What: 1984 VF1000F
Where: Forney (Dallas), TX
Why: Nice, low-mileage survivor
Price: Ebay auction
UPDATE: SOLD for $7300

I'm always happy to see a nicely-kept, low-mile Interceptor made available for another owner to experience. This listing helps out with lots of informative photos, showing the excellent mufflers, a key point on any black chrome-equipped VF. I'll let the seller tell us about it:

"Excellent survivor 1984 Honda VF 1000F Motorcycle. Bike runs and looks amazing. Paint and coverings are in excellent condition. There is a small minor paint chip on the left front fender. V4 motor only has 13,900 miles on it. Engine serviced this month, installed new brakes and tires. Coolant flushed and replaced with new coolant. All hydraulic fluids flushed - brakes and hydraulic clutch replaced with fresh fluid. No rips or tears in seat. Everything works. Bike never laid down and garage kept. Clear Texas title!"

The first day of my new year began with the reassembly of Project 39's rear suspension and axle/brake components. This 1993 VFR750 suffered years of slow deterioration in Florida's salt air (right photo), and so every piece required attention.

I began with a thorough degreasing and cleaning, doing my best to polish out the bits of corrosion on the aluminum parts. particularly the swingarm, which I elected to leave in place. All the bearings checked out okay, so were cleaned and re-greased. With the axle and brake parts on the bench, I proceeded to de-rust and repaint the rotor and torque arm, followed by a complete rebuild (w/OEM parts) and painting of the caliper. For this project, I chose EBC V-Pad semi-sintered brake pads for the rear application. I generally use their HH sintered pad, but they can be too effective on a non-ABS rear brake, at least in my opinion. We'll see. In any case, the orange pads look kinda racy. Braided brake lines, in black, are waiting on the shelf, right next to a new RK/Superlite 520 chain & sprocket conversion kit with a 1-tooth larger front sprocket from Sprocket Center.
(click on an image to enlarge)

(Right) Here's a shot of the DMr custom modified Honda CBR 929 shock absorber. This is a fully adjustable unit with a remote reservoir located at the top of the shock. The reservoir will prove to be an issue as I move on to the next step — installing the subframe and fender.

The pink arrow points to the heat shield which I showed in an earlier electrolysis post. It required repainting because it's visible through two openings on the right side of the frame.

It's always nice to begin the new year with some shiny parts coming together. 

I recently found these aftermarket VITON-tipped PROLINE brand float valves while searching eBay for replacements. They're offered by eBay seller sawzillaparts and cost $23.30 for a set of four, delivered. They seem to be of excellent quality and the fit was perfect. I'm a big fan of VITON products so these fit the bill.

(Below) Hopefully your float bowl drain screws haven't gotten to this point of corrosive deterioration. Amazingly, these were still functioning, but there's no way they're going back in. I source these Chinese replacements from eBay seller besthomeve — $7.73 per set of four. These also seem well made and should fit all our carb bowls.

Electrolysis: Mention the word to my wife or daughters and you'll be knee-deep in a discussion about hair removal. But to a gearhead it's all about rust removal. After stumbling upon a few late-night YouTube videos on the subject, I decided to give it a try.

The process is simple, as seen in the diagram to the right. Direct current (12 volt) is passed through water causing rust to release from a negatively charged item to a positively charged piece of metal (anode).

One tool I really wished I had room for in the shop is a media blast cabinet. That is the definitive means of prepping a piece of metal for paint, but media blasting can also affect the base metal's "complexion," while electrolysis will not. However, electrolysis will not remove dirt or paint and leaves a black discoloration which will need to be scrubbed or lightly sanded away. In any case, I wanted to give it a go with a few rusted bits from Project 39 — a rear brake rotor, torque arm, caliper mounting bracket and heat shield.

Here's my basic electrical components; a battery & charger, two strips of scrap steel to act as sacrificial anodes and some lengths of wire with large clips. You can use the charger alone, set to about 2 amps, but I put the battery inline to act as an electrical "sponge," just like in a bike's electrical system. All I need now is a 5-gallon plastic tub and some lengths of wood to suspend the pieces in the water.

(Below) Here, I begin with the caliper bracket and snap ring. After adding warm water with a tablespoon per gallon of baking soda to form the electrolyte, I make the electrical connection. The close-up photo shows the telltale bubbling of the chemical reaction after only a few seconds. ​After about two hours of soaking, I removed the bracket from the brown, opaque solution and…success! The rusted spots were down to bare metal.
(click on images to enlarge)

(Below) Okay, let's try some more serious items. With fresh solution I loaded the brake rotor, heat shield and torque arm, letting them soak all day. The muck that resulted told the story; that's a lot of rust removed. The anodes show how they sacrifice themselves to allow the reaction — these anodes will be sanded clean and used repeatedly. The dirty electrolyte is non-toxic and can be poured down a drain or even on your lawn.

After cleaning and sanding, here's some of the items ready for paint. Was the effort worth it? For items where I just can't reach the rust with sandpaper, like the torque arm, yes. The flat metal heat shield would have gone quicker with just sanding, but the rotor had shallow rust pits that I'm now confident are rust free.

If you're in a hurry, this is not your best approach — it can take 24 hours or even longer for severe rust removal, but for items like these, electrolysis can be a useful tool.

What: 2001 VFR800
Where: Ramona, California
Why: Well-preserved w/extras
Price: $4800

​This beautiful final-year 5th-gen VFR has been listed on the ADVrider site for about six weeks, the only things possibly holding back a sale being the time of year and a slightly optimistic asking price. Showing 20,000 miles and boasting a nice list of upgrades, our seller assures us that the "bike runs and looks incredible."

The photos do look great, and a few of the original parts are included with the sale. This would look great next to the tree on Christmas morning.

Ken Kaplan is an over-enthusiastic motorcycle flipper with shops in Connecticut and Arizona. His alter-ego, Kaplan America, sometimes comes through via his YouTube channel and a couple of episodes on the Discovery Channel's "Kaplan America." He seemingly has endless supplies of vintage bikes of all description, and he's now offering four Honda VF models listed on eBay auctions. All bikes are project status without titles, and all have a video included in the listing.
(click on images for eBay links)

In April of 2022 a shipper dropped off this 1993 VFR750 after being rescued from a backyard shed in Pompano Beach, Florida. The previous owner, Quinn, had one request: do my best to give his former friend a second chance at life. That's kinda what I do, so I accepted the challenge. Upon arrival I stripped the bodywork and gave the bike a general assessment. The odometer is crowding 32,000 miles and the corrosive salt air has done its work over the years, but it's complete and much of the pearl white bodywork is useable as is.

This VFR had a near-death experience long ago in its past — the story goes that it was stolen, but when the kids couldn't get it started by trashing the ignition switch they rolled it down an embankment, damaging the plastics. The insurance company totaled the bike but the owner saved it, repairing the switch and plastics so the bike could live on. Eventually it wouldn't fire up, likely due to inactivity, and the months turned to years till it ended up on my lift. I've seen this story played out many times, but these Hondas were built too well to die that easily.

(Below) I always begin with the carburetors — these had no issues so after an ultrasonic cleaning and fresh jets they were ready to go back on the bike for syncing. But this engine hasn't run in nine years, so before startup there's some critical steps in bringing it back to life. First, I change out the oil and filter; I like these fiber coated aluminum drain plug washers. All the emissions hardware is discarded.
(click on an image to enlarge)

(Below) Next up is the valve clearance check, but first I add some Marvel Mystery Oil to the cylinders using a straw and small funnel. Then liberally pour oil over the valve train. After a day or two I turn the engine over by hand followed by lots of revolutions using a hand drill (or the starter button). This will circulate the engine oil. This engine spun like butter.

(Below) The valve clearance checks revealed that nearly all needed adjustment, requiring the removal of all four cams. For an in-depth demonstration of the procedure visit my YouTube channel. Once reassembled, the compression checks were all within eight psi of one another. The previous owner included new NGK iridium spark plugs.

(Below) Finally, before running the engine I need to plug the four PAIR ports, front and rear (see the "Maintenance" page; Plugging The PAIR Ports). Pictured here are the rear lines being removed, requiring the removal of the shock, which I'll be replacing with a custom unit from DMr. The two airbox emissions ports are also plugged.