CRM's RVF project - codename "skinned knuckles"

Well its another year and another project. Had an RVF before and never really took to the bike after so many NC30's for some reason. quality wasnt as good, bit too cramped, and frankly didnt handle as well for me.

So after a few years why do another ? well its simple. getting good parts for the NC were proving more and more difficult, the abundance of shit on ebay made it far more logical to buy bikes and instead of save them, break them instead. but this really isnt a route i want to tread. So i thought why not try another RVF. besides i have 2 good NC30's and a RC30 so do i really need another ?

The plan is to make a nice RVF to ride all year round, make it cosmeticaly as nice as i can and retain the standard paint and panels in the early scheme, but make sure it fuels nicely, handles nice and is a pleasure to ride. Unsure if i should keep it with a standard exhaust or put something else on. however it wont be something too loud or annoying, but something enough to make the sublime 360 degree V4 engine sound like a bike and not like a sewing machine.

Panels are going to be tricky, i bought all the remaining new old stock of 89 RWB panels for the NC30's back in 2003 and now i know that RVF stuff has also dried up, i guess a full new set of panels is going to set me back well over a grand and more like £1200+ however its worth it as the bike will be a keeper and i can use the scruffy stuff for winter. As for the budget, well i have quite a few parts anyway, i can certainly do all the work myself, i have got setting up the fueling for these V4's to an art now after 12 years, so its just parts thats going to cost.

The bike

A suitable donor came up at the right price, an early L plate RVF, clearly subject to some war wounds and action over the years, however it was honest where it counted, and while it was a bit of a chance and impulsive purchase, i felt i had nothing to lose and if it was totaly crap i could break it for parts or sell on ebay with the rest of the shit.

So the deal was done, bike paid for and with help from a couple of the lads on 400greybike, logistics were taken care of and for that i am very greatfull.

So the bike arrives and its a runner - sort of. its starts with ease and sounds ok, but is so flat low down its almost unrideable. brakes are shocking, 70 profile supercorsa front makes for some interesting handling, exhaust corroded and rotted, shock totaly goosed, airbox snorkel missing, Some dodgy looking LED indicators with some scotchlocking of a unit to compensate for strobe effect put into the mint loom. But overall, its straight and looking past the rubbish panels, its actually in good shape. I think so far so good.





So the strip down begins.

Tearing off all the panels, and rubbish i am greeted with signs of a aerosol "touch up" on the subframe, with a bit of overspray on anything else in the vicinity. however thats nothing. what did greet me was this. a HRC CDI which was nice. peeled the sticker back and sure enough a pukka HRC item.

However a bit futher down i see this - yep knackered rectifier connector

However all this aside the engine was shockingly filthy. now we all know the RVF cases are not exactly a joy to clean and quality is not a patch on the NC30, but these took some scrubbing. then i noticed this etched into the head.


So carbs stripped and cleaned, jets were 112's all round but 2 of the pilots were sheared off with some heavy handed jetting in the past.
however the carbs were in excellent shape, no rounded screws or anything, infact the whole bike seems non butchered in the main areas which is encouraging i have to say. Radiators are ok, lower is better than the upper, however both are serviceable and will provide ok cooling for road use.

Found a few nastys typical with age.
front exhaust nuts seized onto the studs.
rear exhaust nuts sheared off the manifold.
however i did notice that the sprockets are original items, and not badly worn. everything seems pretty consistent with 23000 kms, and some time with a mph converter.

There is one item i think is too far gone cosmetically - the swingarm. its just too pitted to ever be nice again. i think i will try and source another soon before i start to build the thing back up.

Sheared exhaust manifold bolts - arse !


So watch this space

 

erm, ah try again i was linking it from 400greybike

 

not so sure really, the RC30 has odd unique marks all over the engine, as does every RC30/45 however they were 100% handbuilt. the baby 400's were not all handbuilt, but i imagine the cassette stack and head assembly's were.
rear rocker cover has deffo been off, this i would expect is for clearances checked (a job i need to do)

Changing the subject slightly, you seen this RC30 promo film ? ok its 20 odd years old and things have come on a long way in that time, but there is no doubt the RC30 was a special bike and still is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO9YVYg4FyU

 

so are we sitting comfy ? then i will bring you all upto speed.

So shortly after my last entry i didnt do that much for a few weeks, it sat outside while i went on holiday and worked all the hours under the sun, before i knew it autumn was well and truly here, darker nights, wet and damp and frankly not as nice to tinker with a project outside.

However when driving from spain i called into a guy i know who lives in cambridge who breaks alot of NC30's and RVF's and hoardes a large number of UK spec NC30's and RC30's. So i called in and filled my boot with some as new panels (which frankly saved the project) a lovely laser full exhaust, some other bits to swop out on the project bike, and after a boot full of bits and £500 later i am back on my way oop north.

It became quite clear in the early stages of the project that david silver spares actually had no new old stock RVF panels left and important bits like the lower and nose were actually discontinued and as such no chance of buying new. It was at this point i explored into new panels for the later RT colour scheme (similar but has a yellow RVF decal in the middle and looks a bit shite IMO) but again not all were available. So i very nearly gave up until i sourced a brand new pair of old stock lowers for £400 from a guy on my site who bought all greame france's 400 parts inc a pair of boxed RR lowers.

So armed with almost a complete set of panels in new or 9/10 condition i got some wind in my sails and pressed on with project skinned knuckles.

Shortly after i fitted the lovely Laser exhaust, fitted a new rear manifold, new gaskets and tightened it all up. looks a bit bloody lovely it does.


well had a good day getting stuck into this, and after i got the brake lines fitted and bled to the refurbed calipers the front brakes feel great.
so front ends done, headstock bearings were very good and just needed some fresh grease and a clean. fork lowers blasted and painted in OE colour.
wheels now white and tyres and bearings fitted.
Changed clocks over to non broken tab ones (swopped speedo to keep mileage correct)
source new chain and sprockets, chain was new from a K5 600 and cut to 104 links.
rads fitted and filled with coolant and water wetter.
subframe fitted and loom put back into situ.
battery attached.
fuel tank fitted, fresh fuel added.

so i decided to see if it would - and it only fired within 10 seconds of turning it over and settled into a nice tickover with no effort. choke off in 10 seconds and its happy and sounds crisp too.

Then the week after i decided to

Clean up rear wheel powder coat before fitting (or it will never come off again)
remove rear hub and clean and pack with fresh grease in the bearing.
strip and clean rear caliper, refit all rear brake assembly.
sourced and fitted a couple of new old stock original indicators - old ones were some shite LED pointy type things - feckin useless.

 

Well here are a couple more pics, hardly bolted up, but bits placed to try and check out its lovely white wheels. i normally stick to standard and love my UK NC30 which is totaly genuine, but i really cant be dealing with black wheels on RVF RR's they look wrong.

 

So another pic, its getting there slowly, 2 steps forward, one back, but always going in the right direction.


So with another order into david silver for some bits, its clear the budget has gone out the window a bit, however if a jobs worth doing you may as well do it properly. lets work out the costs so far.
Price of bike £1300 - bargain but a dog.
first batch of new parts, carb rubbers, all cables, brake seals, pistons, bolts and more genuine honda parts £225
Wheels power coated and new tyres £220
Exhaust £250
Clocks, headlamps, manifold, and good used parts £150
New fairing lowers £400
Nosecone £160
Mids, and seat unit panels £100
More genuine bolts, fittings, correct 30/55w bulbs, new indicators etc etc £125 ish
Final drive £50

Of course there are a few other bits, as you can see the cost is rather more than you would pay for an average RVF, however i know every nut and bolt, i know its got grease where it needs it, i know its all torqued up correctly. At the end of the day its an early L plate RVF400RR which can be picked up for sub 2k all day long, however i plan on keeping this one so it may as well be right.

 

well last week i had a couple of daing from home, and between server troubles i would pop out and do a couple of hours here and there on the bike.
The last of the new genuine fastners arrived so i need to change these over to finish the bike off (before this pic was taken). and here you can see the almost finished result.
I still have a couple of parts i want to change, a few bits here and there need some attn, but it looks more like a 3 year old bike now instead of a 16 year old bike with 9 previous ham fisted kids as owners.

 

Took it for its first ride out last saturday, headed out of helsby and got onto the motorway and headed towards wales. came off the 56 and took the sweeping left hander to chester, and it tracked like a dream, near 3 figure speeds round the outside of a X5, bike cranked over and its supercorsa pro gripping nicely. came off at dobshill and had dibble follow me and my mate on his B1H all the way past the station before i felt the first missfire. came to the jcn near the crossroads and it died and cut out.
Ah bollocks, the starter button was dead, nothing.
Typical honda rectifier symptoms, so pulled off the headlamp connectors, left the battery 5 mins to recover and bumped it and rode it home.
oddly enough ran even better than before so that confirmed my thoughts about the rectifier (being a 916 owner i am well versed with knackered rectifiers)
So later that day replaced the unti with a Yamaha R6 unit and new connector, sure enough 14.3 volts @ 3000rpm that will do nicely.

So watch this space, its a bit dirty now, got some flies splattered on the front, but its ready to rock and roll.

What have i learnt ?

Well the RVF is not in the same quality league as the NC30. not saying its bad, its just typical mid 90's honda which is quite a way from the RC30 and the NC30 quality. more on par with my old RRX blade infact.
New old stock parts esp bodywork are long gone. if thinking of doing a project RVF or NC30 make sure it got the right original bodywork or you may as well break it for spares as you have no chance of sourcing new, and good used changes hands for daft money.
The RVF engine while not finished as nicely on the outside (rough castings and bare finish over smooth powder coat of the NC30) the insides of the heads are alot better than the NC30.
carbs on the RVF are smaller but actually flow better. you will find alot of NC30's have a 7k flat spot which is a bitch to tune out. the RVF is smoother and stronger at the expense of top end - however when you are 15 stone like me, it doesnt make that much difference.
The RVF feels alot smaller than the NC30.
The NC30 has iconic looks in the RWB colours, the RVF will appeal to the younger generation as it looks more modern, however secinf hand prices for a good RWB NC30 are above a good RVF, i think the NC30 will always be seen as a classic, the RVF will fade away.

So all said and done, i will end up keeping it, cant see me using it much but it sure looks pretty. Just need some pics next to my mate giffs later RT RVF, and a pic next to my UK NC30 and RC30. so who's got a RC45 then to complete the set in a picture ?

 

Well i always use my RC30 and its often between runcorn and ruthin summer and winter, i aint afraid of it getting a bit wet. its a bike FFS but obviously treat it with care and dont push it too hard or get suckered into a dice with someone fancying their chances with a 20 year old bike. however its given a few people quite a shock from the lights, its still hustles for an old 750 and that V4 makes a howl that still makes the hairs stand up on your neck when thrashed.

 

Lol and here it is after bringing it back from ruthin in the snow. by the time i got home snow had gone but roads were rather well gritted. you could almost hear the metals being eaten away lol.
i actually posted this pic a few years back on a RC owners forum and got a load of abuse from one guy in the states saying "i didnt deserve to own a RC30 and i was a disgrace to the club" lol, so i replied by sending him pics of my smashed up splintered genuine bodywork spare kit - tosser

 

Lol, and here is a clip of it on @ 400greybike dyno day in the midlands last year where i took it along.
So if you never heard a RC30 getting a trashing looky here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyLZ1nwSQqw

excuse the smoke on the over run, made as best as they could in the late 80's but bear in mind 17K and single ring pistons to reduce friction (thats how they came) they all do that apparently, and needed a rebuild every 4k to keep fresh. it was dyno'd in 2003 on the same dyno with 12k on the clocks and it made 97 so its not lost too much power over the years. sadly new pistons are NLA and while there are aftermarket options, a proper tony scott build and blueprint will rush me a stupid amount of cash - like really daft amount.