Guidance needed in the Renovation of a 1989 VR

[Shadetree]

Guidance, advice, information, recommendations needed in the renovation of a 1989 VR with only 206 miles. It has not been cranked in 25 years. All liquids was left in the VR when stored. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks. Shady Tree.

[Condor]

Change all the fluids, Drain the tank if there's anything left, check the coolant hoses, New AGM battery, fill the tank with fresh fuel and a can of Sea Foam, and see if she'll fire. An '89 with only 206 miles!! Nice find..... Oh yeah.... Tires....

[BlueSky]

Remove the gas tank and clean it.

Remove the carbs and clean them. Check the sliders and slider diaphragms. Check the enrichment devices.

Flush the brake lines with clean fluid and check for stuck calipers.

Flush the clutch line with clean fluid.

There are many other things you could do like disconnect and spray contact cleaner on all electrical connections.

Obvious things like change the engine oil and filter and rear lube. Get ready for new fork seals and fresh fork oil.

Install new tires.

 

Sounds like quite a find you have there. You just gotta post some photos so we can all enjoy your new find!

[Great White]

As mentioned above.

 

How was it stored?

 

If it was outside or in an area of high humidity, or it wasn't properly preserved, you might have to deal with rusty cylinder bores.

 

If it at least turns over, you're probably good.

[Patmac6075]

Another thing might be to remove the spark plugs and spray some Deep Creep in the cylinders a day or two before you plan on firing it up...me personally, I'd do the Deep Creep, wait a day, rotate the assembly 180 degrees, spray again, wait a day...spray..rotate. Then I'd put new plugs in and try to fire.

[cowpuc]

I made my living for many years in bike restoration and buiding customs. There were times that I had the honor of landing an opportunity like you are now in possession of Shady, YOU DONE BEEN BLESSED - CONGRATS!!!

It is very important that you pre-lube the top end of the engine really well before you ever attempt to fire it up. Dry cam journals, cam lobe, and as mentioned - bore surfaces and all other precision machined area's only take a moment of motor running while dry to end up galled and destroyed. I have also obainded many bikes thru the years that came to me after the owner tryed to start it after an extended storage time and they did not take the time to do what I am talking about and the results are never pretty.

Pre-lube it, spin with either a hand drill on the crank or starter with no plugs in it, and pre-lube again.. In the end there is no reason you cant be riding a brand new scoot - how cool!!

[bongobobny]

Gee, and I thought I was lucky when I bought my '84 with only 8K miles...

[Silverado6x6]

I picked up an 85 three years ago here in Alaska, it was in a house fire, right side of bike had heat damage, rear fender, right mid panel, right upper fairing, dash top and windshield melted, no damage to any wires or hoses of and part of engine. Bike was totaled, stored in a warehouse for 17 years, bike only had 17,000 miles on it.

You could not even smell gas in the completely clean gas tank, but all brake fluids crystalized, even the clutch.

Carbs were ok but the cdi had corrosion and i had to replace it. Bike still isn't road ready but it runs great, worst problems were the master cylinders, had to replace them and still replace the windows. And the rear master cyl reservoir was corroded very badly. And naturally all the clear coated aluminum was corroded, to the point i am just buffing them up and painting them black like a v max.

[KIC]