VFR owners' thread, for VFRPS members and prospective members

[vifferman]

A Honda mechanic I know, says that of all the VFR 800 valve clearances (25k) he has done, none needed playing with. Rather anti-climactic. Perhaps the chains are making a return *shudder*.

My VFR800 is now 13 years old, and I've had it for 10 of those, and the valve clearances have never been feedled with in that time. Checked a couple of years back, and still in spec. Now sitting on around 100,000 km.
I've had 7 other Hondas: only two (2!) didn't have noisy camchains: one (90 VFR750) had gear-driven cams, the other was a 2-smoke. One (VTR1000) had had a tensioner let go (almost always the front one, as it doesn't get any oiling) and lunched the cyliner and valves. Luckily, it was the previous owner. One of the first things I did was fit APE manual tensioners...

Honda are shit at camchain tensioners - they should give up (like their tensioners...)

The 3rd and 4th Gen VFR750's are the best: not too whiney, and you can flip the cams over and turn them into a twin-twingle, with no other mods required (sparkplugs fire every stroke). No such luck with the RC46; it's based on the RC45 and has the geardrive at the right-hand end of the camshafts, which is why it's so fecking noisy. And why they did away with it, because the cakemixer racket it makes is very hard to pass Euro noise regs with (i.e., IMPOSSIBLY loud). Took me 18 months to get used to the farkin' whining. No problem now - I always ride with earplugs in and music streaming from the phone via the Sena, so the cakemixer's just background noise (and somewhat drowned out by the Satantune anyway).

[HenryDorsetCase]

Honda are shit at camchain tensioners - they should give up (like their tensioners...)

The 3rd and 4th Gen VFR750's are the best: not too whiney, and you can flip the cams over and turn them into a twin-twingle, .

agreed re camchain tensioners: the one on a CB400F is a known failure point too and it drops metal shavings into the oil just near the crank.....

Now I want a VFR750 made into twin twingle.

[willytheekid]

flip the cams over to make A twin twingle? (I understand what u mean...but, is it actually possible?)


ps +1 ...3 & 4th gens the best in the VFR range, but I maybe slightly biased lol

[Icemaestro]

Don't even get me started on a cbr600 range of cam chain tensioner failures...replaced with ape manual ones also, easy as anything..


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[vifferman]

flip the cams over to make A twin twingle? (I understand what u mean...but, is it actually possible?)
ps +1 ...3 & 4th gens the best in the VFR range, but I maybe slightly biased lol

Yes, it is possible, and has been done. I searched high'n'low for the original VFR forum posts about this, but although I found references to them, the originals have been archived. It started off as just a "Hey - these camshafts are symmetrical; I wonder if they can be flipped?!?" kind of idea, then the guy who tried it discovered that yes, they could be flipped, and that it made no real difference to the power or running (apart from changing the sound and feel). To be honest, I can't remember if it was a third generation or fourth gen engine that the 'trial' was conducted on, and I have a suspicion it works on both. I also don't recall if both front and rear cams were flipped (I suspect they were). I *do* remember that the outcome was to create a V4 that was effectively like a double v-twin.
As for your assertion that the 3rd/4th Gen VFRs are the best, I'd agree in some ways. Their wheels are prettier (many 5th and 6th gen owners have put the 8-spoke rear wheels of the earlier bikes on). Also, there are much fewer electrical 'doodads' to cark it than on the EFI'd 5th/6th gen bikes. However, having had both a 91 and '01 VFR, the '01 is definitely superior, apart from the camgear whine, rear wheel, and linked brakes. The latter does have 'some' advantages, like when braking on greasy roads or gravel, but otherwise is a dumb idea probably intended for dumb people who hit the rear brake when panic-braking.
As with any bike, many of the deficiencies can be fixed or improved. Pity Honda still can't get the swingarm light and pretty like its competitors have managed to... It adds quite bit of unsprung weight to the back end, which even spending $1500 like I have doesn't entirely improve, as the "thump-bump" is still there....

[HenryDorsetCase]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/moto...-744699634.htm

or

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=743806773

[sil3nt]

I would take the ZXR. Always loved the look of the old ZXRs.

[ecko_nzed]

Pity Honda still can't get the swingarm light and pretty like its competitors have managed to... It adds quite bit of unsprung weight to the back end, which even spending $1500 like I have doesn't entirely improve, as the "thump-bump" is still there....

What did you spend the $1500 on?

[vifferman]

What did you spend the $1500 on?

HRRrrmmmm... um... There was a group buy on Elka rear shocks on the VFRDiscussion website, so I jumped on that, as it was only around $750 or somesuch. Maybe a few shekels more. However (but!) Elka in Canadia insisted on sending it first class courier with Track'n'Trace, which cost me another $250 for freight and insurance, so it was around $1000 landed. At the time, Robert Taylor was selling an Ohlins for around $1250 fitted so I thought, "Bonus! $250 to spend on the front end!"
The Elka was HEAPS better than the Showa, and the Sonic Springs fork springs improved the front end. However (but!) I decided it wasn't good enough, and didn't match the improved rear end so eventually sent the forks off to CKT for fettling: new seals, oil, dampers, checking for concentricity and straightness, etc.
When they came back, they were markedly better, except at around 70-90 km/h on crappy roads, when my arms got a major workout. It turned out the spring rate calculator Sonic used was stolen from Racetech, and erred on the side of stiffness. So... back went the forks to CKT, and got new oil, lighter Ohlins springs, and reworked damping to match. OOODLINGS better.
But... after a while, I decided I was doing myself a disservice not having the rear shock properly set up, so the wife organised a RoadTrip for us, and I went to visit Dr Bob. He removed all the innards of the Elka, which was the same diameter as an Ohlins, and replaced it with the appropriate Ohlins stack and other bits. The spring surprisingly turned out to be of good quality and spot-on for springiness.
So, all that cost me a bit over $400, so the total cost for the rear was around $1500. So only $250 more than just buying an Ohlins from him in the first place.... Can't remember the total fork overhaul and re-overhaul cost, but IIRC, it was probably getting up to $1500 or so too.

So: Do it ONCE, and DO IT RIGHT! And save money, time, and frustration....

But like I said, even with the world's bestest bits, the VFR800's rear hub, caliper, wheel, swingarm, etc. is no lightweight, so it's never going to feel as good as a more sensibly-designed rear end....

[HenryDorsetCase]

It is sensibly designed. For endurance racing....... :-)

[Icemaestro]

Designed to be able to take the rear wheel off quickly and easily!:-)and to look amazing. What do the Ducati swingarms weigh?


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[sil3nt]

Finally got the bike into the mechanics this morning. Asked for EBC brake pads but they reckon Premier are exactly the same (same company) but cheaper

They had them in stock so went for them. They better not be shit.

[Icemaestro]

Lol. Only time I notice a difference is sintered and non sintered. Mind you the seals still need changing on my brakes...


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[sil3nt]

Lol. Only time I notice a difference is sintered and non sintered. Mind you the seals still need changing on my brakes...


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I will be rebuilding the calipers and master cylinder soon. Knowing my luck and mechanical incompetence it will end in another trip to the mechanics

[sil3nt]

Good news! The mechanics had trouble with the bloody brake pad pin plugs as well. They had to destroy them to get them out. New ones arriving tomorrow.