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Div
L Plate Warrior
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| Pete. |
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Pete.
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 Posted: 13:57 - 10 Nov 2018  Post subject: |
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Isn't this the engine UBG described as fitted with Cadburyshafts?
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temeluchus
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| Teflon-Mike |
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Teflon-Mike
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| Posted: 23:30 - 10 Nov 2018 Post subject: |
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| Pete. wrote: | Isn't this the engine UBG described as fitted with Cadburyshafts? |
Yes...
The chocolate cam-shaft issue was rather inflated though, A-N-D according to Honda atributable only to the first batch of VF's sent to the US... not UK bikes.
Aparently the first production batch got unhardened pre-pro cams by mistake, and US bikes were subject to recall.
The model, however suffered its entire 18 month.. wow! Production run, with variouse lubrication issues, mostly due to an internal, but non integral top end oil-way-pipe grid made of steel brake pipe, that bolted down to the thin-wall pressure cast ali heads on fibre seal washers... between the differential expansion of the metals, and diferential expansion of the sections in the thin-wall pressure cast ali alone... before you chuck in any less than rocket technitial build or dullard dealer mechanic... I would include no-nuffink-DIY merchants, but Motorcycle & Motorcycle Mechanics (UK) had one as a cover-feature with the headline "Maintenance for Robots Only"... few DIY merchants were THAT brave.... (exept perhaps me... and I plead stupidity!) they 'leaked' like a sieve... worse than an old brit-bike... B-U-T cos it was inside... no one saw the puddle... just heard the knocking bearing!
The bikes DO deserve thier reputation as a grenade looking for some-where to go off... just not necesserily for the cam-shafts... which to all accounts, after that first US batch put egg on Honda's face, they sorted belt and braces toot-sweet....
Having announced the thing with much fanfare as "The ONLY way to make a four-cylinder engine water-cooled, and so meet the market expected power out-put and regulated emmissions, and keep the width to something that doesn't beg the engine placed even higher than in the air-cooled UJM's making handling a bit quirky... When it arrived in the show-room, it was actually no more powerful and a truck-site heavier than thier own air-cooled accross the frame four, CBX750F... and that engine lasted anouther two decades, used in the US 750 Nighthawk and later the CB750 Retro, like wot I got! Tough old boot that engine... mine still ent dead after a decade of waiting!
SO, all the complexity and convolution was rather proved to be a bit misplaced. Within a year when Kawasaki launched the first GPZ600R 900R's with accross the frame water cooled fours... the hype was rather dissolved.
BUT... Honda, deturmined to learn a trick or two from BMW who had only just abandoned the boxer twin they had been building since 1922.. decided to percevere with a bad idea and prove that development could make even a bad design come good... like the swapping ends porshe 911!!!!
The VFR750, and the RC30 were the result... and it wasn't until the release of the VFR800, that Honda admitted that actually, they lost money on every one they sold!!! Bit like a VW golf then... so they DID learn a thing or three from the Germans!!!!! Lol.
Greatest achievement of the VF750, was to beg Honda very hastily reverse engineer a GPZ600... wrap it in Ducati Paso-esque all enveloping fairings, and put it to market with much hype abouyt the weight saving not having to cast the Honda logo into the clutch cover saved... and call it the CBR..... which went on to be thier best selling model for oooh, a couple of decades or more!
VF750... TODAY!
If its still alive and breathing after thirty five years... Its PROBABLY a good'n!... or at least not suc h a bad'n!
A LOT however were imported to the UK as greys from the US in tyhe late 80's and early 90's, cos the US legend made them even less valuable there than here, and people literally couldnt give them away.
I would be more concerned to check the origin of the thing, as to whether it was a genuine Honda UK allocated import, or a grey. If Grey, its possible it could have been parked up very early in its life and not used cos resale was so low, or it had a minor fault like a flat tyre.
16" front wheel is pita to get decent tyres for these days, matching one to the 18" rear worse... its NOT a bike I would envissage using much, or hard, it would be a meet & show talking point... as in "Bludy Hell! It aint ate its cams yet!"
If there is ANY fault inside that engine... its pretty much scrapo before you start. They are a right royal PIT to work on; the motor has to come out of the frame to virtually do anything, access is so tight, and the carbs in particular are a pain, the bodies being different on the front vack to the rear, the jets different, and easy to get the wrong way around; spark plugs are an uncommon small size, exhausts a pain in thier propensity to rot out under the motor, and for manifold studs to sieze and shear and be even more of a bast'd to get milled out and replaced, especially on the reverse inclined back pots... shall I go on! Oh Yeah... then theres that convoluted PAIR of cam-chains and cam-chain tensioners.... which make the forked screw & lock-nut tappets look positively 'nice' to deal with, even though the rockers can twist!
OP A 'knowledgeable mechanic' would know NOT to go within a mile of one of these things.... a BRAVE and knowledgeable mechanic might be prepared to touch it with a barge pole... BUT..... it is a mechanics nightmare... it REALLY is.
Like I say... I would be more bothered about the things provenance, and whether the thing looked standard.
There were, in thier day, a host of upgrades and mods, both from Honda as official dealer service 'upgrades' like completely different oil-spiders in the heads... and more from the after-market that included external oil plumbing kits to 'try' and get around this warping issue.
Who knows what, in the last 35 years, has or has not been fitted, bodged or butchered.
Bottom line... even when brand new, there were 'better' bikes about on just about every front... as said, even Honda's own air-cooled CBX750, was lighter and more powerful and better handling; the GPz600 set new standards for four-stroke sportsbike handling and performance, the GPz900, proved a big four-stroke could handle, the FZ750 proved reliable and just 'nice' with its slant-4 lump and beam frame; only Suzuki persevered with evil handling over powered monsters in the oil-boiler, bendy wheel GSXR's!
Its a real 'land-mark' motorcycle... unfortunately, that land-mark says "Ere Bee Dragons".. as a rolling museum piece, it has a LOT of curiosity value, because its was proof of honda getting so much, so wrong, and begging the VFR series, as well as the CBR's...
BUT it is NOT a bike, you should have ANY aspirations about 'using' as anything more than a rolling museum piece... if it runs! Be glad... and hope it dont pop.
It's a 35 year old bike.. its not a first MOT fresh new one... and it was a bit of a grenade looking for a place to happen 35 years ago, let alone now!
Polish... ride CAUTIOUSLY to meets, making sure AA card and mobile is in your pocket, talk about its historical significance, ride CAUTIOUSLY home after, park in the shed for another two months until you dare do it again! THAT is the sort of bike it is...
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Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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Pete.
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temeluchus
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davebike
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| Posted: 13:03 - 12 Nov 2018 Post subject: |
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Very early VFR750 engine screw adjuster and short rockers
OK ish but most parts No longer on honda lists but our mail Pattern part wholesaler has lots !
We (the Workshop SE20 8JY) would tackle but we pro's so NOT cheap with that age of bike you often better off DIY
If all is running well Change oil and oil filter air filter and maybe plugs careful check of breaks and bearings and ride it!
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A100man
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A100man
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| Posted: 19:41 - 17 Nov 2018 Post subject: |
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You're far better off doing the carbs yourself for peace of mind...
..IMO.
Ultrasonic cleaner about 30 quid, Sync gauges available for about 40 quid.
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Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600 |
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Teflon-Mike
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| Posted: 20:29 - 17 Nov 2018 Post subject: |
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Err.. yeah... you know all these 'ace' mechanics that build/have built super-trick track bikes, you have raced..... B-U-T you dont own, and dont know who has a set of carb-manominters or a USM trich-tank....
Something here dont add up, especially when the motive seems to change....
You start by asking about giving a bike a 'once over'... that turns into a major service, and reveal along the way that your interest is that this old bike is just that, and you are more enthusiastic about how cheap, and apparently catalog it looked... and lots of outrage and chaff about Yoshimura motors and late 70's formula proddy racers, that REALLY doesn't add up, and isn't germain to topic.... b-u-t you niether wish to see it as a pampered classic, nor a hack-rat...
Excuse me if the signals I am getting are a little mixed up here!
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 5 years, 160 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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