To continue a bit with the story, Bumble Bee and I spent some time..... took her bra off and exposed her headlights! Well, I did warn her she might be totally naked before this is all over. I think that's called Full Dis-clothes-ure? So left her shoes on (new ones coming), found out she's got a sore neck (steering head bearings shot), and we're going to be forking around with new bushings, seals and a RaceTech spring kit a buddy gave me. And he sold me a lightly used Penske for out back (he's had a few Viffers and has a stash of leftover parts).
Then I cleaned up her skirts and the other perty parts of her dress and put them all away for later...... this is the Before picture, insides were sprayed with Simple Green. After a thorough cleaning, buffed out some minor scratches and scuffs.... well, some patina will remain, after all the girl is over 20 years old... I don't know what that is in dog years, but.... she'll be perfect enough and nobody's gonna notice much.
Her worst feature is her stomach.... I think she tried anorexia, caving in the sides and top (the light reflection shows it best), and a split (leaking) on each side. I won't even attempt fixing it. Cause of this was a kinked fuel vent tube.
Many things are apart as there's a valve check to do, and check under the throttle bodies for coolant leaks/thermostat (I think 5 hose connections under there). Throttle body removal not necessary for the valve check, but I've opted for replacing all the 20+ year old coolant hoses with a fancy silicone set from the UK. While most of them look OK, the ones under the TB's have had the harder life according to VFR owners... I'll give it a fresh thermostat too, what the heck. I expect the hoses and thermostat will be an all day job by itself.
So here's a look down her bronchial tubes, the TB's look clean enough, and Honda says don't clean them as you'll remove the moly coating they put on the TB bores (I knew this from my ST days). So they'll get a wipedown and spritz of cleaner here and there to ensure passages are all clean (should be, she runs well already).
The breather tube is on the rear (right) valve cover and the rubber thing is covering the front valve cover.. to remove the airbox, one must undo approximately a dozen vacuum hoses to various sensors and actuators... thankfully, you don't have to go this deep too often.
Well, it would appear the girl has Black Lung, or has been wearing her dust mask waaaayyyy too long. Will ya bet OEM filter since birth? Bottom side to TB's looks brand new clean... good filter! Replacement coming.
