VFR VTECH, worth it or not? ? ?

[VisabilityIsEverything]

Well I have owned and loved my first bike, until now! My 2003 VFR800, great machine, handles well, and runs great! So I was a little lazy in doing my valve adjustment and waited too long, no biggie, bike never ran crappy just waited and thought it was time. Tried to sell it last year and no one would buy it because the valve adjustment needed to be done.

So I had a couple of days and got to work, tore the bike down and checked everything, the bike is out of tolerance, of course, it has 45k miles on it. The vtec intake is way off, it is out of spec by -.005in when +/-.001 is allowed, that is the worst of them all. Anyway I measured everything and was going to order the new lifters and they are 50 dollars a piece. WTF? it is going to cost me 400 dollars plus shipping to do this, just for the new lifters. NOT COOL. I can get a wrecked VFR with less than 8k miles on it for 1000 dollars and have a fresh motor instal and not worry about it. Ridiculous!!!

Anyway I am thinking of putting my old lifters that are all too tall and putting them in my drill press and taking .002 at a time off with a die grinder bit to increase the clearance instead of buying new lifters. What do you think, has anyone tried this? I am going to give it a shot in the spring when I have time.

If any of you have tried this before let me know,

Thanks,

Mark

[Jetpilot5]

I would be more inclined to buy a bike that had never had the clearances checked than to buy one that had the shims ground down in a drill press instead of new ones installed.  If you're going to the trouble of swapping them out I'd bite the bullet and put in new ones where needed.  You're using the valve service to help sell the bike and home made internal engine parts aren't going to be very good sales tool.

[VisabilityIsEverything]

That is a good point, I dont know if someone would buy the bike in the future after I told them what had been done to the lifters. Thanks for that piece of advice, even though it would be done properly on a mill in a machine shop, people just dont get it sometimes that it would make no difference, they would want it done propperly. After putting the bike on the market and trying to sell it, even with all the after market add ons, would not get what its worth. I was only asking 3500 in the end. Especially since they are going so cheap for bikes with less than 10000miles on them, mine has 40.

Thanks for your comment, duly noted!

[Hotbrakes]

I'd buy it!










If I didn't already have the perfect VFR...

I say drill away!  Anyone that is too scared to buy a bike with professionally machined lifters vs new ones should probably just go buy a new bike then.

When the motor goes (likely from something other than a little VTEC valve) we can drop a twin in it and make it the perfect race-tourer!

[swimmer]

I say drill away!

Finally!.  Someone who likes a little excitement.  This dreary hell hole could use more like you.

[Stray Cat]

Are we talking lifters or shims?  
If they are shims, $50 each is frickin highway robbery! Either way taking 0.002 to 0.005 off either probably won't involve a grinder. You cold probably either have a machine shop grind it for way less then $50 each or use some emery cloth on a nice flat surface.

[Tyrroneous]

What if the the shims have a surface treatment for hardening?  You could be grinding that harder surface right off, exposing the soft underbelly of the shim.  

[Jetpilot5]

If I recall the entire bucket gets replaced on a V-TEC engine when clearances need to be adjusted.  That's why they cost so much.

[Nitro]

Hey, you can buy a whole shim kit for under 100$  Hotcams...
 you just change the shims like any non vtech bike, but you do need the  vtech lifter expander pins from honda ..not the lifters. the non vtech lifters are same old  as always.

pop over to vfrworld or vfrdiscussion  for the real info.  good luck

BTW, i have been filing down shims for 30 years on my bikes when  couldnt find  the right one at the time,  and never a problem..

[VisabilityIsEverything]

Hey Nitro, what are you talking about when you say vtech expander pins? The dealer tells me that I have to order the actual buckets to adjust the clearance on the vtech valves? If they are 50 bucks a piece I am just going to put it back together and start a new post saying "how long will my Honda last with no valve adjustment" and ride it to death.

[1Arm]

A little info from the factory manual to help clarify the VTEC valve configuration.  8 of the 16 valves use shims, the other 8 (the VTEC valves) require the valve lifter be replaced if out of spec.

In addition to shims and valve lifters, it appears that a slide pin stopper is also required to perform the service.

[mtrider16]

Considering most people think the bike is an overpriced pig, why would a valve adjust cost more than normal also?  

If you're taking the machining route, I would be somewhat concerned about surface hardening on wear surfaces.

A friend is helping do the check for me now.  I'm at 32K miles.

David

[Rogue]

So how much is it going to cost you to do this "valve adjustment" after 45k miles?  $450?  $650?  $850?

If you skipped the valve inspection up until now, you shouldn't really complain that it is costing you so much!  I just priced a BMW 6k service for a new Boxer engine it costs around $250-$300 at the dealership.  When I had a 2001 VFR800 without the VTECH, it cost me a cool $580+ at the Honda dealer for the 15k mile Major Service interval, which included the valve inspection/adjustment, starter valve synchronization, new plugs, and new coolant, & oil/filter change.  Not long ago I asked around and found out it costs about $650 for the dealership to do the major service on my 2007 VFR800.  It would be less if the work was only for the valve inspection and throttle body sync.  

In the scheme of things, you are right on the ballpark for most modern motorcycles with complicated engines.  In all these cases you should be putting aside between $30-$50 per month for the major service IF you put 1k mile per year on your VFR.  Trying to save $$ by doing the work yourself is a good idea of you know what you are doing.  But trying to find shortcuts because you don't want to spend $400 for a major service that you put off for 45k miles, is false economy.  I just don't see the basis for your complaints because I think the cost is in line with many other makes.

[Rogue]

Considering most people think the bike is an overpriced pig, why would a valve adjust cost more than normal also?  
David

I think because people forget how much the previous generation cost to inspect.

[swimmer]

So how much is it going to cost you to do this "valve adjustment" after 45k miles?  $450?  $650?  $850?

If you skipped the valve inspection up until now, you shouldn't really complain that it is costing you so much!  I just priced a BMW 6k service for a new Boxer engine it costs around $250-$300 at the dealership.  When I had a 2001 VFR800 without the VTECH, it cost me a cool $580+ at the Honda dealer for the 15k mile Major Service interval, which included the valve inspection/adjustment, starter valve synchronization, new plugs, and new coolant, & oil/filter change.  Not long ago I asked around and found out it costs about $650 for the dealership to do the major service on my 2007 VFR800.  It would be less if the work was only for the valve inspection and throttle body sync.  

In the scheme of things, you are right on the ballpark for most modern motorcycles with complicated engines.  In all these cases you should be putting aside between $30-$50 per month for the major service IF you put 1k mile per year on your VFR.  Trying to save $$ by doing the work yourself is a good idea of you know what you are doing.  But trying to find shortcuts because you don't want to spend $400 for a major service that you put off for 45k miles, is false economy.  I just don't see the basis for your complaints because I think the cost is in line with many other makes.

The problem is finding someone you trust to actually do the work and not just say they did it.  

[atadaskew]

The problem is finding someone you trust to actually do the work and not just say they did it.  

Bingo.

I do not know of any Japanese mfg dealerships in SoCal that are competent for that kind of work.

Most of them would do nothing but charge you for the work..
Perfect example of a shop like this that I have first hand experience - Burbank Kawasaki.

[1TallTXn]

Having checked my '02 at 20k mi, I can assure you that there is a shim under the bucket/lifter. You don't need to replace the lifters, just the shims.
A full shim set ain't cheap (been so long I don't recall the exact price) but its sure cheaper than buying 16x$50

I've got ~48k on mine now and I may check the valves again at ~50k.
There's at least one guy over on VFRd that has over 80k on his without a valve check.

[atadaskew]

 
There's at least one guy over on VFRd that has over 80k on his without a valve check.

And it's running as good as the day he got it..
 

[chornbe]

Meh... one more reason to stick with simpler bikes.

[Rogue]

It's nice to know your bike will never be taken apart by Jack the Ripper at the dealership.

Two   for hydraulic valves.

However, you're reminded of that fact each time you want to rev to the Moon and go really fast.