1996 Streetfighter

Discussion in '3rd & 4th Generation 1990-1997' started by Sebspeed, Jul 16, 2015.

  1. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    Cross posting from VFRD.

    5+ years to build this one.

    Scroll down for specs/build thread stuff/etc. I didn't blog the build in real time, but I took pics and notes as if I was.

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  2. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    This is what started it all... a spare motor obtained in October of 2009...

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    By December 09 it had gone through a couple iterations...

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    I originally saw it having clip ons and being more of a track animal



    By January I had changed my mind a couple more times...
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    That evolved into a bit of rolling my own

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    Got some schmancy controls

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    I modified an RC51 SP2 front wheel to fit in the CBR forks

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    Added some PAIR block off plates - Hayabusa parts from ebay fit perfectly

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    Sold the FOX shock I had and picked up a nice Wilbers 641 with a fresh rebuild

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    It was around this time that I changed from clip ons to dirt bike bars

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    In September 2010, a friend picked up a 96 parts bike, and as it had lower mileage than the one I had, we negotiated a deal for the motor. Easiest way to drop 30k miles... the "new" lump has only 14,093 miles on it.

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    I decided that I wanted to paint the motor black. To accomplish this, I started by degreasing and washing the motor. I followed that with a soda blast, primer, and high temp ceramic black engine paint.

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    I am going to end up skipping around a bit in the timeline. The project took a bit of a turn 2 years ago after I was hit by a "lethal lefty" on my maiden voyage with my CB900F. That accident really messed with my head as I had put a lot of effort into that bike and it was difficult to see it laying on its side within 2 hours of putting the license plate on it.

    It greatly influenced some decisions regarding this project - mainly the rear bodywork. I was planning to make a big deal out of creating some one-off bodywork, and I decided against this in favor of parts that I could adapt to the bike, and therefore also replace with relative ease if the worst case were to repeat itself.

    Along the way, I found some rocking horse shit... Two Brothers full system!

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    This photo marks the end of the "make everythign from scratch" phase, and the beginning of the evolution into the bike you see at the top of the page.

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    With the freshly painted motor ready, and a spare swingarm that I sent out for powdercoat, I set about rearranging parts.

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  3. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    Another fork in the road... frame in hand, about to install on the freshly painted motor... leave it stock, or do something different with it?

    Hmm...

    Something different it is!!

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    At this time I also had some neat ideas for the forks. Knowing they were super short, I rebuilt them with heavier springs for my weight, and lengthened them internally by about 1/2". I also rebuilt the compression shim stack to my liking, and prepped them for paint.

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    While the carbs were still off, I opened them up to install new rubber and a Factory Pro jet kit.

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    I had a set of Vortex frame sliders kicking around from my CBR600, so I modified them to fit the VFR frame

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    Tasty

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    With visions of John Player Special livery dancing in my head, I set about dosing the CBR forks with some House of Kolors magic...

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    Pagan Gold Kandy on the sliders, Orion silver on the bottoms. Custom decals by Throttlepimp (Kevin Sigler @ Switchblade Designs) - he is my go-to guy for custom graphics and he's been great for years!

    Wheels were sent out to a V4bbs forum member who totally botched them, then they were re-done by a semi-local shop.

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    I attempted to wrap the tank with black fiberglass, but that was a miserable failure.

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    Luckily, I was able to realize my error quickly, and peeled it back off before it really turned into a lot of work.

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    A bit of reassembly to cheer me up

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    Rear down tubes were wrapped with black header wrap and stainless ties

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    It took a bit of fanagling to get those tubes in place properly

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    Then this crazy idea happened... CRF250R exhaust can

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    Then another (much more infamous) idea:

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    Raw cover and primered tank:

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    Made up some front brakes lines using Earl's hose and fittings. These were later replaced for cosmetic reasons, but they worked well.

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  4. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    How I made the tiny exhaust fit the bike...

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    I opened the top of the can by chucking a mill cutter in my drill press... not the smartest thing, but it was kinda sorta necessary. It slipped out of my hand, and I had to touch up a few "chew" marks...

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    Packed with ceramic blanket

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  5. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    I liked how the Honda dirt bike rear masters had integrated reservoirs, and I also didn't like the cost of billet parts... so I bought a CRF rear master, and reamed it out to fit the larger VFR brake piston parts. VFR is 1/2" vs CRF 3/8".

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    A little polish and paint, plus a pressure switch for the brake light, good to go.

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    Bar end mirrors needed solid mounts not provided by the dirt bike bar, so parts had to be made.

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    They are retained with set screws hidden under the grips

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    Use of the oil cooler mounted in a vertical position meant the fittings had to be reworked - more on this later

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    The HRC 600RR quick turn throttle was coupled with a custom length throttle cable... and by custom, I mean that I cut a ST1100 cable to length, and soldered on a new brass end that I cut from a wood screw...

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    I came across a build on customfighters.com where a member had used a KTM dirtbike headlight on a build. I really liked the look and shape of the light, I just had to have one and do my own take on it.

    I started with the light, a sketch, and some cardboard, then replicated it in aluminum.

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    Around the same time, I found that I really preferred the shape of the 3rd gen 90-93 tank, the straight line vs the knee pocket really drew me in.

    I think it transformed the entire build!

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    Fitting the tank wasn't all peaches and cream, I had to cut the rear mount off and replace it with the mount from the 4th gen.

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  6. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    I liked the 08 CBR1000RR subframe from the first moment I saw it on the new CBR. It was an inspiration from the beginning, and once I made the decision to use a factory subframe vs a scratch built one, the search began for a CBR setup.

    I found a complete tail section on ebay from a guy that was parting out his bike. After a few minutes of eyeballing all looked well, so with a few cardboard templates mocked up I went ahead and cut some aluminum adapters.

    The aluminum dogbones attach the subframe to the mainframe with grade 8 bolts.

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    Those Grade 8 bolts were quite unsightly, so I made up some dress up caps.

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    I attached them by drilling & tapping the heads of the bolts.

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    Attached with stainless cap screws.

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    I also modded the front sprocket cover to remove some material and offer a racier look

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  7. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    After fitting the subframe, the next step to having a clean finish was to transition the bodywork from the tail to the tank, and then fit the seat to the tank.

    I used the stock CBR side filler panels as a starting point, and created a cardboard template to bridge the gap between the tank and the filler.

    I was fresh out of aluminum sheet, so I cut a pair of parts from a steel car fender.

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    There was a bit of an evolution as I was cutting them, the creative juices were flowing and it turned out well. Cut, check fit, cut, adjust shape, cut again, etc.

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    Seat angle was a touch too steep...

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    Although the shape was similar, the gap to the tank was wholly unacceptable.

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    I made an attempt to fill the gap with race foam, but I found the results to be less than desirable.

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  8. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    Now for the seat... I'm really happy with how this turned out. I used Plio Grip and sheetrock mesh tape to create the extension. This material can be stapled into when cured, just like the stock pan.

    Here is a pictorial sequence of the process:

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    Wax was used to create a gap for the future seat cover to fill.

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    My friend Travis Bowen (toctuning) of Bowen Upholstery in Wisconsin did the fantastic work on the foam and the seat cover. We worked together on the design, and he made an extra section of red welting to be used on the solo cowl later.

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  9. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    The wiring needed to pass from the handlebars into the area in front of the airbox... but the lovely clean lines of the VFR tank prevent that... so I had to cut & shut the front of the tank.

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    The subframe needed an undertail, the stock plastic tray would not do at all. I couldn't fit all my parts in it, and it was unsightly.

    So I made a new one from aluminum sheet. I attached it with 2 DZUS fasteners, and welded it to one of the factory braces.

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    Doing this caused a new issue - the bodywork on the underside of the tail no longer fit flush to the undertail.

    Plio Grip to the rescue! I wish I had taken some before pics, but I was on a roll that day.

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    It was really starting to come together at this point

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    I found a 600RR fender with a few cracks on ebay for little money, repaired it easily and improved the look IMO

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    Began mocking up the gauge mount and pod

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    Made a buck to form the final configuration to

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    And the part, just before being prepped for paint.

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  10. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    I still can't believe that I spent an entire 8hr day making the release for the solo cover. But I did, and it works very well. The entire bike is keyless.

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    License plate holder was fabbed from aluminum sheet. Light is an led strip.

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    Battery tray made from aluminum angle and foam

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    It attaches directly to the subframe, in one of the passenger peg mount holes. It is completly independent of the undertail.

    A pc fan turns on with the ignition to cool the r/r

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    Here is the completed undertail assembly.

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    I took the 2 piece factory trunk sections and molded them together. I also filled in the signal and license plate holder holes, and then shot it with primer. I decided to wrap it with carbon vinyl for ease of cleaning down the road.

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    The carbon vinyl was very easy to work with, I highly recommend it!
     
  11. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    Time for some carbon fiber fun...

    All my parts were cosmetic, so a simple overlay process was all it took to score a high end look.

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    Sanding and a coat of auto grade clear adds UV protection and brings out the depth that carbon is known for.

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    I didn't like the heavy steel caliper torque arm the factory provided, so I made a lighter one from aluminum.

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    Rear cylinders got coil-on-plugs from a GSXR (600, IIRC) to get rid of the bulky stock coils that I didn't really have room for.

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    Seat lock lock hole was filled in

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    Last year, I painted all the parts.

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    Digital slim ballast HID hi/lo kit goes in here:

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    Made my own brackets for the fluid reservoirs

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    Made a coolant overflow tank

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  12. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    I got the idea to make some fork sliders... ordered some blue Delrin. I was expecting it to be darker blue, but I like how it turned out.

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    While my mind was on functional dress-up items, I thought up this wheel plug/hub slider combo.

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  13. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    I wasn't happy with the look of the heel guards that came with the rearsets, so I made new ones from a sheet of carbon I laid up using 2 plys of fiberglass mat sandwiched between 4 plys of carbon.

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    Test fit before clearcoat:

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    One of my favorite parts on the build... this hugger. Believe it or not, it took longer to figure out the mount than making the mount and the hugger itself.

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    Another piece of carbon sheet became a fake license plate for the photo shoot

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    The chainguard... another of my most favorite parts.

    Started out as a piece of aluminum sheet, bent into a channel and then cut and shaped. A bit of templating for the connector piece, welding that on, then covered in carbon.

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    Another thing that had been bugging me was the footpeg position. So I made new adapter plates to replace the ones that came with the 900RR rearsets. I cut them from 1/2" thick aluminum stock, the same material the others were made from. I was able to shape them to follow the lines of the frame, so they blend in pretty well. I painted them to match the frame.

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  14. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    I upgraded the rear line to a color-matched CoreMoto line.

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    Another quick piece of carbon sheet contrasts nicely with the vinyl wrapped overflow cannister and holder:

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    Yet another became a pair of radiator end caps.

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    Choke was moved to the thermostat bracket, choke is from an RC51 iirc.

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    Wheel plug was wrapped in carbon vinyl, lug nuts are black Civic parts.

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    Secondary air filter was eliminated to help clear the harness on the right inside frame rail. It was replaced with a UNI crankcase breather filter. The actual crank breather hose that fed into the airbox from the rear cylinder head was also replaced with the same UNI filter.

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    Snorkel was eliminated with some screen

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    Headlight unit is tidy, all wiring sorted nicely.

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    Most of the important wiring is gathered up in front of the airbox

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    This is how I test fired the bike

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    This is the fuel line. The factory fuel pump is gone, it runs on gravity only, through an oem filter.

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    Foam knee pads are glued in place. Also seen here is one of the velcro mounts for the front of the side filler panels.

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    Rear turn signals

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  15. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    It handles really well to boot. After just 60 miles of test riding, I trailered it and my 05 VFR800 to Franklin, NC for 4 days of riding Deal's Gap and the surrounding area.

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    Obligatory pic at DGMR

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  16. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    Here's a bit of video for y'all... 5 minutes of Moonshiner 28 in North Carolina. Probably one of my most favorite roads EVER.

    I have a longer video of the Dragon, but I'm limited on my uploading, so that one will have to wait till next week.


    https://vimeo.com/130096943
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2015
  17. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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  18. Gator

    Gator Insider

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    I don't even know where to begin so I'll just say, Fucking Awesome!!!

    Do you have a weight on her?
     
  19. Sebspeed

    Sebspeed New Member

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    440lb, fully loaded. Verified at a local transfer station whose scales are required to be +/- 20lbs.
     
  20. Pliskin

    Pliskin New Member

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    Long time Seb - welcome back.

    Definitely a sharp looking fighter, but then again, wouldn't have expected anything less from you!
     
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