1985 VF500F Interceptor (Part 3)

J.A.  For part three of this restoration, I have decided that with the engine out, I may as well strip down the bike completely and start from scratch.  For those of you who missed part 1 and 2, here they are:
Part 1
Part 2

Now that everyone is caught up, lets continue.

For those who are first-timers at a frame-down restoration, let me just tell you that preparation now will save you many headaches later.  That means you should have many bins to put things and you should keep your screws fairly organized so as to not mix them up.  Some people like to order things from back to front or front to back, but I like to organize it by what needs to be put on first as I reassemble it.  This will save you lots of time and energy later when it's a lot easier to make mistakes.

Again, like in motor removal, be methodical.  If something doesn't want to come out easily, then either it's not time for that piece to come out yet, or you forgot to remove a bolt attaching it.  I don't think there is much of a step-by-step manual for this, so start with the easy things like the battery box and work your way through the bike until everything is off.

Make sure to be delicate with the wiring harness, as you really don't want to destroy it and have to take it all apart and troubleshoot it.  It is a huge pain, and not too fun really.

The rear fender cage piece on this bike is a large unit and requires some finessing to get it off.  You can use some force to pry it from its metal cage, but you should not need anything more than your hands and some elbow grease.

Be careful disconnecting the rear brake assembly from the foot peg.

The headlight assembly can come off as one large unit, making sure that all of the wires trailing to the cables get removed before you yank the assembly off the bike.

Now would be a good time to place the bike on a jack as the last couple steps involve removing the two parts that hold the bike on the ground: the rear end and front end.

Be slow on the front end, as it takes a lot of work just to separate the forks from the frame.  First you must remove the fuse cover and loosen the steering stem nut.  The next step involves removing the bolts holding the top triple tree clamps in order to get to a Torx head bolt hidden up in the risers.  After that bolt is removed, you must remove another bolt securing the risers and a C-clip on the forks preventing the risers from being removed.  The same method applies for the other side as well.  Once the top triple tree is removed, you can take the remaining two nuts off and slide the steering stem out of the frame.

Place the front end is a safe place for the time being.  In order to keep it upright, ziptie the brake lever in the closed position to apply brake pressure to the wheel.

Once the front end is removed, all that is left is the frame.  Clean it up, paint it, and put everything back together, nice and clean.

 Man that little bike sure takes up a lot of garage space.

My plan for the restoration is to have a red bike with white panels, lucky enough, there is a photo of what my finished product basically should look like.

 We'll see how it turns out.  Painting the frame is my next project.

1985 VF500F Interceptor (Part 2)

J.A.:  Welcome to my next installment of my disassembly and restoration of my beloved interceptor.
If you missed Part 1 please view it here: http://jbmotoresto.blogspot.com/2011/06/j.html

Now that I have discovered a major problem, removal of the engine to look over everything else is necessary (at least in my mind.) Though I may have been able to remove the head with the engine in the bike, it is much, much easier to do so with it off the bike and on a workbench.

So begins my long and arduous task of removing the motor:

I had not previously done an engine removal on a bike of this scale, so I used the manual as my guide for the most part.  Note to anyone who has never removed an engine before and wants to:  USE THE MANUAL!!!  I cannot stress that enough.  The last thing anyone wants to do is break something that could have easily been avoided had one paid close attention and followed directions carefully.  If you are removing the engine, something expensive is most likely already broken, so don't try to make it worse than it already is.  You may end up with a screwdriver through the wall, and now there is a hole in the drywall.

If you don't have a manual to help removing the engine, you can do a google search to try and find a PDF some nice individual has uploaded or purchase a E-version or paper copy off a site.  A good place for PDF versions that I have found is http://classiccycles.org/

Moral of the story is work slowly and carefully, unplugging all the connections and disconnecting things along the way.  The motor should end up coming out easily and in one piece with little to no dangling parts like hoses and wires.

Always remember to disconnect the batter before you begin removing the engine.  This is to avoid shorting anything so as to not damage it or yourself.

Since I have only removed this engine for this specific bike, the process will most likely be a little different for other bikes, so stick to the manual and you will come out alive.

I will admit right now, I am extremely bad at following directions, especially my own, so I did not necessarily follow the manual during my removal process, but then again, a little common sense goes a long way.

I started this process by removing the exhaust.  If you seem to have a hard time removing some pieces due to rust, a spray lubricant such as WD-40 works wonders.  The exhaust tubes may require a bit of wiggling to get them off, but they will move.  When removing the collector underneath, don't forget to loosen the collars connecting it to the rear pipes.  A cro-bar does the job if it doesn't want to leave its home.

The radiator needs to be removed, but make sure to drain it first.  Anti-freeze is very good at what it does and it won't evaporate from the garage floor.  When you spill some, make sure to clean it up right away as it is poisonous to pets who like to drink it for its sweet taste.

You have to remove the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder in order to get to the sprocket.  The  manual says to remove the sprocket from the motor, but that is really unnecessary since the chain will most likely have a master link.  The manual also says to remove the alternator and the clutch to remove the engine, but to me that is asinine, so I left them.  I hope the Honda Gods don't smite me for it.

A motorcycle jack is a great investment.  You can get one at just about any auto supply store, harbor freight, or my best friend (sorry Brody) Craigslist.  The jack is a really good tool to keep any project upright and stationary, and makes engine removal a breeze.

Continue unhooking  things like coolant lines and shift levers, and take the carburetors out.  As I said before, new boots make things easy as pie.  Just loosen the boots from both the carbs and the intakes, and give the assembly some upward force and *POP* out they come.

Again, the manual told me to remove the starter motor, which is only two or three bolts, but i chose instead to remove the power wire that runs to it from the battery instead.  That's only one bolt!

The cool thing about this bike is that one of the side rail down tubes detach to reveal an exit strategy for easy engine removal.  Good thinking Honda!  Just pop this bad boy off via the four obvious allen bolts once the two lower engine mounting bolts are removed (for those that have read this through before actually attempting to remove the engine, Kudos to you!  The others are probably wondering why the subframe isn't coming off right now.)

Make sure to have a helper with you, as it will make this next step 1000000 times easier.  Once you remove that last upper mount bolt, the engine will want to fall out of the frame and even though it is probably only 60 pounds, the bike also will not have a kick stand nor will it want to stay on the jack.  A second set of hands definitely helps in this instance.  After the engine is out, lightly bolt the subframe back on so you can use the kickstand again.

Now that the engine is out, you may now take it to your clean-room, I mean crappy makeshift table, for dismantling and inspection.

And that is the end of my how-to instructable, now back to my story.



Once I took the engine out, I immediately removed the head to check the pistons and valve seats.  The top of the head was pretty damaged, so I knew I was needing at least that, but I wanted to check the pistons because if they were damaged, i was considering scraping this project and going to another one as it would no longer be worth my investment of time and money.

Luckily, the pistons were in good shape.  No signs of detonation, and the cylinders had a good crosshatch on them.  There was just a little carbon build-up, but nothing too bad.

The valves were not the prettiest, but they held fluids in my leak test, so at least none were bent.  I cleaned a bit of the head, but i then remembered I was getting another one, so there was no point.  Though I do have backup valves in case something happens to my new ones.

I ordered my head from 78tamama on eBay, and that husband-wife team has one of the nicest stores on eBay.    They are kind and considerate to me and worked with me to help me get this project on the road.  I am so fortunate there are nice people in this world who are like them.  I would recommend them to anyone looking for motorcycle parts.

I can't wait for the parts to get in sometime next week.  Until then, since the bike is this far apart, I might as well do a frame-down restoration.  More updates tomorrow!

GoPro HD Test Video

B.C.- Hey guys, just wanted to add a video using a new GoPro HD camera that I got!  Future videos to come.

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.

A Few of the Bike's I've Owned

B.C.: I figured while Joey added many pictures of his bikes over the years and I had not, It might be a cool idea for me to show you the various bike's I've owned over the years in chronological succession as well.

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post,  the first bike I had wasn't so much a 'bike' as it was a moped, but what a moped it was.  It was a 1982 Honda PA50 II, and it was given to me by a neighbor who was moving at the time, and told me I could have it, as he didn't know how to get it running, and he couldn't take it with him.

 Here's me at a stoplight on the PA50 II

I ended up finding a tuned pipe for the bike right before I sold it, in the trash no less!

Tuned pipe I found in the trash!

After I sold the moped, and envious of Joey's sporty 50cc Tank scooter, I found out that a man who lived on my street had an old Yamaha CV50 Riva that was sitting in his garage.  So, I took a shot in the dark and made him an offer, and what do you know, he accepted it!

The '81 Riva 50 with Windscreen

Man, I loved that Riva.  I couldn't wait to take it to school and show it off.  I mean, the thing looked like it came right out of the showroom!  It had 1098 original miles when I bought it.  That scooter always started, never with the electric start ( I was too lazy to buy a new battery) but always with the kick start.

A while after riding the Riva 50 around town with joey, I began to realize that the 31mph top speed of the Riva was not enough to keep up with the brisk 40mph top speed of Joey's tank 50cc, so I began to look for something faster.  After much searching on craigslist, I found a 1988 Yamaha Riva 200z, which I ended up buying for $530

The 1988 Yamaha Riva 200z

At first, the Riva stood for freedom and ultimate mobility.  Prior to that, I had found myself confined to the bike lane, cringing as traffic flew past me.  But this was different, now I could actually keep up with traffic!  What a relief that was.

One night, while at a local In N' Out Burger, I was approached by a man who told me he had a scooter that looked just like what I was on, and that it hadn't moved in years, and if I wanted it, I could come pick it up.  A little worried about what I might find upon arrival, Joey and I were stunned to see a Yamaha Riva 180 that was in decent condition upon initial inspection, so we agreed to take it off of the guy's hands.  It was a bit of a handful for me, but I realized that the plastics which were on this bike would look far better than the plastics that were currently on my 200, so with quite a bit of work, I swapped all the panels and had a scooter that finally looked as good as it (appeared) to operate.

Some pictures of the plastics after they were swapped.

Then, the headaches started.  First, the bike began to leak questionable fluids all over the place, and upon inspection, I was not able to locate the issue.  I kept riding, but noticed that the bike was becoming harder and harder to start, and figuring it was the carburetor, I removed it and took a look at it.  I was horrified to find that there were a great many things broken in the carburetor, the worst of it being that the float was not being held on, and therefore was not drawing fuel.  Then, to my horror, I realized that part of the engine case appeared to be cracked, and after much fretting, realized that this may have also been due to fluids leaking out of the carburetor.  When I re-installed the carburetor, the bike refused to start at all.  For a long time, I could not, and did not want to try to solve the problem.  This issue was made worse when I realized that Yamaha's parts support for the Riva 200/180 was very limited, and I wasn't about to be able to find what I needed easily.  So after some ingenuity, I was finally able to get the Riva running again, and soon afterwards, sold it.

About this time, Joey had just purchased his 1986 Honda Elite 250, and I took a liking to the bike and its many features, such as liquid cooling and larger wheels.  I decided to look for one for myself, and eventually found one.  It had been spray painted by the previous owner, but it ran like a charm.  As a matter of fact, it still does to this day.  Needless to say, I still have it. I've put around 3500 miles on it, and it functions as my daily driver.  It's held up incredibly well in the time that I've owned it, and I can't say enough good things about it.  Honda quality is a given, but you really have to experience it to understand the brilliance of the design.  Not once has it slipped up, the only work I've ever done mechanically to it was to clean out the carburetor and replace the seal, other than that I've only ever changed the oil and added fuel to the thing.

The day I brought the 1985 Honda Elite 250 home.

The scooter has taken me on many scenic journeys, including a trip to Silverado Canyon and Malibu.

Upper photo:  Malibu, CA

Lower photo: Silverado Canyon, CA

And that's where I'm at right now.  Hopefully sometime in the near future, I'll be able to find a good commuter motorcycle, because as well as the Elite 250 works, it's not as stable on the road as I'd prefer, and I do get pushed around by the wind quite often.  The larger stance of a motorcycle and the larger tires would do well to correct this, but all in good time.

-Brody

A Little Bit About Myself

J.A.:  So as you know, my start into riding came from that one fateful event.  Barring that, I may have had to resort to driving a ca-car.  The plan has changed, and for the better if I may say so, and my, no, our goal is to have as many people as possible on the road on bikes, not cars.  It should look like Vietnam here, except with less accidents ;p

Let me key you in on my story after the loss of my beloved Honda Spree:

(This is the only photo I have of my first vehicle D:)

I was lost, in a blind confusion, not knowing what to do now that my only source of transportation was gone.  I had to resort to getting rides from my parents and walking places.  That was not my style.  

I had thought that my riding days were over, but as fate would have it, an new segment of my journey was about to begin.  I found, on craigslist, a 2005 Tank Urban Sporty scooter for $150!

I know it is a Chinese scooter, and for those that are unaware, Chinese scooters have a bad rap for being unreliable, hard to repair, and of shoddy quality.  Most of the time, this is true.  This scooter, however, was an anomaly.  

From the day I owned it, it only broke down once.  Of course that one time had to be at 3:30 in the morning at a closed gas station, and I really had to go to the bathroom.  That was the night I almost got arrested.  But that's another story for another time.

Let's just say that scooter was promptly sold, and another one was being searched for (on craigslist.)

Soon after, I found a new ride.  It began the next chapter in my riding career.  I was off the 50cc bikes,and onto a 150.  I could now go on the street, in traffic, and was finally out of the bike lane. I had picked up a 1986 Honda Elite 150 Deluxe.

(The day I got it, with Brody's Yamaha Riva 200z in the background) 

It was a beautiful bike, actually my most expensive investment ($725) but it only had 4000 miles on it, and I really wanted it.  The price, was understandably, worth it.

I worked on that thing constantly; it was my prized possession, the only thing I had ever really owned for myself, purchased with my own money.  I bought little things here and there for it, and enjoyed the hell out of it.  Then I sold it on craigslist, because I finished this chapter.

(Some photos I took right before the sale. I'm going to miss that pop-up head light most of all.  Sold $1100)

The day I sold that bike, I picked up another one.  A 1986 (man I just love that year) Honda Elite 250.  Freeway legal BABY!!!!  Purchased for $600, but there were some things I needed to get for this bike; it had off-road tires for starters.  The tranny was louder than I wanted, as well.

(I got rid of that hideous "Hot tub time machine" signal guard immediately)

This was my dream scooter.  And it became a reality.  There was nowhere we couldn't go.  No more slow rides down side streets to get anywhere. Freeways were open and ready to be used.  Since Brody bought one of these shortly after, we took some trips up and down the coast. It was a blast.

(On top of Malibu, with Catalina in the distance)

Sadly, in a twisted turn of events, that chapter of my life, drew to a close.  It was bittersweet to see her go, as she was a wonderful bike, but on the other hand, I grew up to a motorcycle.  

I had had the scooter as a means of quicker transportation, but not a "motorcycle" because my mom was frightened to death about them.  But after I picked this up for $250, and got it running, and joked a bit about riding it around, she grew used to the idea of me riding a motorcycle, and submissed.  Happiest day of my life! 

This is where I am right now, but there is a newcomer into my life, and that may just begin the next chapter in my book of riding.  

So What's Our Blog All About?

B.C.:  Having never blogged before in my life, I'm really unsure as of what to post, so I'll go ahead and state the basics.  My name's Brody, and together with my good friend Joey, we've created a small, unassuming blog that chronicles our endeavors into the world of motorcycling.  If you're following us, you'll be seeing posts from me ( preceded by "B.C.")  and posts from Joey (J.A.) so as to know who is writing/blogging.

First off, a brief history.

I won't bore you with a lot of unnecessary details (yeah right) and I'll try to stick to the story.  A few years ago, I acquired a 1986 Honda Spree from a neighbor of mine who told me his girlfriend had no use for the thing.  Being the time it was, I really found myself with no interest in the small, shoddy looking bike that now stood before me, until he told me I could have it for free.  Yea, the magic 'F' word.  Really works wonders.  What was I supposed to say?  So it sat there in my garage for a few weeks, not really moving from the spot where it was initially parked.  My neighbor had originally told me that he was looking for the pink slip, and would deliver it to me when he found it, but that never happened.  Pretty soon, it caught my friend Joey's eye, and he asked me if I was ever going to do anything with it.  I told him he could have it for $50 if he wanted, as I had no use for it.  So he brought his truck over, picked it up, and took it home.

The next day, he and his dad had it running.

Man, he was the coolest guy ever, cruising to band camp on a 50cc scooter.  And once I saw that, I was kicking myself for having sold it.  I mean, I could have been riding that! Oh well..... So a little while later, I acquired a 1982 Honda PA50 II moped from a neighbor that was moving, and I was finally able to be that guy who would cruise to school on the moped.  We were on top of the world.  That is, until my neighbor noticed that Joey was cruising around on the scooter he had given me, which apparently was news to him, and having never found the pink slip, he started demanding that the scooter be placed back in his possession now that it was running.  As it is widely known, a vehicle does not have to be in one's possession in order for the title to be transferred, but this didn't stop him.  When Joey refused (with good reason) my neighbor called the police, and said we had stolen the scooter from his property.

Wanting to avoid any complications with the matter, Joey returned the scooter to my neighbor, who promptly sold it on craigslist.com with the pink slip in hand, and in running condition for $450.


Second, a look at where we are now:

Fast-forward about 3 years, and here we are now.  Collectively, we've now owned around 30+ motorcycles and scooters, and we're not stopping any time soon.  Thanks to the one fateful incident that allowed us to experience the joy of riding, we're hooked.

Because of the vast number of motorcycles and scooters that we've owned so far, we've been able to learn our way around the inner-workings of the machines, and with every bike we bring home, we learn just a little bit more about the mechanical aspects specific to each model and manufacturer.

It wasn't long ago that we decided to move quite a bit of stuff out of both our garages, and to scour craigslist for good deals which we can then, in turn, restore to proper working condition, and re-sell as running and riding machines.  We're both in this for the spirit of the hobby, as it has become something of a lifestyle for the both of us.

Third:  So where does this blog fit in?

This blog was created 1) For us to be able to chronicle our work on various projects, 2) for us to write about anything related to motorcycling and how it has affected us, and 3) for anyone interested in following us along our journey in this hobby.

Thanks for reading!
-Brody