Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes 1983 750 Honda Interceptor

I was contacted by a guy I new in high school. He saw on Instagram that I had been working on bikes and other things. He wanted to know if I would be interested in a old bike his father had. It is a 1983 Honda Interceptor that he just wanted out of his shed. I never turn down something free or cheap so I agreed and gave him my number to give to his father. Really not thinking someone would just give a way a bike like that I figure the guy and the father were on two different pages, I figured I would never hear anything alts about it. About a month latter I get a call from the father we have a nice conversation and he tells me I would be the perfect person to give this bike too. The next night I hooked up the trailer and went in to town to pick it up. The guy is a little emotional as we are loading the bike up I know this is a big step for him. He bought this bike brand new, the year his son was born, it has 7000 mile on it and the last inspection sticker I see is 1988. He has had this bike in a shed for a long time. He tells me his wife has been after him to get rid of it for years. In 2013 the area was subject to major flooding I personally lost my house. The bike was under water for a half a day up to the battery box. I believe this is when it was brought back out in to the open for him. He fought me as I tried to give him a 20 dollar bill so he could go get a new title for me. he wanted nothing but a good home for it. We talked a little longer about bikes he had and he said good by, I paused and said I will be back but on the bike. I plan on restoring it to the best I can keeping the few scratches and such because you don't find 1 owner 7000 mile bikes that are 30 years old. I think I have one hell of a task ahead of me.

That is a cool story. AND, I have the utmost respect for this fella, who would rather give it to someone who could restore the old girl than see it just rot into the ground, or the salvage yard. I can't think how many beautiful machines I've seen rot into the dirt because the owner couldn't do anything with it, but was unwilling to let somebody else try! Cool!

I had the 500 version back in '85. an awesomely fun bike. You will enjoy it.

please keep us posted on the restoration

Nice. I'd be tempted to leave a small strip of the watermarks on the rear of that front fender - as part of the bike's history.

I like your plan of letting him see it again when it's done. Giving him a photo album of the restoration process would be cool.

How cool is this! Thanks for sharing and keep us informed on your progress.

You're a better man than me. I would be tempted to turn that into a café racer.

Is a V 45 a 750 cc bike? I thought 45 was the cubic inch displacement, that would be about 600 cc wouldn't it? Its all good as a 600 Honda will run away from our 790 Triumphs any way. I really like those red and white old Hondas.

Nope, the 45 is the angle of the jugs.

Today I took the seat and tank off mouse nest every where

V-45 was the 750, 45mm stroke. Like the V-45 the V-65 was also a 90 degree motor. The V65 was just under 1100 ccs and the VF700 was at 698 to beat tariffs. The hybrid was the VF 750 like above. 80+ horsepower and was a very good runner.

Oh, once you get it running be very careful about oil. The V4 like you have hates long distance low RPM running, it starves the top cylinder of oil and is a cam killer. Over 3k is where is happy. Also cold starts then running is a cam killer.

There is a mod where you can run from a boss exterior to the top cylinder to help to prevent that by making a more constant supply of oil.

They were very good running machines but the valves were a bit sloppy in machining. Honda was really a shim over bucket company for a very long time before the v-fours so there was a little bit of a learning curve for them.

In late 84 they covered under warranty new cams to tighten clearance. Not sure if that worked or not.

Good luck with your new find.

Check this forum out good info and these guys know their stuff on Honda's.
http://v4hondabbs.com/index.php

Some of the engines had cam issues and some ran good for years with no trouble.I'm on my second V65 with the V4 1100cc engine.I did the two line oil mod to mine just for piece of mind.

http://www.v4market.com/Lube-Two-Line-Oil-Mod_p_156.html

Nice! I had her earlier sister, a 1982 V-45 Magna and I commuted from Greensboro, NC to Fort Payne, AL once a week to catch the tour bus on that bike. 900 miles a week, nary a hiccup. I was not diligent about maintenance at all and that bike seemed bullet proof during those weekly runs. I reckon it had around 30K on it when it left our ownership and it was running great. Fast forward 20 years and it showed up under a new rider, beat up but still running strong.

Was that the year you had a choice of black or burgundy. I looked at Magna then but went for the 1000 custom in 83 for a little more grunt. Then I realized the V-65 had a lot more grunt. when my brother got the V-65.