So, this is my first go at getting stuck in myself and rebuilding a motorcycle. I should've started the post right from the start but never got round to it. It's not a complete 'nut & bolt' restoration, maybe a 60% ish restoration (I don't have the time, skills and money to do a 100% restoration).

I will begin with a photo of the bike when I purchased it and where I'm up to now. I've also just purchased an aftermarket fairing kit so will do a bit of a review on that when it arrives, hopefully in a months time the bike will nearly be done, ready for the nice weather! I've personally enjoyed reading through other peoples restoration posts whilst picking up hints & tips etc. so hope people can take something from what I've done likewise.

So when I got the bike it was't running properly and had terrible looking aftermarket 'West' fairings, but that's subjective I suppose...



Firstly I purchased an Abba stand and began to strip down the bike down so I could replace / clean things.



Currently I've done the following:

Remove exhaust, replace gaskets, removed rust, polish. To de-rust the system I soaked it in a solution called Deox-C rust remover which is unbelievable stuff!






I decided to start from the back end for some reason so had the subframe, wheels, various brackets and the stand powdercoated. Sonax plastic restorer was used on the undertray, turned out quite nice. New tyres also...





Standard shock replaced with S1000RR shock from Ebay, filed the top mount down slightly and it went straight in. I've also purchased a custom spring for this but for now, I'm going to try it with the standard BMW spring fitted since I will just be using it on the road.





It's surprising how well things clean up, honda build quality I suppose... I wish it was easier to upload photos on here so I could dump them all on.

I've also had the forks powdercoated grey now, the top yoke powdercoated and clock brackets, handlebars etc. I've fitted a rear HEL braided line and a chain guard.

Some more stuff I've completed:

- Forks rebuilt with Rick Oliver springs, new bushes, seals etc.
- Tidied up the wiring loom.
- A lot of general cleaning, polishing & de-greasing
- New chain & sprockets
- Removed Rads (not sure how I'm going to tackle restoring these yet)
- Calipers powder coated and rebuilt with new seals and any other replacement parts required
- New Tyres
- Clocks cleaned and re-fitted to powdercoated brackets / mounts
- Replaced throttle cables
- Cylinder compression test
- Rebuilt fuel tap
- New spark plug coils
- New shock linkage bolts
- Re-painted a few brackets myself
- New brake pads

I'll upload a mix of various photos below...













(annoyingly some of my photos wont upload)!

Hopefully this weekend I can get the front end built back up! Thanks for having a look... I will hopefully post every Monday with progress updates...

Rick

Good work on the rebuild and on the thread!
We all love a good rebuild to follow on here.

My advice would be to forget about trying to restore old rads, contact Scott Jellyman on here - he can supply good quality new replacements at a great price. I run them on my bike and they're superb.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks,

Think I'm just going to give them a good clean, tidy the fins up then a light coating of VHT paint for now... I'll try again with some of the other photos that should've uploaded! bad luck again...

No worries but for £100 they're a great investment.

Few bits done this weekend and it's starting to look more like a bike!

Forks re-fitted
Front wheel fitted
Powder coated top yoke fitted
Rear set cleaned and re-fitted
New renthal grips & powder coated bar ends fitted
HRC rear brake reservoir fitted











slowly but surely getting there...

Interested to see what you make of the new fairings, what are you going to do with the old ones? I ask because i am looking for a nose cone. Also do you have any tips for tidying up the exhaust pipes? Yours look so fresh and impressive

Sean

Yes I'm a bit uncertain about what they will be like but you can't argue with £300-ish for a full set delivered... Even if they aren't of the best quality I might get some more layers of lacquer on them for extra protection. I already sold my old set to someone on the VFR owners Facebook group.

So for the exhaust which was quite rusty in places I had to get some wire wool and a brass / wire drill piece for the stubborn bits of rust, particularly under the exhaust hear shield. That plus a lot of time, some elbow grease, a drill polishing pad and some autosol...

Does anyone know if the speedo drive cable should run outside the forks or through them?

Through the forks.

Amazing work so far, nothing beats fresh powdercoat!

Not surprised stuff has cleaned up well, like you say Honda's build quality at the time was something else.

Good luck with the fairings, hope they turn out a good fit

Thanks!

Nothing much to report this weekend but a couple of big jobs, for me at least, lined up for next weekend. Front calipers need rebuilding and the carbs will be off for ultrasonic cleaning.

I had to retap a couple of threads after powder coating due to a build up of crud. Also fitted the left hand rear-set after a bit of a clean / polish and fitted a new rubber grip onto the gear lever / shifter and a new rubber dust seal around the shift rod ball joint, if thats the correct term...

Fitted the horn and reconnected some of the electrical stuff around the front end. I recon I'm about a month off completion now fingers crossed!