1985 VF500F Interceptor (Part 1)

J.A.:  Now that school is over, I have plenty of time to work on my projects, and have gotten a good deal of work done on my 1985 Honda VF500F Interceptor.  Let me give some back story on it.

This bike was a birthday present to myself that i purchased on March 13, 2011 (my birthday).  I got it for $520 in the condition as photographed.  It had a pink, and looked promising, but someone had taken it apart once, and I should have taken that as a sign to stay away.  But I wanted a project, and I wanted a VF500 interceptor.

I did some preliminary work to it such as cleaning the carbs, wiping the dust off the bike, and checking fluids and tires.  Things were working well until I tried to get the carbs on.  One of the intake boots was ripped in half, and two were cracked a little bit.  I ordered one boot for the time being.

When I got the boot, I put it on and had a really fun time trying to get the carbs into the V4 bike.  Let's just say it took three days, a lot of cussing and fuming, and a hammer and 2x4 to get the carbs into the bike.  Time to start it.

Well, it started.  But it didn't do much more than that.  No idle, no revving, no happy purring from the pipes.  But at least it started.

I had to find the problem.  There were vacuum leaks everywhere in the california emissions system and the carbs were way out of adjustment.  The valves were tight too if I remember correctly.

Well I said goodbye to that emissions system and just plugged up the holes.  I don't need to be smogged anyways. And it's less weight.  Every ounce helps.

I kept on taking the carbs off, adjusting something, and putting them back on (which was a PITA each time) so I decided, "Screw it; I'm getting three more new boots and making my life easier!!"

Let me tell you, if you have a VF, GET NEW CARB BOOTS.  Best 30 bucks I have ever spent!  The carbs go on and off effortlessly now.  Just a little nudge and they're on.

I can recount numerous other minor details i worked on, but this post would never end, so I'll jump to the end.

Then the knocking started.  Out of nowhere, there was a noticeable knocking sound out of the right-rear #3 cylinder. But only when warmed up.  I did not like that, but it was getting toward finals time and that was a more pressing matter than my project, so off to the side it went for two weeks.  Now, yesterday I decided to get back into that bike.  I took the rear valve cover off to give it a look just to see if anything was noticeably wrong, and there, staring me in the face was a torn up camshaft. FML!!

(Top: The cam in question.  There was a 5mm wide gouge in it.  Not pretty.  Bottom: What the cam is supposed to look like)

So right when I saw that, I knew i was going to need at least a new exhaust cam.  I was going to have to pull the cams out and have a ball getting the timing right again when i replaced it.  I also needed to find the culprit for the problem.

I decided it was worth going the the process of taking everything out of the head and giving it a once-over.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  But then again, i love raveling myself in the mystery of the bikes.

(Both cams ended up needing to be replaced, and the gouging came from the cam holders, which were worn as well.)

The following photos are graphic in nature.  If you have any young motors,please send them to the other room

As you can see, something major happened in the top end of that motor, and I need to check out the rest of the engine to make sure.  Time to separate the soul from the body.  Updates tomorrow.