Captain 80s

Here's the set off of the bike. Not terrible, but pretty sure there's a fair amount of crud / corrosion under the dust seals that was contributing to the lack of proper action. In contrast, here's the set that I sourced for this project...

I've never done it, but I've thought about transfers (like out of a model kit) and then a matte clear coat.

I'll update later, but pretty decent I think. The only thing really preventing the brakes from working properly was the ring of crud / corrosion on the pistons preventing them from retracting. I'll clean up the pistons and see how bad the pitting is for possible use on another project, might be able to assemble one more "good" set out of all the left over parts. I have a 3rd set that I threw together as some place holders on my Hawk project before finishing the F3 calipers.

Brakes next. Had to get out the special tool. Shadow 1100 master cylinder I keep primed and capped. Compressed air wasn't budging the pistons. I forgot to pump them out most of the way before removing the lines. Pistons out. Not great, but about what I was expecting. So I had collected some parts in preparation. Here's the "new" calipers I sourced. That's more like it. Should be a simple clean, inspect, red rubber grease, assemble. Bike had near new front and rear EBC pads in it, so that's nice. Master cylinders were clean inside and worked perfectly. I have a full set of stainless lines for the bike too; front, rear, clutch.

I like that too. Way more than I thought I would.

The bike did have the stalk rear winkers on it, but they were trashed. I wouldn't have kept them in any case. I have some amber lenses already, but I`m not sure which way I'm gonna go yet. I might make the red lenses running lights and signals. Its gonna have some original style mirrors at first. My 95 had 2000 mirrors on it when I got it and came with the brand new originals. The weathered 92 mirrors went on the 90. Forks are pretty rough. I have a real nice set of 97 forks that will go on, along with a 97 wheel and rotors. If any thing goes in the fuel valve blanking plate, it will be a Honda Voltmeter. Graphics wise, I will be eliminating the whole purple stripe and VFR. I already have a plan to update it, but keep it OEM looking. Body work is OK, but yeah, I've got some tabs to repair. Done quite a bit on other projects.

Yeah... not my first rodeo... I own a 95 I flipped a 90 last Summer... before @ $400 After... sold for $2300

I had pulled the shock and removed all the PAIR hard lines too. And then made some block off plates. It was nice to get that done and out of the way.

OK. Time for some oil and fuel and see if we were right. Started instantly... after I installed the bolt for the wire harness ground!! OK. Now I know I can spend some more time on it. It will get the rest of the systems completely gone thru with some nice parts and mods I've been collecting for it.

Rebuilt carbs in. New insulators are like cheating when installing carbs, they almost fall in. The rest of the intake system installed. Custom D&D Slip-On installed for the first run.

Cooling system out to restore and get all new o-rings. Everything restored to go back in.

Picked this up last year. 1992 VFR, 50K. $500 All there except the side stand trim (as usual). Didn't run, but I was very confident it just got parked after talking to the owner. It was his Brother in Law's bike who passed. 2020 tabs. Time to dig in. Carbs out and lose some bullshit while I'm at it. Split the carbs to clean and replace all the o-rings. And back together for a bench synch.

Most of my bikes, except the ST1100, also allow you to crank with the kill switch off. I turn them over in short intervals until the oil light goes off, and then light them off. Not really needed either, but it's easy. And I do my oil changes "cold", so they've been sitting (in my heated shop).

Ive been pre-filling filters since college (let's just say a long time). I actually learned it while working at a Pennzoil 10 Minute Oil Change. All turbo cars had their filters pre-filled. You'd be surprised how much oil you can get in if you keep adding and letting it sit while you do the rest of the oil change. And if you are ready and somewhat quick, no spillage. And if so, very little and not anymore mess than you just already made anyway.

It's because you were wearing all the gear, he gave you a pass. 😉

Got it. That's what I was thinking too, how the hell? Anyway, not trying to drag anything down, just curious. Fucking killer work!

Everything is just too cool. Nice job. Gotta ask... what the hell is this about?

Depending on the application and usage, I usually don't have a do or die opinion on where shit is made, as long as it meets my personal quality / value criteria. But... The Mitsubishi fuel pumps are not Chinese, and they are the only ones I will use. They are extremely resilient and can be acquired at a reasonable cost with some research and time.

Well, it did start out pretty damn nice, but it did have some road grime. Elbow grease pretty much. And a tooth brush. Wheel cleaner made for painted / clear coated wheels makes an excellent engine and chassis cleaner too. Spray down with cold water, liberally apply wheel cleaner all over and let it sit for a few minutes. Then start scrubbing. Rinse and repeat as needed. My current favorite is made by Turtle Wax

I'll add this just for future info. The 87 VFR switched to digital ignition and lost the front cylinder cam sensor. I don't think the 87 "auto-style" dash (tach) would work, even on the 1986 FII with the same looking gauges.

Thank you! That is in the plan, but it will have to be a little later after the $ting of this round wears off a little. I didn't spend a lot of money, but the shock and fork springs weren't free. As well as the jets and all the o-rings. This reg/rect unit will be donated to my 1992 VFR project to get thru the initial build stages, as that unit is looking a little melty. This 95 is almost done. Finishing up installing a USB port, relocating the horn so the individual stainless brake lines can route where I want them, installing a parallel Fuel Cut Relay switch and a fan override switch. Pictures soon.

New shock installed. Refinished stands and controls installed. Subframe re-populated. Staintune polished up. I bought another inner / rear fender to trim down a little smaller than stock and use a plain license bracket. It was perfect and even had the correct year stickers. I just couldn't bring myself to cut on it. So I cleaned up previous trim work that was done for the Comp Werkes fender eliminator and will run this for a while still. I don't mind it, but wanted to switch over while I had it all apart. I'll look for yet another fender to mod.

Cleaned, polished and waxed the front wheel while it was off Front end (mostly) back together RT .09 Springs Fork oil level set with new fluid New tapered steering bearings installed with painted lower triple clamp (factory paint can be light on them and it showed signs of a little exposure) Cooling system back together with all new o-rings Re-finished the exhaust

I get it. The front edges got a little love too. But it's a fucking brake pedal on 95 VFR. Jesus Christ. I spend plenty of time on shit (hours actually) blending and shaping, like the passenger peg deletes.. You know... the ones that are more than 10 inches off the ground. I got a bunch more to do, and a shit load of other bikes to work on. I really don't think this is gonna be a distraction to the rest of the bike. I've seen the pic of that pedal. It's one of 7 pictures you seem to have, I'm surprised you couldn't find it. It looked great. The time I spent on the pedals was partly cosmetic and partly in case of a tip over. Go look at your 97 and notice the sharp crescent shaped indentations in the frame right behind the pedals. It was probably the reason you had the pedal off in the first place to straighten it and file out the rash. Thanks for your kind words, as always.