Author Topic: Does anyone on here know much about the Honda Interceptor? (Read 6629 times)

DarkRider · « **on:** October 17, 2006, 09:21:16 PM »

Went browsing in the used section at my local honda dealer while i was on my lunch break and stumbled upon an old Honda VF750 Interceptor. I have been wanting one of these bikes ever since i seen pics of one on ebay. I know they are V4s and they came in 500 750 and 1000 cc sizes in the early ones. But other then that i dont know much about them and would like to learn more before i take the plunge and add this bike to my collection along with my K4.

Heres a pic for those who do not know what im refering to..

heffay · « **Reply #1 on:** October 17, 2006, 09:27:51 PM »

bulletproof motors... cool styling.

every person i've ever talked to that owned one wishes they hadn't sold it.

DarkRider · « **Reply #2 on:** October 17, 2006, 09:52:43 PM »

so in other words a perfect roomate to my CB750...now i dont feel like im making a mistake..i had asked about it when i went to talk to the sales person..just waiting to hear back about it in the next few days..how i even wound up in there in the first place was looking for a running bike to ride while i build my K4, Need to get used to riding again after having not done so for 5 years.

kghost · « **Reply #3 on:** October 17, 2006, 10:32:37 PM »

There was a 700 model too.

1984 VFR700 F2 prompted by the save harley tax.

Some good links:
http://dot.com.ph/uncle/vfrhist.html History of the model

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php? a VFR forum

cb(r) · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2006, 04:37:47 AM »

had one in college. very quick especially for the time. like what was said earlier, "I wish I had never sold it!" aaaagh! enjoy.

MRieck · « **Reply #5 on:** October 18, 2006, 08:15:22 AM »

I have seen 2 cam lobe failures with the 750 model. This was probably due to the tight valve lash but I know external top end oiling kits were made for these bikes. There was a problem in europe with cam shaft failure. I'll never work on one again (or a Magna....especially a Magna).

heffay · « **Reply #6 on:** October 18, 2006, 08:46:20 AM »

that is a good point MR... most japanese v motors are a pain to work on (especially when trying to get at the carbs).

SteveD CB500F · « **Reply #7 on:** October 18, 2006, 08:53:49 AM »

Mike is correct. In Europe the VF750/1000 (except the VF1000R) had a very bad reputation for top end trouble.

Honda provided the answer in 1986 with the VFR750 with gear-driven cams (per the VF1000R). Ron Haslam raced one out of the crate in the British Superbikes that year and won. The rest is history.

crazypj · « **Reply #8 on:** October 18, 2006, 11:32:01 AM »

Personally,
I hate the damn things.
The early ones with chain driven OHC were not too reliable as the tensioner frequently didnt.
Honda forgot to harden a bunch of cams on the 750's (

??)
They also made a 400 motor which is pretty much same as 500.
Dont forget the 1100, same tensioner problem as all the chain driven ones, its repairable but.....
I was working in a Suzuki/Yamaha dealers working on these so it p***** me off a bit
carbs have already been mentioned, they totally suck to set, easiest thing to do is remove them and bench set (and hope rest of motor is set up correctly)
The later model gear driven OHC was better, but by the time it came out I'd had enough
(I have seen the gear train fail as well)
PJ

heffay · « **Reply #9 on:** October 18, 2006, 11:42:44 AM »

wow... some of you are hard on the reliability factor.

you might think that they are duds but, is that becuz you were in shops working on them at the time? i know i'm biased unnecessarily towards certain bikes just because they were a pain to work on and they were the ones being ridden at the time, therefore, they were the ones needing service.

when i said bulletproof that doesn't mean they don't break down period... think of the sohc4... camchain problems up the wazoo but, i'd still consider the motors to be overall bulletproof.

yes, the newer ones have upgrades to known problems but, every auto maker should be doing that anyway (except for chrysler as they are exempt from those type of unspoken rules)

kghost · « **Reply #10 on:** October 18, 2006, 12:24:04 PM »

As I recall.........

Alot of the top end failures on the VFR were related to "push the button and go" mentality.

If you let them warm up and allow the oil to actually reach the valve train before slamming the twistyfun wide open and hauling down the road....

Problem was virtually eliminated

nickjtc · « **Reply #11 on:** October 18, 2006, 02:26:02 PM »

This range of bikes is what caused a lot of the Honda brass to fall on their swords in the early '80s. The whole scene was to Honda as the 'Combat' motor was to Norton.

Depending on who you talk to the problem with the top end was that a) the cam retainers were not line bored with the cam bearings/shells, which meant that if the retainers were incorrectly torqued there were oiling problems to the cam b) the cams themselves were made of chocolate c) oil flow to the top end was inadequate at start up....and so on.

It was a catastrophe for Honda with a lot of warranty work being done on a lot of bikes. If you are buying an early V-four make sure the cam issue has been dealt with. As in, finding a pristine model with few miles is no guarantee of future happiness!

The good that came of the whole debacle was that Honda went back to the drawing board and produced the humungously over-engineered VFR750 which became (in some peoples opinion) the best Japanese bike ever made, in all its iterations.

medic09 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 18, 2006, 03:19:12 PM »

so what year are you buying?

DarkRider · « **Reply #13 on:** October 18, 2006, 08:07:38 PM »

Im buying an 85. Im going to the bank tomorrow to see about getting a loan. They are only asking $1400 for it.

HondaJay · « **Reply #14 on:** October 19, 2006, 10:31:01 AM »

When I was looking for a v-65 magna I heard a lot about all honda v-4's having oil problems until the late 80's. A lot of the magnas for sale had an oil mod to fix the problem.

Im not sure what exactly the problem was but I read a lot of complaints.

You might want to look into that and see if it applies to the interceptor.

burmashave · « **Reply #15 on:** October 19, 2006, 11:56:25 AM »

The MotorcycleProject has a insider's view of the introduction of the Honda V4's.

Early Honda V4 History

It's a superb read because the author was working at Honda's USA headquarters at the time, and he documents the headaches, fixes and the race with Suzi and Yamaha.

SteveD CB500F · « **Reply #16 on:** October 19, 2006, 12:09:37 PM »

Mike Nixon is a member here and corresponds occasionally

DarkRider · « **Reply #17 on:** October 19, 2006, 05:15:25 PM »

I found out about the oiling problems last night and yes it does apply to the interceptor as well. But i have also looked into the mods to help with the problem..one is an easy and cheep fix that will at least add more oil to the top end without a pressure increase and the other is a special filter adapter that has lines that replace the original oil lines for both a volume and pressure increase along with filtering the oil before sending it to the cams. basicly i plan on doing the cheep mod first to prolong the life of the engine till i can afford to do the more expensive fix.

larsenken · « **Reply #18 on:** October 20, 2006, 06:39:45 AM »

Owned four of them. Enjoyed every one. Stay away from early years as the cams were made of chocolate as the euro press put it. 85 is good. carbs can be a pain to rebuild but after you have done them a few times they're simple. keep up on the oil changes and the maint and the motor should run for ever. Also another thing I found out is that the fan switch can fail and even the new replacements out of the box can also. I mounted a toggle switch parallel to the factory switch just in case. I do have a new in the box switch left over from my VF days if you need one. Mine was a 1984 but should be the same. Awesome bike to ride especially long trips.

DarkRider · « **Reply #19 on:** October 22, 2006, 01:10:02 PM »

sounds like the adapter set up that goes between the filter and block. Suposidly it is supposed to increase both volume and pressure of the oil going to the cams along with filtering it as well. Im debating that same kit on this bike if i get it

heffay · « **Reply #20 on:** October 22, 2006, 02:54:47 PM »

so it sounds like if you found one that is running well now... put the kit(s) on and ride!

DarkRider · « **Reply #21 on:** October 23, 2006, 05:17:05 PM »

As of today i am the proud new owner of an 85 Honda VF750 Interceptor. It has 29313 Kms on it and the bike is in great shape other then needing some minor work like a fork seal and a clutch lever along with the left signal light mount needing to be straightened. I will post pics of it as soon as i get them.

burmashave · « **Reply #22 on:** October 24, 2006, 08:02:26 AM »

Quote from: OutlawZ24 on October 23, 2006, 05:17:05 PM

As of today i am the proud new owner of an 85 Honda VF750 Interceptor.

Congrats! Will you be able to get any riding in this season up where you are?

DarkRider · « **Reply #23 on:** October 24, 2006, 07:44:07 PM »

If the weather keeps going the way it has been..its quite possable that i may just get a bit of riding in..mostly to get used to the machine.

Heres a couple pics of the Interceptor..took it when i went to finish paying the bike off on my lunch break today.

DarkRider · « **Reply #24 on:** October 26, 2006, 10:49:57 PM »

all i gotta say is wow....this thing is intense...i have put about 60 kms on it in about the span of a day just running around and getting used to the bike. Still cant get over the sound of it when its opened up...Due to this bike existing in my life i just cant leave the CB750 stock...its time for it to become more of a cafe racer.

News:

Author Topic: Does anyone on here know much about the Honda Interceptor? (Read 6629 times)

HondaJay

larsenken