ride . The quick shifter pedal is most definitely shorter than the standard shifter, not in length but width , as in the part that goes over your foot when you change up. I don't have big clumpy boots but still find myself pushing my foot to the right to make sure I hook up with the lever. I fail to see why they made it shorter. Otherwise the VFR is exactly as expected. The quality is great, the ride and handling are good and I look forward to getting the V-TEC singing at indecent revs once its run in. You all know what a VFR looks like, but just in case you have forgotten.

It's been a while since I have been here. A lot has changed. This forum, my life. I figured I would drop back in now that things have settled down for a bit and catch you up on my VFR's recent life experiences (you thought this was going to be about me? 😄). I hadn't been riding much as I made a move to a new department at my work and finally got into something I loved doing (IT)! My poor VFR sat in the garage after I spent the summer getting a lot of maintenance done. New chain, sprockets, upgraded the RR, and new tires. Work has been busy and never ending because I am essentially work on a 3 person team covering hundreds of lab computers so when I would get home I would cast tired glances at the VFR with hopes to get her out on the weekends. Those were always full though because I had to get everything I didn't get done during the week caught up before Monday rolled around. That's life some times. And then it all changed in one night. January 30th, 2021 at about 0245 all of us were asleep (Wife, daughter, 3 dogs, and one cat) when the hallway smoke detector went off. I don't want to go through all the details of that night but within 2 minutes we had safely evacuated all the humans and 2 of the dogs. Faulty aluminum wiring had started the back wall of the house on fire igniting the patio roof and the attic. I remember the fire department arriving within 4 minutes of the 911 call. I remember freezing in the 28 F night air because I was only wearing a pair of sweat pants. Thanks to the charity of my next door neighbor I ended up with a sweat shirt, jacket, socks, athletic sandals, gloves, and a beanie. In the course of the night the fire team was able to get my missing dog and cat out of the house unharmed (though I did have to put the cat on oxygen for a bit). It took almost 8 hours to clear all the hot spots and I have a gallery with all the associated photos that you can peruse for now. I would post them in here but I need to resize them so they are more appropriate for this post and I am not sure if they would be deleted by a moderator according to the guidelines. For now, know the house was a total loss and even the rooms not hit by the fire suffered extensive smoke damage. The garage took a pretty big hit but fortunately the VFR was located in the least affected area. Even then the smoke damage was intense. I filed a claim on my wife's car (also in the garage) first and they totaled it based on the extent of the smoke damage so I dreaded what that meant for the VFR. Still, I eventually mustered up the courage and filed a claim on the bike. I was shocked when I was told it was all good and the extent of "repairs" would just be a good detail which was under my deductible so I found a reputable one in town and had them tow it from the inspection facility to the shop. Apparently the tow truck driver thought that meant he could take it for a joy ride. He left the tank on empty, dropped it on the right side, scraped the paint off the nose fairing on the left side, ripped the battery cover off the bike (to jump it I suppose), damaged the heated grip on the throttle and had the audacity to tell the detailer when he was dropping it off how fast my bike was. Needless to say I was not happy and filed a complaint with the insurance company for all the damages which they ended up covering. The detailer, on the other hand, was all professional and for the sum of $400 (including a generous tip) my bike looked like it had rolled off the show room floor. Aside from what the tow truck driver did I was ecstatic. Driving it home was hard because the throttle has no gripping material so it was a bitter sweet reunion. I have had to buy a lot of new riding gear and we are currently in a rental home with a nice 2 car garage where the VFR is resting comfortably while I wait for a new heated grip kit to arrive. I did take it out for a Crest Road ride to give it a shake down and even though it was a beautiful day and the VFR ran great, the adhesive I had hoped would fix the heated grip from slipping didn't hold and it was a long ride home trying to keep the grip from rotating while maintaining a steady speed. Fortunately that should be resolved on Tuesday. Everyone is healthy and unharmed but one of our dogs passed away about 3 weeks later from an unrelated health issue. It's been a hard road this year but at the end of the gallery you can see there has been significant progress in getting the house ready for the rebuild. We are throwing in some remodeling into the mix and slowly working our way through replacing a lifetime's worth of stuff but our insurance has been taking excellent care of us (USAA) and we are recovering slowly but surely from the trauma of all of this. Next week looks like good riding weather and temperatures so I am hoping I can put some miles on the VFR and get some road therapy to help clear my head.

Ah, the ol' Honda 2" wide blue 'leccy tape... Yes, it can be found (along with the brass crimp wire splices) if you search long enough. One thing that's surprisingly hard to find in the US (as opposed to the UK) is thin-wall cable in a multitude of colors, if for example you need to re-build a wiring harness and want to use OEM wire colors. The thinner sizes (0.5mm2 and 1.0mm2) come in up to 100 solid and striped combinations. (The cheapest source I've found in the UK for 1m lengths is ALM Solutions, btw.) For absolutely authentic OEM cable (most of what I've seen is locally manufactured and not exactly the same as OEM) you can visit www.hi-1000ec.com, which is a Japanese site selling mainly OEM electrical connectors, but they also stock Sumitomo automotive cable which looks just like OEM. But that's a bit extreme--even for me! Ciao, JZH

Purely anecdotally, the 8th Gen engine on my 800X burns less fuel for the same ride than either of my previous 5th and 6th Gens. It's not the main reason i bought the bike, but it is nice to know i can easily exceed 200 miles if i choose to.

Hey, good job on getting wiring repaired! That's some difficult stuff! Caveat about carbs, running is not indicator of condition. You'll need more extensive restoration steps: - replace all float-valves - replace fuel-rail O-rings - replace float-bowl seals - inspect, R&R slide diaphragms Basically any soft rubber part should be restored to OEM condition. Leaking you encountred is sure sign that one or more of above is not sealing properly.

Range is also the main consideration for me vs economy. Like in Australia, there are some places I go where stops are few and far between. I also check it occasionally just as a check on the engine's overall health. If economy becomes significantly off it could indicate something needs service. I do the same with my cars.

I didn’t buy the VFR for the fuel range, but after having ridden across Australia and through outback Queensland, I’ve come to realise range is one of the most important things for my type of riding. There are some fantastic bikes out there eg Kwaka Z900RS Cafe etc, but 17 litres in a tank is a bit light on when crossing the Nullarbor. There is one VFR drawback though, 22 litres up high can be a bit disconcerting, when you put your foot down on dodgy ground.

judging by the melted connector between stator and r/r, i think you will need a NEW stator since it's ruined. not the wires but the stator itself.

I’ve never understood fuel mileage posts, no offense. I know exactly zero people that purchase motorcycles for their fuel efficiency. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve never once calculated MPG on any bike I’ve owned. I ride it, fill it up, ride it again. Rinse and repeat... I’m not even sure I’ve ever looked at the price displayed on the gas pump since it’s such a small number. I dunno, maybe it’s just me.

That's where I ended up. Other than the lifespan, which is in reality longer than most of us even keep bikes, then short of swapping plugs and doing dyno runs and trying to measure fuel efficiency etc for each set it's all a bit of a head game. If you feel that one plug is better than another, that's probably as good as it's going to get regardless of whether or not there's any actual truth to it. My bike was running pretty damn sweetly for a 28 year old with the plugs she had, so I stuck with those. If things are working, don't mess with them is my motto! Also, I really didn't want to try and get at those front plugs 🙂

8 slightly hotter than 9

As a testament to HONDA's technical prowess in engineering solid bikes.... This VFR800fi stood outside for (iirc) 7 years under a tarp all year round. The fule cap would not open, so used the fule that was in there. the battery was well farked, so hooked up a known to be good one. 3 jabs on the starter button this VFR750 stood idle (inside a non-heated but dry) shed for 5 years. Battery toast Once I knew it would run, I started spending money... (battery, oil, tyres etc etc)

For zero dollars, it looks like you're doing great! There's a youtube guy that might be worth a look. He goes by Superfastmatt. I think he's in California. https://www.youtube.com/c/SuperfastMatt/featured I don't know him. Only his videos, which can be helpful. And funny. Here's his self described bio: Matt Brown is an Automotive Engineer who has spent the last decade working at places like Tesla, Apple, and NASCAR. This channel is here to answer common questions like "How did you do that engine swap," and "Is that a good idea? That doesn't seem like a good idea." There are projects like preparing a Toyota 4Runner for overlanding, putting a motorcycle engine into a car, off-roading impractical vehicles, or just how to do DIY projects the cheap and easy way. There are also occasional car reviews, thoughts about cars & motorcycles, and anything else automobile-related that can be filmed in a way that is more informative than mindless wheelies. There are also wheelies. Anyway, he did a general wiring tutorial just a couple months ago. He also has a Grom...so you might like that video too! 🙂

Especially cheap 12 point sockets. 🙂

I resemble that meme...

Oh man, that's a project! Great to hear that it's already making positive headway - Honda do seem to have made a bike which, at it's core, is almost indestructible by human hands! See a lot of this kind of thing on eBay, people have had the idea of making a streetfighter after binning the bike, got as far as tearing it all apart, then given up because it's hard to do and left the poor bike to languish for years. It's a real bummer that so many gen 3's especially are going to end their days like this as the aftermarket parts just aren't there for them. In the UK the number of listed legally running bikes from this era is less than half of the number declared "off - road" and even that's only a few hundred

What a mess! Those Green wires you are holding are Ground wires. That unconnected Blue/Orange at the Ignition Switch is the cooling fan power normally switched to ON via a proper Ignition Switch, it then goes to feed Fuse G Fan Fuse.

Wahey!!! Now you feel embolded, open up the hydraulic reservoirs! Best done with a JIS screwdriver. Be careful as them tiny bolts are quite soft... Keep an impact driver at hand.

It's a 4x5 field camera, actually the newest camera I own! It's built by a company in the UK called Chroma cameras, and is mostly made out of carbon fiber, you know, to help it go fast 🙂 It's really fun to use - much like biking you have to give it all your attention or bad things happen. Rarely painful things though, so that's something.

Check out Cycle Terminal for replacement connectors and terminals (they're not expensive). Welcome and good luck! Ciao, JZH

Hi Brandon. Welcome to the forum and good luck with the 95 VFR750 resto. The burnt up connector you're holding is the Stator output 3phase wires joining to the R/R. Best to just neatly solder and sleeve this wires together - problem solved! A battery sat idle for 4-5 years will be shot to pieces. Your Starter Circuit should look something like this - See Attached. So to get your Starter to crank over you can simply short out the two main Starter Terminals with a screwdriver or similar MAKE SURE BIKE IS IN NEUTRAL. OR via the normal wiring method - As you can see, the two starter coil wires are the Yellow/Red being the Positive seeking side and the Green/Red being the Ground seeking side. So if you're in Neutral you need to have a good Neutral Switch, and good Clutch Diode to satisfy the Green/Red wire. You also need to have a good 30a Main Fuse, a good Ignition Switch, good 10a Sub Fuse, good Starter Switch and good Stop Switch (in RUN mode) to satisfy the Yellow/Red wire. Along with all the associated wiring of the above devices. Hope this helps.

Welcome to VFRD from across the pond My bet is that once you fixed that burned connector you are half way there. Hook her up to a car battery and see if she'll fire up. Fit a voltmeter to see what the generator and voltage regulator put out. Once she fired up, I'd chance oil/filter and start going through "the drill" and hydraulics. Been there, done that... As long as you did not pay more than a couple C-notes, you can only win! (in terms of fun with a V4, not resale!)