ehhh it depends where you're starting. If you're just struggling with an idle issue or something, you can pull the bowls off the carburetors without separating the assembly from the plenum. Honestly, the trickiest bit I usually find is getting the carburetors reseated. But there are also some good services/people you can send your carburetor to to know it's done right. Cheers Dave!
It's quite interesting to follow along your rebuild, especially since I personally really like small to medium displacement 4 cylinder bikes. Although I've always thought of the VF 500 F as a clockwork of a motorcycle. One hell of a predicament with that nylon washer, glad it ended up being easier than pulling the entire carburator apart.
I know I went a bit long-winded on this carburetor video as opposed to just getting everything shown quick, but there aren't a lot of videos on the VF500F or Magna carburetor. I specifically couldn't find one that showed the actual reassembly, and I was stumped on it for days. I just couldn't visualize how to put it together. And I'm with you--I really appreciate the smaller displacement 4-cylinders. They're just super neat. Got a new rear tire on it last week, and hopefully I'll struggle through the front tire change tomorrow. I contacted the guy that sells the carburetor kits, and he may be able to help me out with finding the nylon bushing without having to pay for a whole throttle linkage assembly. And yea, I was soooo relieved when I was able to get that lever out! It required moving the butterflies open and closed, but it thankfully is possible.
Ill have to watch this video from start to finish in a week or two lol i appreciate the length of video cause my 1985 vf500f i just got a week ago needs the carbs cleaned! Thanks!
Just take your time and take lots of pictures, and you'll be fine. The part I had the most trouble with was reassembling. I struggled for a few days to visualize how it needed to go together. Once that clicked, it wasn't so bad. Just a lot of steps. You'll get it. Good luck!
Thanks Gary, I appreciate it. But you should see when somebody who truly knows what they're doing goes at one of these beasts! This is one of two carburetors I've actually had lucid dreams about because I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to reassemble them the first time.
@@matttriestodothings Very complex. I found your video after finding a 85 VF700 for sale in need of a carb rebuild. I think I'll pass on it after seeing your vid. Like my used to say "don't buy somebody else's headache".
@@garyballard723 it's not too bad--it's just doing it the first time and then youre like "Ohhhhh! That's how you do that!" There's also a few people on vfrworld that refurbish people's carburetors, and it's generally a bargain. Compared to all the tools you need to buy, and knowledge you need to acquire by trial and error... It's honestly a cheaper alternative in a lot of cases, and you'll know it's done right. Another place you can send them is Billy's Outback. His website states he's a little behind right now, but I've only ever heard good things from people that sent him their carburetors. I don't want to dissuade someone from taking on this task with the 58 minute video. I just wanted to capture some of the points I got stumped on that I couldn't find answers to in the manual.
Thanks for the video. My experience with ultrasonic cleaners, is to take the parts out before the cleaner stops, swish the parts in the cleaner then pull them out. Sediment "the gunk" will re-attach itself to the metal if the parts sit in the cleaner after it turns off.
Thanks Pureblood. Yea, I've been learning things as I use the cleaner more. For non-steel (okay, and some steel) parts, I usually take them right over to the sink and rinse with hot water so it evaporates quick. If I'm feeling especially ambitious I'll do a final bath in new water only.
Yea, they're basically impossible to find too (at least when I was looking). Proper pain trying to get it to work correctly without that thing. I had actually forgotten about that.
On that needle assy, I didn't see you put a spring between the needle and the holder. Also the manual shows washers that go on the fuel joint pipes before the o-rings go on. Another tip, shake the floats to make sure there's no fuel in them from a leak.
Ok, my bad, looking at the diagram and the fuel tubes on video .... the washers look like part of the tube, now that I have mine in hand I see, you have the washers there.
Hmm.. the carburetor is sitting in the bike now (wasn't a month ago), or I'd pull it out to look. I'm guessing I just didn't film it properly though. It wouldn't work well without the spring since the needle would bounce all over the place. Same with the washers on the fuel pipes. The diameter of those fuel pipe ends is shorter, so the washer provides the backing that the oring butts up against (I just had to go look at a parts fiche to remind myself). In case someone comes along this comment chain and wonders what we're talking about: i.imgur.com/9iqX1jp.jpg
Following the rebuild on the VF500. Bought a VF400 a month ago (round frame), it has a VF500 engine :) Someone messed up the big end bearings so it need a crank replacement. Did the carb rebuild already. Missing the two thrust springs between the carbs. Doing all the other stuff until the crank arrives.
Yep, I've been following your thread on Vfrworld! Someday I'd love to know enough about engine internals to even consider attempting something like you are. I'm keeping my eye on your build.
Insane video! You sir are a legend. But this must be the toughest carbs on the planet? Already had a shop try and fail, spending 17 hours. Paid for 3,5 but still. Now I will be sending them from Norway to the US to Jim Romaxcycles. Fingers crossed! Cheers!
They're certainly tricky. What makes them "trickier" than an inline or parallel carburetor is that it's tough to visualize how to put the individual carburetors together. But fundamentally they're no different than a run-of-the-mill inline 4. Just takes more patience. Like anything you do on a motorcycle, the first time takes 5 times longer than the next time. But hopefully after tearing into a set of VF carburetors you don't have to do it again anytime soon! Sorry to hear that shop didn't work out for you. When you do get your rebuilt carburetors back from Romaxcycles, make sure to take note (and save!) of any of the settings that they did during setup, so you know what your baseline is. Float height level, air/fuel mixture screw turns, pilot jet sizes, main jet sizes, needle position/shims, etc. Hope you're on the road soon!
@@matttriestodothings Very true, I only have small engine experience, so this all feels a bit like witchery. But if mine are beyond repair, I will try and get some new ones in better condition and give at go. What are the simplest, yet cool bikes to start with, if I were to get another one? Old Hondas are getting pricey in Norway. :) Cheers!
@@eivindlukasmoenfasting1602 It's all still a bit of witchery. They'll be able to tell you probably right away if yours out beyond repair--generally they're not though. A place like that will know exactly what needs to be replaced and if there's too much "hard part" damage, then they'll be able to tell within the first 20 minutes of getting a hold of it. And it'll keep you from getting into a situation like mine where I'm literally switch entire carb bodies because of all the damage to ports and butterfly valves someone previously did. This will be happening this weekend when I watch the Daytona 200: i.imgur.com/tnlsRpA.jpg Honestly, it's not just old Hondas getting expensive. Everything is. People have lost their minds on some of these used bike prices. I know a common suggestion is for people to get a 70s/80s bike to learn to work on, but I've changed my mind from that. The rubber has degraded so much along with a lot of the electrical connections that it's just not fun if you don't have a lot of experience. I can't recommend the Suzuki SV650 enough if you're looking for a full on motorcycle. I'm lucky being in the states that we have a great source of used parts from Mad8V and other spots. There's so much information about them out there, and they're just a neat motorcycle. I also wouldn't rule out a second generation EX500 (err... Ninja 500R, or I think it may be called the GPZ500 by you). A 2004-2009ish version of that bike is a good one to learn on. Avoid the first gen (88-...99?) because you won't save much money getting one, and it has weird tire sizes, so you're limited. I restored one recently for my dad. It's an awesome bike--but I'd recommend the newer version if you go that route. I'm going to say SV650. And i"ll leave this video as to my explanation why: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b51eRJDlt8M.html
@@eivindlukasmoenfasting1602 I should mention though--if your carburetor situation gets sorted out, the VF you already have is one of the most fun bikes you can ride anyway. Crossed fingers you're riding that bad boy soon. Good luck.
Okay, so mine’s an ‘84 that I got partially disassembled. When installing the plenum onto the carbs, I realized that it had no holes for the vent tubes to go though. Idk if I’ve got the wrong year plenum or what, but I’m considering just drilling the holes for the vents. Seems like it’s either that or let the fuel bowls suck unfiltered air from the atmosphere.
That's odd because the VF500F only had two separate carburetors (84+85 and 86). I think the 1986 has a different air setup than the 84. I also am not certain how the V30 magna carburetors differ (if those were swapped on). I've never seen a 1986 one before to tell you though. I can tell you that a 1986 VF*R*700's vent does not pull filtered air. The carburetor vent lines are connected to a rubber line that points down under the fuel tank. The point is that it's not necessary to bring in filtered air.
@@RogerColglazier If you're worried about it you could probably do one of those little vent line breather filters on the end. I personally wouldn't worry about it, but I'm no expert. Curious that it sounds like your plenum doesn't look the same.
@@matttriestodothings It’s identical to the one in your vid and all the ones I see online, it just doesn’t have the vent tube holes or the metal piece that covers them on the other side. I’m pretty sure it came from a different bike because it had all of the alignment dowel things stuck in the bolt holes, but there was also a full set stuck in the carburetors.
Wow. Thanks for sharing this journey. Before I give it a go...anyone out there have a link for a new carb rebuild kit? I'm scared of the 30 dollar ebay options.
In most cases you really only have to replace all the rubber parts (orings and such). It may be worth shooting an email to Joe at V4Dreams to ask if he has a VF500F kit available. v4dreams.com/products.html The kit that I've used on the carburetor in this video (and others) is no longer sold since Billy's Outback no longer runs his service. The best place I've found to buy jets and other carburetor hard parts is jetsrus.com because you can buy OEM from them. If it's your first go, I'd recommend buying all new mains and pilot jets. A common suggestion is to bump to #40 pilots from #38 as they come pretty lean from factory. I wish I had a full list of VF500F parts to recommend to you. You can likely piece on together yourself for peanuts compared to buying a kit; however, there's a fair bit of trial and error involved in that. That's why I recommend reaching out to V4Dreams because he may have a full kit to take all the guesswork out. I've been burned and had to learn my lesson the hard way way too many times with eBay kits. So unless I absolutely have to, I don't touch them. I'll sometimes buy them if I just need the float bowl gaskets. I won't use eBay special jets anymore though.
At the time I made this video, a guy named Billy running Billy's Outback ran a site that sold several kits and even cleaning services. He's since shut the site down, unfortunately. There might still be someone/somewhere still making kits. If I knew the viton o-ring size, I'd just tell you to grab the ones you need from an oring shop. I'm almost certain these are correct from my googling, but I am not 100% certain. Fuel tube o-ring 7x2mm Air tube o-ring 6.5 x 1.5mm
Hey Matt, do you know what the top fuel tube (I think it's the "Z" tube) should be connected to? I set my float heights, and the end where that tube pokes out (between carbs) leaks a lot of fuel out.
There are two metal "S" pipes and one plastic "Z" pipe that connect the carburetors together. The metal "S" pipes connect 1-2 and 3-4 together. The plastic 2-piece Z-pipe connects carburetors 2-3 together. Fuel runs from the fuel inlet down through these pipes, through the carburetor bodies, and into each of the bowls. The metal S-pipes each have a viton o-ring on each end, and the plastic Z-pipe also have o-rings on each end and one and one between the two plastic pieces. I'm trying to picture what you're referencing. The fuel inlet is on carburetor number one. So I'm assuming you put the fuel line onto that brass piece, and then you've got a leak either on one of the "S" pipes or "Z" pipe. The carburetors are also connected by two VENT pipes. These are there to vent air in as fuel is used sucked up into the engine from the bowls. These should not have fuel in them.
The kit in this video is from Billy's Outback. I'm not certain he still sells this exact one anymore; however, they're fantastic kits. His website is different from when I purchased the kit originally, but it still states he sells carburetor rebuild kits. You may have some luck reaching out to him. There is a store and contact page on his website billysoutback.com/
Thanks for the explanation - a lot of information I can use for my VF500F-project. I´ve problems to get new o-rings for the little tubes between the carburetors. Do you have a source or do you have the dimensions. On ebay I saw a basic rubber set that costs about 550 US$ - a little bit to much ... Grettings from Bavaria/Germany
Dont spend $550 on orings. They're just standard viton orings. I'm out of town and can't find the sizes now, but I think someone recently posted the fuel pipe oring sizes on the vfrworld forums. If youre not signed up there yet, I highly recommend it. Make and intro post and then see if you can find the oring sizes. I'm guessing you can source them for less than $40.
@@Michele750sf Merry christmas to you as well Dadu. Also, for instance, I've found that the float bowl gaskets on the carburetor float bowls are 041 viton o-rings from this thread: vfrworld.com/threads/lower-airbox-plenum-86-vf500.58924/page-2#post-621390 041 Viton O-Ring, 90A Durometer, Round, Black, 3" ID, 3-1/8" OD, 1/16" Width
@@Michele750sf This would be another good thread to check, "The fuel tube crossovers I found that are perfect are Viton "7 x 2mm" from oringsandmore.com." vfrworld.com/threads/happy-birthday-to-me.55047/#post-596943
Unfortunately the kits I used to purchase were from Billy's Outback. His website www.billysoutback.com does not appear to be up anymore. I don't know if he's still in business.
Trying to bring back an 86, if you happen to remember those thrust springs are responsible for connecting all the throttle movements across carb bodies correct?
Yes. I do question how important they actually are. The throttle bodies are going to open and close whether or not those two thrust springs are in place. I'm guessing it helps aid in making them open as closely as possible to one another. Now the little springs (with the sync screws) under the sync plates? Those definitely are going to matter.
@@matttriestodothings thanks the carb had both springs in the same place for some reason when I took it apart, haven't cleaned this type of carb before, should be good as long as I have no leaks.
@@atmosphere199 Good luck man. They're just a little trickier than an inline set of carburetors thinking spatially about how it all locks together. Once you've got that figured out and leak test it, you'll be good to go.
Hi ! I'm restoring a '86 F2 and wondering if it's possible to find '86 intake boots and if '85-84 intake boots are the same and can easily go on my '86 ? cheers !
If I'm not mistaken, the 84-85 carburetors are 32mm whereas the 86 are 30mm. I can't for certain say what the compatibility differences are though. I know from vfrworld forum posts it seemed like the 86 were more difficult to find. I wish I could tell you what the compatibility issues were, but I've never held an '86 set of carburetors/intake boots in my hands before.
I'm not familiar with the 87--Not sure where that was available anywhere near me. The jet sizes are different between the 84/85/86 carburetors. I think the 1986 came with 90 stock front and rear.
Did you have any issues with purchasing from Billys? I went ahead and bought a kit from him as it contained everything and wasnt that much more then buying separate items. Anyway I havent heard from them at all. Payment went through but no acknowledgement or shipping notice yet. That was 5 days ago, Nov 19
I've purchased from him on two occasions, and I also had some back and forth with email looking for a nylon bushing. I didn't have any issues with ordering. I think it's just one guy and his wife that run the company, so you may want to send an email on their "Contact Us" page verifying that your order went through. I can see that they have a new warning on the home page that they're behind due to volume right now. Unfortunately, with a small two man show, they're probably in a tough spot right now with coronamania going on right now. I hope that isn't the case--and it's just a high volume of orders getting them behind--but it's worth considering. I'd definitely shoot them an email though. It won't hurt to verify that they received it. billysoutback.com/contacts/
"Thrust Springs" is the term that the manual uses. I believe they just help keep equivalent tension on the two butterflies. Realistically, I can see it working fine without them.
@@matttriestodothings ok great thanks for the quick response. I was just wondering if maybe the 1000 didnt use them or maybe oops I lost them and didnt even know it when I rebuilt mine. Thanks again take care
@@holmes1956O I'm not certain since i've never seen a 1000's carburetor, and I can't tell from some of the grainy pictures I google'd. I would be it does have them; however, I question whether or not they actually do anything of note.
@@matttriestodothings I am looking at them in my service manual. They are there so I probably lost them. Oh well. I am looking at putting something else on the bike like fcr but I cant get anyone to work with me on it not even sudco. I am thinking about using throttle bodies from a newer bike and controling it with a micro sqirt computer
