Honda V30c question (500cc V4)

Now that I am back to riding to work again, and happy with my "new" BMW K75S (1987) It has me thinking about a project that was shelved many many years ago. Since the Beemer "only" gets 40 - 45 mpg.

I "inherited" my sisters 80's Honda V30 Magna, when it died on her, and I was not able to fix it easy. She was not really enjoying riding much anymore, and just let me take it, to fix whenever. Live got in the way for both of us, and that was 15 years ago, already.

Pulling the carbs on this little V4 is a total pain, but I'm an old hand at carb'd motorcycles, so no worries there. She never rode it often enough to keep 'em cleaned out enough anyway, so every month or 3 she would loan it to me for a few days. I got 65 MPG riding that thing! And A LOT quicker than you'd expect such a plain little 500 to be - For those not familiar with them, the actually clocked 12.74 in the 1/4 new in 83. Same engine as the 500 Interceptor. Had a 12,500 red line, back then! No biggie today, but that was pretty radical at the time. She always complained that she was only getting 35 to 40, but the time I worked on it before it lost spark, I found a fuel line that was leaking, when sitting still. Since I kept the wheels rolling, it didn't have time for the slow leak to change the mpg.

So, after the long intro, on to the question. When I worked on it last, it had been running, but all the gas leaked out, and the battery lost charge. I pulled the battery and charged it, cleaned up the petcock/fuel screen, added gas, and no start. Further looking revealed no spark. I checked the stuff I knew how to check, but none of that seemed to be the cause, and default led me to believe the brain box died. I would imagine that the ignition brain is made out of unobtainium these days... anybody have any suggestions for an old Luddite to get spark to this thing?

Here's a stock photo:

Looked a bit nicer than this next one when we bought it, but even worse now. But 65 mpg, I can ride a ratty bike!

Id rather have the Interceptor, but, I have what I have...

I have something about like this in mind, if I can iron out the quriks:

But I'll never susceed in making it that tidy!

You might find some folks here that know these bikes pretty well, but I think joining an on-purpose forum like VFRDiscussion.com might be a good idea as well.

I think all of the Honda CDI bits are available via aftermarket if not OEM as well these days but I wouldn't want to just go throwing parts at it to find out what might be wrong (and possibly creating new problems along the way).  A factory service manual or a scan of the manual would be really useful at this point. There's probably a decision tree out there to help walk a tech through diagnosing this issue.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Thought there were more odd ball bike nuts here. The V30 Magna is not really anything special these days, but it was cutting edge stuff at the time, and only made for the 2 years.

I'll have to check that site out. Back when I first got it for my sister (04 or so) I read a few posts on a few sites that had some def. fan base. Re discovered one of 'em (v4 Muscle Bikes) and a guy on there that builds improved modules, He was starting them last I saw, but didn't have a V30 yet. He does now. http://www.v4spark.com/  Cool guy.

When, or if, I ever pull the parts out of their various holes, I would def. continue the troubleshooting. Unlike WAY to many folks earing a living as "mechanics", I don't like to use random parts replacement as my primary troubleshooting tool. I don't have a customer to pay for all the parts I throw at it, that turn out NOT to be the problem.

Found out late last night, that it has 2 boxes. One for the front bank, and one for the rear. So highly unlikely that BOTH boxes failed between rides at the same time. I will upgrade to his boxes, if I do put it on the road, but gotta dig deeper, if I ever get started on it.

Was gonna need to check all grounds and posable loose connections, still, anyway; just thinking ahead, knowing that the honda nippitendo boxes, while better than The Prince Of Darkness put on bikes, can still fail randomly.

I always listed after the vfr's and finally got one after college.  Rode it for a long time.  Glorious sounds.   Carb r&r is indeed a pain. 
 

following, but nothing to add about the no-spark other than make sure juice is getting where it's supposed to.  My ignition switch plug let go on me and left me stranded once.  Loose connection or a broken wire - don't recall which.  Pretty easy fix

Can't help you spark it, but these are nice just to have around for your friends that buy sport bikes for a first ride but can't turn around in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  These are easier for taking the road test. 

I had a V-45, same but bigger, good all around bike for three years and sold it for what I paid.

Have fun.

In reply to 914Driver :

I had a v45 saber for all of about a month or so... Don't remember why I only put a couple hundred miles on it, or why I sold it. That's unusual for me!  But I do remember, for a $200 beater bike, it was a pretty nice ride. It was def. faster than this v30, but probably by as much as one would expect.

Never rode a v65, in ether the cruiser or the sabre, but I've heard they were quite fast!

Found a nice shape v30, on line, for a good price, but she has posts mentioning being happy she is getting 43 mpg with it, and on the v4 muscle bike forum that seems common. Maybe the one I have around was a fluke - I only rode it a few times, but got 65 with it!

Hey, neat! Those are cool, despite living in the shadow of their bigger brothers. Funny, I only stumbled into the bike section because it's high time I got my V45 Magna on the road, and here you are with a V30.

I was going to suggest v4musclebike, but you beat me to it...

65 MPG seems unlikely with all that mechanical complexity and what I assume is fairly aggressive gearing. Could it be a miscalculation? I like to get an average over three or four fillups to rule out any short fills or other mathematical funny business. Still, even at 45 MPG, it could be a nice little around-town scoot.

Since it's chain drive, you might be able to bump the gearing a little to bring the RPM down. I saw a considerable improvement in economy by going up a couple of teeth on the countershaft sprocket on an old XL250, and similar results by changing from a 4.10:1 rear to a 3.58:1 in an old Corolla. Acceleration suffered accordingly, but the fuel economy improvements to each were remarkable. Not sure whether that's possible or prudent on that bike but might be worth a look.

I never really warmed up to the styling of the Magna's, but the V4 is such a great engine. 
Definatly add some pictures of yours as ya fix it back up. Where is home for you?

The 65 mpg was accurate, but all point a to b miles...  very little stop and go for those few trips. Don't know how it would fare in my local commute, but my grangma-quois does 20 - 21, so getting close to its 23 -24 on hwy. I would imagine the little light 500 should do better on my route than the city folks get. 
No clue when I'd even start putting wrenches to it again; just in the thinking stages right now. 

03Panther said:

I never really warmed up to the styling of the Magna's, but the V4 is such a great engine. 
Definatly add some pictures of yours as ya fix it back up. Where is home for you?

The 65 mpg was accurate, but all point a to b miles...  very little stop and go for those few trips. Don't know how it would fare in my local commute, but my grangma-quois does 20 - 21, so getting close to its 23 -24 on hwy. I would imagine the little light 500 should do better on my route than the city folks get. 
No clue when I'd even start putting wrenches to it again; just in the thinking stages right now. 

Not many pics to share here, as it's sort of slipped to the bottom end of the to-do list since I brought it home, but here it is on the day I picked it up from my dad.

Dad bought it new and gave it to me a couple of years ago when he realized he really wasn't going to be able to enjoy it anymore. It's in really good shape other than little things like failing anodizing on some aluminum parts, mufflers starting to get a little frilly, etc. 

I'm in Oregon, more or less near Eugene.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

That's awesome; dad being original owner, it could be as rough as mine, and still worth fixing! 
Not have info any kids to leave a bike to, it never mattered that I never kept anything long back in those days. Although, no bikes were ever bought  new, either. 
Does dad live close enough to help with the little stuff she needs? Fantastic memories maker!
 

03Panther said:

In reply to DarkMonohue :

That's awesome; dad being original owner, it could be as rough as mine, and still worth fixing! 
Not have info any kids to leave a bike to, it never mattered that I never kept anything long back in those days. Although, no bikes were ever bought  new, either. 
Does dad live close enough to help with the little stuff she needs? Fantastic memories maker!
 

Thanks.  Despite being slow to make progress, I like it and will probably keep it long enough to pass on to my kid (he's not quite two yet).  Unfortunately, my folks live out of state, so there are no father-son projects with him on the horizon.  But this thing was a memory maker decades ago.  I remember the day he brought it home, and many rides as a young and impressionable kid holding on for dear life as the tach needle swung hard to the fun zone and the exhaust note went from burble to throb to buzz.  Good times.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

I'm just awe struck by that! SO COOL.

My wife has decided for me, that I will never get around to putting any wrenches on this V30, so I should let it go to someone that might. So It can be had for little to nothing if anyone here has any intrest in it. I have a friend of a friend that might want it, but he is no more likely to fix it than me, and I know someone from here WOULD be more likely!

03Panther said:

My wife has decided for me, that I will never get around to putting any wrenches on this V30, so I should let it go to someone that might. So It can be had for little to nothing if anyone here has any intrest in it. I have a friend of a friend that might want it, but he is no more likely to fix it than me, and I know someone from here WOULD be more likely!

Hell of a deal. Of course you couldn't  be farther away...

In reply to DarkMonohue :

I was thinking about ya, but would be afraid it might distract ya from fixing your dads!

03Panther said:

In reply to DarkMonohue :

I was thinking about ya, but would be afraid it might distract ya from fixing your dads!

Fair point. My bike needs tires and a battery more than anything, but another project would distract me from the MR2, the lawn, the gutters, the kid, the wife, the sleep cycle...