It appears as though there is *NOT* enough coolant in the cooling system(none in the overflow bottle and I can't see any in the radiator).
4/13/2000 - The aftermarket fairing is attached to the bike with zip-ties (well, it *was*, but I took it off).
4/14/2000 - The battery was dead, but a couple of hours on the battery tender and it had enough of a charge to run the turn signals and the low beam headlight. Either the highbeam is burned out or it didn't have enough juice to run it. Also the horn sounds pretty weak(although not much weaker than the horn on the nx250).
I have a line on a replacement engine - $200 without carbs. I think I 'll spend some time this weekend looking into the carbs on this bike before making that purchase.
4/15/2000 - Only found 8 oz. of coolant in the radiator!
Also there is a switch wired in to turn off the headlight - wonder why?
4/16/2000 - I found the rest of the coolant - it was in the crankcase. When I removed the oil drain plug it came out of the hole prior to the oil :(
4/17/2000 - I found a replacement engine...at my local independent shop! They also had the original fairing which I was hoping to find. Since I found coolant in the crankcase I decided to buy this engine (which the shop believes is good - it supposedly had carb troubles).
4/18/2000 - I bought the engine, and the fairing, and then decided that I'd buy the frame and the front and rear wheels as well. The shop owner had the title, so now I have a second frame and a title. Woohooo!
4/19/2000 I've got a question about the dash - the black plastic cover was cracked, so i repaired it. but now i'm wondering if the mounting 'pegs' are broken off - see the attached picture
4/29/2000 - has it really been 10 days since I wrenched on the vf500? Doesn't seem possible. This morning I removed the front and rear wheels and the sub-frame on the donor bike. I'm just about to the point of pulling the frame from the engine. But I'll need to determine the proper size allen wrench to remove the swingarm (the 17mm one I used on the v45's doesn't fit - too big). Hello honda service manual.
Later that same day - 4/29/2000 - 14mm, which of course I don't have. Neighborhood hardware store (the motto "The hardware store that sells *HARDWARE*") didn't have it either. Ended up rigging something up, got the swingarm off, and lifted the frame away from the engine. It's out - it's dirty, but it's out!
Oh, and the mounting stays for the dash cover are broken. Yet another thing to fix.
5/1/2000 - A rainy day in the D/FW area, I have very little room in the shed to work on projects. Noticed as I looked into the engine from the hole left when the carbs were removed that one of the valve stems looks 'gunked' up. This on the engine that's supposed to be ok. :(
I was *really* hoping to avoid 'getting into' this engine. I hope then I pull the alternator cover to try turning the engine over manual that it moves more freely than it looks like it will.
5/4/2000 - Last night I finished pulling the heads off a dead v45 engine (from another project). That engine had coolant in the oil as well, so I wanted to go ahead and 'dig into it' to see what I could learn. Anyway, I finished pulling the heads on that engine and found one valve had dropped - the keepers weren't keeping it connected the valve spring retainer. That valve was approximately 1/2 inch in the cylinder, which is why that engine wouldn't turn all the way over. If I'd realized that before I took the heads off I probably wouldn't have taken them off, but I was just unknowledgeable enough of what I was looking for that I missed it. Ah well, that's why I do these projects - to learn.
Anyway, once I'd learned that, I decided that I could shelve that engine for a while and move on to the vf500 donor engine. What I've decided to do is to start the procedure to check the valve clearance adjustment. If I get the covers off and find that the engine won't turn over, that'll confirm that I'll really have to get into this engine. If I can complete the valve adjustment, then I'll proceed with pulling the engine out of the bike and putting the donor engine in. So in preparation last night I moved the v45 engine to the back of the shed, and put the donor engine on my dolly and moved it up into my work area. Unfortunately I had yard work to complete, so all I had time to do was pull the 4 spark plugs. Tonight after work, I'll pull the alternator cover and see if I can turn the engine.
5/5/2000 - Well there's some good news - regardless of the appearance of the valves thru the carb intakes, the engine turns over just fine and all the valves move up/down as one would hope!