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Honda VFR400R

Chris H

master of boobies
22nd July 2010

Kevin was looking at gumtree and sent me link.

A VF750F £225 or swap along with a VFR400R for a road legal 125. The VFR400R was also for sale at £180!

I then contacted Darren (with the Chituma from the Chituma report). He said he was up for it if I gave him the GS.

SIDETRACK

The GS, a 1983 Suzuki GS125, last on the road 1985, was until recently in parts in Kevins shed. I rebuilt it and got it working, it still has a couple of issues, V5 Kevin lost it, the front brake switch, reg plate (grey area) and the horn is intermittent. Anyway I said he can have it if he does the swap.

Here is said beast

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_suzuki_20GS125.webp

Just need to get V5 and mot it then its Darrens for a while anyway.

The Chituma btw was bought with a years tax and mot for £170 so deal of the century here.

So we went down and swapped the Chituma for the black/red/white VF750F and the VFR400R.

The VF is in my other VF report.

This is for the 400R.

The 400R is a bit of a tool, ally frame and 59bhp from 400cc's in the mid 80's very impressive. Top end is 130mph and the newer versions hit 140.

It is however quite small so I doubt I could ride it very far.

Anyway details on this are made in 86 and imported in 1995 and has had 14 previous owners since being in the UK!

It starts and runs though, no drive as the clutch hydraulics need attention, its had a small fire at some point, upgraded to twin headlights.

Its missing the front fairing as well and tbh a bit of a mess really but it can come good.

Some pics

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_vfr400r_2001.webp

decent sized fuel tank anyway!

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_vfr400r_2002.webp

Thats all the pictures for now, will update this slowly I think.

And yes my back garden is like a 1986 Honda dealers.

[BREAK=Getting there]

7th August 2010

Well last week I actually got the clutch working and rode it about the garden.

I also fitted the petcock knob properly so it points to the right place when operated.

Then I didn't touch it again until today.

Well the issues on the bike are as follows

The throttle didn't return
Choke doesn't work off the lever
Dash lights and tell tales don't work
Rev counter doesn't work
A strange switch mounted on the fusebox that did nothing

And various small issues.

I decided to start with the switch, to get to where it went I had to remove the airbox cover.

You can see the wire in this picture, its the dodgy looking taped up one. I have also removed the coils and bracket in this picture

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20immob_2001.webp

A bit mucky in there, the air filter itself was torn so not doing much!

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20immob_2002.webp

The switch, one wire is earthed at the radiators mounting bracket and the other appears to go to one of the coils looms, but does nothing...

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20immob_2003.webp

With the wire dangling it made no difference to the bike so it will be removed properly.

I then looked at the throttle cables, theres 2 one pull one push although it doesn't really push. They were routed badly and needed lubed, now the throttle snaps shut as its meant to.

No pictures of that though.

But a picture of the choke cable, its frayed at the handle but still works, at the carb end its missing the clamp so a cable tie has done the job for the moment

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20choke_20cable.webp

I then put the airbox back on, I also saw where this breather pipe should go, it was just shoved out of the way when I pulled it apart

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20breather.webp

This picture shows the battery tray, rear damper and also the earth wire, I put the ring on it, before it was a rotten cable with only a few strands clamped, I cut the wire back to good copper then added a ring terminal to it

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20rear_20damper.webp

This shows a wiring bracket, the cutouts are for each specific plug, instead someone has just left it a mess

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20wiring_20mess.webp

This picture shows the interesting rear brake reservoir someone has bodged into place. Still it does the job. Note starter motor solenoid

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20rear_20brake_20res.webp

I then looked into why the dash doesn't work. Looking at the wiring I knew what was what. The switched live was my suspect, I had a similar issue with my CBX. So I got a bit of wire and fed a live feed to the tacho's switched live. this obviously would back feed the rest of the circuits.

This is the wire shoved in at the ignition barrel connector

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20hot_20wire_2001.webp

This is it shoved in at the tacho connector

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20hot_20wire_2002.webp

Which resulted in this

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20hot_20wire_2003.webp

Operational tell tales, excellent. I turned on the lights and the dash lit up, awesome. I started it and the tacho worked, fantastic. I left it running as well and the temp gauges worked, great.

This picture shows it running

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_400r_20hot_20wire_2004.webp

All in all great.

I need to sort out a new bracket which should be coming soon. I have also sorted out new fairing for it.

Then its a case of new fork seals a bit of this and that then MOT.

[BREAK=Finally getting rid]

Over 2 years since this was updated.

Well a big story here.

Basically it sat, and sat, the promises of yeah the bits will come and money etc etc. Never happened, then was told do what you want with it but if you get it sorted I'll buy it back.

Erm ok, so it sat and sat. Occasionally I would fire it up out of boredom or when I had to move it to do something or other.

Basically it got to the stage where I was fed up of it and I want all the crap gone so I listed it on ebay.

It sold last night for 122 quid. Others in worse condition that don't run are going for more but I don't care. I'll call the money a storage fee.

So the bike is getting collected tomorrow, it will have the fork seals (still in their pack included) along with the lights if the guys wants them and the replacement speedo cable.

These are the ebay pics I used.

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_20120811_154809.webp

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_20120811_155138.webp

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_20120811_155152.webp

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_20120811_155253.webp

www.renault_turbo.com_chris_vfr400r_20120811_155301.webp

Looks ok in the pictures really.

Anyway I'm glad its going I don't need to worry about it any more. I'm glad its sold as I would be annoyed at having to cut up and scrap a running bike.

[BREAK=Its gone]

18th August 2012

Its away.

Finally got rid of someone else's junk.

The guys that got it seemed ok. They have another and just want this for spares which is what its most suited for.

Its too stressful having other peoples stuff here and having to worry about it.

Anyway case closed and good riddance.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
wooooo lights!

always a good start!

you be able to get a replacement fairing?

has someone painted this blue or is that a factory finish?
 
got a fairing now, not the right one though, its for an nc30 not an nc21 so will need loads of work to fit.

factory paint apart from the tank.

We took it out yesterday, revs cleanly to 12krpm which is about 45 in 1st. Brakes are shit as is suspension.
 
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