Bought a collection of parts that once resembled a Japanese 400cc

Lopéz · 14 May 2019 at 18:57

Honestly I don't know why I sign myself up for this sort of grief.

1980-something Yamaha FZR400 "bitsa", finally all my OWO1 fantasies have (sort of) come true:

Excuse the sophisticated anti-hydration devices courtesy of Asda & Morrisons (OTHER SUPERMARKETS ARE AVAILABLE)

This is a right old mix of parts. From what I can work out it's a combination of 3EN1 and 3EN2 bits, not all of which work in complete harmony.

Frame, logbook, engine, forks, swingarm, tank cover, brakes (ie almost everything) - 3EN1
Plastics & subframe - 3EN2
Headlight annoyingly is 3EN1 which means it looks odd in the 3EN2 fairing.

The good:
It runs. After a bit of coaxing and tinkering it sounds lovely and sweet actually
It's not bent/crashed
Someone spent money on it - forks, front wheel, swingarm, triple clamps and a few other bits are all nicely powder coated, lots of stainless bolts
No evidence of having been down the road - engine covers, pegs, engine cradle etc all very nice
Exup valve works
Got a box of bits with clocks and some other bits like the mudguard

The bad:
Missing rear light plastics
Missing pillion pad
Missing battery box
Missing seat bracketry
Missing screen
Missing left switchgear
Calipers horribly siezed
Plastics all cracked/broken/scuffed/broken tabs/bits missing

Job 1:
Fuel tank was battered and the paint all coming off. Sanded back, filled all dents, primed, sanded again and now ready for top coat:

When my whitemorph arrives I'll see about patching up the fairings, and I have some replacement brakes on the way.

Let's see how it goes

Lopéz · 16 May 2019 at 12:10

I'd love a CBR250RR but they are not cheap or easy to come by. Incredible little bikes though.

Today's adventure:

Wrong lights:

Right lights:

I'm not sure which I actually prefer, I quite liked it with the wrong lights

Lopéz · 16 May 2019 at 12:47

Oh well, they were only £20 and now I can have the choice. Not like it's going anywhere soon.

Tank is now white, needs masking up and then the red can go on. I'm not the best painter but I hope I can get something passable.

Lopéz · 17 May 2019 at 17:11

Started looking at the wiring loom today. At some point this was obviously destined to be a track bike, as someone has removed bits of the wiring loom but not all of it. I hate wiring so this is going to be fun!

Lopéz · 21 May 2019 at 20:18

Malt_Vinegar said:
You can do it! Wiring is just about being methodical, labelling as you go and get a decent set of crimpers.
Great project! I am in the hunt for my first bigger bike as if today. Very jealous!

You know what mate, I'm glad you posted this - because I went away and thought about it and knocked up a very simple test lamp rig and whaddaya know:

Figured out the horn, indicators, brake light switches, tail lights, headlights, pass light, starter button and the kill switch - so now I can make my own lighting loom.
The only parts I need to map back to the bike are the ignition/kill and the starter button - the rest of it is sorted.

I've ordered a universal indicator relay and picked up some wire, so now I just need to assemble the loom making sure I leave in some free tails for the instrument tell-tales.

I'll relay the headlamps too, since they are dual H4s.

Lopéz · 11 Jun 2019 at 10:30

Quick update:

The rear master cylinder was in a foul state, and I discovered it's actually cheaper to buy a whole new one than to recondition the old one myself.

This is now fitted and awaiting bleeding & connection to the rear pedal. I'll need a rear brake switch as someone has removed the factory one.

The same was true of the rear caliper, so let's have a new one of those too:

The finish on these reconditioned calipers is never amazing, but I think it's good enough. The gold is a bit bright to be honest.

Whilst on the topic of brakes, my R6 calipers arrived, they are in almost perfect condition - gave them a quick wipe down with brake cleaner and they are ready to go on. Complete bargain for £40!

They are a direct swap, so a really easy upgrade - but I'll probably want some custom flexis made up at some point to make sure these slightly longer hoses don't foul the fairing.

Finally the wiring is progressing. It might not look it, but this is a fully functioning lighting loom!

Lopéz · 11 Jun 2019 at 13:39

Yep, it's laid out on the bike now and I've started to wrap it with loom tape and started fitting connectors. My clocks have arrived now so I can figure out what I need to get the idiot lights fully functional. I've already worked out the indicator and main beam tell tales, and the clocks are always illuminated so that's one less connection. Neutral switch feed I've identified from the bike loom.

The clocks have provision for a gear position indicator but the bike doesn't, so I'm not sure whether to try and rig something up or just leave that feature redundant.

Lopéz · 12 Jun 2019 at 20:33

Cheers, definitely something to consider!

Fairing annoyance today. As I said earlier, the bike is a 3EN1 but the fairing is 3EN2. Luckily it came with the right fairing stay, but annoyingly the 3EN2 had different forks and clip ons below the top yoke - the 3EN1 has them above the yoke, so a 3EN2 fairing on a 3EN1 means the bars and controls hit the fairing, which is a no-no.
So, I need to move the clip ons below the yoke, and fiddle around with the master cylinder mountings etc to get everything clear.

You can see why people give up with projects like this, what starts as a good idea often ends up as a money/effort pit.

Lopéz · 13 Jun 2019 at 18:34

Battery box arrived. Existing battery doesn't fit into it :rolleyes:

HO HUM

Lopéz · 17 Jun 2019 at 13:19

The new one that arrived Saturday from Tayna fits perfectly, it's just another thirty quid I hadn't budgeted for.

Slightly annoyed with myself this week. I have been throwing a bike cover over the FZR to keep it dry, but the other day I must have just forgotten and it's been raining like mad. The fuel tank and carbs are well wrapped, but the CDI and main relay have been completely exposed.
Tried to start the bike to check the new battery yesterday and it wasn't even attempting to fire. Popped off the CDI and about 100ml of rainwater came out of it :rolleyes:

Took the main relay off and that was similarly waterlogged.

Both are drained and drying out in the airing cupboard, so I'll see if they actually work when they are fully dried out. If not, they run at about £30 each second hand. Not the end of the world, but still a waste of cas - and completely self inflicted.

Lopéz · 17 Jun 2019 at 16:48

Lopéz · 18 Jun 2019 at 09:00

To be honest, any 30 year old sports 400 is going to have thrashed.

Lopéz · 21 Jun 2019 at 20:23

I need a bit of a tidy up in the work area!

But... CDI and main relay dried out, and (assuming DailyMotion feels like playing it):

Rough as old boots, but at least it's not fried. Carbs off for a full clean next as it's intermittently running on three.

Lopéz · 23 Jun 2019 at 22:37

Malt_Vinegar said:
Just jump on and ride it. It's basically done

Exactly what I was thinking

Couple of bits done in between weekend showers:

Everything is taking longer than it should while I'm recovering from a broken finger (7 weeks after surgery):

First just a nice pic of the R6 calipers in place. They look fantastic.

Thanks to my stupid finger, I was unable to stop myself from falling when I lost balance doing something the other day. I came crashing to ground and in the process obliterated my tail light.
I figured that since I don't actually have a tail panel, and I love twin lights, to go with something different to replace it:

Phwoarrrr etc:

Lopéz · 8 Jul 2019 at 08:54

Little bit more done this weekend.

Managed to get the start button working together with the kill switch, and all that works nicely - so now the old handlebar controls are removed and everything is done on the new ones
Wrapped a bit more of the loom up
Moved the clip ons to the new position below the top yoke. They no longer touch the fairing or the fairing bracket, but the master cylinder does foul the fairing, so I'll need to make a new bracket for that
Noticed that the brake lines foul the fairing stay - two options here are to chop a bit out of the fairing stay, or look at some shorter brake lines, as I think these only foul because they are R6 ones which are too long really so they bulge out
Fitted rear brake line cable clip
Painted the tank basecoat in white
Fitted a horn
Fitted new clocks - the ones that came with the bike were badly chopped about and none of the tell tales worked, so I have fitted a universal speedo/tacho on a new backing plate. It powers up and lights up, neutral telltale works, indicator telltales work, tacho works. Just need to tidy up the backing plate and hook up the speedo sensor.

Pics to follow

Lopéz · 1 Dec 2020 at 17:15

I moved abroad so unfortunately this never got done!

Lopéz · 1 Dec 2020 at 19:00

Err it might be still in the garden of my UK house