vf500C questions: Help?

Long time, no post.
My brother dropped off his wife's 84 vf500c (v30) Magna to see if I could
get it running properly for her over the winter. Major symptom was that it
would not start/run. It left her Honda dealer mechanic in this condition.
Said they were stumped, the bike was toast, offered her $400. Went over
the obvious stuff and got it running, but although it would run on choke at
idle for a while, it died when you open the throttle (low speed jets/dirty
carbs, right?) Well the carbs had been allegedly cleaned. Turns out the
narrower of the two fuel lines that run from the main tank (there's a
secondary tank!!) was folded over on itself and completely pinched off.
Say, I'll bet THAT would cause problems for the fuel system!

Haven't had a chance to test with a new fuel line, but in looking over the
machine, I note that the crankcase ventilation system tubes are all missing.
This bike uses the main frame top spar as part of the system. Pipe goes
from the rear right crankcase area into the empty frame, comes out at the
front and goes into the air filter system. There's also an additional
nipple on the back end of the frame member, that is supposed to connect to
the standard drain pipe and plug system. None of these three tubes are in
place, but all the nipples are there for the tubes. I note that this system
is for the US models only, and that this is a Canadian model, but the holes
are all there, including the vent into the crankcase. All my other canadian
bikes have had a similar system.
Question is, what do you suppose the symptoms would be of having this
breather system open? A lot of mechanics (?) have had a crack at this bike
over the years, and I can't be sure if someone forgot to re-install, or it
was just never there?
Thanks.
Brent

 

Brent, you'll have a better chance of getting an answer on the V4 Honda
board: www.v4hondabbs.com .

 

Thanks, bob. I'll give that a try.