Dirk Diggler Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Well about a month ago I traded my 240z project for a 98 Honda VTR1000 (Superhawk) street bike. True to Honda form, I've had nothing but problems. Granted its nothing that could have been prevented, I just need to rant about it because my wife is getting sick of hearing me talk. So my problems started the week of thanksgiving. I had the bike for 2 weeks and all was well. I rode to a friends house in the middle of nowhere and when I went to leave, I had no power to anything. I found my main fuse blown so I replaced it and she started up, only to die within a minute and the 3 month old battery was completely dead. I charged the battery, started it again, only to have the same thing happen. It was runnig off of the battery alone so I trailered it home and determined it to be a failed regulator/rectifier. Well I order one, it comes in, and the battery won't hold a charge because the regulator fried it. So I take the battery back to carquest since it has a one year warranty, and they tell me its a prorated warranty and I have to pay $10 for every month its been used. Needless to say I won't go to carquest again. So I put the new battery in and she runs great. I go to the gas station, fill up, and when I was leaving the bike would die everytime I put it into gear. I determined the side stand safety switch went bad, which prevents the bike from being ridden with the stand down. So in the gas station parking lot I rip out the sensor and strip wires to bypass the switch. It was a small hiccup so I didn't care too much. I ride back home and my wife asks me to go to the store. I ride the 2 miles there, and on the way back out of nowhere a very loud knocking starts. I shut it off and pushed it 12 blocks home and did some reading on a forum. Turns out the oem cam chain tensioners fail unexpectedly all the time, so instead of spending $100 on aftermarket manual replacements, I decide to make my own out of a carriage bolt and the original housing. So I set the front piston to tdc, pull the tensioner, drill and tap it for the carriage bolt, then reassembled and adjust the tensioner. I put everything back together ( I had to pull the front fairing, gas tank, and air box off) and it won't start and sounds terrible when its turning over. At this point I'm frustrated and its 36 degrees outside so I call it a night. The next day I pulled the left radiator and cylinder head cover to inspect everything. Come to find out when the tensioner failed the timing chain jumped 2 teeth on the intake cam sprocket. My first thought is "great, now I will need new valves...". I pulled the intake cam and reset the timing, and in the process of putting things back together a cylinder head cover bolt snaps off in the head. The stupid thing is supposed to be torqued to 10lbs, and it wasn't even reading on my torque wrench yet when it snapped. I guess it was already cracked, but I don't know. So frustrations are mounting even more now. I drilled the bolt and removed it with an easy out, put in a replacement and put it all back together. I fired it up and it was running great, no damaged valves or anything else. I rode to work today and to my dads afterwards to replace the other chain tensioner (its a vtwin) before it went bad. After setting the cam chain slack, I was replacing the chain guide. When I was putting the last bolt in it slipped from my fingers and fell. Straight into the head. No where to be seen to use a magnet. That was tonight. So now I get to drain the oil pan, pull the crank case cover, find the bolt in the engine, and put it all back together. Again. I guess I'm just frustrated that I can't get a fuckin break on this thing. One thing gets fixed, just to have another fail or something else go wrong. it also turns out that the regulator mentioned earlier fried the back lights in my instrument cluster and my low beam. I shouldn't have gotten rid of the Z. At least it wasn't costing me any money or stress sitting in the driveway. Quote Link to comment
DAT510 Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Wait.. 240Z for a BIKE How awesome is this bike? Quote Link to comment
metalmonkey47 Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 (edited) LOL you got pwned by a Honduh over and over again. NEVER trade a Datsun for a Honda again. Good luck with it mate. I know those aren't too fun to work on :( Wait.. 240Z for a BIKE How awesome is this bike? Apparently not that awesome. Edited December 23, 2011 by metalmonkey47 Quote Link to comment
Dirk Diggler Posted December 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Well it was this (with unibody damage) For this I don't consider Honda motorcycles to be the same as Honda cars. I have only owned Honda bikes and have become familiar with them and I love them. The bike is awesome when its running. It's a torque monster and really comfortable to ride. Quote Link to comment
DAT510 Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Yeah Hondar bikes are cool my dad has a VFR interceptor i think, sounds cool, me personally i hate bikes. first time i rode one my dad didn't tell me where the brakes were, just the throttle and it being the first time i was on a bike i twisted it all the way and took off. i was stopped by a metal fence a hundred yards away.. lololol and that was with a little Yamaha 80. Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Get the basics running and sell that pos. Use that money to get a better condition Datsun anything = winning ;) Quote Link to comment
metalmonkey47 Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 To be honest, I'm absolutely astonished that you're having these issues with your Honda. They're always been absolutely amazing to me. I once drug a '73 CB175 from the woods that was seized and far past gone. Spent $100 on it and had it running solid like new. It didn't even have 2500 miles on it. Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 lololol and that was with a little Yamaha 80. I had one of those too ;) they are fun Quote Link to comment
RedBanner Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Well it was this (with unibody damage) For this I don't consider Honda motorcycles to be the same as Honda cars. I have only owned Honda bikes and have become familiar with them and I love them. The bike is awesome when its running. It's a torque monster and really comfortable to ride. too much plastic on that bike, :lol: looks like you got a good deal, I would never have done it. Quote Link to comment
I'm BLUE Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Wow !!! That sucks ... Bigtime ... Your really lucky that chain didn't jump more than it had !!! Couldn't say I wouldn't have traded the same deal to be honest ! Nice bike !!! But ... One thing I have learned about cheaper street bikes on the market ,,, too good to be true , usually is ( for me at least lol ) Hang in there with it ... Do preventative repairs , while winter , and keep it if you like it still in a couple of months ... Or dump the bitch while you still have it running good ! Just be honest with the buyers :) Get another datsun man !!!! Plenty of street bikes around ... They ain't drying up either ! Hell my project s30 v8 swap is about ready to fire up ! No trading away for me lol Best luck with your repairs dirk ! Quote Link to comment
Dirk Diggler Posted December 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 The most frustrating part is that its a Honda motorcycle, it should never have big problems. Ive had everything from the XR80 to the XR600, a CR500, CR250, and a CBR. I never had as much problems with any of those as I am having with this one. I love motorcycles, id take a bike over a car any day. I didnt have to funds to finish the Z, let alone get it DD worthy. I found out after the trade that the bike was let sit outside in San Francisco for 2 years without being ridden. I knew if would need a few maintenance parts, but didnt expect everything to go bad within a 2 week period. Im going to cruise it for a while, its a 1000cc which is more than I need, so I might try to trade it for a 600 later down the road. Not to mention Honda thinks we have gas stations every 5 miles so they only gave the bike a 120 mile range on a full tank. I still have my 69 2 door dime project so I dont need another Datsun. I should get cracking on it in the event that I decide to light the bike on fire next time it leaves me stranded. Quote Link to comment
Hardwyre Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 So you essentially traded a non-working Datsun for a non-working bike? I am absolutely pleased to hear that you've succeeded in putting a little Ratsun love into the bike though: "Honda build a piece of shit that fails randomly; screw replaying it, I'm going to build my own with parts from Home Depot!" You're not a true Ratsunner if you haven't gone at least once into a home hardware store for something for your car. :) Hello Sir, can I help you find something? Do you have item XYZ? Yes! Aisle ##! Sweet! Can I ask what the project is? 1976 Datsun 280Z. Wait.. what? Later! Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 So Honda motorcycles are not super-reliable like Honda cars? I've had three accords and one civic and they were all very reliable. Quote Link to comment
Dirk Diggler Posted December 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Well the bike works fine, it just has components that are known to fail without warning and I was lucky enough to have all of then go bad at once. I don't consider Honda cars and bikes to be the same because while Honda cars may be reliable, they are turds. Cheap interiors, slow, under powered, and not very appealing to look at. I will never own a Honda car for those reasons, but you can't deny that their bikes are just as good as any other big manufacturer. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 You must not have driven many Hondas. I find the Accords are tremendously better than the Civics of the same year, and the Accords have plenty of power to more than enough. The V6 engines are smooth as butter and pull like a locomotive. With my first Accord(first gen) , I wasn't revving it to 3k, and my brother came over and showed me how to run it up. Shifting at 4,500 made huge difference. Come to think of it, just like a Datsun. I've never ridden a Honda bike but they sure look good. I always wanted a V45 Magna, but am having too much fun with 4-wheeler Datsuns. Quote Link to comment
Dirk Diggler Posted December 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 So you essentially traded a non-working Datsun for a non-working bike? I am absolutely pleased to hear that you've succeeded in putting a little Ratsun love into the bike though: "Honda build a piece of shit that fails randomly; screw replaying it, I'm going to build my own with parts from Home Depot!" You're not a true Ratsunner if you haven't gone at least once into a home hardware store for something for your car. :) Hello Sir, can I help you find something? Do you have item XYZ? Yes! Aisle ##! Sweet! Can I ask what the project is? 1976 Datsun 280Z. Wait.. what? Later! That's pretty much what I did. I could have bought two of these for $60 each Instead I took this shitty design That had this internal spring that busted and could have ruined my engine Spent $15 on parts, drilled and tapped new threads and made this. I also welded a nut to the top of the threads for adjusting Quote Link to comment
Hardwyre Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 I always love it when companies anodize parts that are going to be hidden inside an engine. :) Champion job on the kludging! Quote Link to comment
darrel Posted December 24, 2011 Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 So you were on an errand for your wife? It's her fault then. Quote Link to comment
Dirk Diggler Posted December 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 So you were on an errand for your wife? It's her fault then. Yep. Needed more sammich supplies. She actually kind of saved my ass. I didn't want to go because I was headed down to my dads a few towns away but she insisted I go to the store first. The part failed on my home going about 35mph, had I been on my way to my dads I would have been at about 75mph and if my timing chain came loose at 75 instead of 35 I would need a whole new top end right now. So ya, her bitching saved my engine lol Quote Link to comment
Hardwyre Posted December 25, 2011 Report Share Posted December 25, 2011 Yep. Needed more sammich supplies. She actually kind of saved my ass. I didn't want to go because I was headed down to my dads a few towns away but she insisted I go to the store first. The part failed on my home going about 35mph, had I been on my way to my dads I would have been at about 75mph and if my timing chain came loose at 75 instead of 35 I would need a whole new top end right now. So ya, her bitching saved my engine lol She still broke it!!! :P Demand blow jobs! Quote Link to comment
Dirk Diggler Posted December 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2011 She still broke it!!! :P Demand blow jobs! I took your suggestion to her. Her exact words were "how can I blow you when im making sammiches?" So I put the cutting board on the floor :rofl: Quote Link to comment
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