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What did you do to your VTX today?

225K views 2K replies 236 participants last post by  69camaro 
#1 ·
Heya everyone! I looked around and didn't see a thread like this so I thought I would get one started. On all of the other bike and car sites I am a part of there is a thread like this that just lets folks say what they did with their vehicle that particular day. It might be adding a mod, ordering some trick parts, fixing an issue, detailing it or just simply riding it.

I'll get it started.

I decided to open up the airbox of the new to me VTX1800T that I brought home last week to see if it had been desmoged and what air filter it had.

To my surprise, there was a pool of motor oil in the bottom of the air box with no indication of where it came from. The TB intake path was clear as was the snorkel. No idea where it could have come from.







But the real shocker was what I found when I removed the cover. A dirt dauber nest.






The dealer I bought it from told me that it had been sitting on the showroom floor for 3 year... but a nest in the airbox? Seriously? LOL

So I ordered the block off plates so I can remove the AIR & PAIR systems.
 
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#14 · (Edited)
Worked on getting the forks polished and shiny. This is about three hours or so each side so far. This is after the first high abrasive polishing.

Left side.


The right side has had three goes at polishing and is starting to show its shine.


Removed scratches, minor rock dings and swirl marks in front fender. Still needs a few passes of light buffing and it should be good.




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#15 ·
I've done my fork lowers, too, Jorge! I like the look much better than the chrome Kuryakyn covers.





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#17 ·
Started wet sanding by hand. 400 grit, then 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000. Then hit them with White Diamond polish and my Power Ball. Last was a hand polish with Flitz.

All in all, took me about 4-5 hours (the front wheel was already off as I had done the same to my wheels and brake rotors)

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#29 ·
No worries! Take your time with it like Jorge said. Doing the same thing to the center of your brake rotors helps a lot for the look, but the coating on the rotors can be pretty thick.

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#27 ·
oh, and by the way. I cleaned and polished her up getting caught in some severe weather with some monsoon like heavy rain, lol. The bike looked terrible and I couldn't ride her on the poker run looking like I just rolled it out of a barn, lol! rained so hard and so heavy that I got water in my rain gear, lol!
 
#32 ·
You don't need much sandpaper as wet sanding helps the sandpaper last awhile.

And do the sanding by hand. Power sanders will eat the metal too quick and leave more marks than it's worth

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#33 ·
Yep, lots of sanding with wet/dry sandpaper involved. I did my wheels last summer when I put the new tires on the bike.

I don't have a ball polisher so did the polishing by hand. They didn't turn out like chrome but looked much better. I don't think mine had every been done.

I do like the look of those lowers too.

A couple weeks ago I cleaned and polished the handle bar cover that has the VTX on it. I had a bag covering it before I changed to the fairing. Then got in the sun one day and "Wow" it sure was shiny!

One other thing, once you start wet sanding and polishing, you have to keep up on it or it will tarnish/corrode more easily and often since your removing the protective coating.
 
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#34 ·
Yep - did my wheels all the way up to 3000 grit as well. Same process, same result [emoji2]





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#38 ·
There wasn't a coating on my wheels when I polished mine. However, they had machining marks that were a pain to sand off. They're actually easier to keep looking good now that I'm not fighting the machine marks.

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#39 ·
I bought my 1800 vtx r2 ( i know r for retro, but what is the 2 stand for??? )

injured and dirty ( the bike ) , i am doing soemthing on it everyday.....

it came with one side torn up saddle, with parts in, i hand stitched the leather back on, looked great after that with two saddles instead of one only

also, came with missing air breather cover and filter.
i bought the filter and since i dont know what goes in there, except for the hard chromum missing cover , i think i am also in need of the plastic housing...

while poking around the bottom of breather, just like you i noticed that there is some gewy oily fluid seeping out of the lower rubber hose from the bottom.... i panicked
until i saw your posting and read replies, as this is normal and frankly sounds like honda could have done much better design than to to let crank hose drain in air filter....

anyway, my next operation on my vtx is figure out the F1 flashing light on dashboard thing
seems like i am going to be busy with this thing for a while

Dan
 
#1,335 ·
I bought my 1800 vtx r2 ( i know r for retro, but what is the 2 stand for??? )

injured and dirty ( the bike ) , i am doing soemthing on it everyday.....

it came with one side torn up saddle, with parts in, i hand stitched the leather back on, looked great after that with two saddles instead of one only

also, came with missing air breather cover and filter.
i bought the filter and since i dont know what goes in there, except for the hard chromum missing cover , i think i am also in need of the plastic housing...

while poking around the bottom of breather, just like you i noticed that there is some gewy oily fluid seeping out of the lower rubber hose from the bottom.... i panicked
until i saw your posting and read replies, as this is normal and frankly sounds like honda could have done much better design than to to let crank hose drain in air filter....

anyway, my next operation on my vtx is figure out the F1 flashing light on dashboard thing
seems like i am going to be busy with this thing for a while

Dan
There is a code to the fi light flashing.

if you post the number of times it flashes we can help diagnose.
My bet is a bad o2 sensor plug. If the bike had an accident that can often get knocked off.
 
#40 ·
Changed the front and rear brake pads. Had to remove some brake fluid from the reservoir as previous owner must have topped off the level when the pads were worn down to almost nothing. Brakes are stronger, smoother, and very quiet now...makes riding much more enjoyable. I bought KMG pads from kapscomoto.com who sells via Walmart's website. They were insanely cheap- $10 for the front and $9 for the rear. I fully expected them to be junk but so far (about 300 miles) they're working fine.
 
#41 ·
I changed the front and rear brake pads with KMG pads I ordered from kapscomoto.com who sells via Walmart's website. Who'd a thunk that? They were crazy cheap- $10 for the fronts and $9 for the rears. At that price I fully expected them to be junk but had to find out. Have a couple hundred miles on them now and they're great. Maybe they'll only last 3 or 4 thousand miles but at that price and considering it only takes a few minutes to change them it's a good buy. Had to remove some brake fluid from the reservoir. Previous owner must have filled the reservoir to the top when the old pads were about 80% worn.
 
#42 ·
Refurbed stubborn ignition switch which really was pretty easy (Rattlebars). Cleaned clutch switch plunger and lever--will start now in gear with clutch in again. Just enough crud in there to keep the plunger depressed slightly. Replaced headlight bulb and headlight rattle fix while in there (per bareass). A lot less sexy than the suspension overhaul a couple weeks ago but want to keep the old X running good.
 

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#47 ·
Welcome, Michael! You might want to change all of the fluids, including the coolant. Check the age of the tires and the air pressure in them. The bike has done a lot of sitting around for 10+ years, so you also might want to use some fuel injector cleaner in your first few tanks of fuel.

And congratulations on snagging a great looking bike!
 
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