Northesk

Good thing these forks are getting rebuilt, the bushing looks worn. Plus the oil was a horrible colour, with metal shavings floating around.

I ought to follow up on this. I had to enquire about it but after a query made to them, they are indeed discontinued and didn't have any in inventory. However, I have managed to source a fork cap, purchased from a company called PDQ Motorcycle Developments in the UK. The cap came off one of the staff member's VFR800, which he no longer needed as he had installed the forks and brakes from a VTR1000 Firestorm. Thank you for your help 🙂 N

Hello there, I've been having a go at rebuilding the forks on my 2001 5th Gen. I've managed to be successful in dismantling the fork assembly, but the top cap on one of the forks was already rounded by someone else, and was also on ludicrously tight (I ended up having to go find someone with an air impact wrench to loosen it off, and even he struggled with it). Seeing that replacement fork caps are now discontinued at OE level, are there aftermarket options to replace these? All I know is that they are the standard 41mm Showa forks, so perhaps other bikes, not just exclusively Honda I imagine must have had surely the same one? Thanks in advance! N

Hi Steve, I too have fitted those stainless bolts on those brakes. Definitely worth it. N

I was a silly boy, turns out. The connection to the bank angle sensor was loose. Once that was seated in properly, she lives! What's interesting now is that the LCD display will show the clock when it's not running, then when you switch the ignition on, it disappears! And thank you! It's nice to be here. I'll worry about suspension maybe a bit later, but I would like to upgrade it. I happen to live in a part of the world where there's a lot of businesses that deal with motorsports, and the Nitron factory isn't too far from me. But I've seen the thread on here with the 929RR rear shock upgrade, that may be worth a look! Didn't know you could do that with the front forks though!

Hello all. Bike's almost done, but I've noticed that I might have some form of electrical issue. So what's happening is that the fuel pump doesn't seem to whirr anymore when the ignition is on run. I went to put the battery back on, there was a spark coming out of the negative end when I reconnected it. Main fuse went, changed for a new 30A one, the other fuses looked okay.Starter motor engages but no fuel going into the engine, hence no start. HISS LED indicator doesn't seem to illuminate either so I'm guessing there's a bad connection somewhere. Anyone got any ideas on what could be an issue? Connectors on the fuel pump looked okay, went to clean the connectors. Maybe I haven't cleaned the right one yet?

Ah, I got that the other way around it seems. I put copper grease in the pins and rubber grease on the pistons. I can amend that when I next see to this. I'm glad I took a photo!

So I've been busy the last couple of weekends, and lazy that I haven't bothered to upload any further progress. Dismantled all those brakes. Front right calliper (the one which doesn't have the secondary master cylinder on above it), that one had trouble. The piston with the larger diameter which is on the highest point on the calliper when mounted was the worst of the bunch to come out. Plenty of brake cleaner and compressed air mounted on a vice did the job okay. Second image contains that brake calliper; the fluid had turned into this opaque, pale colour. Appears that water had managed to ingress into the thing, wreaking some havoc. Some corrosion inside the piston housing, this was cleaned off and inspected to make sure there were no rough areas. The dust seal must have failed in this instance, as no brake fluid was visibly leaking from any union in the brake hoses. Lots and lots of cleaning later, I had presentable and usable looking callipers. Picture above wasn't the end result just yet. Still more cleaning needed to be done, but it gets to a point that this is not a concours level bike, I wanted to get rid of as much old brake dust and traffic ooze from the assembly before reinstalling. This is what I have currently: A lot better, but still maybe one more go cleaning for the front right calliper later this week. Those joining bolts will be replaced with some stainless steel items before I stick them back on next weekend. Also waiting on some stainless banjo bolts and washers, because I wouldn't have thought it was a great idea using the same washers again given the age of this bike. Maybe some day, the brake lines might get changed but the ones I have and my ability as a novice rider, I'll do just fine.

Those pressure washers do have a bit of power to them! I did make sure that the nozzle was at least arm's length away so that I didn't want to risk pushing any lubricant away from the chain O-rings. I'm gonna leave the electrics well away regardless; I have some ACF-50 ready and when it's a bit warmer, I'm going to be thoroughly applying this (I understand that ACF is fine on electrical connectors as it was designed to be an inert substance which provided a layer of protection). Have to agree 100% with M1962 regarding suspension work and his advice. I'm still new, and I really ought to enjoy riding the bike rather than throwing fancy bits on. That is what the joy of motorcycling is all about, actually being on the bike and enjoying the ride and learning things as you progress. I'm definitely still very green to the whole thing, so I think that's a reachable long term goal. Also, the Honda service manual is an absolute godsend, thanks to marriedman for uploading this. Way easier to understand than the Hayne's manual by leagues, and you can stick it on a tablet! This weekend, I took the air filter out. When the bike had a service last year to get the valve clearances checked, it turned out that a K&N filter was already installed by the previous owner. I took that out and gave it a clean. Little did I know that it took the whole weekend to get it back into serviceable condition and that the cleaning kit K&N sells seems to be a bit... pricey? Anyway, it took a few tries to clean the filter, and when I ran water through it, the sink was black. Took 4 attempts to make sure all that it was all clean as a whistle. I don't have any before pictures but it looked like it had been oiled before (from the overspray on the rubber surrounds), but I would have thought over-oiling those filters does more harm than good. Apparently, you apply a light spray on both services, then leave it alone for around half an hour. Go back, see if there's any non-red areas of the filter material, spray accordingly, wait for oil to wick into the cotton. Nevertheless, the job is done, and I'm gonna go and stick that filter back in the bike. I see why people buy a new filter, it reduces any downtime of that vehicle but cleaning sure is therapeutic! Next week, I'm going to change the brake pads, as inspection of the rear brake caliper appeared that the pad material and the rear brake reservoir looked a bit lower.

So a small update since I haven't posted on this bike for a while. Thank you all very much for the advice that you've given me, especially in regards to those pesky exhaust headers. I'm pretty lucky to have my old man who's done work on classic cars (he's restored an MGB a long time ago and put a Rover V8 in there) and he too gave me some tips. I really should've taken more photos about taking off and putting this exhaust on, so I'll try and tell a story. We still have a portable MIG welder from when my dad and I restored a Mini together from about 10 years ago. From remembering on how I welded replacement body panels I went on my my merry way, by cleaning the stud thoroughly, so that the 12mm nut would weld cleanly on there. Once the little spot of weld cooled was done, penetrating fluid was sprayed around the stud. Once the fluid had time to settle, a propane torch was ignited and we heated the engine block around the weld. Then patience, wiggling, more patience and lo and behold, the sheared studs were off! Replacement studs in, and the Delkevic headers and pipe were installed (although I had to purchase a flange nut and the rubber grommet assembly which connected to the bottom of the sump pan). I added the silencer in afterwards after I decided to clean the rear swingarm, which in the near 17-year long life which this bike has had, doesn't look like it's ever been cleaned. So today, I've been slaving away with WD40, a can of degreaser and a toothbrush to find out that there was a LOT of old chain gunk, road dirt and a swingarm which wasn't black. It's gonna have to be another weekend to really get into the nooks and crannies. That being said, I didn't remove the chain guard as there's these two plastic clips with what appears to be Philips heads but they didn't unscrew? I bet it's a simple solution once I get to grips with it, then I can really purge out more grime, with the help of a pressure washer that I got for Christmas. I hope you all have had a good Christmas and that 2018 will be a great year for everyone's VFRs!

Hello everyone! I realised that I ought to introduce myself on this forum. I have owned my 2001 Tahitian Blue Pearl 5th Gen for a couple of years almost, and have spent 10,000 miles on the saddle in the last two years, and my goodness, I have to say that I've had a rather tremendous time! I've also learned some lessons the hard way admittedly. In the first month of owning her, I have dropped her a couple of times (this is my first bike since getting my licence and all 5"8' of me couldn't get to grips with the weight of the thing), and also realised that the reg/rec and the stator were pretty far gone. I spent too much money getting those two fixed by a Honda main dealer, so I'm getting to grips with doing as much work as I can on my own. Fortunately, my dad teaches design and technology (which I believe they call shop class in the US?) so I have access to plenty of tools to get to grips with things. Currently, I've changed the windscreen to an MRA Vario unit after gouging the factory screen by dropping the bike onto the side of my garage, and replaced the rear brake/indicator for a clear LED item, and a clear housing for the front indicators to freshen the bike up, as well as replacing the chain and sprockets when the bike reached 48K miles and had a major service. At the moment, I'm changing the exhaust system for a Delkevic unit, as the previous stainless steel item had developed a massive crack in the header. I thought about getting the header re-welded, but upon removal of the exhaust, the pipe where #1 cylinder joins the collector box (I think that's the right term when the rest of them join together), it just came clean off! A question for those who may provide an answer. When I was removing the exhaust stud retaining nuts on #1 and #2 cylinders, the nut had sheared off the stud on #1 and on #2, the nut had seized onto the stud, and the stud was removed from the engine block. I would like to know whether firstly, how one would be able to remove the sheared studs and secondly, which replacement studs and nuts are the most feasible option (OEM or a better alternative). Forthcoming plans for the bike are to address the rear shock absorber (it seems to be on its way out), and maybe to refresh the forks. I don't know what exactly to do for these, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Seeing as I've lurked on here for so long, so sorry if I haven't said hello already and now I understand why VFRs are so awesome!