You may point and laugh

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320063151900

Mine!

Could be a disaster area, as the 'noisy tappets' are more likely to be a
fecked camchain tensioner or two, but for just over £400 including a
spare bike, worth a punt.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

Worth an article or two, ITYM.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

What I was thinking.

Even if it turns out to be utterly phucked, the parts are worth twice
the price paid.

 

The best of the Honda V4s I reckon. Sort of a '4-stroke LC' of its time.
Pain in the arse to work on though.
Anyone who can get the exhaust off in a _reusable_ condition is a better man
than me.

JB

 

Doesn't it? Fingers crossed for the "tappets need doing". Anyone ever
done the valves on a VF500? I'm assuming things like radiators and
suchlike have to be removed first.

 

Wicked Uncle Nigel says...

You are not far wrong. I did the tappets on my VF400 - which are screw
and locknut, I believe the 500 has the same set-up - and just to do the
front bank took about 4 hours. Rads and everything around the front has
to come off. Doing the rear bank takes even longer because most of the
bike has to be stripped down and they're tucked away behind frame rails
at a funny angle to work on.

I was doing mine in my mates shop the night before sailing for France,
we didn't bother with the rear ones as the fronts needed so little
adjustment we didn't think it necessary plus we'd run out of time.

 

Screw and locknut on the early V4s, I think.

 

Tidy, is that fitted with that newfangled anti dive fork setup, or was that
the CBX550, my memory escapes me ?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

Never let the facts stand in the way of a cheap gag, etc, etc...

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

Yes, they are a *real pain* - skinned knuckles etc.

BTW if they sound like they need doing then there's either another problem,
since they always wear tight not loose, or someone screwed-up when they did
them last. The most common error is only using one feeler gauge, so the
rocker can tip on the shaft and give a false reading as the wear on the
shaft is added to each valve stem - you should always take up the slack with
a gauge on one valve as you measure/set the other. Though again this results
in the effective clearance being too tight.

This only applies when a single rocker is shared by two valves - 3, 4 or
5-valve heads.

Wots-the-bet that's what each of the previous owners had also done, so the
rears had never been checked.

The same rule can be applied to the centre spark-plug on triples and many
similar examples.

The interesting thing is that this very rarely results in failure and begs
the question as to the real value of "preventative maintenance" - how many
things do you know that were working fine until they were "fixed"?

 

Didn't you help AntE do his 400 some years ago? I doubt it's that
different.[/QUOTE]

His were shim adjusted, and yes, we did check them all, and luckily they
were all within tolerance. And I remember it was an absolute arse of a
job.

 

I think the V4s had anti-dive, yes. Waste of bloody time and
engineering.

 

Dave Emerson says...

I know the previous owner, and this was the first full service it'd had.
I bought it with really low mileage. We did them when I got back from
France and they needed next to no adjustment IIRC.

My Bandit being a case in point.

 

My GSX550 had some sort of brake-integrated anti-dive system.

 

My RD had it as well, braking hard(ish) on a bumpy road and the front
end would sometimes rise, most odd.

 

mups says...

Sounds like my C90.

 

mups says...

Sounds like my C90.


or an MZ ES150

 

That's a leading-link thing, though. The new toy has Earles-type suspenders
which seem to be set up to dive very slightly, and seriously outperform the
TLS drum that's propped up between them.

 

You're off your fucking face. It looks awful - and from me that's an
insult that goes up to 11.

 

By the time my GSX550ES came into my possession, the anti-dive was
effectively, erm, ineffective. "Squeeze and pray" was the expression
that came to mind. As I had no experience of other (i.e. better)
bikes at the time, I considered the performance at least adequate.