I decided to check out the rear axle since my bike has 23k on it, to check for signs of bearing failure and axle wear.

Begin by losening the main bolt

The main bolt is a huge 46mm jobbie that is on very tight I borrowed Craigs socket to get it off, at this point you just want to get it loose, since its easiest to do with the wheel on the ground first loosen this bolt with the wheel down on the sidestand.

Remove the rear wheel

Remove the Chain Gaurd

It is held in place by 2 screw type plastic clips, 2 hex bolts, and 2 brackets that hold the brake hoses.

Once you get the chain gaurd off carfull not to lose the retaining backers that hold the hose brakets

Remove the lower air gaurd

Remove the main bolt and the washer, then loosen the pinch bolt on the top rear of the swingarm, then use the spanner from the tool kit to get enough slack in the chain to unhook it from the sprocket.

Remove the rear hub

Inspect the hub for rough bearings, if it turns notchy, noisy, or fits loosely then it should be replaced, put some grease on it anyhow. There is a spacer inside that you could mistake for a bearing, its just a spacer and it fits in there loosely.

Remove the rear brake

Inspect the axle for scoring

If you have a dial indicator and a v block check it for runout as well, check for damage, replace if nessisary, if not grease that puppy up , then inspect the needle bearings, if they are good repack them with grease.

My bearings all turned smooth and easy, they were all tight, and the needle bearings had grease, I just packed in a bit more, nothing bad to report, the axle was in good shape, I cleaned up my hub and switched the sprocket around. I also cleaned off the grime from the chain guide, since you have access to it now is the time to clean it!

What is suppose to be the SAE equivalent to the 46mm, it is 1-13/16 in. and is available at OSH for $19.95. I have not tried it yet to see if it will work though. 46mm equates to 1.811018 in. while 1-13/16 in. equates to 1.8125 in. - ULEWZ

Revs fine under no load then 1100rpm no matter what i do. Wide open still only 1100 rpm. Tach isn't jumping to any specific rpm. Changed oil, oil filter, cleaned and synced carbs. Low miles still under 6k. Everything seems to be working fine. Any ideas on how to fix this issue would be very much appreciated.

Hey all

Unsure if this has been covered in detail. I thought it'd be useful to put a picture guide together for removing and rebuilding the calipers on the RC36 VFR750 (1989 to 1997). This process should be identical throughout the RC36 models as the calipers never changed (to my knowledge!)

Keeping your calipers in good shape is important for obvious reasons. You want to stop the bike as effectively as possible. There are a plethora of complaints about this bikes stopping abilities. I really, truly believe the sliding calipers are more than enough for this bike as long as they're in good nick.

Out of shape calipers can cause other issues, pistons seizing leads to uneven pad wear, which in turn will result in warped discs. An expensive and arsehole job you really don't want to be getting involved with, which usually leads to going to a garage and paying labour costs and over inflated prices on discs. Fresh seals, removal of rust and dirt from the slider pins and new pads will see this bike locking up a fully warmed up PR4 with absolute ease.

On a side note, the other thing that affects the bikes ability to stop is the state of the front fork oil. But we'll get back to that one in another guide!

Before you do this, read the WHOLE guide so you get a feel of what you need in advance.

Ok so to start, you need the following:

Patience

12mm Socket

8mm spanner

Torque wrench (1/4" drive is best)

Rags

Plastic zip bags

Allen keys

Thick, wide flat head screw driver

Brake cleaner

Copper grease

Red rubber grease

Brake fluid (dot4)R

replacement seal kit for both calipers

Ok so here goes!

1. Prop the bike up. Centre stand, ABBA stand etc...just get it upright.

2. Remove the Pad retaining pin cover. *WARNING* this thing is a piece of sh*t, it can and WILL round off and be an arse to remove. I highly recommend you carefully select a fat, wide flat head screw driver tip and gently apply more pressure when trying to turn it. If you get the SLIGHTEST hint of the blade digging into the cover's metal, stop. Buy some decent penetrating fluid (WD40 fast action release is good) and douse it, leave it overnight and try again the next day. If it's truly stuck, try an impact screwdriver or just drill the bast*rd out.

3. Remove the pad retaining pin

4. Remove the pads by giving them a tug if they don't fall out

5. Remove the Caliper retaining bolts (12mm)

6. Remove the calipers

7. Place a piece of wood or something similar between the pistons and the inside of the caliper. The idea is to pump the brake lever until the calipers are MOST of the way out, so choose your piece of wood (etc) carefully. I actually used a plastic box that holds my digital measuring calipers! This will ensure the pistons move to an even point. You want them to be about this far out (see top piston, I later evened it out by pushing the top one back in, putting the plastic case in place and pumping the lever again until they were both out the same amount....

8. Put the calipers back in place on the forks, loosely put the bolts back in to hold them there. You may need to push the slider part of the caliper out a bit to make enough space. Don't worry if the slider comes off the caliper, it just pops right back on.

9. Place a rag under/around the caliper, specifically near the brake line banjo bolt (as you'll be removing this and will want to soak up the excess fluid. It EATS paint, don't wanna ruin your wheels...right?)

10. Use a 12mm socket to crack off the banjo bolt

11. Make sure to hold the rag tactically to soak up the drips. Remove the brake line..try to leave the bolt and washers in place for ease purposes. Slide them back through the brake line etc if anything falls off.

12. Immediately slide a plastic zip bag over the brake line. This will allow you to leave it dangling while you work on the calipers. *WARNING* keep the calipers upright so the hole that the bolt went into for the brake line is facing the sky. You'll spill fluid everywhere otherwise as it sits in the caliper. Pour it into a bucket etc by turning the caliper upside down.

13. By the point the calipers will be off the bike and your hands will be all slimey, give them a wipe (your hands and the calipers!)

14. Pull the sliders off the caliper. You'll be left with the below

15. Get a rag, drop it over the pistons. Use some mole grips/strong pliers to grip the pistons over the rag and pull them out. Depending how badly seized your pistons are, you may need to use an airline in the banjo bolt hole to blast them out. Be patient and don't lose your cool, jump in the car and take them to a garage to blow 'em out if needed!

Now you'll be left with two empty calipers that are still dribbling fluid, just mop it up as best you can. If you think your calipers are clean...think again, they'll likely have rust on the sliding pins and or some horrible poo looking gunk in the piston holes. My bike has 25000 miles, has been incredibly pampered it's entire life (the service history folder weight about 5kg). Look at the different between one slider and the other, look at the gunk in the piston holes and on the piston itself. I flush my fluids every 3 months (excessive I know) and it still gets like this!

I've put my pistons in Paraffin so they can soak overnight to make removing the stuck on crap easier. You can get away with using super fine sandpaper to remove anything jammed on, but why ruin that nice smooth surface?

Next thing is to clean the calipers up and replace the seals.

15. Clean all gunk, muck and poo from the inside of the piston holes and the surfaces of the calipers. I used a mixture of old cloths, brake cleaner and paraffin. As you can see above, my calipers were super mucky, all that brown shit was old brake fluid, that's what happens when you ride all year and leave it laid up for a while, this bike was off the road for five years before I purchased it! I went from this:

To this (top caliper is the clean one, bottom caliper was done shortly after)

:

I had to use a very slim screwdriver with a cloth over the end to jam in the brake line hole, it had brown poo in there as well. It was so hard to shift that I ended up using one tin of brake cleaner per caliper!

16. Next remove the seals, thin ones higher up the piston hole, bigger one further down. I used the same small screwdriver to remove these. They can be a pig so have a scalpel/something sharp to hand s you can stab and drag it out if it gets stuck

The muck under the seals was pretty bad too. It works it's way past the seals over the years

Use the same small screwdriver or a tooth pick to scrape out as much of that crap as you can, you'll never get it all out unless you have an ultrasonic cleaning bath with some serious cleaning solution

17. Once cleaned, replace the seals with new ones or reuse yours if they're in good condition. I smother mine in red rubber grease before they go back into the slots.

18. Now replace the rubber boots. The one on the slider part is easy to pull out. Give it a clean in there with brake cleaner, rag and screwdriver if needed. Replace the boot with a new one or reuse if in good nick

The caliper rubber boot is...awkward. It requires a lot of squeezing the end and tugging, It might split if in poor condition so make sure you have a replacement if needed, might be worth checking this in advance

19. Clean up your pistons and place them back into the piston holes. They can be fiddly so have a c-clamp on hand if they won't go into place. Again, I coat these in red rubber grease, it just helps the sliding action, is brake fluid friendly and keeps things from seizing for much longer

20. At this point I remove the bleed nipple and blast it with brake cleaner, both outside and jam the brake cleaner tube into the nipple hole and blast it out (watch your eyes, seriously!) I then coat this in red rubber grease and put it back in place

21. Cover the sliding pins in red rubber grease, I previously assume coper slip was fine but it seems I was wrong. Grease on the pins keeps them from rusting and assures they take an age before needing another clean

(Thanks to Steve27bha for the above pic)

22. I now put the brackets back in place, they only go in one way so won't bother with a pic (forgot to take one anyway)

23, Out the slider back onto the caliper body, again these only go in one way so don't worry about what goes where

24. Brake pads now go back in place. I clean up the retaining pin with some wet and dry, feel free to coat it in copper grease to protect it from the elements

25. The brakes are now back together and ready to go on the bike, bolt them in place

26. Get a rag and wrap it around the base of the caliper, take the brake line out the plastic bag and put it back on the caliper, a washer sits at both the bolt head and under the brake line

27. Torque everything up (low range torque wrench should be in the region of £25):

Mounting bolts: 27nm

Banjo bolt for the brake line: 35nm

Bleed nipple: 17nm

28: bleed the system, wrap a rag around the master cylinder. Use a number 2 philips screwdriver/bit and remove the lid screws. Gently prize out the plastic cover and remove the rubber reservoir fill. Turn the wheel to the left if on a stand to level out the reservoir (Careful does it, don't spill anything as brake fluid eats paint remember)

Get an 8mm circle spanner, put it over the bleed nipple - either caliper is fine.

Some say do the one furthest away from the caliper first but I've found it makes no difference on these calipers. It does, however, on normal 2/4/6 pot calipers with no slider in my experience

Buy a one way bleed valve. Halfords sell these for £9.99 http://www.halfords.com/motoring-travel/motorcycling/motorcycle-accessories/gtmoto-brake-bleeder

Stick the spaner over the bleed nipple bolt

Dab red rubber grease around the nipple to stop air inducing into the system

Put the thin tube of the brake bleed kit over the nipple, the valve has an arrow on it that should be pointing away from the nipple/caliper. It's one way so stops air going back up the tube.

Now at this point your system will be all air and little fluid. So you WILL need to employ a traditional method of getting fluid through the lines and into the caliper (keep a bottle of dot four handy to top the reservoir up, don't let it empty of you'll induce air into the system and have to start all over again):

with the bleed nipple closed, pump the lever slowly four times, hold the level all the way in

open the bleed nipple with your other hand (this is why a circle spanner is handy rather than an open ended one as it stays in place) you only want to open the nipple a small amount.

Still holding the Brake lever in, close the nipple

Repeat the above steps until fluid starts to make it's way out the tube. It took me about 4 sets of 4 pumps. As long as everything is torqued correctly, it should be the same for you too.

Once fluid comes through, you can leave the nipple open for longer but will still need to close it from time to time to pump the lever four times (and hold it) to force air out the system. This induces pressure in the system. Once the fluid comes out clear with no bubbles, move onto the other caliper. The second caliper is never as hard as most air is forced out the first caliper and fluid starts to spread evenly,

Keeping a rag handy to quickly clean up spillage...

Once you're happy with the pressure on the lever (should stop about half way from fully disengaged to pulling it to the handlebar) fill the reservoir up until the fluid it just above the viewing glass. Now put the rubber filler back in place, then the plastic cover then the metal lid (the writing on the metal lid should face you)

Arguably you're done at this point. But roll the bike forward and press the brake. Careful not to drop your pride and joy - the bike should stop hard and the front dive a little.

You may find the brakes are a bit faded at first, take it for a slow spin around the blocks and progressively press the lever harder and harder until the bite feels great. If it simply won't bite hard you can check the following:

Pads for grease.dirt - clean with brake cleaner

System for air - bleed again until satisfied

Worst case scenario you may have a master cylinder that needs a rebuild, having a seized piston can mask this and make the brakes feel super tight and strong. Cleaning them up and freeing the pistons up to move evenly can show your system to be a bit spongey as everything moves back to positions as it should, rather than one piston staying 3/4 the way out while one backs off - or the slider being stuck as a certain point. Hope this makes sense.

I'm going to re-read this a couple of times and make alterations as I see fit. Hopefully it'll help those who're too scared to try this on their own. It's very easy as long as you're methodical about it.

I go through sets of tires fairly quickly and I like to change them myself, both to save money and for the convenience of doing it in my own garage. I'm also a cheapskate, so rather than buying a tire changing machine I just made some "tools" out of 2x4's. I figured they might be of interest, so I thought I'd post some pictures.

A simple box shaped stand keeps the wheel off the ground and protects the brake rotor while working on the tire.

The bead breaker is just a pair of 2x4's glued and screwed together, with a wedge shaped section at one end:

Hose clamps prevent the wooden wedge from splitting:

A handy minivan is used as the anchor of the lever arm (some people use a board bolted onto a wall):

After breaking the bead, a few simple hand tools are used to remove and replace the tire. Tire irons, plastic rim protectors, and some tire lube get the job done. The real secret is the tire lube. It helps the rubber to slip on and off the rim of the wheel and makes things much easier. I got a jug of "RuGLYDE" at my local NAPA auto parts store. A small tin cup and paint brush are used as an applicator:

I also made a balancing stand to hold a Marc Parnes balancer:

The balancer comes with cones for standard wheels. He also sells a special large cone for the VFR rear wheel. Here's what the balancer looks like in use:

It usually takes me about 3 hours to change a set of tires. That includes disassembly, cleaning, degreasing, inspecting, reassembly, and torquing everything. The actual bead braking and tire mounting goes quickly.

It took me awhile to learn how to use the tire irons. The first few attempts produced lots of airborne irons and cursing, but now I can get a tire on and off in just a minute or two. It helps to lay the tires out in the sun for a few minutes to warm up the rubber. Liberal use of the tire lube helps too.

The only "cost" for me was the tire balancer (about $100 if I remember correctly - I got it years ago). All the other materials were just laying around.

One advantage over a heavy dedicated tire changing machine bolted to the floor is that all the wood parts here are lightweight and store away in a corner or under my workbench when not in use.

THis is a step by step method to do the monitor wire fix. It guarantees a solid and direct connection to the positive battery post from the black wire coming off the RR.

Step 1:

Get your tool kit out. Spread a hotel towel down – so you don’t lose tools. Spread another down, to receive the bolts you will be removing. Sounds gay – but it’ll help long-term.

You need to get the fairing off: Here are the bolts and fasteners you need to remove. Any fasteners or bolts shown in the picture HAVE to come out. At the end – I took a picture of ALL the fasteners I removed. Make sure you got them all covered.

Under the bike – two fasteners. If they are round and have a “button” in the centre – push the button, then pull the outside part of the fastener out. I only have one on my bike- it’s a pain to remove as often as my fairings are off.

Three bolts you see here. Remember where each bolt came from – the bolts you will be removing are of different sizes.

The bolt on the side comes out as well.

The two bolts on the black plastic centre fairing – the one on the top left, and the one about 7 inches down from that. Next to the mud stain on this picture.

Looking to the inside of the right fairing, at the tip of my finger. Another of the mushroom type fasteners – press the centre, then remove the whole fastener.

The two bolts at 10 o’clock, and 6 o’clock.

Now the fairing isn’t attached. The best way to get it off is to be careful and pull the fairing out – away from the bike from the back part – the part furthest backwards from the handlebars. Then – take the fairing somewhere that you won’t step on it.

Step 2:

Locate the Regulator/Rectifier. Here’s what it looks like OFF the bike:

The part you are interested in is the connector that has the Green red and Black wires. The BLACK wire is the one you will be messing with.

The RR is located here – on the right side of the bike. Carefully follow the wires coming out of the RR. Follow the wires to the connector.

Here it is. There is a plastic rubber shield – just move it up and away from you – it’ll reveal the connector that you need to simply separate.

Here is the connector in one piece:

In the picture above, you will see green wires, red wires, and a white wire (actually a white/black wire.) That is NOT the half of the connector that you want to mess with. The side you need to manipulate is under my finger in the above picture.

Push the tab in, and separate the connector.

You should then see this:

The wire connection you want to look at in the above picture is the top right connection. Notice the rectangular open space on top of each connector? This is where you insert a paperclip, a very small screwdriver, etc…. and press in with the tool of your choice. At the same time – pull the black wire out the other end. Here’s a couple more pics. I used a nail to push the tab in:

Ok – the hard part is over. Now reconnect the plastic connectors, leaving this black wire out and on its own.

Now here is the what you need to create to complete the fix:

Get yourself about 3 feet of 12 or 14 gauge wire and strip off a bit of cover from each end: the following 3 pics illustrate: You will also need a RING terminal that is destined for the POSITIVE side of the Battery, and a female spade connector that connects to the Black male connector you just removed from the plastic connector.

In my pic above – my index finger is on the wire with the female connector, and my thumb is on the ring terminal. Make sure you look at the size of the bolt on your battery (positive terminal) to make sure you get a ring terminal large enough to attach it.

I attached the female connector to the black wire first, then routed the other end back toward the battery. Something like this:

And here’s what it looks like at the connection to the black wire: I used an insulated female connector – that is a good choice if you can find them.

Next – remove the battery cover, and remove the positive battery connection – and slip the ring terminal onto the bolt. Reattach to the battery.

Next – button everything back up…… here’s the bolts and fasteners you removed:

In the fall of 2010 I replaced the fluids in my 06. It was a pretty straight forward task, albeit time consuming. The oil&filter change was easiest. Next easiest was the clutch fluid change - only one straight forward bleeder there to deal with. The coolant change took a little more work. I went all out and removed the drain plugs, replaced their copper crush washers, drained the cross tube under the engine by taking it apart, etc. When I was burping the system after refilling it, I forgot to take the bike off the center stand and put it on the side stand. Purging the system of air is really a lot easier when on the side stand and not the center stand. Lesson learned.

Now replacing the brake fluid in my ABS model, that was really something. There are no less than 7 bleeders! It took 3 people to do it. The first person operated the level/pedal and refilled the reservoirs as required, the second person opened/closed each bleeder in succession and the third person was required for the one bleeder that required manually pumping the second master cylinder on the left front brake. I will definitely be looking into SpeedBleeders or Stahlbus Bleeders for the next time to simply the process.

In the meantime, I thought I'd document the procedure I came up with for doing the brake fluid change. The Service Manual has a few errors in it e.g. tells you to remove and tilt up the fr. left caliper but never tells you to reinstall it and it tells you refill and reinstall the lever reservoir cover but then goes on to bleed a few more bleeders that use fluid from that reservoir. There's been a lot of posts about what the correct order is and people having problems with spongy brakes which turned out to be because they forgot a bleeder or did it in the wrong order. The following system worked very well for the two 6th gen ABS models I did last fall. It's not a tutorial per se; there's no pictures and no details (for that, you can look up the excellent HS pictorial-based tutorial or the new Jay-D tutorial) and I didn't include obvious steps like removing the seat etc.

I made an overall hydraulic system picture by combining elements of several pictures from the Factory Service Manual:

This took a lot of Photoshop manipulation but it was worth it. This overall view of the hydraulic circuit helps to visualize how the system works. For example, it clearly shows that the SMC is refilled from the rear reservoir.

These are the steps you need to take:

- Turn handlebar all the way to the left to level Lever Reservoir
- Open Lever and Pedal Reservoirs
- Remove old fluid from Lever and Pedal Reservoirs
- Fill Lever and Pedal Reservoirs with new fluid

- Remove the rear wheel
- Remove Rear Brake Caliper and install on top rear of Rear Brake Disc at 10 o'clock position

- Maintain fluid level in both Reservoirs at all times

Operate the Lever during bleeding of the initial four bleeder in the following order:

Lever Brake Line: Master Cylinder to Front Brake Caliper

[1] Left Front Brake Caliper outer (upper) bleeder (use Lever)
[2] Right Front Brake Caliper bleeder (use Lever)

Servo Brake Line: Second Master Cylinder to Servo Proportional Control Valve
NOTE: this bleeder (even if it's a Speed-Bleeder) must be shut off between the following steps;
[3][a] manually depress Second Master Cylinder at Left Front Caliper
[3] close bleeder

[3][c] use Pedal to recharge Second Master Cylinder (SMC)

[3][d] open bleeder and repeat [3][a]-[3][c]

Servo Brake Line: Rear Proportional Control Valve to Rear Brake Caliper
[4] Rear Brake Caliper Center bleeder (use Pedal)

Operate the Pedal during bleeding of the remaining three bleeders in the following order:
Pedal Brake Line: Rear Master Cylinder to Rear Proportional Control Valve
[5] Rear Proportional Control Valve (right side) bleeder (use Pedal)

Pedal Brake Line: Rear Proportional Control Valve to Rear Brake Caliper
[6] Rear Brake Caliper Outer bleeder (use Pedal)

Pedal Brake Line: Rear Master Cylinder to Left Front Brake Caliper
[7] Left Front Caliper Center bleeder (use Pedal)

- Reinstall Left Front Brake Caliper (if removed)
- Reinstall Rear Brake Caliper using new mounting bolts: 2 X 90131-GAA-000, BOLT, FLANGE (8X25) (torque 23ft-lbs)
- Refill Lever and Pedal Reservoirs as required to Upper Level Marks
- Close Lever and Pedal Reservoirs

- Reinstall rear wheel (torque 80ft-lbs)

Available for most European models post 2002. Not for download but can be printed (you can print to pdf or One Note if you get my meaning). There is a cost per session but if you do it right, you wont need to pay again.

http://www.techinfo.honda-eu.com/home

I am new to this type of activity so excuse me if I am in the incorrect location to bring up this question.  I just purchased a 6th generation VFR800 with 15K and the chain looked to be needing replacement as it was easily outside of the wear indicator and had some tight spots and very loose sections. Installed a new chain and sprockets, all stock no change in gearing, and installed a DID chain.  Well, all is together and after tightening the chain to just over the suggested 1 inch play the sprocket is at the very end of the wear indicator.  I would have expected it to move up closer to the green range.   The chain is the correct length at 110 links and both sprockets where the same size, I placed one on top of the other to ensure that the circumference was the same on both. Any thoughts on what other items I could check?  Thanks in advance for any help or guidance  you can offer.   Note: I currently have the rear wheel off because I am replacing the rear brake pads at the same time, just in case this may play in the fact that the swing arm maybe at a different angle without this additional weight.

If you notice your speedometer is jumping around or not working at all chances are your speed sensor is wore out, or more accurately the nut that drives the sensor wont make contact with the sprocket bolt anymore.

Locate the Speed Sensor it is right over the front sprocket

Remove the 2 bolts with an 8mm nut driver

Speed sensor pulls right out

Replace the nylon nut driver the old one prys right off the shaft

Old worn out nut driver the nylon part would not make contact with the sprocket bolt.

It is a simple 5 minute fix and the replacement nut costs around 5 bucks

Part number 44080-MR7-013 speedometer, joint

Does anyone know the torque specs for 2002 clutch sprigs & clutch plate cover? Any info much appreciated.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

IMPORTANT: This “how to” is based on the Honda Factory manual technique for the tensioners replacement. If you read down a few replies you will see that a number of people have been successful at replacing the front tensioner without pulling the throttle bodies.

Cam Chain Tensioner replacement, Vtec

By rad

Why:

Because it is one of the few Honda weak points, common to many models, and mine at just about 30K miles were making a loud racket once the bike was warmed up. Why did I write this up? I'm not a pro wrench, just a home mechanic who has gained a lot of knowledge these last few years from these types of threads and I like giving a little bit back when I can, here, and on the other forums I hang out on.

What:

There are two tensioners, both on the right side of the engine facing rearward. The forward one is located on the back of the right front cylinder and underneath the throttle bodies. Yes, the throttle bodies need to be removed to replace that tensioner. The rear one is located behind the right rear cylinder and can be accessed by just removing the semi circular heat shield located behind the right foot peg mount.

Skill level needed:

It is not a hard job but it is also not for the complete n00b wrencher. As with most machines, there is plenty you can screw up if you don't pay attention to what you are doing and you fail to think everything through. I wrote this with the fairly green (not Al Gore kind of green) wrencher in mind.

Disclaimer:

Everything you do to your bike, no matter what I write or anybody else states anyplace else is 100% your responsibility, just like when you climb on your bike and go for a ride. So, read everything here, the manual, and make your determination if it makes sense and how you want to proceed.

Tools needed:

Other than your normal assortment of smaller metric sockets and the hex drivers there are a couple of specific tools needed. Along with sockets and the few tools listed below I also recommend you invest the $'s and buy a factory shop manual.

• Torque wrench that reads accurately down to 12 Newton /Meters

• Loooooong Phillips screwdriver, 10" or so, #2 head works well, My 8" one barely reached. I needed one more inch; I know, my wife has been tell'n me that for years….

• Cam Chain tensioner release tool. How cool is this, it comes with the new cam chain tensioners. Save this tool for it is the same one you need to make if you do your own valve adjustments.

• Good flash light; and if you are working alone, don't laugh, but a camping head lamp is invaluable during the work underneath the throttle bodies.

• A bike lift sure helps. If your cheap like me consider the fact that the money you save on labor doing this job will not only pay for a Harbor Freight lift, you will have some $ left over

Wrenching aids:

Good music always helps, hard to beat these guys,

This goes well with a bike and a garage. Please note; the amount of use of this wrenching aid can be inversely proportional to quality workmanship.

Parts needed:

The tensioner is the big ticket item, about $100 each, you need two. There are a couple of other assorted pieces that Honda recommends replacing at the same time; you can decide if you want to replace them. I just replaced them all, I was in there anyway and they were relatively cheap.

2 Tensioners

2 Gaskets

2 Tensioner Washers

2 Tensioner bolts

2 Tensioner Buckets, (real name?)

Tips before you start:

I never trust my memory! I have found it very easy to forget where a bolt or washer goes or where a cable or wire is routed, just a few hours later when it is reassembly time. Solution, for me I do one or more of the following on disassembly.

1. I use my digital camera and photograph every step, especially electrical wires and hose routing for quick reference upon reassembly.

2. I zip-loc bag and mark loose parts

3. I have a hard bound note book I keep detailed notes and sometimes drawings in, if needed.

4. I apply painters tape to each connection I take apart with matching numbers written on them.

5. My favorite; I just thread the screw, bolt or nut right back where I just remove it from. That way it can't get lost and it is right in place for when I reassemble the fitting.

Step 1

Lets start easy; the rear tensioner:

Remove the black metal semicircular heat shield located just behind the drivers right foot peg mount. It is held on by three bolts. Remove the top heat shield bolt first.

The manual does not state this, but I had to remove the right driver's peg assembly, two large hex bolts, to get the other two heat shield bolts off.

This is because the lower two bolts, that hold the heat shield in place, have loose nuts and washers located behind the shield. Here I'm reaching behind the shield with a 10mm box end wrench to remove them.

Once you have the three bolts for the heat shield removed it pulls out with a gentle tug for the top of the shield bends over the top of the exhaust pipe.

Zip tie the foot peg assembly out of the way

Look, there is the rear tensioner

Remove the sealing bolt and sealing washer.

Remove the cam chain stopper tool from the new cam chain tensioner. Hold the rubber ended shaft with one hand so that when you pull the tool straight out it does not allow the shaft too spring out rapidly. If you have not figured out yet what the tool does, here it is; it retracts the spring loaded shaft on the tensioner, and locks it into place during removal and installation. The tool is inserted part way, rotated clockwise until it stops turning then the shoulder section is inserted the rest of the way after you line it up with one of the slots.

Insert the tool, rotate it until it stops and lock it into place in the still installed tensioner; I just used one of the tools I made when I did my valve adjustment.

Remove the two mounting bolts. It may be just me but I prefer to ease off each bolt a little bit at a time going back and forth between them when ever I remove cast type fittings.

Pull the tensioner out, pay close attention to the gasket and how the dimple on the "ear" is oriented, mine was with the bumped out part facing the cylinder.

Install the tool back into the new tensioner. Place the metal bucket (new or old one) on the end of the tensioner; put a new gasket on, just like the old one was. Insert the tensioner into place and tighten the mounting bolts. Nowhere in the manual does it specifically state the cam chain tensioner mounting bolts torque specs. There are two sections that make reference to cam chain tensioner flange bolts and guide bolts, these are both bolts located inside the engine, not the ones we are dealing with. I felt very comfortable using the standard 12nm noted in the VFR manual as the general spec for 6mm, and 8mm flange bolts. No thread loc is indicated anywhere.

Remove the locking tool and install the sealing bolt and sealing washer. I did not use 12nm here, my gut told me the lack of threads (very short bolt length) that 12nm was too much. It is just a seal, so I snuged it about "that" much. I just trusted my well worn Calibrated Wrist Wrench.

A tip here, when you are working with small fasteners I find it best to use the smallest drivers that will do the job, ¼ " works well here and helps prevent you having to post a thread titled something like, ( Is it hard to Heli-Coil?)

Ya did it! The rear is done and now you can reinstall the shield and foot peg bracket.

Front tensioner:

Ok, this one is not hard but if your kind of new to wrenching it may get a bit scary as you start to eviscerate and disembowel your beast. "The only thing to fear, is fear itself", just like our 32nd Prez said.

Remove the seat, This may be just me, a hold over from wrenching cars and bikes for years, I always remove the negative battery lead and zip tie it out of the way when I'm messing too far into an engine, removing gas tanks, or plugging and unplugging a number of electrical connections.

Remove both main fairing side panels; keep track of the 4 different types of fasteners and where they go back.

Drain the engine coolant using the drain plug located on lower portion of the water pump on the lower left side of the engine. Remove the radiator cap to do this. I had just changed my coolant a few thousand miles ago, so I saved my coolant in clean containers so I could just reuse it.

Be ready when you open the radiator cap after the drain plug is out, the coolant leaves the bike much like the proverbial saying "Like a cow piss'n on a flat rock".

Hopefully you ran your bike down to almost no gas; it just makes handling the gas tank easier. Remove the tank, first the two bolts by the triple clamp. Suggestion, place your hand under the tank bolt holes as you lift the front of the tank and remove both the long shouldered washers now before you hear a slight metallic clank as one falls out into the dark recesses of the frame and engine…Don't ask…..

Lift the tank, support it, I do it with a motorcycle cargo net hung from above so I can adjust it to any lift level I want. You can also use your tool kit tools as outlined in your owner's manual.

Remove the upper tank cable fastener.

Disconnect the two electrical connections under the tank at the rear by the fuel filter access plate. One is the fuel level sensor, the blue one, and the other is for the fuel pump, the brown one.

Pop the vent hose and over flow tube out from under the bendable metal keeper connected to the tank.. Rotate the tank 180 degrees and place it on the frame rails after you first place a thick towel down to protect the frame and tank.

Remove the air cleaner cover screws, un plug the air intake on top of the air cleaner and remove the air box top and the air filter.

Notice the intake stacks, note their positions for reinstall. Folks have messed with these positions, tall rear, short front, tall and short in front and the same in back, etc. So have I; I have never found any noticeable difference. But, I'm sure somewhere someone has increased HP by 20%, boosted gas mileage and cured the Vtec engagement surge just by moving their intakes. Trust your judgment here on reassembly.

You probably have more plumbing behind the air box than I have, I removed my PAIR Valve hoses, etc a while ago. Disconnect the hoses (if you still have them) to the PAIR Valve solenoid; unplug the map sensor and the vacuum line below it. These are at the rear of the air box.

Stock photo of plumbing back there

Disconnect the #12 vacuum hose and the grey connector near it. Both are located on the right side of the air box near the front. That is the grey connector and the hose leading away to the lower left from the brown one way valve

Lift the air box up and disconnect the IAT sensor under the air box.

Unhook the idle screw adjuster from its keeper, just below the frame rail on the right side. Note: in a few minutes, when you are ready to lift up the throttle bodies, you need to carefully help guide this fitting through the frame openings in order to allow the throttle bodies to be lifted.

Remove the two shouldered mounting bolts to the coolant over flow tank and zip tie the tank out of the way.

Hey! Look what I found behind the coolant tank. I lost that tip to my WD-40 about 10,000 miles ago when cleaning the top of the air box.

OK, now take a flash light and look around and find the insulators (the rubber tubes that connect the throttle body to the engine) and the hose clamps under each throttle body. I guess you can remove either the insulators with the throttle bodies by loosening the lower hose clamp on each, or have the insulators stay on the engine by loosening each upper hose clamp the way I did. I found it easier to reach the upper hose clamps, thereby leaving the insulators on the engine.

Here is where the loooooong screwdriver fits in. Ya, like the wife said, just two more inches and it would have been even better.

Remove the throttle linkage bolts and the throttle cables.

Lift off the throttle bodies. Ok, that is not as easy as it sounds, don't lift by the fuel rails. I actually used my favorite hardwood pry thingy to pop the throttle body out of the rubber tube at the rear, then the fronts came out pretty easy.

Now you must get the two hose clamps off the wax fast idle unit under the throttle bodies. When you look under the throttle bodies it is easy to see that upon assembly of the throttle bodies to the engine this was all done in a different sequence at the factory, confirmed by the fact that you will find hose clamps facing down into the engine.

Now, I hung the throttle bodies over the bike, ya, that cargo net again and I covered the intake manifold openings with clean rags.

Take a look, there is the Cam Chain Tensioner, whoppie!

Use the exact same procedure to remove it as you did with the rear one just a bit ago, ya did do the rear one right?

Reassemble in the reverse order. You can use a touch of oil or WD-40 on the insulators lips to help ease the throttle body reassembly. The throttle body intake tubes hose clamps are speced to how tight they should be by noting how close the sides of the clamp are, see pic

I removed the top hose clamps, they are speced at 7mm. If you removed the bottom ones they are speced at 10mm.

So how do you ever measure that? I just marked it on my screw driver and moved it into position to measure the gaps.

Sometimes I had to take another long screwdriver and move things out of the way from above to get a clear view. Remember the suggestion about wearing a camping headlamp. Oooooo, it makes easy work of this process; a screw driver in each hand and a light on forehead. Ok, granted ya look stupid wearing it in the garage, but it works.

Ok, now just resemble the beast.

Hello to all.

I have no idea if this is common knowledge or not but thought I would share with the masses as it is sure to help at least one person out.

Fun fact: on 6th gens (maybe someone from the other gens can chime in to confirm if this is the case on other gens), the bulbs for the turn signals and for the tail light are identical, all 12v 21w/5w push in 7443 bulbs.

This can be quite practical to know as it means that in a bind (or to save a few bucks and/or a trip to the hardware store) a semi busted tail light bulb can simply be put in the turn signal housing and the turn signal bulb can be put in the tail light housing. What will burn out most of the time is the running light filament, not the flashing/braking stronger and seldom used in comparison filament.

For example: I noticed today that one of my tail lights was not working as a running light but was coming on when the brakes were applied. So I simply pulled it out, pulled out the left rear turn signal (could have been the right as well of course) and swapped the bulbs. Now the taillight has a used braking filament and a new running filament as the rear turn signals do not use that filament at all (unless you modded them to be running lights of course). As for the turn signal, it has a used flashing filament and a burnt out running filament, which it does not use anyway.

Voilà.

Hope this can help someone.

By the way, for those having trouble removing the bulb (I was starting to worry I would actually break the glass by pulling too hard), a quick squirt of contact cleaner will help you loosen it up and pull it out easily.

Hello everyone
I'm new to this forum so if I'm wrong about something, please do not mind.
I have little problems with my long-awaited motorcycle.Honda VFR 800 Interceptor, year 2001.

During one ride, the car cut me off I hit directly in the open hole of a sewage shaft with the rear wheel, a computer that was not (fixed) tied up broke three cables that I pitched and somehow dragged home with visible problems with gas. Namely, he did not want to receive gas in the range of over 2000 rpm to some 5000 rpm. I called the  repairman and replaced some things by the way, but the situation does not improve, it still does not receive the gas properly. I replaced the fuel filter in the reservoir, it was mature to replace it, I turned it into a regular service, I bought another TPS, I carried the computer on diagnostics, cleaned the nozzles, examined the installation, and I still failed to solve the problem. Now I have also ordered a second fuel pressure regulator, because that's how the other bike I had behaved, so we'll see.

Does anyone have any recommendation if it's not something else to watch because I can not and will not pay the repairmans who come to see it say something, I buy it and tahts not it. And then im again at the beginning.

Did anyone had similar problems and how did he solve them?
Please understand me I have not sat on my bike for 3 months I'm suffering with a malfunction.
I hope that as two-wheel brothers you can understand me and help if you can.

Thank you for your time

I wish you safe roads and fill up tanks.

Greeting

Here.

Probably Euro-model but probably mostly compatible with rest of world.

Apologies if already posted elsewhere.

Ok, I am not a writer. I don't have the witty banter abilities of great technical writers who pull you into their project no matter the subject. Instead I am a typical desk jockey who rides VFR and fixes stuff if he can. Before I get into the "easy" way to change the CCT, let me point out that I did not come up with the process on my own. I borrowed bits and pieces from lots of people. The best replacement guide can be found here, CCT change by Rad, where it is done "by the book". In the resulting discussion it was revealed that removing the Throttle Bodies and so forth was a waste of time, as the CCT can be removed without it.

As a second note, I did not change the rear CCT, and I don't imagine I know or could discover any easier way...it seems simple enough already. See the link above to find how to change that CCT if needed.

As a third note (I like notes), I don't believe the CCTs EVER go bad...I think they make noise when the spring loses a bit of tension...more to come on that later (see how I "hook" you...just like the creative writing class said!)

So on to CCT removal and replacement (this order works best I have found)...Anyway, I didn't have music playing, I don't drink beer, and I barely remembered to take pictures....so bear with me. Finding the CCT was the first chore. It is located on the right side, kinda behind and back of the R/R. To find it you need to remove:

Right Fairing

• 8 allen screws
  
• 1 blind rivet
  
• Slider (if applicable)
  

Seat

• Just use the key, and remove
  

Tank

• two 8mm head bolts, use 1/4" driver
  
• Restraint Cable
  
• Two 10mm head bolts at back of tank
  

Air Box Top

• Hose from top
  
• screws around perimeter
  

Air Box Bottom

• Velocity Stacks, Phillips Head Bolts
  
• Sensor connector on bottom
  
• Vacuum line going in front of box
  
• Small connections at the back
  

When moved, the airbox looks like this:

Note the airbox was just rotated away from the CCT. Tank was also rotated the same way and laid across the seat rails. You can see the CCT at the very bottom, just right of center.

Now you are almost there....just need to remove those cooling hoses to make it stupidly easy to reach the CCT. Remove the one pointing out first, and connect a short section(2-3 feet) of 1/4" or similar hose (I didn't measure it, just some I had around, but 1/4" should be about right).

Route this into a drain pan or later you get this:

next remove the second hose....this is what makes the first connection take a bit of a leak

not much fluid is lost...a bit more than is pictured here:

Don't leave this for the dog/cats to drink, unless you don't like them much....

Now it's time to remove that CCT! Simply use your 8mm socket on extension, and take the center bolt out:

This is where the "key" goes in.

The keys job is to stop the CCT from extending when you remove it from the engine. Keeping it from extending makes it less likely that you knock a bit off into the motor, and also makes it easier for the CCT to clear the various bits above it. If you are really ambitious you could actually rotate the CCT to shorten it and make it even easier...but that would be over kill. After loosing both mounting bolts, and removing them, the CCT just slides right out:

Here is where I have to admit I have a problem. I enjoy seeing how things work. I managed to restrain myself from taking apart my new CCT to see how it works, but the old one was just there....so I had to do it. Initially I planned to try the Reddog idea of tightening the spring....but I screwed up my spring after I removed it, so that was nixxed. Here is a nice picture of my CCT doing it's best Humpty Dumpty impression:

you can see where the spring is messed up....yours won't look like that (don't take it apart to see tho). Let me describe the parts, so hopefully this makes more sense to those who want to know. Those who don't want to know can skip to anther thread or something...

Clockwise starting from the left you have:

• CCT Gasket
  
• CCT body, with circlip just slid back
  
• key
  
• Sping(in the middle)
  
• bushing/sleeve
  
• Worm Drive
  
• Shaft with puck on end
  

The sleeve/bushing goes around the worm drive, and over the shaft below the locking tab. The locking tab doesn't come off the shaft (without removing far too much).

The way the CCT works is this:

The spring is coiled around the shaft, with one end going into the slot at the bottom of the worm drive, and the other end into a slit at the top of the CCT body. As the worm drive is rotated clockwise, the spring winds up....and if allowed the worm drive will rotate counter clockwise to release tension. The worm drive can only rotate 4 times before the Shaft reaches its stopper. I believe the reason you begin to hear CCT noise is that the spring is able to unwind with a bit of Cam Chain stretch, and thus the spring is not as tight as it was originally. This loosness allows a bit more play that normal, and oscillations begin. Whether different oils help or not I don't even want to discuss.

If you wish to attempt to modify your CCT to save some cash, here is how you do it:

Holding the CCT in such a way that your finger restrains the shaft from advancing, remove the "key". Using a small (probably modified for the purpose) screwdriver, rotate the wormdrive from the access hole clockwise until it stops. Counts the revolutions. It will stop with the shaft all the way compressed. Now reinsert the key, and while still holding the shaft, slide the circlip down so it no longer restrains the locking tab. slide the locking tab carefully up the shaft out of the grooves, noting 2 grooves are wider than the other 2. Then very carefully rotate the shaft counter-clockwise 1-2 times as many revolutions as it took to compress it initially. (this figure is a guess, your results may very, I make no guarantees..written, expressed or otherwise, not available in all locations, subject to rule changes etc). After rotating the shaft counter-clockwise, slide the locking tab back down, and replace the circlip. Re-insert the screwdriver and rotate the gear clockwise to compress the shaft once more. Now you can reinstall the CCT and see if you saved $100.

Reinstalling the CCT is the reverse of removal (I hate it when manuals state that, but it's true. Just check and make sure all connections are replaced or you may not like the results...I didn't.

That is the connector I forgot. The FI light was blinking when I started the bike. I was able to get it back on without removing the air box again using a long thing screwdriver. Speaking of which, here are all the tools I needed to do the job:

1/4" driver handle

1/4" Rachet

1/4" x3" extension

1/4" x 6" extension

1/4"x1/4" socket for hose clamp

1/4"x8mm socket for CCT bolts and tank bolts

Phillips Screw Driver

3/8" Rachet

3/8"x10mm socket

3/8" x 6" extension

Needed this time, but not always required:

Long Needle Nose pliars

Extra Long thin screwdriver

Telescoping Magnetic pickup tool

Some pictures were not included, you can see them all here:

http://www.wiremybike.com/Slideshows/CCT%20Change/

I checked the manual and it only says "Honda Hypoid Gear oil SAE 80". It doesn't mention anything about GL-4 or GL-5.

So any gear oil that is sae 80 will work? also these are the only gear oil I can find where I'm from:

Will any of these work for the VFR 1200 Final Drive?

There have been a few post on pulsating brakes, one cause is a warped disk. It is not a very common thing with floating disks brakes because they float on a band of rings and the rotor itself is heat tempered. However a dragging brake pad can heat up a disk and warp it. I have been getting alot of pulsation in my brakes as I begin to apply them, I suspected the rear brake, it is difficult to tell, so I put the bike on the rear stand and turned it to see if it was rubbing, I could not feel any rubbing so I turned next to the front wheel. I jacked up the front wheel and this time I could feel the brakes rubbing as I turned the wheel, somthing was wrong.

There were several possibilties, due to the fact that it would only rub at a certain position, It could have been a warped disk or the axel was bent.

I dont have a truing stand so I used my handy dandy Miguel special, 2 jack stands a rod and a bunch of clamps, I have a dial indicator I bought for around $30 bucks some years ago when I was going to rebuild a car engine, I removed the wheel and set up a way to turn the wheel smoothly.

Here is my setup this is from behind.

It worked great, no false readings from the stands moving. The clamps worked well, I had my magnetic dial base on a heavy hunk of rail road rail.

I measured the right rotor first

>

Here you can actuall read the measurements in the next picture it was within 0.010 inches of play (the service limit is 0.012")

The other rotor told a different story much more runnout and way out of spec! It was the warped one! 0.034" much more than the service limit

For good measure I tried a different measurement by taking off the bolts and sliding it where it was mounted, the measurements were the same.

I took it to the salvage shop, they did not have one in stock, but there are a few bike that share the same rotor for a 98-01 VFR, unfortunatly they cannont be machined, they must be replaced, I priced it out at $249 retail, and around $190 for discounted price, salvaged price varied from $120 to $175 ouch!!

CBR 600 F4 (99-00)

Valkerie GL1500 (97-02)

CBR 900 RR (93-94)

MFG: 45220MBG003

I recently tried prying a warped disk back into spec with a large crecent wrench, as long as the carrier is not bent out of shape the floating disk can be tweaked a bit one way or another to get it back in spec.

I tried it on my wheel balance station with the dial indicator there to show me where to pull or push on the disk, then run the wheel around and remeasure until its within spec.

It might warp again but a few times of this and it will stay, this will only work if its not too far out, and the carrier is not bent.

Hello everyone, 

This is is a quick how-to for those with crappy rusted forks. It's not a cure-all but might help reduce the amount of pitting and help your seals last a bit longer. The only ways to ultimately tackle rusty forks is to re-chrome or replace. This is just a temporary fix and doesn't work on heavy corrosion 

You will need: 

1. Cola (any brand as long as it has Phosphoric acid in the ingredients)

2. Piece of aluminium foil

3. Protective oil of your choice (I use ACF50)

Method is very simple: splash some cola on the forks and swish it about so it gets into the rust. Apply some cola on to foil sheet also. Now rub the soaked foil across the rust until it is completely removed.  

You can actually feel the rust reducing as you rub. Go gently to avoid scratching the chrome - it works just as well gently. Best to rub left-to-right as this will create microscopic ridges for fork oil to dwell and protect the fork (same principal as honing a cylinder for piston rings). Up and down would create microscopic tears in the seal's mating surface, shortening its life. 

In reality it it doesn't really matter  which way you rub - just go gently. 

When you're satisfied simply wipe off the cola and apply some sort of lube protectant. 

Lots of rumours on the internet suggest the phosphoric acid "converts" rust and the tinfoil chemically fuses bits of itself to the pitted area. I'm not a chemist and cannot confirm-or-deny this but I feel there is not enough Phosphoric acid in cola for this. 

My my gut feeling is that the tin is harder than rust but softer than chrome. It removes the former without harming the latter. But the acid and chemistry might help things along. It creates a grey residue which might suggest the acid is working. 

The only thing I know for sure is it works well. 

You can can see from the pics how much of an improvement there was, although some deeper pits remain, although  they are much smoother and kinder to the seals.  

One old-timer told me he seals the pits with flexible superglue and builds them up to match the surrounding surfaces. Normal superglue it too brittle. Sounds like a good idea but really time consuming. 

This is process took less than 5 minutes and cost less than half a pound. 

Hope it helps someone out. 

Best, 

stray

Hello All, 

Just did a thorough coolant flush and renew on my "new" 5th gen 1998 and set out the steps below. Hope it helps someone out. 

High mileage bike with what looks like poor maintenance. Thank God it's a Honda or it would be scrap by now. 

Anyway, I began by pulling the side fairings (I'm doing other work - you don't have to remove all the fairings like I did) and putting the bike on its side stand to drain the old fluid.

Note the extreme lean angle achieved by finding a nice dip for the side stand. You can also just muscle the bike over to the left whilst lifting the front wheel. Easier than you might think. I found having the bike on an uphill slope drained the most coolant. 

To to drain the system remove the "odd" 5th bolt and washer on the thermostat (right hand side, near your foot peg). Place a container underneath and slowly unscrew the coolant filler cap. Unscrewing the cap lets air enter the system and it flushes really fast. WARNING: this stuff shoots about 4 feet! 

There is also a coolant drain bolt under the front left exhaust downpipe which is awkward to reach but also dribbles a bit of fluid if you really want to get every last drop out. I did, but it may not be necessary on a well maintained machine. 

Finally, detach the hose from the overflow bottle on the left and let that drain. It just pulls off easily. 

In all, I only got about 1.75 litres (nearly 1/2 gallon) of fluid out. The bike takes twice that to fill so clearly a maintenance fail by PO. Coolant looked red and dirty. 

Now the technical bit. I replaced all bolts/hoses and refilled the system slowly with equal mix of distilled water and white vinegar. Vinegar helps remove hard water deposits and scale from aluminium and is used to clean coffee machines.

The engine was set to idle and vinegar mix circulated for a while to thoroughly clean the system internally. 

I ensured the thermostat kicked in and juice was fully circulated by waiting until the cooling fan kicked in. Another way to check is by massaging the cooling system hoses and feeling when they warm up. Or you can look down the filler neck and see the fluid flow. 

After it cools you drain the system again as described. Strong vinegar smell and coolant was full of crud that the acid had cleared out. Really happy with results. 

Now I had to neutralise the acid from the vinegar (don't want that corroding the aluminium) so I mixed up some Soda Crystals in distilled water and filled her up again. Soda is a base and will neutralise the vinegar's acid. Luckily soda is a buffered base so you can't add too much - it never overdoes it. I poured it through an old sock to filter out any undesolved soda crystals. 

Ran the soda water to full temp as before, let cool and drain. Weaker vinegar smell came out and the coolant looked like it had collected a bit more crud so I was very pleased. 

Next step is to rinse the soda residues out so filled the system up with 100% distilled water and ran it for some time. Let cool and drain as before. This time I poured a few jugs of distilled water through the system with the drain bolts out, just to flush straight through. 

Fitted new bonded washers to the drain bolts because someone had been a bit heavy-handed tightening them and I could feel the threads were damaged. The bonded washers seal easier than copper washers (don't need as much tightening) which gives the threads a break. 

Steel bolts into alloy is always a recipe for disaster so I do the same with my sump plugs. Really saves the threads. 

Ran a die tap over the bolts to straighten the threads and applied a light smear of copper ease. Good as new. 

Remember to burp you cooling  system by blipping the throttle hard a couple times and massaging the hoses. Cranking the bike over sideways also helps get air bubbles out. Pouring the coolant in slowly (no glugging) is also helpful. 

Now the the system is perfectly cleaned and I am confident in it once more. 

Happy days! 

Stray