[rex_saugerty]

since i got me my first VFR i've got hooked on them. the bike itself, the story of it. i just love them, and it's no secret.
i was browsing FB mrketplace in Lithuania (because there's nothing in Latvian one) for 125cc two stroke enduro type of bike. so i can join a friend in small ADV trip this summer. until the point i see an advert of sad looking honda vfr all dusty in some garage corner, tank off, fairings on ground. stated that it doesnt run due to fueling issues and has UK's V5 paper. what caught my eye was the claimed price of 150euros. was that it was posted one or two hours earlyer. i whipped up google translate and wrote him in Lithtuanian is the price really the claimed 150euros. He responded quickly with YES and that he just needs to clean the place it's been held in. After not thinking for like 2minutes i said that i will buy it, just need to get me a day off to pick it up. asked for some pics, moved from messenger to whatsapp. dude asks me if i'm serious, because some other people are starting to ask questions. so he deletes the ad. we continued to chat about bike, bikes in general, cars. we still do, i've made me a friend.
so i got day off work. jumped in my trusty ol subaru and went on 311km one way trip (at least thats what WAZE told me initially) trip took me ten and a half hours. during that i realised that one valve of subaru wheels leak.

just outside Riga

anyway for TLDR people. i present you RHONDA
she's slightly unloved 1992. january model with beautiful japanese made V4 at 399cc's and a sexy 14k RPM voice. small size means she is indeed born and raised in Japan until left for UK, then Lithuania, then we met.

just cant hide the happynes in face. i've wanted vfr400 for some time just they always pricy or fuck rare

at one of few fuel stops shortly before it turned dark. road was sometimes clear, sometimes wet, sometimes snow. bike was semi white when i dropped it off

wrote guys that i'm bored to drive, Yantosh told me to look in rear view mirror, so here's the view

unloaded it at work and did a quick wash up, so i can take some pics

i'm a fan of this picture

some other pics of interesting details of bike

dont know whats that part with tube suposed to be, but i've always thought they are cool

front blinkers are flush mounted too

notice the bend in passenger peg bracket?

it's 18" though

has a tool box too

here you can see why she'll be called rhonda

as for plans. i wanted to pick it up so i can do track days more often. drive to track with bike in bed. ride without being scared how to get home, and drive car home. but now i'm tempted to register it and then do track prep. keep it minimal and light for road use, borderline legal. also i remembered that it cn be eligible for historic vehicle status, no annual tax to be paid. so i will fix those few cracks it has. fix up fueling system. clean it up. and if uncles from local institutions will accept it as historic one, i will use it for recreational rides around. but mostly track (this is where the wheel problems arise)

anyway best 150eur spent on bikes in life. and i paid 100eur for VF1000F

 

[CK 187]

Lucky bastard

 

[rex_saugerty]

Lucky bastard

not the worse i've heard about this bike

1-0-1-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-1-1-0-1-0-0

 

[MikeGyver]

Well done!

 

[MDM]

Bargain of the century right there!

 

[rex_saugerty]

copy pasta, so when i fail to finish buildoff, i have everything in one place

anyway i started to do some work this week.

took fuel tank off and drained horribly smelling fuel. it could be smelled just standing by it

broke the in tank fuel filter, but it was bad already

"clean" tap

today i fixed cracks in fairings, they were "fixed" with some resin on top of it. but surface wasnt prepped. so it just popped off with screwdriver. i bought steel mesh at local hardware store to melt in material.

tail was a bit of challenge. rhonda part just dropped off, when i unbolted seat unit

i know you can still see cracks, but thats patina in my eyes

i also cut out new mesh to fit tail unit, because this one looks cleaner
also gaps look like a million times better now

 

[rex_saugerty]

while i did that, courried dropped in carburetor bolts i left in Lithuania. and i could bolt the air box lower part back on it. so i can remove carb a lot easyer

bowls was disgusting. also i found jet on bottom of one

left jets in bowl of brake cleaner in hopes they will soak enough to be able to clean up.


oh also... fuel tap exit is 13mm. it looks like i will have to mode fuel lines to have inline fuel filter.
theres nowhere to buy air filter, because you know!? old JDM

 

[ToadofToadHall]

copy pasta, so when i fail to finish buildoff, i have everything in one place

anyway i started to do some work this week.

took fuel tank off and drained horribly smelling fuel. it could be smelled just standing by it

broke the in tank fuel filter, but it was bad already

"clean" tap

today i fixed cracks in fairings, they were "fixed" with some resin on top of it. but surface wasnt prepped. so it just popped off with screwdriver. i bought steel mesh at local hardware store to melt in material.

tail was a bit of challenge. rhonda part just dropped off, when i unbolted seat unit

i know you can still see cracks, but thats patina in my eyes

i also cut out new mesh to fit tail unit, because this one looks cleaner
also gaps look like a million times better now

Nicely done. I dont know why i've never thought of repairing plastics with mesh like that. Bit of filler and the outside will come up good as new. I love the nc24 btw. Beautiful. Just too small for me to be comfortable on. I had a 97 vfr750r (before vtec) best bike i ever rode.

 

[rex_saugerty]

Nicely done. I dont know why i've never thought of repairing plastics with mesh like that. Bit of filler and the outside will come up good as new. I love the nc24 btw. Beautiful. Just too small for me to be comfortable on. I had a 97 vfr750r (before vtec) best bike i ever rode.

im 182cm with longer arms than they are on most people my lenghy. and it fits me well. and i still have 97. vfr750

1-0-1-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-1-1-0-1-0-0

 

[GoodKat]

I love this topic! @rex_saugerty make it roar, we want to hear it. 😁

 

[rex_saugerty]

picked up a set of plugs and fuel filter. didnt got new t piece for fuel lines. was slow day at work, so i used time to change plugs on bike. i also poked all the grime out of jets. even though i soaked them in bowl of brake cleaner, i had to clean them manually. i did hovever ordered set or original size and slighty bigger one from china (it seems that classic keihin replicas has them)

i installed new Fulbat lithium battery i picked from our shelves and tried to start it...

it stalled shortly after, two floats didnt closed properly. so i'll adress that next time, had to run home.

next on task after that is
fit fuel filter
air filter mod
adjust valves while carbs will be off again

then buying parts, that will take some time, because i dont have much free funds.
i need GTS1000 front wheel. spacer made for it, 900rr triples and nissin brakes. also brake rotors.

also some other surprises

 

[MikeGyver]

I was waiting for you to hop on and ride away!

 

[rex_saugerty]

this aint california mate. there's ice on roads here

 

[MikeGyver]

Oh, right, the cold, my bad!

 

[rex_saugerty]

here's some random interesting facts.
turns out mine is made in 1987. firstly registered in 1992. and NC24 was made onl for two years

400GreyBike.com - Ultimate Performance

 

[rex_saugerty]

been a while. so i didnt liked how bike ran. also two floats wasnt shutting off aswell. took carbs off few times. put them back, checked plugs, put them back. front left cylinder was running a lot hotter than others. indicated to lean. ended up with, retightening all the plugs, rechecking the car boots and took the vacuum line out of equation. filled the inline fuel filter with fuel and tried to start bike. and it ran, even temperature on all four cylinders. couldnt run it for too long, because it's at storage area at my work. there's a main area behind wall

also i got latest order from fulbat (we are official Latvian distributors for them) and got myself a nice promotional extra

also, since i want 17" wheels on it i started to look for front wheel. i messaged my local breaker friends and asked for wheel, because i always got them from guys at 30-40euros. also this time i needed dual brake setup at 17x2.5, so i can keep original width of 100. guy asked me ridicilous amount of 80euros. i told him, that i got last one at 30eur. refused to believe and told me the prices has always been like that. so i got ofended and started to look for it somewhere else. found one in poland (i needed early cbr1000f, vfr750 or cbr600 f1) found one, with shipping slightly under 30euros. so suck it.

also placed an order for rear wheel, that is 17x3.5 from yamahas GTS1000 at 17x3.5, that was 100eur, plus around 15ish for shipping i hope.

then i'll need a spacer made and i can run mitas mc50 soft 130/70r17 and 100/80r17. the width will stay original. rear should be risen a bit to compensate for smaller overall diameter.

oh also, front wheel is 10mm wider at hub. so it's not a straight swap. eyes for 900rr triples and calipers that fits grs600r fork legs. or i should invest in triumph triples swap i have around?

 

[rex_saugerty]

long time no updates, because i simply havent seen the bike much.still dont have shed built. but i did managed to do some work. i got 16" front tire for it. since i realized getting all the parts for front end conversion will be expencive, and i dont have that much extra cash right now. also i changed the broken ignition lock and semi installed it in the spot. has less wires (parking light wont work, but TBH i never used it)

anyway last time i was there i unbolted rear eat off it, in hopes i would give it a go to reupholster the seat. since i have vacation, and between spending time with kids and redoing water lines on summer house, so it has working water, i found some time to purchase fake leather at local home depot style store. i actually went to cloth store, but lady said she doesnt have anything for me and sent me there, to look at material used for furniture. so i ended up buying 1m from roll at around 5.50ish euros.

i didnt took before pics, because i forgot i took the badly "stretched" layer off, that was just glued on with duct tape. underneath it was original vinyl with holes. that was stapled on, and i took them all out.

then i just freehanded some restangles from material and traced the front part around foam base. my initial seam wasnt as goon, and i tried to redo it, but a bit further in, so you cant see the seam. i managed to do that. Keep in mind, this is my first time trying something like this.

i then stretched it on and stapled where i could.there was some issues with sides. it seemed that stapler was too big to fit in the spot. so i used double sided tape. it really did its work

then i test fitter the original grab strap

needles to say, it looked like shit. so i decided to try making my own. i thought i will be smart with using nylon strap and wrap it in vinyl i got. but today when i looked at original strap, it has the same stuff, but mine is just thicker. i was really worried i would make straight seam. also it was so thick, i had some troubles with sewing machine auto feed. so i had to pull the strap in it. but surprisingly my heavy duty singer did awesome.

in the end i made a piece i'm super proud of...

i think i'll have to do front seat now aswell




it' not as good. i know where i'v made some mistakes. but hey, i did learn a thing or two in the process. and thats what this forum is about

 

[rex_saugerty]

then i got all excited and tried to do seat on my superdream flip bike

 

[yantosh]

nice work man

 

[CK 187]

Strong work Rex