Before doing any work, you HAVE to get an original service manual. Don't even think about bluffing through or assuming it's the same as other bikes you've worked on (trust me, I found out the hard way). This article is obviously not a complete instruction, it's just some advice and a heads-up of what you're getting into. A lawyer would say the views expressed don't necessarily reflect those of American Honda, the provider of this Internet site, or the original cast of Hee-Haw. Just don't sue my ass.

You don't really need any special tools other than the Honda manual 61MBB01, a gallon of coolant, and normal metric hand tools. And a beer. First, clean the bike so junk won't fall into open engine internals. Remove the fairing using all the screws and pulling the plugs on the headlight bulbs. The windshield doesn't have to come out but the mirrors do. Since it comes off in one piece, I laid mine on a stool to keep it from falling. Afterwards, drain the coolant by popping off the hoses. The book doesn't tell you to, but you need to remove the lower chin fairing so the oil lines to the oil cooler have room. Once the cooler is unbolted, tilt it forward to rest on the back of the (padded)front fender. No oil lines were harmed in the making of this story.

Once you remove the tank and seat, you can remove the airbox. The manual states the carbs can come off with the box installed, but don't believe them. Maybe the 49-state model has few enough hoses to get to the carbs but there is too much in the way with CA models. If you plan on removing the SMOG crap (for racetrack use, nudge-nudge, wink-wink), this would be a good time to get at the guts. With the bike up on a work stand, remove the inspection covers on the left crankcase, the black plastic "heat shield" above the front cylinder, the sparkle plug caps, and the valve covers. Check the engine position with the timing marks and measure the clearances. On my VTR, the right side front intake valve was .003" too loose and the front right exhaust valve was .001" loose. The rear cyl was within spec. Now those cams gotta come out. The manual doesn't say, but loosen the cam sprocket bolts BEFORE taking tension off the cam spring tensioner. If the chain is slack, trying to torque on the bolts can cause the chain to skip on the sprockets, making it impossible to turn over the engine to get to the other bolts. Once you break them free, then you can remove tension.