[rex_saugerty]

Rex's 'Amelia' the story of vfr750

Hi there...

About a month ago i bought me a propper sized bike. Since i got my bike driving license i was wanting to do it for couple of years, but never managed to get enough cash. so this year thanks to my girlfriend, she did not let me change my mind. and a search for bike started.

Originally i wanted a CBR F2 but there was none affordable out here in Latvia. So i ended up with a honda in my age. 1986 Honda VFR750F

It was imported to Latvia from Sweden (still havent got it registered, gonna try to do it next month) Bike used to be in accident, but judging from state of rubbers, brake discs, sprockets and chain, it has been maintained well until it was crashed.

Good things about bike:
-it's a honda
i used to have(well i still have) honda mbx80, and that kinda got me hooked on hondas. besides they're reliable
-it has a v4, that means torque
-it's mine

Bad bits:
-when i bought it, it had no exhaust manifolds and exhaust itself
-no front brake master cyl
-dented tank
-no key, busted gas cap and ignition barrel

here are some pics for pic whores like me

when i started to work on her



then i stripped it





and last weekend progress










plans for future:
-get everything i need to get MoT
-fab up exhaust after manifolds
-mount that FZR speedo
-fab up idiot lights where ignition originally is
- sort out wiring. tuck it and relocate ignition to side
-pass Mot

further plans
-have fun
-continue to upgrade it with much more bits. like side markers. smaller speedo, and motox number holder on top of fork.
-sliders
-have fun some more
-during next winter repaint frame, tank. fab up new tail and swap 17" rims


feel free to comment and suggest. besides i'm new into bike modding.

PS: my car project is moved towards few months for this one. but as it's said. do a sled in summer and carriot in winter.

 

[jiterbug]

Looks like you have a good start there Rex. It's nice to see v4 being fightered.

 

[rex_saugerty]

got sick and had o sit at home. finally yesterday got to bike, did some wire tuck. gona continue it tomorrow. cuz i had no connectors to get few wires longer than they are. wont cut them atthe moment. that's for winter evenings.

also found out that air filter is pretty fresh




now right side looks a lot cleaner


also you can see ghetto horn relocation here

 

[rex_saugerty]

woke up late today. had a bit to much drinking going on yesterday.

so i carried on with wiring


extended fuse box wiring under seat




gonna rewrap them after i'll visit shop

also i have a question, if someone could answer me that would be great
i connected lense and everything works except HI beam. at the beginning i thought that headlight is broken. but after i tested it on battery everything worked. only thing HI beam wire just lifts something inside lense and it opens up the upper part of beam. so i have to connect HI and LO beam wires at once. when connected to bike. Passing option lights HI beam. i checked manual for info on dimmer. it seems that it has only two optiions either HI or LO beam. i opened it up and saw that there is another place to solder in.

so my idea is to swap them on location on dimmer and make a bridge for LO beam, so it's always turned on. Please tell me if i;m wrong or no



i realise that switch will be the opposite. but it's still better than nothing.

also i need smaller side markers. theese one ase ugly and it's just wrong



:thumbsup:???

 

[rex_saugerty]

herro...

so today i wanted to take off engine and install headers. i started with draining the liquids and dissasembly, good thing that i have service manual on my phone so here are some pics, mostly for me, cuz looks like noone is interested in this project





then came the nasty part, that made me angry and sad until next weekend
this sucker broke and left his parts inside engine


and this pig decided, that it would be cool to stay where he is and torture myself with his stubborness until head was wrapped enough, so i couldnt keep socket on it. even torching didn't helped


also i bought a set of theese buddies, so i can remake headlight bracket and fab bracket for speedo.


they are suppoused to be holders for fences

 

[Cruisingram]

V4s are kinda my "specialty"- I have owned several of them- and I have one with 200,000 miles on it- and it is still in great shape and running strong.

The "F" series of intercepters are notoriously hard to find parts for.

I suggest, before you get too far into this bike, that you start it and make sure the transmission is working good.

They have a horrible problem with cams if not diagnosed early and fixed quickly. Check them immediately! I suggest you go here> www.v4hondabbs.com and look through the site on the VF750f

I am a big fan of the honda V4, like I said, have 200k miles on it, even rode it in the winter with studded knobby tires. I enclosed a pic so you can see my old sabre. If you do the mods, especially the oil mods, the bikes can last a long time!

 

[OZ-SV]

Awesome looking bike, looks like the subframe would be super easy to modify.

The oiler cooler looks super mean sitting up front like that.

 

[rex_saugerty]

They have a horrible problem with cams if not diagnosed early and fixed quickly. Check them immediately! I suggest you go here> www.v4hondabbs.com and look through the site on the VF750f

but this is VFR i was worried about that too, but then realised that this is not the model on topic also when i checked it it was working.


and thanks for good words i'll try to do my best and update all the stuff that's happening

at th emoment i;m thinking how the hell headers were taken off if front bolts of engine is stuck. there must be some kinda magic way to take them off without removing engine

 

[rex_saugerty]

nice bike , looking forward to see how far you go with the project ..... specially when you have such talent for wire tresses ..... lol. .. only kidding , keep it up mate

what's wrong with them? btw i rewrapped them with cloth tape

 

[rex_saugerty]

not sure if there is any problems with it, just never seen it done before and found it interesting,

what are your reasons behind it ? are you looking at doing it to the whole wiring harness ?

well... i had to relocate the fuse box. originally it was right under that gigantic speedo i had. and there was no space under fuel tank. so i had to extend the wires. not it's next to battery under seat.

i dont know why i wrapped them like that. probably so it would be organised and easyer for me to know what to connect where and it will stay small, so i can reroute it without interfere with other parts much

i dont think i will play around with wiring too much

 

[rex_saugerty]

thats the temperature in celsius and around 93 in F

but i did managed to get something done today



both front bolts snapped, so i will have to drill the rest of them out of the block. i didn;t had drills so i had to move that one until next week.

love this picture


also i noticed that engine has different code from frame. so i guess it's been changed

aand i did remade brackets for headlight and had an idea for speedo holder





i will get an hose clamp instead of zipties. and thinking about fabbing up a housing for speedo. but not sure, because i was planning to make front windshield/fairing to cover up all the stuff going on there. something like on KTM's

also after realising i had no drills i started to try dent out my fuel tank. i didn't finished, becaus it was getting dark in there. my phone was going to die(i used it as flashlight to get light in tank, so i can see where to bang) and i think i got high from petrol fumes.




this was the only accesible hole


and weapons of choice





not the prettyest job, but this is first time i'm tryng to do a tank. and i didn;t wanted to ask coworker to fix it with welding.

plans now are:
-call in local DMV to check my VIN and Papers, so i can finally register it on my name
-this is a question. i need gaskets for exhaust, but that'll probably be a long time. can i use some of those pastes?
-get engine back in

 

[rex_saugerty]

i was unpatient and went to visit Amelia after work for 2 hours. installed rear manifolds. played around with original speedo and oil cooler. i wanna make a new housing for speedo or tach

yes i'm cheap
because i'm broke and i wanna ride







judging by location of headers i'll have to thing around possible exhaust. single muffler would be hard to make possible, but two is expencive

on oil cooler topic. since i'm planning to relocate it i will need to get new oil lines. i was suggested to make them out of copper lines that ppl use for water plumbing. it's 10mm diameter. i could fill them with sand, heat and bend the way i want. as for ends i have flaring kit(knew it's a good investment) and i could fab up similar connection with flanges







and i made new friends. some wilds ducks that seems to party around my dads work since spring

 

[rex_saugerty]

today guy from local DMV came and did VIN match checking for frame and papers on it. now i need to get more paperwork, but atleast something is done.

figured out what i could do with exhaust

inspired from KTM RC8 and bobber exhaust i want to fab up small mufflers for each header and place two of them on each side of bike, something like this



opinions?

 

[rex_saugerty]

shit happened today. and that made me feel and think that i wont be able to drive bike this year everything happens trough the ass sometimes. all that isnt suppoused to happen happens with me. sometimes it feels like i'm draging unfortune with me. so those two bolts that snapped, i got screw exctrator, and that fukker snapped(great thing to happen with borrowed tool) so i have no idea how to get that bolt out. question is to someone who may read his post. if i make the hole bigger for different bolt size. will it alter the strenght of everything together. cuz engine is in frame with 10 bolts, so if 2 of them will be less stronger, will it be that bad? downside it that there should be sliders...
i would really apreciate some tip

and here's the pictures of those bastards that made me sad for whole day



oh and my sister bought pocket dirtbike for her 6yo son, i'm his fav uncle, he got love towards bikes and subarus for no reason

 

[ROBBO]

Heyyyyy Rex! this issa good bild thred mate ! were tha heck is latvia? Looks like ya got yer habds full with them bolts freezing in solid on ya but persevere mate you will win in tha end fer sure .That h/lamp setup is real nice I am envios of that !:robssmilie:

 

[rex_saugerty]

Latvia is a small country in north/east part of europe in region called baltic(since we're at the baltic sea)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvia

 

[rex_saugerty]

another idea. try to drill the right side out and crap the leftovers out, than rethread. and for left side, try the same but with smaller drill across diameter. and if it's larger, then tap smaller tube inside and rethread that one?

 

[Cruisingram]

As for the broken bolt- don't sweat it too much, it happens all the time with old bikes. There is a couple ways to go about it.

1) You need a hardened drill bit, either way. drill hole one size bigger, you can heli-coil those bolts if absolutely necessary. I am not sure if the tool is called the same thing in Latvia- but it is an insert you put in after you drill the hole out about one size larger. Here is an example: http://globalaircrafttool.com/m12x125helicoilkit.aspx

2) Get a hardened bit, just one size smaller than the size that is in there. Drill it all they way out, then use a thread chaser/maker to get rid of the last of the bolt.

I have done it literally hundreds of times with either of those ways- it works. I would personally heli-coil those areas.

Here is another thing reading your posts. V4s honda are really, really picky about tuning with the exhaust issues. rebending your exhaust and not using the stock collector can make tuning those V4s really hard. It is like removing the air box- another no-no with these bikes. You actually lose power and mid-range torque with pod filters with these V4s.

Also- with ALL the older VF V4s, they have cam issues. And second gear issues. But otherwise, if you get that part fixed, they last forever, and I mean FOREVER. Be sure and check the cams. Did I mention be sure and check the cams?

 

[rex_saugerty]

i dont plan to change the collector, just what comes after them.

oh and i broke that heli coil thing ;(

 

[rex_saugerty]

Thanks for info on danmoto. Yeah, i was thinking of inserting baffle and silencing it with exhaust silencer material.

And i kinda had another idea on those bolts. I will drill them out completely. Buy stainless steel rod. And push it all the way trough. So instead of two bolts i would have rod with two threaded ends. kinda makes sense to me. And it would be easyer to install sliders or bars to it. Any opinions?