I did it again... Bought a baby blade to rebuild...

[Malt_Vinegar]

The second from last video you are definitely running on 4 but a little rough.

If it's not smoking badly or losing lots of power when riding nothing wrong with that motor.

The last one when riding to short and loud to tell but sounds also the headers are blowing and or mid section or just the endcan blown out which can sound nice in the flesh but hard to tell in video.

Look what I found

Some rather more shiny wheels, with nearly new tyres (which it needed anyway), and a little engine

It is supposed to be a well running, strong engine. Also, the head looks to be in a lot better nick in terms or exhaust studs. Will see when I can get it all put on the bike, and might be able to get an MOT soon!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Stop parking under Oak trees

2 massive oaks right over my driveway

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Things have stalled a little bit for a while. I am building a concrete pad/shed in the garden on my tod, which is soaking up any free time I have right now. However, this top yoke arrived to replace my screwed up one:

Looking pretty mucky, but its all there, and looks in good shape.

Dunked it into some citric acid for a few hours, attacked with a toothbrush:

Came out looking like this:

Looking a little bit cleaner, now for some sanding/polishing:

Not perfect yet, but should look a little nicer on the bike now!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

You must spend half your time on ebay finding new parts!

Alwyas have my eyes open for a bargain Shed slab is down and curing, hoping to build the outside of the shed this weekend, so will be able to get working on the bike again soon, and swap out the motor.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

The bike shed is almost done, and i had a few minutes to spare, so decided to work on a couple of small things that were bothering me..

Swapping this over:

This was also bugging me:

Stuck the cap into some faithful Citric Acid, being careful not to get too much on any rubber parts:

Couple of minutes:

Gave it a quick rub down, and put it back in for another few mins:

Not perfect, but MUCH better

Threw it all together again:

Looking forward to getting it into the shed this weekend, and might be able to get the old engine out, and perhaps the new one in

Also, I need to work out the cable arrangements, as I can't quite make it look OEM.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Shed was delayed as I am waiting for lino.. Should be here in early Jan..
However, I did decide to remove the old engine this evening in the garage and it is now OUT.
Yes!! Was a bit of a faff, but not too horrible.
Ran out of time to go any further tonight, but I might have the new engine in some time over the next two days before I go away to visit relatives.
Otherwise, it will be in early Jan.
Pics to follow

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

enjoying this build, had both a NC24(in Rothman's) and 23(in grey&gold) back in the day, great fun bikes

Great to hear, lets hope this turns out to be as fun!

So, my late night engine replacement antics kicked off as I stated above.

So, this was the old block in place:

Lets see if we can whip it out:

Long story short, yes, I can. Took about 2 hours, mainly because I was faffing a bit, and working in limited space!

Big empty gaps!!

New tested block ready to go in:

I then also decided to start swapping over the drive gubbins to the newer wheels. I think I want to go white on these original wheels, but I can do this at leisure whist the new wheels let me ride!

Cleaning up the disc whilst I have it in bits. Will likely need replacing soon anyway, but I want to have a go painting the inner tab parts to see how it holds up in use

That's where I am up to, so hopefully may get the new engine back in tonight before I go away till the new year

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Disc cleaned up and masked:

With VHT silver:

Being baked:

Looking kinda sorry, with new engine ready to go in:

Disc back in place on the new wheel:

Ready to go on:

Moved over a couple of cables, and bits from old to new:

Annnnd its in!

Went in much easier than I thought, as I figured out a better way to jack it up on my own to keep it level.

Got to replace the oil filter, do a quick oil change, refit some coolant hoses/etc. There is also the carb rubbers/and a few odd bits.

Then its just plugging it all back in and seeing if it will start

However, I am not around for a week, so it will have to wait till the new year

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Carb rubbers were tough to remove on the old engine (new ones ordered), and the clamps were looking very sorry for themselves:

Take to bits, and dunk in the usual:

Looking a bit better now:

Coolant pipes also looking funky:

Dunked:

Out:

New rear wheel on:

New coolant pipe o-rings vs the old:

Tried my luck on some random fuel filler bolts:

Not all of them fit, but some do, and fills the gaps in the ones I did not have

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I threw the old girl together today, and took her for an MOT... I was not really expecting her to pass, but I booked her in, at the local garage is a racing bike prep place. They actually have said before, if you are not sure, bring it down for an MOT as its much cheaper than paying us by the hour to look it over!

The ride down to the garage...Firstly, it's a very sprightly little bike, even in its freshly put back together form. I only had about 2 miles to ride her there but I really enjoyed it. However, IT WAS VERY LOUD!! (More to come on this later!) Brakes need a bit of tweaking (more to come on this too) but over all, it held up, and i went through all the gears, the lever needs to be adjusted, its way too high at the moment which makes up-changes difficult.

When i got there, i told the guy it was basically very loud, and apologised, and he found a little (actually MASSIVE) hidden between the collectors in the exhaust. He said it would be an immediate fail, but I asked him to go through it anyway so I can get it checked out.

About an hour later, the fail sheet arrived, and it was nasty

Date Result Details
25/01/2020 13:48 Fail
Mileage:
10,211 kilometres
Refusal Notices

• Nearside front brake disc fractured (1.1.14 (a) (ii)) - Dangerous
• Rear brake pad(s) less than 1.0 mm thick (1.1.13 (a)) - Dangerous
• Rear wheel spindle or securing nut(s) so insecure that wheel security or steering control is adversely affected (5.2.1 (c) (ii)) - Dangerous
• Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (6.1.2 (a)) - Major
• Exhaust noise is clearly in excess of that emitted by a similar motorcycle fitted with a standard silencer in average condition (8.1.1 (a)) - Major
• Handlebar grip missing (2.2.1 (d) (i)) - Major
• Front brake master cylinder insecure (1.1.10 (c)) - Major
• Front wheel bearing has excessive play (5.1.3 (a) (i)) - Major
• Rear brake caliper insecure (1.1.16 (c) (i)) - Major

Advisory Notices

• Front wheel has a slightly distorted bead rim (5.2.2 (c) (i))

So, lets knock these all down:
Nearside front brake disc fractured (1.1.14 (a) (ii)) - Dangerous
New discs have been ordered, along with the rear, seeing as they came as a set, and will match designs, which is nice

Rear brake pad(s) less than 1.0 mm thick (1.1.13 (a)) - Dangerous
Again, ordered a set if rears to turn up sharpish, and then got the fronts with a spare set of rears (they were a nice price, and a bundle with slower postage) for later in Feb.

Rear wheel spindle or securing nut(s) so insecure that wheel security or steering control is adversely affected (5.2.1 (c) (ii)) - Dangerous
Errrm, little oopsie from me here, I missed a spacer on the rear axle, and this meant the rear wheel could not be tightened fully!
So, checked the old wheel, located the missing bit, removed the wheel on the bike, and swapped it over.. Job done

This negated the following point too:
Rear brake caliper insecure (1.1.16 (c) (i)) - Major
Nice and secure now the spacer is in place!

Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (6.1.2 (a)) - Major
Exhaust noise is clearly in excess of that emitted by a similar motorcycle fitted with a standard silencer in average condition (8.1.1 (a)) - Major
Ordered myself a shiney "Delkevic" downpipes in stainless steel - should be here in a few days

Handlebar grip missing (2.2.1 (d) (i)) - Major
I had no idea this was a major, will get them fitted before the retest!

Front brake master cylinder insecure (1.1.10 (c)) - Major
Looks like I had not quite torqued this up fully, we actually nipped it up there and then, should not be on the sheet!

Front wheel bearing has excessive play (5.1.3 (a) (i)) - Major
Ordered a replacement set for a very reasonable price!

The only advisory:
Front wheel has a slightly distorted bead rim (5.2.2 (c) (i))
I went down with the original front wheel on, so may be able to knock down the wheel bearing and bead issue just by swapping it over

A little pic of it whilst it was being looked over (did not put the full fairings on again yet)

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Few little bits done for the MOT re-test this AM

Found some CG125 fairing rubbers that seemed to fit my tank, which makes the fairings fit a little more nicely!

Wait, what's in this big box

Niiiiceeee, should work a little better, and be a little less holey than the original!

Lets throw it on! It went on with a little fiddling, some of the pipes did not quite line up, and needed a bit of persuasion to get into place, but I am told that's not uncommon with this sort of thing:

Only problem is....

It seems the end can on the original pipe will no longer fit. The original exhaust had had an extra flange welded onto it to take a non-standard pipe.

So, that will not do!!

But wait, this looks a little nicer!!

Got this bargain pipe for it, little longer than the old one, and looks a little more factory imo!


Brakes were up next!

You may notice the front pads are missing, just waiting on them to come in from China (they were not a problem on the MOT anyway). However, this little lot was not cheap, but should look a little nicer than the original, and hopefully give some decent performance.

Some of you may notice that the front wheel has changed, back to an original NC23 wheel, which should take care of the knackered front bearing issue.

I was not happy with the front brake lever/master cylinder. It seemed to have a pinhole leak somewhere which was annoying me. So, I moved to a new lever, and had to work out where to mount the fill pot. The standard bracket would not work, as it kept fouling the fairing.. So, i whipped up a small bracket from some scrap lying about:

Tucked away, and no longer fouling the frame/fairing anywhere

Rear pads/pin were up next:

I put new caliper pin dust covers on all round too:

Rear disc, as it came with the fronts in the kit!

Rear end back together:

I had bought a fuel tap lever from a later bike, as I could not find one for this type, but it was too long, and was sticking out where my knees would be, and would get knocked about. It sort of fitted, but the square indent on the end was way too big, so I used a bit of whitemorph in the end, to get the shape right, and tested it. Worked fine, but was still way too long. So I cut out the middle section, and re-glued it back together:

The whitemorph:

Re-melting the whitemorph for final fitment/moulding:

Ready to go:

Much neater!!

Not going to get poked here by accident anymore!

Hopefully back down for the MOT re-test today

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

She is legal.....

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

It's fun! needs some work on the setup/carbs, but I might just pay the local dyno place to give it a once over. It revs so high, and sounds amazing. Not taken the bung out yet, but I will get around to it soon

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Got these back, and they look great! No more leaks I am told

Dropped them back into here, started it up, and it ran on all 4, and seemed great!

Now, the left fork sprung a leak in the shed randomly, and I decided to redo the fork seals whilst it was in bits ago, so off came all the fairings, and I got myself a head stock stand:

Lets rip that front end apart, and get the forks off:

Yeah, made a little mess, but we got the job done!

The offending seal:

Ripped the guts out of it:

Not happy with the finish of this, so decided to have a go at re-painting them.

Ground down all the corrosion, and lifted parts:

Started off going for black:

I also managed to break one of the mud guard mounts when I was removing it, and decided to try some 3d printed parts

Printer in action:

Some of the test prints, just to get the settings/sizes dialled in:

Some more work to do here, but a good start

Now onto the other leg:

The top cap was a little chewed on this side, looks like someone was a little hamfisted with this one before:

Seal retaining ring was a little rusty:

Mudguard holder retaining ring, not quite as bad:

I had to use a blowtorch to get this seal out, it was REALLY wedged in there, and had to be quite violent about it! So it was looking a little messy in here:

All the varying parts were cleaned up, and checked:

You can see from the old seal here how well wedged in it was:

This really was not ok, so needed to be tidied up:

Quick dunk in the ultrasonic cleaner:

Little bit of light sanding, and polishing later:

Changed my mind, and decided to go to white.....

Best start getting this back together on leg 2:

More testing on 3d printer parts, pretty much spot on:

Back on the bike, managed to scratch up the paint on one leg, so i hid it in the photo Will sort it out properly another time!

I then found the carbs were leaking! I left them sat at a funny angle with fuel in there for a couple of weeks, so looks like a float got stuck. Tried to tap/whack them a a bit to release it, but figured out it was carb 2, and whipped it open to have a look, and it had some ethanol sludge build up:

So I took the bowls off all the carbs, cleaned them with carb cleaner, and have learnt my lesson! DO not leave modern fuel in old carbs for any length of time. Apparently you can get an ethanol killer additive, so will have to look into that!

Throwing it all back together. I did replace the front brake pads on both sides, then installed the new springs and clips (which were totally absent!) that I bought ages ago too:

Post shakedown:

The clutch level was missing its spring, and worked itself a little loose, but managed to sort that out, and also the tank was holding a STRONG negative pressure, which I released by opening up the fuel cap. Looks like there is a blocked breather somewhere I need to clean out, but otherwise, I was grinning from ear to ear! need to work the idle down a little bit, but I think that down to the throttle cable adjustment being slightly too tight, as the idle adjust screw is not touching it.

Nothing major, but I am happier with the white forks look in general!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

So... what is the next project?



A year late but on the off chance it's something of interest still, i used a site called Auctmarts to get replacement fairings for my R6. Fit perfectly and they're Injection moulded which was better than the alternative for one reason or another but I can't remember.

For aftermarket Chinese ones, they're actually really good

Glad you enjoyed it

I wil check out the site, as more projects happen!

The CBR600F2 is the current project, almost done!

I have a few little updates to add once I am back home from hols, but essentially just working to improve reliability and robustness.

The fuel pump situation was very annoying, blew the old one, also killed a replacement OEM type, and finally settled on a non standard fuel pump from a reputable manufacturer.

I did try running it without a pump, but at anything below 3/4 of a tank, fuel starvation/hesitations at higher revs/motorway riding was a problem, as well as causing some annoying throttle response issues when cornering.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Little bit of an update on this one
Wanted to clean up the fuel filler, cleaned it up, masked it, did a little bit of carefull spraying:

Quick and easy, and has lasted great, and is still looking good today!

Then I blew the stator:

Swapped it out from my spare motor, no issues since then!

Also managed to get my hands on the sidestand rubber:

Then I re-tapped the holes on the frame that hold the cowling bracket:

Next I sanded back the horn:

Painted, cooked in the halogen oven

Back in place - New connectors:

As I mentioned before, I swapped out the dodgy fuel pump to a pattern part:

Stuck it in

It worked for a bit:

But it also died.... So I ran without a pump, and that was not working for me, fuel starvation, and tank had to be well over half to run well.
So I bought a Facet motorsport low pressure pump, and retro-fitted it

It totally changed the bike.. It runs so much more smoothly, starts better, smells less fuelly, and has been working great since!

Next, I swapped out the light brackets with new, as they were falling to bits:

Swapped out the dash bulbs to some nicer LEDs

Swapped out the discs to some EBC, and repainted the calipers. The chinese specials developed a horrible grabby patch, and they felt horrible braking at low speeds, giving a pulsing effect. They are perfectly true, but apparently they can get like this, so just got rid:

Also, the new headlights look ACE

I then designed and printed out some new foam holders for the dash:

Since then I have 3d printed a new fuse box holder, as it was annoying me and flapping about - Forgot to take pics also!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

The bike failed the MOT the other day on some very random little things, it seems the MOT garage near my new place has some stricter interpretation of the rules

They said that on full lock, the brake lever was being touched by the clocks. It just brushed it, at full left lock, which has never actually posed any problems when riding, but rules are rules!
They also wanted me to put a full sized rear plate on, and wrongly claimed a front wheel axle was missing a lock pin (which this bike never had from the factory!) but they agreed this was not a problem after I showed them the haynes and the official parts list for the bike.

Lastly, they did not like the light controls rotating slightly when pushed hard.

Anyway! Decided to address these with a new front brake lever and master cylinder, as I was never really happy with the Chinese one anyway. I also ordered a domino throttle to replace the Chinese one as the original cables are getting a little worn and damaged where they flex, so will also get the cable set to swap them out soon too.

So, new brake lever fitted:

I did have to twist the reservoir bracket to get it to sit nicely and not whack the fairings when being turned:

Had to get the Honda reservoir cover back in place, clearly!

I also got fed up of trying little motorcycle specific digital clocks that broke, or lost time, so grabbed a period casio and 3d printed a little mount for the bars

I also knocked up a little cable guide (using an old pen) for the original top cable to help keep it from bending too much, just for the MOT for now. I am waiting for the new cable set to allow me to change out the thottle completely as said above

I also sorted out the rotating lighting controls, by adding a little duct tape around the bars in the right place to make them clamp in a little more solidly.

I bled the front brake, then had a little ride around the block, all ok, and should be good to go for the MOT

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Just a little update.... I MAY have slightly binned this earlier in the summer...

Nothing major, low speed, lowside. Just got a bent up nose/busted clocks/knackered the fairings. It still runs and rides, and just needs a little bit of work to put it straight!

However, I have decided to have a little upgrade in the process. I was never happy with the clocks, and stock dash-setup. So I have a little plan to go to a set of more modern clocks, and clean up the wiring and look/function of the cockpit. I am also going to whack in an updated throttle and a few other little bits and bobs as I go!

I am about to pull it all apart and will upload some pics of the progress as I go

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

A little pic of the damage

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

You silly billy. Looks like you drove into something?

Had a low speed low-side, and the nose slid into a stationary Ford Ranger's wheel. Popped the tyre on the Ranger, and not much else damaged.
Amazingly, no damage to the frame, or the forks, it just literally slide along and nosed into the tyre at about 5mph. I actually rode it home (after having to strip some wires with my teeth and winding them together) about 3 miles. I think the tyre did a great job of absorbing the impact.

I was actually just coming home from the MOT.