1984 Honda VF700F Interceptor
Another freebie. This was an ’84 model that I got because someone had so completely fucked it up that it just wouldn’t run anymore. The person I got it from had taken the very complicated carbs out of the bike and then had proceeded to disassemble them. Linkages (very complex on a V4 to be sure), jets and everything were screwed up. It took me the better part of a month just to get the carbs together correctly. This included ordering all new gas mains for the carb bank because the flimsy and brittle plastic they’d been made of had not stood up to this dolt’s mangling. They had all broken. Unfortunately, I was the dolt that had broken one of the replacements, so instead of buying another piece if this fucking brittle-ass tubing, I had a the piece machined at a local shop. There would be no more breakage. I finally had to give up on the tuning of it. I sent it off to a local shop and they did the huge trick of getting it to run right. Fine job. Give Roy’s Repair in Minneapolis a call. I had hoped that this would be the only thing wrong with the bike, but this was a vain hope. Some idiot had mis-installed the water pump. So badly had this been fucked up that it had broken the drive tangs completely off. I figure this was what had hatched the tranny that sits just above it in the engine assembly. Second gear was out (mostly). Most of the bike’s systems had been fucked up. The suspension didn’t work, the air bladders leaked, the anti-dive didn’t work, the fork seals were shot. It took me a year of messing with it until it hit the road. When it did I was blown away. This was the fastest thing I had ever ridden. 115 (indicated) was not a problem and it was still charging hard as we went through that number. What a screamer. Now, bear in mind that I weight over 300lbs so now perhaps you have a better picture as to just how blown away I was. The thing sounded so sweet, too. But it had other problems. As I had said, second gear was out. I was planning on pulling the engine out and rebuilding the tranny when one or both the ignition boxes packed up. Then there was also the threat of chowed cams that these early Honda Vees had a reputation for. When I found out how much just one ignition box was, I just about died right there on the floor of the Honda dealer. Even used they were terrifyingly expensive—and no warranty! I had to let her go. I sold it to an engineering student up in Northern Michigan for $500.00 (there was that much in new parts, easily) who wanted exactly that bike. I’m still looking for another one.
For more detailed VF information, check out my VF700F Tech Tips.
