Honda VRX400 1995 "barn find" restoration
Discussion
Evening all. So, surrounded by 3 bikes all less than a year old, I've been itching to get something to tinker on and restore. I used to do a lot of classic car restoration, but know relatively little about bikes (apart from the obvious stuff that transfers across) so wanted something I could take apart, restore, and learn as part of that process.
Been looking on ebay for months for something cheap and suitable, but nothing took my fancy. Couple of weekends ago I was up at Pidcock Triumph picking up my new Tiger 800 (that's going to be my winter bike and touring bike next year) and a van pulled up ... in the back was two non runner bikes, an old Suzuki 250 of some sort, and the Honda at the back. These had been part chopped to Pidcock as part of the purchase of another bike, and I overheard the salesman muttering something about dumping them on a local collage for the students to work on (aka, knacker).
As they started dragging the Honda out, I not only realised it's exactly what I was looking for (and I really liked its looks) ... but the last 3 letters of the registration are my initials ! Got to be fate, surely ? Asked the salesman how much he wanted, he pottered off and came back with £200 ... I almost bit his hand off ! Add in £20 for delivery 30 miles away, and an hour later it was sat in my garage ! (good service)
It's a 1995 VRX400 with 39k km on the clock ... these were never sold in the UK, it was imported in 1997 looking at the V5. Came with both keys, the documents, and is utterly standard and complete. A bag of nails, but complete none the less ! It was last taxed in 2009, so I think it's been sat around in the damp since.
The Good
Very original and complete, everything is there
All the chromework and steelwork is straight
The engine turns over, coolant looks clear ... but it had little or no oil in it, strangely
The Bad
Chrome and paint needs doing
All alloy components incl engine are furred (probably will polish out?)
Exhaust rotten
Fork leaking
Swing arm is rusty underneath (but I think it's solid)
Brakes frozen
Rear wheel has a honking great smash in the rim, which is crumbling away ... this is my guess as to why it was taken off the road (big pot hole ?)
The other side of this, the exhaust is actually rotten and a lot worse than it looks here ... the mounting bracket has ripped off through a rusty hole.
Pity there's a hole in the seat ... easily recovered I guess
Been looking on ebay for months for something cheap and suitable, but nothing took my fancy. Couple of weekends ago I was up at Pidcock Triumph picking up my new Tiger 800 (that's going to be my winter bike and touring bike next year) and a van pulled up ... in the back was two non runner bikes, an old Suzuki 250 of some sort, and the Honda at the back. These had been part chopped to Pidcock as part of the purchase of another bike, and I overheard the salesman muttering something about dumping them on a local collage for the students to work on (aka, knacker).
As they started dragging the Honda out, I not only realised it's exactly what I was looking for (and I really liked its looks) ... but the last 3 letters of the registration are my initials ! Got to be fate, surely ? Asked the salesman how much he wanted, he pottered off and came back with £200 ... I almost bit his hand off ! Add in £20 for delivery 30 miles away, and an hour later it was sat in my garage ! (good service)
It's a 1995 VRX400 with 39k km on the clock ... these were never sold in the UK, it was imported in 1997 looking at the V5. Came with both keys, the documents, and is utterly standard and complete. A bag of nails, but complete none the less ! It was last taxed in 2009, so I think it's been sat around in the damp since.
The Good
Very original and complete, everything is there
All the chromework and steelwork is straight
The engine turns over, coolant looks clear ... but it had little or no oil in it, strangely
The Bad
Chrome and paint needs doing
All alloy components incl engine are furred (probably will polish out?)
Exhaust rotten
Fork leaking
Swing arm is rusty underneath (but I think it's solid)
Brakes frozen
Rear wheel has a honking great smash in the rim, which is crumbling away ... this is my guess as to why it was taken off the road (big pot hole ?)
The other side of this, the exhaust is actually rotten and a lot worse than it looks here ... the mounting bracket has ripped off through a rusty hole.
Pity there's a hole in the seat ... easily recovered I guess
I'm in two minds with this bike ...
a) do I completely strip and restore the bike ?
b) do I get her running again, on the road, and restore piece meal each "section" ... maybe with a final strip down to restore the frame (which is in remarkably good condition actually)
And do I ...
1) keep her completely standard
2) customise her to my tastes.
Currently I'm thinking 'b' and '1', especially as this is a relatively rare bike in the UK
I managed to get hold of what is apparently the last silencer in the UK ... dont exactly need it right now, but hey, if it's the last one better get it now.
a) do I completely strip and restore the bike ?
b) do I get her running again, on the road, and restore piece meal each "section" ... maybe with a final strip down to restore the frame (which is in remarkably good condition actually)
And do I ...
1) keep her completely standard
2) customise her to my tastes.
Currently I'm thinking 'b' and '1', especially as this is a relatively rare bike in the UK
I managed to get hold of what is apparently the last silencer in the UK ... dont exactly need it right now, but hey, if it's the last one better get it now.
Oh, back to the exhaust, you can get one of the downpipes but not the other. I think I can rechrome them though.
You can see here how knackered the rear wheel is. Wheels are not available, so I'm going to have to get it rebuilt from the hub ... not cheap ! And if I do one, I'll have to do the other to match, of course ...
It's really funny how the wheel has gone ... it's like when fibreglass delaminates, strange.
You can see here how knackered the rear wheel is. Wheels are not available, so I'm going to have to get it rebuilt from the hub ... not cheap ! And if I do one, I'll have to do the other to match, of course ...
It's really funny how the wheel has gone ... it's like when fibreglass delaminates, strange.
mister_ee said:
I believe the VRX engine is based on the 400 Bros (barrels look a lot more finned ) so you may be able to use bits from 400-650 Bros/650 Hawk/600-650Revere engines
Any help like this gratefully accepted ! There's not much information on the VRX (full name VRX400 Roadster by the way) on the net, and obviously even less in English ! I'm piecing together bits and bobs, but it's going to be a challenge (that I'll enjoy).I think I'm going to keep the bike whole, but then do a final strip down at the end.
SHE LIVES !
Drained the fuel tank ... once I realised that the fuel tap is vacuum driven (presumably a safety feature, the engine has to be running before fuel comes out) ... I guess I could have removed the tank and tipped it upside down, it would have been easier, but in the end I just sat there sucking on the vacuum pipe till the tank emptied into an old can, lol. Fuel didn't look too bad/old/gunky, so I put a fresh gallon in.
The battery is fubar'd of course, so I connected it up to the wife's Astravan (don't tell her !). At first ... nothing. Then I found that a 30a fuse had blown in some kind of main "power block" off the main +ve power cable, replaced that and we had lights.
And blow me, after a few churns she started !
Apologies for the crap audio, I got a setting wrong on the drift. If you can't be arsed to listen to me waffle faintly, skip to 1:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkLvVqPdPWg
Preskipped to 1:15 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkLvVqPdPWg#t=78
So she's running, and seems to run okay ... no noticeable smoke, which is a start. Didn't want to run above idle though, not sure what's wrong there. Was going to whip the sparks out, but it seems to need a thin walled 18mm plug socket, and nothing I've got fits, which is a pain.
Didn't run for long, as I wanted to see if she was sick or anything adverse happened. At the weekend I'm going to run her for a lot longer, see if that helps smooth things out. Also I'll try all the lights and switches and run up/down the gears on paddock stands ... something I forgot to do in my excitement !
QUESTIONS :
- Do these need leaded additives in the fuel do you think ?
- Apart from cleaning up the plugs, putting redex in the fuel and giving her a good run, any other tips on what could cause the non-revving ?
Drained the fuel tank ... once I realised that the fuel tap is vacuum driven (presumably a safety feature, the engine has to be running before fuel comes out) ... I guess I could have removed the tank and tipped it upside down, it would have been easier, but in the end I just sat there sucking on the vacuum pipe till the tank emptied into an old can, lol. Fuel didn't look too bad/old/gunky, so I put a fresh gallon in.
The battery is fubar'd of course, so I connected it up to the wife's Astravan (don't tell her !). At first ... nothing. Then I found that a 30a fuse had blown in some kind of main "power block" off the main +ve power cable, replaced that and we had lights.
And blow me, after a few churns she started !
Apologies for the crap audio, I got a setting wrong on the drift. If you can't be arsed to listen to me waffle faintly, skip to 1:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkLvVqPdPWg
Preskipped to 1:15 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkLvVqPdPWg#t=78
So she's running, and seems to run okay ... no noticeable smoke, which is a start. Didn't want to run above idle though, not sure what's wrong there. Was going to whip the sparks out, but it seems to need a thin walled 18mm plug socket, and nothing I've got fits, which is a pain.
Didn't run for long, as I wanted to see if she was sick or anything adverse happened. At the weekend I'm going to run her for a lot longer, see if that helps smooth things out. Also I'll try all the lights and switches and run up/down the gears on paddock stands ... something I forgot to do in my excitement !
QUESTIONS :
- Do these need leaded additives in the fuel do you think ?
- Apart from cleaning up the plugs, putting redex in the fuel and giving her a good run, any other tips on what could cause the non-revving ?
So I've had her (now named, originally, by my wife "Rhonda") running for longer. Fired up straight away, let her run for about 25 minutes. Things did settle down a lot more, even idling okay with no choke eventually. Still wont rev above 5k rpm though. I've ordered a thin walled 18mm plug spanner off ebay, and I think I'm going to look at the exhaust next as that's blowing like mad, which is probably not helping the engine.
Mr2Mike said:
Those carbs are going to need to be stripped down sooner or later!
Aye ! It's on the list ...So, I thought I'd have a play with the exhaust anyway. Not exactly top of the list priority wise, but, hey, you know what its like ... you start fiddling with something, and before you know it ...
There's three chrome shields over the exhaust pipes held on with button head bolts ... all firmly and truly rusted on. In the end I had to drill the heads off, meaning I then had to drill and retap (6mm) the mounting holes.
All went swimmingly with the first two ... not bad at all really, considering it's about 35 years since the last time I tapped a hole.
Then on the last (why is it always the last ?) hole I snapped the tap. Doh.
After reading up online about the various ways to remove a tap, I don't have an MDM, nor a specialist drill bit, there was no stub to grab, it was too small to drill and extract, tapping with a punch in a circle didnt work ... so I settled for the time honoured method of bashing the s
t out of it with a punch and large hammer (luckily the hole was all the way through). Amazingly it worked ! Amazingly I was actually able to retap the hole fine ! Amazingly I only hit my left hand hard once with the big hammer !
By the way, the down pipes look very rusty at the ends, but they are actually very solid, and will rechrome. You can't get one pipe (no longer available), and the other downpipe is £220+ so I'm not going to buy new ones. And the worst rusted areas are behind the shields and out of sight anyway (if the chrome ends up not totally smooth)
Remember that back box that didn't look too bad from the other side ?
... rotten as a pear. Didn't want to come off, either ...
Managed to pick up a workshop manual off the bay of E ... in Japanese ! (remember, this was an import, so never sold in English speaking countries ... or America)
However it's got lots of pictures, exploded diagrams, and handily all things like torque settings are in English (e.g. "32nm")
However it's got lots of pictures, exploded diagrams, and handily all things like torque settings are in English (e.g. "32nm")
Mr2Mike said:
Out of interest is that a big oil cooler at the front or is it actually water cooled with the fins just for decoration?
It's fully water cooled ... with fins ?!? LOLOne disadvantage to the Japanese manual ... the index is in Japanese too. Think I need to flick through the whole book and start putting post-it note markers for each section. Right ... when on earth is the exploded diagram for the front brake master cylinder ...
RumpleFugly said:
Fun project. 
I think you'll struggle to get the exhausts rechromed, most chromers won't touch used pipes as they contaminate the tanks. Let us know if you do find someone willing to do it though as would be useful to know.
Cheers I think you'll struggle to get the exhausts rechromed, most chromers won't touch used pipes as they contaminate the tanks. Let us know if you do find someone willing to do it though as would be useful to know.
I've contacted both Ashford Chroming and Derby Plating, and both will rechrome the downpipes (though prices seem to vary between £80+vat and £130+vat, and 6 weeks lead time up to 12 weeks lead time !)
Following the time honoured principles of methodical and logical working, I decided randomly to refurbish the front brake calliper (then move on to the forks etc)
About the only non standard thing I've found on this bike is the fender-extender ... I think I'll be ditching that.
The brake was seized in an off position ...
... which I'm putting down to the copious amounts of fork oil that had leaked out of the right fork, all over the brakes on that side, then congealed. There's very little or no scoring or corrosion on the pistons.
Took a good 2 to 3 hours to clean it up, using harsher and harsher liquids ... this black gunk was properly stuck on !
All cleaned up ...
Repainted the callipers.
And then fitted all back up, all ready for the new piston seals and brake pads which are in the post.
About the only non standard thing I've found on this bike is the fender-extender ... I think I'll be ditching that.
The brake was seized in an off position ...
... which I'm putting down to the copious amounts of fork oil that had leaked out of the right fork, all over the brakes on that side, then congealed. There's very little or no scoring or corrosion on the pistons.
Took a good 2 to 3 hours to clean it up, using harsher and harsher liquids ... this black gunk was properly stuck on !
All cleaned up ...
Repainted the callipers.
And then fitted all back up, all ready for the new piston seals and brake pads which are in the post.
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff