Currently in Coshocton, Ohio

Fabiodriven · Post by **Fabiodriven** » Mon Aug 05, 2019 4:51 am

Hi all!

I sold my home in Massachusetts June 5th and took off with my fifth wheel toy hauler, a couple of three wheelers, and I was supposed to have a street bike. I'm doing some traveling before I buy another house. I've been spending a lot of time in Coshocton, Ohio, which is where I am now. I'm looking at buying a place in Kimbolton. My 'ol 2009 Buell XB12Scg is the best motorcycle I have ever laid a leg over, when it runs (sigh). It's a grumpy fawker and I've spent a lot of time and money with no results. I was forced to put the Buell in storage and buy another bike before I departed Massachusetts.

Amazingly, I happened to find my dream bike listed for a good price. A 1985 Honda Interceptor 1000, which is a rare bird. I immediately bought it and immediately blew the bottom end, long story. I can elaborate if anyone wants me to. Even with a bad engine it's still worth what I paid, so I put it into storage but not before I bought a second Interceptor, an 86 VF1000R Interceptor with a paltry 3,700 miles on the clock for short money. A complete bike with a clear title. It was meant to be. I just didn't have time for an engine swap though, so I had to buy yet another bike.

Enter my 1999 Honda VTR1000 Superhawk. I had only two days to find a suitable bike to take with me on the road, and I didn't want to break the bank. By this point I have a lot of money invested in motorcycles, they just happen to all be broken. I didn't want to spend too much more on motorcycles, but I would have if I had to. I scoured Craigslist and found this Superhawk listed locally for $1800, but the seller had someone coming in two days to look at it. I asked him if I could scab the bike out from under the other guy if I gave him an extra $100, and he said OK.

When I looked at the bike, it had brand new tires and paint but needed fork seals, front and rear brakes, and some other odds and ends. The fork seals are puking right on the front brakes, and it has two left rotors. The brake and clutch masters are fogged and yucky looking, and I'm pretty sure all the hydraulic oil is original at 26,000 miles. The chain and sprockets are roached, but functional. The bike runs and rides good enough though. One thing I found out later is that the low fuel light doesn't work. Yes, I ran it out of gas finding that out. The rear valve cover leaked oil so bad that it was burning off the pipe as well as lubricating the chain. It was so bad that I thought the countershaft seal was blown.

I ordered all the new parts for it, everything OEM except for the chain and sprockets, which are discontinued. I already fixed the valve cover leak and diagnosed the low fuel light problem. Seems like the sending unit quit. When I bought the bike, it would cough a lot through the intake and sometimes stall. Sometimes it would cough and die, and sometimes it would just quit at idle with no cough. Every V-twin I've owned is prone to coughing through the intake, so I didn't think it was a big deal at first. I got a tank of good gas through it and it improved, but it still had an issue. As it turns out, the vacuum line for the petcock had a "T" in it with one leg of it completely open, and the vacuum line had a second leak where it had split open on the end, like wide open. I blocked off the open port on the T and cut the hose back to get rid of the split, which obviously took care of my coughing and stalling problems.

I looked at the parts fiche and also scoured my Haynes manual, but I could not find a good schematic that shows the vacuum hose or that T. My first question is, why does a petcock need vacuum?

My second question is, is the T supposed to be there, and if so, what is supposed to come off the other side of that T?

The new chain and sprockets arrived yesterday and the rest of the parts should be here this week, and I'd like to get this thing whipped apart and back together ASAP. I think the wheels need balancing as well, so I'll have that done. Thanks to everyone reading this and I look forward to some replies! :-)

fabiostar · Post by **fabiostar** » Mon Aug 05, 2019 2:56 pm

welcome along firstly... the petcock needs a vac line running to it from the rear pot to open it to allow the fuel to flow. the T that you have found is so you can plug i a set of vac gauges to balance your carbs, assuming somebody has also fitted a vac line to the front pot.

tony.mon · Post by **tony.mon** » Mon Aug 05, 2019 6:38 pm

The other reason a tee is fitted to a vac line is to provide a vacuum to a chain oiler such as a scottoiler.

8541Hawk · Post by **8541Hawk** » Mon Aug 05, 2019 8:12 pm

tony.mon wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2019 6:38 pm The other reason a tee is fitted to a vac line is to provide a vacuum to a chain oiler such as a scottoiler.

Those are not real common here in the states.

What can and does cause issues is the ethanol in the fuel. It tends to destroy the aftermarket rubber vacuum caps at a surprising fast rate, at least the ones I tried.
So I would recommend checking all the vacuum caps.
The "fix" is to use the PVC vacuum caps on all plugged fittings.

The ethanol doesn't seem to bother any of the other bits for some reason.

Post by **sirch345** » Mon Aug 05, 2019 10:15 pm

Welcome aboard

What an intro

Your two questions have already been answered, so I can't add to that,

Chris.

Fabiodriven · Post by **Fabiodriven** » Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:40 am

Thanks for the replies!

I've never heard of a chain oiler on a street bike, or any dirt bikes either. That must make a mess I would imagine. One thing I loved about the Buell was the belt drive. Zero maintenance and the rear wheel doesn't get all greasy.

Oh just to clarify, when I say I have three wheelers I mean like Honda ATC's. A lot of times people think I'm talking about the Hardly Ableson style, or a Goldwing trike or something. I'm not into those, haha.

Fabiodriven · Post by **Fabiodriven** » Tue Aug 06, 2019 6:13 am

Here's the VTR.

These are it's buddies.

I also have a street legal XR650L three wheeler conversion, but that's apart at the moment.

And the Buell.

tony.mon · Post by **tony.mon** » Tue Aug 06, 2019 10:34 pm

That's a fine stable.
Last time I tried one of those 3 wheelers I ran over my own leg trying to get my knee down.... But a good laugh round steeply banked corners.

Post by **sirch345** » Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:08 pm

I nice collection you have there

I was offered a ride on a Buell some years ago, I have often wished I had taken up the offer just to see what it was like,

Chris.

Fabiodriven · Post by **Fabiodriven** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 2:10 am

Thanks again for the replies!

So the Superhawk has some writing on the back of the engine and I have no idea what it means. I wanted to share a picture of it to see if it means anything to anyone.

Wicky · Post by **Wicky** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:16 am

Tag signature of the resident graffiti artist in the Honda Hamamatsu factory.

Fabiodriven · Post by **Fabiodriven** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:05 pm

I love OEM parts!

Fabiodriven · Post by **Fabiodriven** » Thu Aug 08, 2019 4:13 am

It's a good thing those parts arrived today, because the bike decided it wanted some attention.

From the time I bought this bike just a couple weeks ago, the clutch barely worked. The crusty yellow reservoir was full of the original brake fluid, which more resembled swamp water than brake fluid at this point. The feel was squishy and the clutch would disengage as soon as you released the lever, like way too soon. I was amazed it worked at all with the tiny amount of travel it had. I could have bled it sooner, but I was waiting for my new reservoir. Well today was the absolute last day this fluid would work, and the clutch started dragging. I wasn't planning on working on the bike today, but I didn't have a choice. So I installed the new reservoir and bled out the old swamp water fluid. It works great now. Oh! What's the little screw for on the side of the reservoir?

I also changed the engine oil and filter and filled it up with Hardly Ableson 20w50. Looked like crude oil that came out of my engine.

So today was also the absolute last day the rear brake pads had in them as well. Got every last ride out of these!

The forward rear caliper pin was rusty as all get-out too.

Another thing happened today. I left Walmart and decided to give 'er the beans, wring 'er out a bit on a long straight. Well after that, I heard an exhaust leak. Turns out there was no clamp on the left side silencer, and the donut blew out. I went to remove the silencer to slide the donut back in while I wait for more OEM parts, and some chuckle head had completely molested the lower silencer bolt. It was stripped clean and rusted on, so I had to drill the head off it to remove the silencer and put the donut back in place. It's OK for now though.

I ordered some more OEM parts and still have work to do on the bike, but it's coming together quite well! I'm excited to feel the clutch and rear brake now, but the big deal is going to be when the forks and front brakes are addressed.

Wicky · Post by **Wicky** » Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:42 am

"Oh! What's the little screw for on the side of the reservoir?"

To hold a stop plate that prevents the reservoir lid from falling off.

https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda- ... 00/2/11510

To replace the corrosion prone OEM exhaust clamps Mikalor do W4 Supra fully stainless clamps

tony.mon · Post by **tony.mon** » Thu Aug 08, 2019 8:33 am

The writing on the crankcase is a quality control sign-off mark.
They all have one somewhere.
Different inspectors mark them in different places.

Changing the clutch res is unusual, mostly I've just cleaned them up and put a stretchy towelling sleeve on to hide it.

HRC make a sleeve, apparently......

VTR1000.ORG