Starting my own thread

[drhach]

Bopi

Did you find it hard tearing the bike down to the frame? I am contemplating that with mine. Any advice or thoughts would be great.

Well, taking stuff apart is usually pretty easy. It's the putting it back together part that's hard at times. I did it over the span of two moves, three years and lots of boxes. I guess the things that I would advise are to stay as organized as humanly possible. Take tons of "before" pictures, because no matter how obvious something seems when you take it off, it is not so clear when you put it back together. Label and bag things. If you think you don't need to label it, do it anyway. In short, be anal, it will pay off in spades. By the way, i am the worst for following my own advice, but these were the things that I wished that I had done. Hindsight is 20/20. I did it to a large extent but I could hve done it better. My biggest issue always seems to be time. Unfortunately, I don't get to spend all day everyday working on my bikes. If that's the case for you too, plan how long you think it will take and then double it. Also, don't give up. It can be frustrating and tempting to take shortcuts. I've taken some, but in all I've tried to do everthing the way that I know that I should. I've had to go back and fix enough shortcuts from others over the years that its something I try to avoid. I hope that helps. Also, take pictures of your progress. It was encouraging for me to see that I was actually getting somewhere.

[Ironriot]

Best advice if i've ever heard it. I preach about small baggies for nuts, bolts and other small items. And labeling parts with tape and markers. It all helps in the end. Pictures are also a must! Unless you have photographic memory

PS Forgot what I came to do in the first place lol. Nice bike man. The green frame rocks and the shock gaurds work. All a very unlikely combination but its kickin ass. And I award you 1000 complimentary points on the caddy lights. Those things are just plain out b!tchin'

[beergood]

Absolutely excellent advice. The most important tools I had in my tear-down and rebuild were my digital camera, a box of ziploc baggies, a roll of masking tape, and my sharpie.

If you think you are being too anal, stop, rethink, and you aren't being anal enough.

[ccoale]

i really like the non-traditional fram color. if'n ya don't mind, what is the ballpark cost of powdercoating a frame? i was looking at the POR-15 paints and i don't know if you could get it to lay flat enough to look good....cc

[drhach]

Powdercoat

If I remeber correctly it was $225 to Powdercoat the fram, center-stand and rear caliper strut. It would have been cheaper if I had wanted black (under $200). From what I've seen, prices are all over the map for this stuff. A little shopping around and a willingness to do a little driving could pay off in spades. I got quotes as high as $500 for black in the Chicago area. This guy beat them all and he was really excited when I chose something other than boring black, so he was probably more in to the job than others might have been.

[drhach]

Updates

Well, things have changed a little on the bike. I was whining to my wife that I have so many projects around the house that I haven't got any time to work on the bike. It's been driving me crazy. I really wanted to ride it this year and "this year" is coming to a close quickly. So, I put the tailpiece on a shelf for now and I put the stocker back on. I've been working getting some of the electrical stuff sorted out. I got the turn signals installed and working. They're kind of ugly and I will replace them later with something smaller.

I've been debating about the gauge pod (whether or not to use it). It's kind of beat up and I like the clean look of having it off of the bike. I figured for now, if everything works I'd put it on. I tested all of the lights and plugged it in. Holy schnikeys it works! Everything. I couldn't get over it. I also saw that the back lighting was a cool orange color. So, I'm sold. I'm going to use it. Even the fuel gauge works. I installed the horns. One of them is dead, but the other one works. I also had some issues with the tail light, but I got them sorted out. I really took my time going through the wiring harness and it is really paying off in spades.

The last thing that I've done is I upgraded to a CBR900 R/R. The original system worked, but I figured it was something I'd end up doing eventually. So, I did it. It was dead simple and it looks a lot cleaner. The other thing that I did in that same neighborhood, was tp replace the stock fuse holder with an aftermarket five fuse blade style holder. The original was getting really hot. Not so hot that it would blow fuses, but hot anyway. I figured better safe than sorry. So, the bike seems to be roadworthy. I've ridden it around the neighborhood but I haven't ventured to far beyond that. I still need to get it plated. I've been saving that for last in order to keep me from riding it before it is done. I'm sure I'll have some fine tuning to do; especially where the carbs are concerned. It smokes alot with the choke on and the plugs a pretty sooty black. Hopefully I can get a plate for it in the next couple of weeks and do a little riding before things get too cold out.

The tailpiece is my winter project at this point. The only other thing that I think I need at this point is a speedometer cable.

[Regent]

All the pics are gone....

Glad you got it ready to ride before the snow starts blowing in Wisconsin!

A pic would be cool - but my Sister lives in Kenosha, so next time I'm headed that way from MN, I might ask to stop by and see it - which would be even better!

[drphilgood]

The weather now is perfect for riding!As long as you dont mind the rain

[drhach]

Ok, so I fixed the links. Sorry about that. I did some shuffling in my photobucket account. Here is the bike as it stands today. I can't say that I'm really happy with it. Generally speaking I'm satisfied, but it doesn't look like I had pictured it in my mind and just to get it legal, I threw on some parts that I really didn't want to use. So without further ado.


Obvioulsy something needs to be done about the tank and cowl as they don't match. As much as I hate to mess with a skunk paintjob, there are a couple of dents in the tank and some paint is missing along the seam, so, it needs a repaint anyway.











I'm not really a fan of those stock turn signals either. They are just too big. They'll do for now though. All I need now is a license plate.

[drhach]

A little more

Here is the R/R and fuse block conversion. I'm pretty happy with it. The R/R fits in the stock holes. I think I'd like to relocate this whole mess somewhere else. It's really add to the stripped down look if I could run it without side panels and that area was devoid of wires. Maybe even relocate the battery so it is totally empty.



Stay tuned for more this Winter.

Future plans include:

Paint Body work
New fiberglass cowl
New Seat
Replace Gauges
Upgrade front brakes
Replace brake lines with S/S lines
EFI

We'll see how far I get. It's a wish list. Of course there is still the matter of tuning and dialing in the work I have done thus far. I see lots of plug chops in my future.

[NetBSD]

i like the look so far, cant wait to see it when it all matches. nice work on the fuse block, where did ya get it? been looking for something like that

[drhach]

Thanks, I'm up in the air now about the paint for the body parts. I was dead set on Flat Black. I stil think that it would look cool. However, I painted the tail piece last Fall just to get a sense of how it will look. The problem that I am encountering is that every time something rubs against the paint it leaves a scuff mark that doesn't rub out like it would on a gloss color. So, I'm worried about durability. I may go with Gloss or maybe a semi-gloss or semi-matte black. Maybe I won't do black at all. We'll see.

As far as the fuse block goes, I got it from Summit racing. I think it was like $12.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2D900171&N=700+115&autoview=sku

Part #SUM-900171

I wired all of the slots so later, if I want to, I can add accessories without having to dig too deep to wire them.

[drhach]

After a phone call to my insurance agent and a check for $130 at the DMV, I am now the proud owner of a registration and a license plate for the bike. I have owned it over four years and today was the first time I've ever registered it. Naturally I had to show off my new license plate around town.

My first stop was the gas station. The bike was running a little rough. I didn't think much of it because the choke was still on and the engine was a little cold. I put some gas in it and off I went. There's a pretty lonely road near my house. I figured I'd go there and open it up a little. Even after it seemed like it was fully warm and I had the choke completely off, it still seemed to run rough. I have pods and a 4-1 so I figured that I would just have to do some tuning. All the same, it seemed wrong. Also, the idle was really low. I pulled over to look the bike over and I found the problem. One of the spark plug wires was off. I took it off the other day and forgot to put it back on. Ooops. So, after putting the plug wire back on, everything changed. This bike $hits and gits.

I've been riding a 1976 BMW R90 and a 2000 DR650 for the past few years. The difference is night and day. A lot of people complain about the brakes on these things. I have to say that they aren't great, but they're better than the ones on the BMW. I expect they'll get even a little better as the pads seat in.

There's a little used stretch of highway here in town that is perfect for maiden voyages like this. All in all, the bike's pretty good. I have a little flat spot around 1/4-1/2 throttle. Other than that it smooth. I have some plug chops to do, but I think I have a good baseline.

I think in the end I'll ditch these pods. Not so much because of the hassle, but mostly because they are really loud. The pipe is too, but I think it might be tolerable with the stock airbox dampening some of the intake noise. Also, I need to get rid of that exhaust tape. It stinks. I thought it would never stop smoking either.

Lastly, I got home and I noticed that the head gasket is weeping a little. So, I guess I need to re-torque the head bolts. So far so good though.

[posplayr]

Nice detail on the Electrics

Did you find a new harness somewhere or did you fab one? It doesnt look like the fuze box is stock.

Posplayr

[PAULYBOY]

Check out the hot rod flatz at www.tcpglobal.com . They also sell a flat or semi flat clear. I don't think it would scuff like the paint coat would.