Well, I picked up the VFR400 from some decidely dodgy folks in Birmingham yesterday and made a start on assessing it today.

There are some good points.
- Most of the fairings are fine (except for paint) and are the originals
- Tank all good inside
- Battery seems new and strong
- Nothing major missing except a couple of plastic trims and fasteners
- A new screen came with it.

There are some not so good points
- All locks f***ed and ignition bodged
- Fork seals leaking merrily all over front brakes
- Pads gone, disks scored
- Chain and sprockets f***ed
- Tyres f***ed
- No choke cable (!?)
- Damaged rear light cluster
- Sub frame quite rusty
- Nasty carbon chavvy mirrors
- Both hangers cracked
- Gear lever bodged
- Fuel tap leaking and misbehaving
- Exhaust collector rotten
- Wheels chipped
- Throttle sticks
- Loads more, probably

What I can expect from a 1987 bike costing £500?

But the good news... I got it running!

I was at the point of giving up with no spark, when I realised that numpty here had not checked the kill switch. It will turn over on the start with the kill switch on, which is weird.

It backfired a few times loud enough to bring in the bomb squad, then started and immediately revved its nuts off due to stuck throttle.

Sorted that, warmed it up and the engine sounds fine, that VFR whirr, bloody loud though either a non standard end can and/or collector box is paper thin. Mind you I did have the tank and airbox off! Seemed to rev OK, all gears select despite bodged up gear lever. 33000 kms indicated which seems to fit with MOT records.

I will stick some pictures on when I figure out how.

Cheers for now.
Theo

Good progress today. Stripped down and cleaned the front brakes and despite being saturated in fork oil they are in decent condition, though will be getting new seals anyway.

Had a big clean up and removed the rest of the panels. Started it and ran through some carb cleaner, then let the carbs run dry. I noticed that no 2 carb slide was not moving when I revved, assumed it was stuck due to gunky carb.
I then removed all the electrics, taking lots of pictures as I went. Only to discover no 2 spark plug had been disconnected!

It seems the last owner was actually riding it on three cylinders, ignition hotwired, front brakes soaked in oil, rear brakes down to the metal, no oil in the forks, no choke, both hangers snapped, ancient tyres, engine idle at 4000rpm and the chain about to fall off. And survived. Possibly.

Spares starting to come in from ebay, seems there are plenty available. Hopefully the only expensive bit will be the new exhaust - this one utterly rotten and already bodged multiple times.

This sounds like the start of a very heroic story, to save another abused and mistreated 400 from the clutches of a not-very-bright Brummie. I await the forthcoming chapters with interest.

This thread needs pictures...

This thread needs pictures

Yes it does! But how?!

Plenty of good progress.

The strip down continues, just the engine and shock to come out now. The shock is leaking but appears salvagable.

All four downpipes are stainless and will clean up nicely, but the collector box is not and is well rusty. It has been adapted to take separate downpipes. However I think there is enough metal left to grind it back to clean and paint.

I have stripped and cleaned the carbs, and fixed some obvious problems (a loose needle, bent choke arm, obvious air leak). They look good and have the correct jets and needles, so thankfully noone has attempted to 'tune'.

Brake calipers stripped and cleaned, all new seals, pads and sliders. Again not bad under all the crud.

Almost all the spares I will need have been sourced already, including an elusive original gear lever. I have found both hangers, a clutch lever assembly, a left clip on, rear light cluster, gear lever and fuse box all on ebay for little cash.

I invested in a polishing kit with an adaptor for a bench grinder and can now make things look very new and shiny.

Got a bargain on some BT45s for when the wheels come back from the powercoating place.

That will be it until the new year, as we are away for Christmas.

Cheers.
Theo

thelonious wrote:

This thread needs pictures

Yes it does! But how?!

Here ya go

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=44827

Hi, thanks for the help with images.

Here are some pics taken before I bought it - it looks better than it was!





The strip down is complete now, the only sticking points were the swing arm pivot bolt (odd size and very stuck), rear hub nut (utterly stuck, had to invest in an impact wrench) and one fork damper bolt that was mangled and had to be drilled out.

A few more 'before' photos:





I have spent the last few weeks cleaning, stripping and repainting numerous parts including the valve covers, engine side covers, starter motor, sprocket cover, oil cooler, clip ons, stand, sub frame, fairing mounts and many more bits and bobs. It is slow work but each part looks like new again, and I can check over each part as I go cleaning, greasing and repairing.

The engine itself I have done little to, just the valve clearances, plugs, a general checkover and cosmetic stuff. One of the bolts on the timing wheel on the end of the crankshaft was loose and sticking out! How this had not smashed the side cover or fallen out and caused a siezure I don't know, blind luck I suppose.

My plan is to do a compression check and if all is well leave the engine alone. The oil that came out was old but clean and with no shiny bits in it!

The wheels just came back from the powder coating place (Chingfords in Slough) looking awesome in pure gloss white. The new tyres are on (always a fun job), disks, bearings etc refitted and the wheels are ready to go.

The swingarm and frame cleaned up well (scotchbrite pads and alloy wheel cleaner - thanks for the tip). The bearings are all in amazingly good shape but the frame has some corrosion in the anodised finish that spoils the look of the main beams running around the tank. I think I will polish up just the main rails rather than getting it reanodised or coated.

The shock was in poor shape, it had lost its oil and was very corroded. Happily I found a second hand one in Germany for €90 that looks to be in excellent condition, very clean for the age. I plan to fit it and give it a try before spashing out on a costly rebuild.



Not surprisingly I am having some woes getting some parts. Air filters do not seem to exist, nor do original mirrors. Cush drive rubbers are £10+vat EACH and I need five! I think I may have bought the last chain slider in the world at a scary £36+VAT.

I have finished the right fork with new seals and oil, but the left fork is waiting as it has a couple of bits missing. There should be two leaf springs and a washer between the ally cone and the bottom of the fork tube, but I can find only the washer. Maybe someone though it would improve the damping to leave them out? Anyway these parts are no longer available so if anyone happens to have them or know where to get them please let me know. Honda part number is 51404ML0004.

That's all for now (slow day at work) but I will start posting some finished photos soon.

Theo

It is starting to come together again. Here is the reassembled headstock, with the yolks painted and my attempt to mirror polish the top yolk:



The frame came up nicely in the end. I had to use the electric sander with 320 grit to get rid of the corrosion, then I got a half decent brushed finish by hand using a scotchbrite pad. Sorry the pic is a bit crap.



Here is the swingarm coming together. I just received the chain and sprockets and cush rubbers but still waiting for the chain slider.



And the best bit!

love it .. How were the fairings?

Pretty ratty, but I think all but one can be restored.

Back end before and after





Repainted engine cases back on