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On November 16th we will premier our latest Meet the Vet video on Vet Set Go. In this video we will follow an ambulatory equine veterinarian as she drives to different farms in the Lexington, Kentucky area. We filmed at the worlds largest equine referral center.
LOL! Thank you for the kind words! I'm happy to share & welcome all the hate, love, and questions you can muster 😄 (ps, black friday is coming, treat yourself and the bike to some new tools!!)
Finding the limitations of the heated grips? I thought you would be in the car by now anyway. Poor VF, there can't be too many left being treated to such hardship.
Life is a wee bit nippy at 3C @160KmH.... So my 25+ year old gear mountaineering gear (the elastic "pull"cord crumbled) came in "handy"
Rob, is the day you can ride going to be Friday 11/30 or is that the day you arrive? I'm trying to keep that Friday open but I have clients asking for me that day. I cannot turn down work at this time but if I can post pone it, I will.
This is generous in its detail. Thank you for posting it. I can't tell if your buddy's bike is a GPz 750 or a GPz 900. I had a GPz 550 for a couple years. It was a pretty great bike! I was, unfortunately, young and broke. I did not take proper care of that motorcycle and it died prematurely of negligence.
C'mon, man! The gap between the surgical artwork that takes place in your shop and the half-assed monkey wrenching that happens in my garage is comical. That's why I never let my 6th gen read your posts. She would just be so hurt and angry to learn after all these years that there exists maintenance techniques beyond adjustable pliers, a screwdriver, and copious amounts of electrical tape. I have very much enjoyed reading this and your other recent thread: https://www.vfrdiscussion.com/index.php?/forums/topic/88146-pardon-the-nudity I know guys who have an engineer's facility with wiring schematics and I know guys who have an artist's eye, but I know very few guys who have both, as you clearly do. There is an impressive range of talent and craftsmanship on display in these threads, including the documentary narrative and photographs themselves. So much, beautiful work that is inspiring, educational, and envy-making all at once. I hope you will forgive that I hate you a little for it. It's really only a little bit of hate, and it usually goes away a couple hours after I stop looking at the photos. Usually.
Hi TedJake, Thank you for your donation of 50.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation. Thanks VFRDiscussion
Bought this 15yrs ago, it will last my lifetime and then some I think If anyone has pics of the cable routing pages from the factory service manual, I could use them
Seem like a you got a real good deal. I bought my '04 in '08 with 5k miles, now at 86k and still running strong. I think you'll be happy with it.
That is interesting. Maybe I’m missing the cause and effect, how would the CCT’s result in overheating @Urbanengineer ?
Agreed. Open USA roads, yes. Tight or traffick points in Europe, nope. I can just see you filtering and a car clipping your trailer because they didn't see it or expect it - as much as I wish I had a trailer.
They actually started in 2000 with the Cat Con and crossed front headers. A friend had a Euro model '98 or '99 that also had crossed front headers. No idea if it came like that from the factory, but not much else was changed. I forget if it had a cat.
I used to have a pic of it, but a guy that used to work at the Deal's Gap store would ride his 6th Gen pulling a single wheel trailer and every day he would ride through Deal's Gap to and from work.
One thing to look into, is upgrading/updating the RR and perhaps adding a volt meter. Although not an OEM item, there are a few members who have found Honda branded meters that look like they belong on the bike. As far as the windscreen, I have a Zero Gravity on my 5 Gen and it is a bit thinner than the stock windscreen. I had a GIVI touring screen on my 6 Gen but have changed it out for an MRA with the spoiler. Even though it is a departure from the OEM look, I rather like it. It appears to work a bit better than the GIVI, at least for my height (5’8”).
Cannibalize an aftermarket car seat heater and MacGyver it into your jacket and connect it to your battery. Works like a charm
Here's the latest, and final solution to my issues. Ultimately, it came down to two issues, hopefully these finds will help someone else. First off, the plug for the fuel pump was not connecting well. The female end of the bladed connector was too loose, this caused poor connectivity and explains why sometimes when the bike died I could unplug the pump and plug it back in to get it running. The solution was to replace both ends of the plug. I went with a new-style weather-proof plug and thought I had it licked. This led me to the second issue. After replaced the plug, I decided to give myself some more access to troubleshooting if the bike died on the road. I removed the retaining screw on for the end cap on the fuel pump. This allows the cap to be popped off to examine the electrical end of the pump without needing tools. This worked out well. As we all know, with an intermittent problem, the bike has to be ridden to see if the issue is still there. I decided on a 25 mile trip to a shop down the freeway would work. I made it there but the bike felt odd. I made it almost home when the pump died again. Luckily, I was able to pop off the end cap. I checked it and found that the contacts would open, but not close. It's hard to explain all of my troubleshooting, but basically the issue was that the contacts were too far apart (you can actually see this in the pictures in my original post). I used a coin to bend the bottom bumper holder up a bit to close the gap and 2000+ miles later it seems like that was the final fix. I know this is long-winded, but hopefully it can help someone else. I'll add a few words below as an aid for people searching this topic: Chinese fuel pump fuel pump contacts fuel pump electrical
Hey neighbor! Just under 28k. Assuming it was properly taken care of by the previous owner, which all indications point to, hope to get a few more out of it.
I'm clearing out some race parts I no longer need: In the process of adding bits on the site here: www.tparkes.co.uk/sales/html
Nice, yes very similar sizes to me. Mine just slightly smaller and I use 0.9mm wall. My most recent engine did well making 162hp @13,600rpm with a new design of valve spring + some small refinements elsewhere. Yes the uneven lengths is really important for these bikes as it gives a lovely wide spread of torque. My next engine is up for testing in 2 weeks with a slightly shorter exhaust this time
The theory is consistent flow, as even the best mandrel benders reduce flow on bends due to slight crushing. In my opinion it's not as straight forward as that but in the process I have come across something quite interesting to the power curve (bit of a secret) I have come across early findings on this in tuning textbooks written 10 years ago but it is difficult to explain as I don't fully understand it, and nor did they then. I do know is that it isn't used in modern gas wave simulators as it isn't built into the algorithms. It's a bit of a secret among those who have played around with it I think, exhaust development is moving on quite quickly so I am sure they are aware of it and on close inspection I can see at least one motogp team who look like they have. Titanium is fairly easy to work with; the faces have to be perfectly flat for a fusion weld otherwise you risk over stressing the joint from the large weld and it will later crack but generally the ideal sizes are never available otherwise you need to commission £1000's of investment to get a batch made; particularly the tapered sections for the headers. All residual stress needs to be removed from a titanium system otherwise it will crack which normally means welding it between 10-15amps to avoid distortion. You will get through a huge amount of argon so it's worth having the right equipment as doing it in a small shed could put you to sleep for good.
Yes I machined and sleeved the bores (on many of these engines) and closed the deck due to the bores going oval from the localized heat on the thrust faces. Sleeves are a compromise; not ideal and not suitable for all engine layouts. But useful because they are cheap. Coatings are better as you can maximize the better thermal conductivity of the aluminium but over centre crank honing is a very specialist job to get a 20 micron tolerance. Many will take the job on; not many will give the perfect fit concentrically the job requires. I don't recommend electric water pumps for high load applications; but maybe with a good thermal management system with pressure and thermocouples all around the system it would be worthwhile. Otherwise the temperature fluctuation around the jackets will be sporadic and likely to induce accelerated wear. But anyway I'm sure people would like to talk about the exhausts this section of the forum set out to so I'll save the story for the website. Many thanks for your interest
Thankyou all. Yes this is what some may have heard of as the Parkes938. I have raced it for the previous 3 years in the isle of man. I managed to qualify 16th in the superbike race in the wet one year but dry results have failed to perform (it's still wild to ride). It makes 152hp now but the chassis is a work in progress (it's my own linkage, steering and suspension design on the front) and the rate of acceleration is still far behind that of the top guys. I have followed Michael Dunlop and co (very briefly); the rate of acceleration of their superbikes leaves me wondering if I had hit the kill switch! The engine has had to go through extensive modification to take the power (there is more available with different ports) I did all the machining myself but it has taken much trial and error. Fundamentally the thermal efficiency of the vfr are the limiting factor. A revised casting with alternative thicknesses and coolant passages is really needed but maybe a bit over the top. The aerodynamics were an interesting learning curve. Particularly the centre of pressure, beware of that beasty! 180mph was completely uncontrollable in a straight line with my first set of fairings. Cooling was another challenge, 6 water pump designs and serious ducting to the 3 radiators later I have it under control; only just! I'll have to work on that website as there's lots of interesting things that I'm sure would interest a lot of people. Everyone who has seen me race it has been very interested to see whats underneath too.
I will let you know when it's done, but to all the VFR fans, there is not much left i'm afraid; only the original crankcases and heads are from a 1998 vfr800, pretty much all the internals are my own design
Ok, thanks I will aim to finish the website and publish details to such forums as you mentioned. I am looking to focus on the specialist smaller quantity items. The exhausts take weeks to make by hand so they do not lend well to mass manufacture. Also I am not too keen on making simple 4-1 systems just to make some money. I like to focus on the more artistic systems. The website will be mainly focused on the bike itself and tracking the project working towards riding at the TT. I have been racing it on smaller road races in Ireland and the isle of man to iron out the problems (which there are many) It is my own chassis, double wishbone front end. All bodywork, tank, electrics, throttle bodies all made by me. It's making 152hp now with peak power at 13,800 but still a long way to go before being competitive against new machinery.
... the sections are fusion welded. It would be interesting to gauge interest around the world to see who might be keen in having some exhausts made? A few sample images attached
I built that exhaust up a few years ago now. I race a vfr800 in the UK. It is running an long stroke 360 crank now and a different exhaust to suit. I might sell that one in the picture if someone is interested. I can make another one out of 0.9mm stainless or 1mm titanium though. The ideal sizes I have calculated are available in stainless but there is a compromise in titanium which is not good. That VFR exhaust was on tuned engine and I designed it to suit the cams which takes the revs to 14K so it may not suit a road bike. The VFR engine made a good 142hp with that exhaust but as I mentioned, it may well turn a road bike very sluggish
Came across your posts on exhaust and thought you might all like to see one of these for a 98 vfr800