KevCarver

I went with the Viffer800Canuck method of drilling and tapping holes then using bolts with nuts to lock them against the triple. Drilled perpendicular to the surface to allow the lock nuts to sit flush for more contact.

Could be my DIY hacker mentality, but the stops don't need to be precision milled, exactly vertical, 100% perfect drilled examples of mechanical perfection. I mean that's awesome if you can do it, but all you need is a point of contact that keeps the bars off the tank. And you won't see it unless you look for it.

Just my thought...

9. Dino

In response to the numerous PM's I've received... I have to ask. Is this a joke?

Get an answer?

Yep, stock steering stops get carved off and smoothed over. I went with Canuck's drill and tap approach and made new ones with bolts and a lock nut. They don't even need to be vertical. I actually made them perpendicular to the sloped portion. All that matters is where the contact the frame. Measure multiple times before drilling! I made a cardboard template on the OE stem of where the stops were.

Don't know about the Aussie bikes, or what year is yours, but my '99 has no plastic "collar" around the ignition. it was introduced in the States in '00 on the VFR. The 954 upper triple was designed to have one, but it doesn't quite line up with my ignition. So I left it off, and consequently there's a larger gap around the ignition and two open screw holes.

My SP1 upper does not have the collar, but I don't like flat shape or the off center Honda Wing badge. Compromise either way, but I prefer the CBR top bridge overall. Perhaps the 929 gull wing top bridge doesn't have this plastic collar? (I have no idea)

I don't no about the gen5 as haven't bothered looking into it but on a gen6 I wouldn't even bother with steering stops because the radiator hose does that for you more or less as that is what hits at limit of travel & when bike running it is as hard as a rock due to pressure. You can't really use the ignition lock anymore anyway, you can really jam the steering over trying to squash radiator hose to use steering lock but only really works when bike cold. You want to lock your bike carry a rotor lock. Bottom line you crash your bike the same damage will happen with or without steering stops. Gen4 you just drill & tape frame each side of steering stem & use bolt to adjust stop location on the stops already cast into replacement triple (Gen4 you don't remove cast lags on triple).

On 5th Gen you can retain the ignition lock by shimming the ignition with a couple washers. You'll probably want to make some steering stops so you don't use the painted gas tank and handlebars as your stops.

List of attendees so far: (blue is with reservation)

1. Sebspeed

2. Mrs. Sebspeed

3. MidlifeVFR

4.CornerCarver

5.MiniCarver

5.5. I believe I'm in the 'Carver party. An honorary 'Carver for this event. "KevCarver"?

6.y2kvfr + 2 (Beck and Mr R1)

7.timmythecop

8. 5thGenJim

9. 46Alpha

10

929 and 954 are the flat ones. Seems to me I've read that those are less easy to swap than the gullwing SP1. And of course the SP2 use a larger diameter stem.

Not finding anything right away on why the flat lower is less desirable...

I think it's the 6th gen that has oil cooler mount clearance issues.

Gday MD... start mate? I've almost finished!!

Finished the collection I mean. I have the chart and I know that all the listed triples will fit with the forks.

I was just after the little intricacies of each, as in the steering stops and possibly the pinch bolt placements and stem lengths.

I know there can be some interference with the oil cooler (I think) and just popped the q before I send the cash OS.

I just wondered if one was better/stronger/easier... than the other.

I had alot of this info in my PMs but they went bye bye.

I doubt that strength of the part would be an issue. I just went with what seemed to be the consensus easies to swap. The "gullwing" design sounded like the best one, and the steering stops are easily removed and new ones installed. Check out Veefer800Canuck's thread for that. Talking about SP1, of course. Stem length and diameter are compatible, as well. Just needed a shim on the lower bearings to match the height of the VFR bearing stack.

No problem with the oil cooler.

Are the others flat or gull'ed?

Stem diameter is likely identical, as I decided to use the 954 upper with the SP1 lower. I've been told the upper is the same on the 929. I think the gullwing upper looks sexier than the flat one, and it affords more room on top for over-the-clamp clipon's.

Stockers, from '99, still going great! :)

With all the troubles I've heard about RE: failed wax units, I wonder what was wrong with the lever and cable that came before??

Zero difficulty with mine since 1999. Lube the cable occasionally, go ride. I don't see the problem here.

Totally agreed! Two Honda FI bikes and two manual fast idles. No problems, and no coolant in my throttle body.

I also don't buy the rest of the FI "improvements" over the years since the 98-99 VFR. Haven't seen any real world improvements in economy or rideability from '00 onwards.

Ok, sorry! Rant off... ;)

Thats no small job.

You must know these things inside out by now.

I'm at the point where unless you ask me to split the crankcases, I kinda shrug my shoulders and get into it.

Even that's not so bad once you get into it. Heck, that hard bit is getting the engine out and you're well proficient at that!

Ok, I have torn down he suspension on my bike and already shipped off the forks and rear shock parts to Jamie Daugherty for a custom rebuild. Since I've got the bike apart I'm doing lots of mods. See below:

Mods completed prior:

Corbin Gunfighter seat

Throttlemeister

Motovation Frame Sliders

Givi V35 side cases on standard Givi PLX-166 side racks

Lobstenders

Mods I will be doing over the next few weeks:

Having Jamie Daugherty rebuld the front forks and rear shock

Laser X-treme Exhaust

Installing a VFRness with a fuse block

Speedohealer

Kanadien Ken's Fender Elminator

Signal Dynamics Diamond Star Head Light Modulator

Signal Dynamics Back Off XP Tail Light Modulator

Installing Front and Rear Accessory Power Outlets

Installing Luggage Electronix Connectors to my tank bag, tail bag, and V35 side cases

Swapping out the Givi PLX-166 standard side racks with the Givi PLXR-166 quick release side racks

I would like to install a power commander but I have decided to put that off for a bit due to cost since I want to get a PC-V with autotune. Since I've got the bike all torn down for a few weeks can y'all recommend any other mods I should consider?

Basic maintenance? Plugs, air filter, oil and filter, coolant flush, brake/clutch fluid flush, brake pads, head bearings (Don't know your mileage, just throwing them all out there...)

Heated Grips

Damn man, 5th gen you can leave it on...

How did we know that you would come out on top through using perseverance And blunt force???

I am the king of percussive maintenance!

"Percussive Maintenance"

I love it! Lol

Hate to bump and extremely old post but any chance the OP's photos are still available? Not showing for me... I'm trying to find out how many bulbs illuminate the speedo, how many illuminate the tach, and how many illuminate the info cluster on the right (Fuel gauge, temp, etc.). From what I gather it's:

Speedo: 2

Tach: 2

Cluster: 1

Is this correct?

Dangit, I looked up my old post and it seems it has disappeared. Likely due to the recent "troubles?"

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the lcd is 2 bulbs. I only used blue for that one, and (I think) clear/white for the others. I don't think it was one or two per dial. More like three across both? Best bet is to take off the cowl and take a look! Needs to come off anyway.

The dials are nice and bright, and the blue from the lcd is a nice contrast.

Go ahead and get same color replacements for the brights/neutral/oil lights. If you use led for the FI, it stays on at half brightness. Same problem with the turn signal indicators. Actually I forget if the turns did that... I know for a fact they did on my PC800. Perhaps on the VFR, too...

Edit: I just read a few posts back. If indeed there are 5 total, then it is 3 for the dials and 2 for the lcd. IIRC

Curious where you got the aluminum gauges. I have the blue LED backlighting on my 5th gen but the stock gauges.

Thanks,

Primo

:+1:

Thanks Kaldek. Team work is the shizzel. I got an engineer or something on another forum and he's just being a HUGE dick about this.

Do you know what the most effective contraceptive for an engineer is?

-his personality

Haha. It took him a bout a week or so to realize it was me in the vids. One guy posted pretty much the same thing you did.

For someone to be an engineer this guy sure is anti-touch this or that.

That's because someone engineered it perfectly, and you're just mucking it up!

Check out the CBR stuff. Like I mentioned earlier, I know that some RC51 guys have done this with the CBR stick coils, and the RC51 and Fifth Gens share a lot of things.

Looks fantastic!

Now go ride it! 11 thousand miles... sheesh...

How about a low light pic to show off the backlighting?

Cool! I know some of the RC51 guys have done this with the CBR stick coils. Nice work getting them at $9.

Well I did this to the SP1 this morning. I was already headed out for a ride, and didn't have any fuse holders around, so I did without.

Still jumping around on the voltmeter, but the high number has come back down into

The acceptable range.

Good for now.

OK I'm coming to this late as I have a 5th Gen without the extra wire. But since I recently had a stator failure on my RC51, I installed a Lascar voltmeter on it and was reading some potentially too high voltages. The voltage also seems to jump around a bit, as compared to my VFR. Is this another sign of needing to do this fix?

I was thinking about just replacing the R/R with an R1 or ZX10 model, like I've done with my VFR. So I was looking to find out what the monitor wire actually does, and if it could just be bypassed when using a standard 3 wire input, 2 wire output R/R. This could be an easier solution!

In a nutshell, it looks like I should run the monitor wire from the R/R direct to the battery positive terminal. Is it that simple? Maybe an inline fuse along the way, 5a?

Thanks KK!

I keep planning on tying all the VFR's grounds to a common point and running the positive from the R&R directly to the battery.

I've done that on my '99 VFR and the '96 PC800 and have MOSFET r/r's, but the SP1 is still as stock. Don't forget to run the + through a 30a fuse.

What does one do with the extra wire on the r/r? What's it called, the monitor wire? The SP1 is the only of my bikes to have one.

Otherwise, stator diagnosis seems pretty sound?

Yes, continuity between any 2 of the three yellow wires should be 0.1 - 1.0 ohms. There should be no continuity between any of the 3 yellow wires to ground. That would indicate the stator is shorted to ground.

Shorting to ground likely indicates that the insulation on the stator windings has broken down somewhere. You would normally think that the wire has to burn up before it gets through the enamel on the copper wire. I'd be interested what those stators look like once you get them out.

Only got the SP1 out so far. Looks like the one I got to replace it. (Both are dark, almost purple-ish in color. Not like the OE VFR stators I've seen.) Used from an '04, but it came in the side case. So I think it was a part out rather than replaced due to failure. Checks out with regard to the continuity between plug and case.

In any case, the OE didn't visually have any problems. But it did smell of death! Nasty! Funny thing is I didn't smell anything until I pulled the first mounting bolt out. But it was strong!

I put the MOTY's back in yesterday. Not in the VFR, though. Maybe at some point...

Still need gaskets and the PC800 Stator (all ordered), and get the voltmeter installed on the SP1.

I wonder if the "upgraded" 2002+ stator and rotor would fit a 5th gen?????

I'm at 14v with a Rick's stator and original rotor.

Don't know how long it'll last, though...

I'm not sure I can come up with any reason the battery (whatever chemistry) would affect the stator. So, I believe I'll be re-installing the MOTY(s) at some point.

They are still holing their resting voltage sitting on the workbench, so no issues there. Once I have stators capable of producing enough current, I think they will be fine.

It's bugging me plugging the damn bike in to the tender every day... That's why I got the MOTY's in the first place.