My 91 Streetfighter project.....

I haven't posted much, but here's the project I'm currently working on. I bought this bike as in the first picture for $250.00.

After rebuilding/cleaning the carbs, it runs fine, so I proceeded. I bought both rear tailsection sides off EvilBay, and added a lot of fiberglass, and removed the signal tunnels. The second and third pics show how it will look. Still much sanding and painting to do.

I moved the oil cooler down; the mount is a little industrial-looking, so I may build a new one later, but this works for now.

I also removed the entire gaugeboard, and installed a Trailtech Vapor. We'll see how it works. It looks good. I haven't settled on headlights yet, but the taillight is from an R6.

Of course, I've moved all the wiring to the empty space in front of the airbox, and moved the coils around so that the sides will be slick. Two of the coils are by the battery. I have a small overflow bottle for the radiator which will live in the rear of the tailsection. I'll keep you posted.


Lane

 

Does that Trailtech gauge have a backlight that is on at least at night or do you have to reachup and push a button to see what it reads. I had a Trailtech on my 93 after the headunit crapped out and I disliked riding at night and not being able to see the meter and having to judge my speed by the tach. To each there own, tho. Good luck on the project. Looks like you are making progress. :thumb:

 

It's backlit once you connect it to the bike's electrical system. It has speedo/odo, tach/shift light, water temp, and a bunch of timer functions. The idiot lights are an option, and will indicate high beam, neutral, low fuel, and oil pressure. I don't know how accurate the tach will be; I hear it's not very accurate.

Lane

 

One tip... Try to make complete copy of your tailsection. Using fiberglass with other plastics always cracks upp.

 

I thought he'd use the flashlight on his keyring to look at the gauges :wink:

 

looks good...streetfighters are waaaay cool!

 

:biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

 

I'm not that good with fiberglass! If it cracks up, it'll be just like me, won't it?


Lane

 

As Lane says, there is a backlight that stays on when the bike is running, provided you are properly connected to bike power. It's not great but it's good enough - it's designed to take a really wide range of voltage inputs so if you wanted to rig up a little transformer you could probably improve it.

The tach, on the other hand, is total Sh!t, it bounces all over even at a steady idle over a 2,000 rpm range and never really settles - IMO this really lets the product down. TrailTech's after sales support has been disappointing to say the least, can't tell me if I have a lemon or if they are all like this.... Lane, I'm interested in hearing how you get yours to work.

For those that are thinking of streetfightering, I've been much more impressed with the Acewell line, in particular the 3852/3853 which also has a larger number of idiot lights in a compact dash and is a lot cheaper than the TrailTech.

I wanted to support a local PNW company (TrailTech is out of WA state) and thought the service would be worth it, I wouldn't recommend anyone else make the same mistake.

Here's some info on the Acewell, the sole complaint I've heard is that so many guys are ordering them that it can take your local shop a month or two to get it in stock.

http://www.acewell-meter.com/c0_1.php?bid=11&pid=5"][/URL]

 

If you're going to use the existing one as a buck and make a mold for it, I'm sure there would be a few takers who would buy copies here.... me for one

 

Dale,

Just out of curiosity, did you attach your tach wire to the coil input? I tried that and it was nuts! It read double most of the time, but since I wrapped it around the wire, it's settled down. I have't ridden it yet, but I'll keep you posted; it seems stable to a couple hundred rpm, which is probably about right since I haven't synched the carbs yet.

I really don't know how to make a mold from the tailsection, and it's more than I want to try. I'm at my limits just trying to get what I've done smooth! LOL!


Lane

 

Dale,

I had the exact same problem with my KOSO RX1N gauge. I had looked at the trailtech and several other similar units but really didn't want a bar graph tacho'. KOSO tech support was somewhat helpful but ultimately never solved my issue either stating that it won't work with the VFR type ignition.




I ended up going with a CBR1000R unit but it required extensive wiring in. Everything works correctly except the speedo, which will need a converter box for that.

 

Lane and Doug;

I have tried the coil input and the coil wire. MIne is currently connected to the coil wire (wrapped around) and still is not good for much.

I think that the answer that KOSO provided to Doug is probably closer to the truth with the VFR. Connected to the coil wire, the VFR needs a setting for 4ppr, I think it's a wasted spark system with 4 different firing "incidents" per complete cycle, and the Vapor only allows 0.5ppr, 1ppr, and 2ppr. I think that the system settles a bit with the plug wire use as the firings are close enough the coil has not fully recovered its charge, but the vestigial discharge (90 degrees off because of the vee of the V4) still throws it off badly. So, the choice seems to be accurately reading double the RPM, or all over the map but approximately the right rpm give or take a thousand or two. Grrrr....

On reflection, the inaccuracy is probably that sometimes it reads the first pulse, sometimes it reads the one 90 degrees later. As I understand the V4 versus single or inline, we get a fast together bang-bang-pause-pause-bang-bang-pause-pause for one irregular 4ppr cycle as opposed to the bang-pause-bang-pause order of a "normal" 180 degree crank (single plane like the VFR but the heads also all in one plane) with 2ppr A single is similar as it will give 1ppr, or 2ppr with wasted spark. A two stroke single would be read as 0.5ppr with wasted spark.

Not likely that a harley would put one of these on, but with a single crankpin and a 45 degree difference (or is it 60 degrees?) in the heads, it would have the same problem.

Without the tach being "smart" and designed specifically to smooth and read the differences between every fourth pulse (ie, batch reading on a 4 count) like the OEM tach would be, there's likely little that can be done. Chalk one up for Honda.

 

When you say "wrapped around the coil wire" do you mean the coil input, or the PLUG wire? Once I put mine around the PLUG wire, it works much better; now it only triggers when the plug actually fires. At idle, I went from flashing around 2500-3000, to 1000 +/- 50. Of course, I haven't ridden it yet. I'll keep you informed as to how it works at a steady speed.


Lane

 

I finally decided on a headlight, so here are some more pics.





and for a more "artsy" view:




Lane

 

Very clean install, Lane. Dual line steel setup on the front brake looks sweet. IMHO, it's begging for some dirt bike bars and smaller round reservoirs to match the character of the lights. And some little round CRG bar end mirrors to finish off the theme. And maybe some pazzo levers with the little round drilled ball ends. And...... and you can see how the addiction begins '

BTW, I pulled the radiator cover off the rad and found it looked a bit cleaner on mine. Not sure about protection, though.

BTW, my TrailTech sensor wire is currently wrapped around a spark plug wire, still doesn't work properly but I've got other stuff to work on at the moment. I just wouldn't recommend it based on my experience with their after-sales support.

 

It actually looks better as of last night. I rerouted some of the wiring, and it really cleaned it up. I'll post another pic in a couple of days. If the riding position is too aggressive for my 52 year-old back, I will switch to dirtbike, or Superbike bars. Bar-end mirrors are the most likely choice, but they irritate me because every time I walk by the bike, I seem to bump into them!

I also have a smallish Yoshimura canister that will eventually find it's way onto the bike.


Lane

 

OK, finally some updated pics. I have the tailsection finished, and the tag mount in place, but I still have to mount my LED taglight. I cleaned up the wiring around the headlights, and that looks much better. In one pic you'll see my overflow tank under the seat. I salvaged that from one of my GT750s, and it'll really only get water if I boil over. It's too high up to really work exactly like the original.

I also won a handlebar mount kit from EvilBay a few days ago, so I can use any tubular bars on it I want. We'll see how it feels first. My wife is working on recovering the Corbin seat as I type. I'll post that when it's finished. She does a pretty good job on seatcovers.

Critiques welcomed!!








The front fender is going to stay silver because I'll never get it back on without ruining the paint anyway. Maybe I'll find a red one one day, but I don't think this looks bad.

Sorry for the fuzzy pics. I and this camera don't get along!!!

Lane

 

I don't usually go for the fighters, but yours is pretty clean lookin. I like it.