[KnucklesInc.1981]

After many set-backs and being out of town a lot, here she is ! 1985 VT700C. It's been several months since I've shared any of this build so I'm sure no one knows who I am . To make a long story short, I got this bike for only $240, it had been sitting in a garage for many many years with a bad electrical system. Took the bike completely apart. Tore into the engine , had the cylinders honed and all the parts caustic bath dipped, did a valve job with new seals, etc. I've got an entire album of pictures dating back to May 2013 when I first got this bike. I'll have to find a way to share that album with you guys if you're interested. Until then, I hope these will bring inspiration to anyone looking into restoring these old bikes.

 

[KnucklesInc.1981]

Nice engine pics...but how do you ride it? . Seriously, I'm looking forward to the album.

thanks lol well I'm cleaning a painting a few more parts , then I can reassemble the bike. cant wait .

 

[KnucklesInc.1981]

great job, I would love to see the album. The VT700 is a great bike.

John.

thank you, i'll keep you posted. Yea, they seem like a pretty solid, reliable bike. May put the engine back in the frame within the next few days so i'll upload more pics of it.

 

[KnucklesInc.1981]

Sweet job man, can't wait to see pics of it finished on the road. I got my '84 VT700C for $200 from a lady that didn't know anything about bikes and thought the engine was locked up. Turned out the clutch switch was out of alignment and the clutch diode was fried so it wouldn't turn over. Twenty mins of diagnosis later and a few adjustments and she fired right up. I'm working on rebuilding her right now. Can't wait till I get her done and back on the road this spring.

Thank you ! that's awesome, gotta love deals like that . Hope your rebuild goes smooth. Only thing I noticed on my bike was a fried section of wire harness. Previous owner lost the key so tried to hot wire it or something, but, he had a spare wire harness to give me that he ordered. So all good, and I've already tested all the other components so this bike should run. When I tore into the engine everything was nice and clean, pistons / rings looked great. pretty good compression . I had the cylinders honed out just to give me a fresh cross-hatch and cleaned the valves so should be a good motor. I'm just not sure what kind of exhaust this bike has, I think they are mac shortys , may have to take a pic of them and post

 

[KnucklesInc.1981]

the only exhaust available are the mac exhaust they came with slash cut and regular

oh ok, thank you. forgive me for I'm not familiar with Honda shadows. I'd still like to share a pic of my exhaust with you guys b/c I think it's been chopped down . thinking of adding a few inches to each pipe and drilling holes on the extensions. I'm a fan of lots of noise (except engine knocking) I'm keeping the restoration fairly original , just changing the paint scheme and polishing parts, and modifying the exhaust. may go with the single seat , not a fan of the rear seat and backrest. but then again, I've got to appeal to the buyer. I spend 98% of my time repairing / building bikes and only 2% riding them. that 2% of riding time comes from me taking the bikes around the neighborhood to test them. at least I can say I'm doing my part for the riding community lol I love motorcycles, always have. cant help it.