Long weekend rolled around so finally pulled the heads off the VFR. Pretty easy process all up, have pulled out all the valves and lapped them. The exhaust valve seats looked pretty dodgy but came up clean with only a little bit of work so nothing too bad. Just need to get them back into the heads and everything back on the bike so I can order some shims. For the record, you can definitely do everything without a) removing the rocker shafts or rockers and b) removing the rear exhaust headers.

Got a little bit of a rude shock though, all the coolant galleries are coated in orange rust, except for the water pump which is completely spotless. I'm guessing that this means that someone has been running plain water in there before which has resulted in the steel water pump impeller getting eaten and distributed all through the engine. Doesn't look like it's hurting anything and it's all pretty well stuck there so I'm just going to leave it but keep an eye on the water pump and coolant for a few weeks to make sure it isn't breaking off and sludging anything up. Please people, use proper coolant!