Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
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Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
I finally started to rebuild my XR after nearly 3yrs of ownership, still haven’t ridden it!!
The previous owner really did a number on it and it’s not until now I could do something about it. After some tuff times with health to put to bed and a 40th to celebrate I borrowed a fist full of cash to get this thing sorted.
Here is what I have started with.
http://www.xr650rforum.com/t2254-new-guy-in-new-zealand
The airfilter hadn’t seen any maintenance for a while and never any rim grease so it had dusted up the whole intake tract.
Head and valves were not pretty.
Piston and bore came out surprisingly well considering, I was expecting much worse. Everything below the compression ring was fine apart from a wee bit of glazing on the bore. Amazing considering how much dust and crap had gone through it.
Stock valve gear was in good shape, cam was like new and rockers have a bit of wear at the edges.
Clutch basket shows only a small amount of wear, I had the cover off to check the oil screen which was clear and to rebuild the oil pump. It seems like a low hour bike but the hours it has done were by done by an idiot… Every nut/bolt that he has touched is WAY over tightened, I had 1.2m of leverage (long piece of pipe over socket wrench) just to undo the rear axle nut.
Wiring is pretty obvious… Throw most of it away and start again! Burnt wires and poor connections are just the beginning.
So that’s my starting point, I have a bunch of parts and a very long list of jobs to do.
The previous owner really did a number on it and it’s not until now I could do something about it. After some tuff times with health to put to bed and a 40th to celebrate I borrowed a fist full of cash to get this thing sorted.
Here is what I have started with.
http://www.xr650rforum.com/t2254-new-guy-in-new-zealand
The airfilter hadn’t seen any maintenance for a while and never any rim grease so it had dusted up the whole intake tract.
Head and valves were not pretty.
Piston and bore came out surprisingly well considering, I was expecting much worse. Everything below the compression ring was fine apart from a wee bit of glazing on the bore. Amazing considering how much dust and crap had gone through it.
Stock valve gear was in good shape, cam was like new and rockers have a bit of wear at the edges.
Clutch basket shows only a small amount of wear, I had the cover off to check the oil screen which was clear and to rebuild the oil pump. It seems like a low hour bike but the hours it has done were by done by an idiot… Every nut/bolt that he has touched is WAY over tightened, I had 1.2m of leverage (long piece of pipe over socket wrench) just to undo the rear axle nut.
Wiring is pretty obvious… Throw most of it away and start again! Burnt wires and poor connections are just the beginning.
So that’s my starting point, I have a bunch of parts and a very long list of jobs to do.
Last edited by dufasnz on Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:55 am; edited 1 time in total
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Head has been stripped, cleaned and disassembled. Doesn’t look quite as bad now the crud has been removed!
Fellow member Temporary Kiwi worked his magic on the ports. Plugged the holes for the emissions stuff, smoothed and generally made a very nice job without going extreme. Many thanks for your time mate and I hope we can catch up for a ride and a beer on me soon.
Local shop machined the head and valve surfaces then assembled the head for me as I don’t have spring compressors.
Head has:
Kibblewhite valves in standard size
Kibblewhite seals
I reused the stock springs and retainers
New OEM bearings
Big end checked out ok, wrist pin and little end were unmarked and as I said I believe it’s a low hour motor so I decided to leave the bottom end for now. Cylinder got a very light hone from same shop and in went a 100mm hi comp Wiseco. Piston to bore clearance is a bit bigger than it should be, ring end gap was just in spec. Can’t remember the figures off hand but the machine shop said run it and see, it’s not ideal and I hope like hell it doesn’t vibrate too much. My plan is to do the Falicon Rod thing in the next 1-2 years and I will replace piston again then and get it right. The Wiseco is pretty heavy but it was cheap to tide me over until I go through the whole motor.
Hot Cams Stage 1. Decided to put new rockers and shafts in with the new cam, along with the wavy washers and any seals.
The above pic leads onto the next thing I found, this bike came with a Baja Designs Electric start, that and being a 2007 model were the main reasons I chose this particular bike. It has a few design flaws that I have spotted so far. First and foremost it leaks water into the stator cover hence the rusty fly wheel etc, what a mess. Wasn’t very pleased to find this, and I’m a little concerned about the metal plates of the BD stator. They are a bit rusty in places and they are supposed to be insulated from each other so I hope its performance isn’t compromised by this.
I have cleaned it all up and found out where it leaks. Look around the bolt, (there is actually 2) holding the (giant) starter motor together. There is no way the paper gasket can seal this surface where the bolts are.
Made a new paper gasket the only way I know how, of course I was gentle.
Filled the bolt holes with windscreen silicone, made a slight hump so it puts tension on the gasket and fingers crossed that will be water tight. Will do a test once bike is done. Bike came from Las Vegas so I guess those rock scars are ‘rolls of the dice’ that didn’t go well… There’s a few of them around the bike!
Fellow member Temporary Kiwi worked his magic on the ports. Plugged the holes for the emissions stuff, smoothed and generally made a very nice job without going extreme. Many thanks for your time mate and I hope we can catch up for a ride and a beer on me soon.
Local shop machined the head and valve surfaces then assembled the head for me as I don’t have spring compressors.
Head has:
Kibblewhite valves in standard size
Kibblewhite seals
I reused the stock springs and retainers
New OEM bearings
Big end checked out ok, wrist pin and little end were unmarked and as I said I believe it’s a low hour motor so I decided to leave the bottom end for now. Cylinder got a very light hone from same shop and in went a 100mm hi comp Wiseco. Piston to bore clearance is a bit bigger than it should be, ring end gap was just in spec. Can’t remember the figures off hand but the machine shop said run it and see, it’s not ideal and I hope like hell it doesn’t vibrate too much. My plan is to do the Falicon Rod thing in the next 1-2 years and I will replace piston again then and get it right. The Wiseco is pretty heavy but it was cheap to tide me over until I go through the whole motor.
Hot Cams Stage 1. Decided to put new rockers and shafts in with the new cam, along with the wavy washers and any seals.
The above pic leads onto the next thing I found, this bike came with a Baja Designs Electric start, that and being a 2007 model were the main reasons I chose this particular bike. It has a few design flaws that I have spotted so far. First and foremost it leaks water into the stator cover hence the rusty fly wheel etc, what a mess. Wasn’t very pleased to find this, and I’m a little concerned about the metal plates of the BD stator. They are a bit rusty in places and they are supposed to be insulated from each other so I hope its performance isn’t compromised by this.
I have cleaned it all up and found out where it leaks. Look around the bolt, (there is actually 2) holding the (giant) starter motor together. There is no way the paper gasket can seal this surface where the bolts are.
Made a new paper gasket the only way I know how, of course I was gentle.
Filled the bolt holes with windscreen silicone, made a slight hump so it puts tension on the gasket and fingers crossed that will be water tight. Will do a test once bike is done. Bike came from Las Vegas so I guess those rock scars are ‘rolls of the dice’ that didn’t go well… There’s a few of them around the bike!
Last edited by dufasnz on Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:00 am; edited 2 times in total
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
The air filter design isn’t up to Honda’s usual standard or any half decent dirt bike manufacturer really. Space dictated the shape rather than best air flow or particle filtration. Whilst I would grease the rim and maintain it better than the previous owner it worries me that it could leak again and I will be doing some dusty riding.
I got a ‘batwing’ a while ago and after a fair bit of umming and ahhhing I decided to combine that with the filter sandwich/clamp to stop me worrying about dust in the airbox. Yes it makes air filter changes a bit slower and maybe one day I will have to replace the Riv-nuts if I wear the threads out but I have peace of mind that it won’t leak unless the filter rips. Here is a few of the steps of me making it, for what it’s worth it was a difficult piece to make and bend by hand. The bit of aluminium I had laying around to use fatigued very easily and wanted to crack, the repeated test fitting into the airbox caused the edges of the many of the bends to crack. I was very pleased to get it finished but I’m not very thrilled with the quality, if it wasn’t such a #*&^ of shape to make I would make better one!!
I bolted the Batwing to the filter clamp so it’s all one solid bit. The nuts are welded so they can’t come undone.
Screws all around hold the tabs so no way is it moving and nothing can come loose and get ingested. The silicone surrounds the clamp bolts so no air can pass un-filtered and if the Riv-nuts make any filings they are also captured in the silicon pocket and can’t be ingested.
Just need to bush the aluminium top clamp where the bolts go through it as turning the bolts produces filings otherwise it’s done. Not pretty but hopefully pretty effective. Will still use grease round the edge and it will be sound as a pound. A bit of restriction in air flow but I’ll take that for peace of mind on dusty days.
I got a ‘batwing’ a while ago and after a fair bit of umming and ahhhing I decided to combine that with the filter sandwich/clamp to stop me worrying about dust in the airbox. Yes it makes air filter changes a bit slower and maybe one day I will have to replace the Riv-nuts if I wear the threads out but I have peace of mind that it won’t leak unless the filter rips. Here is a few of the steps of me making it, for what it’s worth it was a difficult piece to make and bend by hand. The bit of aluminium I had laying around to use fatigued very easily and wanted to crack, the repeated test fitting into the airbox caused the edges of the many of the bends to crack. I was very pleased to get it finished but I’m not very thrilled with the quality, if it wasn’t such a #*&^ of shape to make I would make better one!!
I bolted the Batwing to the filter clamp so it’s all one solid bit. The nuts are welded so they can’t come undone.
Screws all around hold the tabs so no way is it moving and nothing can come loose and get ingested. The silicone surrounds the clamp bolts so no air can pass un-filtered and if the Riv-nuts make any filings they are also captured in the silicon pocket and can’t be ingested.
Just need to bush the aluminium top clamp where the bolts go through it as turning the bolts produces filings otherwise it’s done. Not pretty but hopefully pretty effective. Will still use grease round the edge and it will be sound as a pound. A bit of restriction in air flow but I’ll take that for peace of mind on dusty days.
Last edited by dufasnz on Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:02 am; edited 1 time in total
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Suspension, this ol’ can of worms!! I’ll start with the shock, the PO had the good sense to send it to XR’s Only to be rebuilt with an Eibach spring but then went and used some sort of chisel on the spring adjuster. Of course he missed and dinged the shock body, not sure I could have done such a job if I had tried…
Ebay came to the rescue and out of Italy came an Ohlins shock that was originally made for the XR650R (I have checked the body and spring numbers with the local ohlins guy). It’s in very good condition apart from a couple marks. The back of the top airbox clip rubs on the shock near the adjuster so I have trimmed my airbox clip a bit, the bottom mount bolt has turned where it should sit firm so has garked it up. All minor stuff!! Was excellent value for money and can’t believe my luck that it was available.
P.S I had the correct size spanner on the nut of the top shock mount, it had been well rounded by the same quality tools that stabbed the OEM shock body.
Now for the front end. I’m going to say something that may upset a few people and for that I apologise graciously, this is just my humble personal opinion and everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I welcome comment on this, just be friendly. Maybe Honda only continued to put those forks on this bike because it was called an XR and every XR has had those forks and Gators. Perhaps its part of the ‘XR image’ ‘the look’. The dated look. If they are the best possible fork why are they not used everywhere? I believe the best fork, as used universally nowadays is USD, because they are easily adjustable, have less un-sprung weight and are much more rigid.
I’m talking out my a** here as I know no facts but if Johnny Cambell wanted to change to USD for the Baja 1000, I’m guessing Honda would have said “hell no!! Do what you like internally but leave the outside looking stock” it has to look like a customer bike in the main parts.
Some of you may remember me saying I’m yet to ride this bike so how would I know? Well I have done enough miles on a mates XR650R, albeit a few years ago to make my judgement. I have also owned 2 XR600R’s and I loved those bikes except the front end… Ok forks and airbox covered I’ve packed the soapbox away now! I am a Honda man, have been for years but like an old married couple there are the odd things to whinge about!
So the remedy… I found a company called Gatosbros here is the link.
https://gatosbros.com/shop/products/xr650_conversion_clamps/
Robert was extremely helpful and a great person to deal with, I also brought his ‘universal steering stabilizer mount’ for my CR500 from him and he gave me free shipping so a big thanks to him for great personal service. Check out his website and his many other products that he designs and makes himself.
So I got the Triple clamps that convert the XR650R to USD CRF type forks. These are well made, well thought out and look to be very strong. The steering stops line up and you keep the stock steering geometry. This was important to me as decent stability is important, will just need to see how much the change in fork length will affect geometry as I’m yet to measure both.
Top clamp comes with KTM handlebar mounting hardware but not the actual bar clamps. There are also mounts for a Scotts steering stabilizer in the forward position under the bars. The reason for the KTM bar mounts is they use 4 bolts into the triple clamp and they are adjustable. I got some Ebay special bar clamps out of China that are actually nicely made, they came with crap bolts though so will replace them.
Fitting was easy, simply press out stem from OEM triple clamps and press into new clamps. Credit to Gatosbros as fit was perfect. The only thing I had to modify was the fixed post for the steering damper/stabilizer, it’s really phat and the top clamp just impacts it before hitting the proper stops so it requires a bit of grinding. It ended up looking a bit like a Wankle engine rotor, I had read about this so it wasn’t a surprise.
The plan was just to use the spare set of CR500 forks I have until I could afford a decent set of CRF or similar forks and get them set up. Then late one night, I found in Tasmania of all places, a set of Ohlins forks off a 2004 VOR 530 enduro. Well it was a complete front end, I looked and looked and asked a few questions.
You see the Ohlins on my CR500 (pics can be found in my intro link at start of this novel ‘new guy in nz’) came off a 2004 TM Racing 400 enduro, they bolt straight into CR/CRF triple clamps. I absolutely adore these forks, with no modification they made the CR comfortable. All I have done to make them perfect for me is fiddle with the clickers a tiny bit from the centre settings. As both bikes were enduro spec models made in Italy in the same year, I assumed they used identical spec Ohlins. The thought of having matching front ends was too much. So I sold my soul to the Mrs, made promises I shouldn’t have made and took the punt that they would be the same.
As it turns out they are the same. Externally at least. The beauty of these particular forks is the fact they have the same axle size as my CR500 & CR/CRF’s so wheels are interchangeable and as I said they fit Honda triple clamps. Also I get the Excel Rim, 270mm Disk and Brembo caliper. It came with a Brembo master cylinder but I will use the XR’s Nissin master as it’s a great combo on the CR and so both bikes have the same levers and pads.
They not quite as nice a condition as I would like and I paid a handsome price but beggars can’t be choosers, I’m amazed I found a set and I will probably have to re-spring them as the XR is considerably heavier than the VOR. There is a patch of chrome that is not perfect and some of the gold anodising is a little worn so one day in the distant future they might get a total make over. But at this stage they don’t leak so will see how they go.
I had big plans for the VOR triples, adapt them to fit the CR as they do look trick compared to the stock cast ones currently gracing the beast. Alas it would be quite the job as the stem is massive on the VOR stuff, sleeves would have to be made and pressed or welded in. I don’t have a lathe and my mate who does I have already asked a few too many favours lately and he is very busy.
Neither the front or the rear Ohlins were in the careful budget I set, damn those late night internet sessions looking at bike porn…. Budget was simple, Motard wheels, Triple clamps, fix the engine and get it road legal. That was it and holy moly I had to round up what spare parts I wasn’t using and get them sold. Out the door went the OEM forks, front wheel, lowering link, edelbrock carby, numerous other bits and some excess CR500 parts I will also regret selling… But hey don’t look back aye! Now I have sic Ohlins and I couldn’t be happier.
Ebay came to the rescue and out of Italy came an Ohlins shock that was originally made for the XR650R (I have checked the body and spring numbers with the local ohlins guy). It’s in very good condition apart from a couple marks. The back of the top airbox clip rubs on the shock near the adjuster so I have trimmed my airbox clip a bit, the bottom mount bolt has turned where it should sit firm so has garked it up. All minor stuff!! Was excellent value for money and can’t believe my luck that it was available.
P.S I had the correct size spanner on the nut of the top shock mount, it had been well rounded by the same quality tools that stabbed the OEM shock body.
Now for the front end. I’m going to say something that may upset a few people and for that I apologise graciously, this is just my humble personal opinion and everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I welcome comment on this, just be friendly. Maybe Honda only continued to put those forks on this bike because it was called an XR and every XR has had those forks and Gators. Perhaps its part of the ‘XR image’ ‘the look’. The dated look. If they are the best possible fork why are they not used everywhere? I believe the best fork, as used universally nowadays is USD, because they are easily adjustable, have less un-sprung weight and are much more rigid.
I’m talking out my a** here as I know no facts but if Johnny Cambell wanted to change to USD for the Baja 1000, I’m guessing Honda would have said “hell no!! Do what you like internally but leave the outside looking stock” it has to look like a customer bike in the main parts.
Some of you may remember me saying I’m yet to ride this bike so how would I know? Well I have done enough miles on a mates XR650R, albeit a few years ago to make my judgement. I have also owned 2 XR600R’s and I loved those bikes except the front end… Ok forks and airbox covered I’ve packed the soapbox away now! I am a Honda man, have been for years but like an old married couple there are the odd things to whinge about!
So the remedy… I found a company called Gatosbros here is the link.
https://gatosbros.com/shop/products/xr650_conversion_clamps/
Robert was extremely helpful and a great person to deal with, I also brought his ‘universal steering stabilizer mount’ for my CR500 from him and he gave me free shipping so a big thanks to him for great personal service. Check out his website and his many other products that he designs and makes himself.
So I got the Triple clamps that convert the XR650R to USD CRF type forks. These are well made, well thought out and look to be very strong. The steering stops line up and you keep the stock steering geometry. This was important to me as decent stability is important, will just need to see how much the change in fork length will affect geometry as I’m yet to measure both.
Top clamp comes with KTM handlebar mounting hardware but not the actual bar clamps. There are also mounts for a Scotts steering stabilizer in the forward position under the bars. The reason for the KTM bar mounts is they use 4 bolts into the triple clamp and they are adjustable. I got some Ebay special bar clamps out of China that are actually nicely made, they came with crap bolts though so will replace them.
Fitting was easy, simply press out stem from OEM triple clamps and press into new clamps. Credit to Gatosbros as fit was perfect. The only thing I had to modify was the fixed post for the steering damper/stabilizer, it’s really phat and the top clamp just impacts it before hitting the proper stops so it requires a bit of grinding. It ended up looking a bit like a Wankle engine rotor, I had read about this so it wasn’t a surprise.
The plan was just to use the spare set of CR500 forks I have until I could afford a decent set of CRF or similar forks and get them set up. Then late one night, I found in Tasmania of all places, a set of Ohlins forks off a 2004 VOR 530 enduro. Well it was a complete front end, I looked and looked and asked a few questions.
You see the Ohlins on my CR500 (pics can be found in my intro link at start of this novel ‘new guy in nz’) came off a 2004 TM Racing 400 enduro, they bolt straight into CR/CRF triple clamps. I absolutely adore these forks, with no modification they made the CR comfortable. All I have done to make them perfect for me is fiddle with the clickers a tiny bit from the centre settings. As both bikes were enduro spec models made in Italy in the same year, I assumed they used identical spec Ohlins. The thought of having matching front ends was too much. So I sold my soul to the Mrs, made promises I shouldn’t have made and took the punt that they would be the same.
As it turns out they are the same. Externally at least. The beauty of these particular forks is the fact they have the same axle size as my CR500 & CR/CRF’s so wheels are interchangeable and as I said they fit Honda triple clamps. Also I get the Excel Rim, 270mm Disk and Brembo caliper. It came with a Brembo master cylinder but I will use the XR’s Nissin master as it’s a great combo on the CR and so both bikes have the same levers and pads.
They not quite as nice a condition as I would like and I paid a handsome price but beggars can’t be choosers, I’m amazed I found a set and I will probably have to re-spring them as the XR is considerably heavier than the VOR. There is a patch of chrome that is not perfect and some of the gold anodising is a little worn so one day in the distant future they might get a total make over. But at this stage they don’t leak so will see how they go.
I had big plans for the VOR triples, adapt them to fit the CR as they do look trick compared to the stock cast ones currently gracing the beast. Alas it would be quite the job as the stem is massive on the VOR stuff, sleeves would have to be made and pressed or welded in. I don’t have a lathe and my mate who does I have already asked a few too many favours lately and he is very busy.
Neither the front or the rear Ohlins were in the careful budget I set, damn those late night internet sessions looking at bike porn…. Budget was simple, Motard wheels, Triple clamps, fix the engine and get it road legal. That was it and holy moly I had to round up what spare parts I wasn’t using and get them sold. Out the door went the OEM forks, front wheel, lowering link, edelbrock carby, numerous other bits and some excess CR500 parts I will also regret selling… But hey don’t look back aye! Now I have sic Ohlins and I couldn’t be happier.
Last edited by dufasnz on Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:04 am; edited 1 time in total
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Wheels had been sitting in my shed for a while and I just had to test fit them up to see what it would look like. Patience is not one of my strong suits…
This bike will be a jack of all trades, long haul adventure with the 21”/18” wheels, gentle trails also with the 21”/18” but I love blasts on a supermoto set up. I hunted down a 17” set with cush drive, there are not many options as it turns out and MotoXindustries is where it’s at.
Here is a link below, they do all kinds of wheel sets dirt and supermoto etc.
https://motoxindustries.com/products/Supermoto-Conversion-Kit-Cush-Hub
I can’t speak highly enough of the service and value for money, excellent personal service actually and nothing is a problem. Jim even helped me import an item from another company that wouldn’t ship Internationaly.
There was a problem with one of the wheels, and without hesitation a replacement wheel was sent from USA to NZ. Now that’s what sets excellence apart, it’s the ‘putting right’ that counts. It wasn’t a quality issue, it was a mis-read on the order and it was put right straight away at no extra cost to me. I simply won’t be buying wheels etc from anywhere else.
Holy s*** they are big, front wheel won’t turn with those Polisport fork guards on and I’m still waiting on a caliper bracket to get the proper location for the front wheel before sorting out the spacers. When I ordered the motard set I was going to use my spare CR500 forks so I received a caliper bracket for the CR forks, now I have to wait for the local TM Racing Importer to source me the caliper bracket for the Ohlins and his service is notoriously s***… slow, I mean slow…
The rear with its 5” rim and 160 tyre was tough to get in, had to remove the chain guide and even then it was tricky. Haven’t looked at chain alignment or anything yet, I’ll come back to the wheels…
This bike will be a jack of all trades, long haul adventure with the 21”/18” wheels, gentle trails also with the 21”/18” but I love blasts on a supermoto set up. I hunted down a 17” set with cush drive, there are not many options as it turns out and MotoXindustries is where it’s at.
Here is a link below, they do all kinds of wheel sets dirt and supermoto etc.
https://motoxindustries.com/products/Supermoto-Conversion-Kit-Cush-Hub
I can’t speak highly enough of the service and value for money, excellent personal service actually and nothing is a problem. Jim even helped me import an item from another company that wouldn’t ship Internationaly.
There was a problem with one of the wheels, and without hesitation a replacement wheel was sent from USA to NZ. Now that’s what sets excellence apart, it’s the ‘putting right’ that counts. It wasn’t a quality issue, it was a mis-read on the order and it was put right straight away at no extra cost to me. I simply won’t be buying wheels etc from anywhere else.
Holy s*** they are big, front wheel won’t turn with those Polisport fork guards on and I’m still waiting on a caliper bracket to get the proper location for the front wheel before sorting out the spacers. When I ordered the motard set I was going to use my spare CR500 forks so I received a caliper bracket for the CR forks, now I have to wait for the local TM Racing Importer to source me the caliper bracket for the Ohlins and his service is notoriously s***… slow, I mean slow…
The rear with its 5” rim and 160 tyre was tough to get in, had to remove the chain guide and even then it was tricky. Haven’t looked at chain alignment or anything yet, I’ll come back to the wheels…
Last edited by dufasnz on Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:06 am; edited 1 time in total
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
At this stage I’ll point out there are a few things I’ve done that I forgot to take pics of.
Oil pump was replaced. Made a rookie mistake here. Bare in mind this is my first 4T engine to rebuild. I ordered the oil pump parts from a parts diagram before stripping bike. I ordered everything that moved or was a seal. When I disassembled the pump I found the inner rotor had picked up two tiny pieces from the metal backing plate and spun them. The backing plate was the only part of the oil pump I didn’t order and it was the only part in the oil pump that needed replacing… Mutter, mutter. Phone the Honda Shop on Monday morning, sorry sir that part is not stocked locally it is Ex Japan and a minimum 2weeks. Mutter, mutter $3 part.
Got a piece of glass and a new sheet of 400 wet and dry sand paper, layed the paper on the glass as it’s a perfect flat surface and sanded the backing plate smooth. Then with some 80 grit I put some light cross hatching in so oil can sit on the surface, might prevent it picking up again.
Swing arm and Linkage bearings have been done, not too hard although nuts were hard to undo. Got the swingarm tool from turbosuzuki, they are nicely made and well priced. Swingarm bolt was a bit corroded but not too bad, lots of grease went back in.
Also changed the chain adjuster bolts, dodged a bullet there. One was easy one was a little tuff, it seems me ol’ mate the PO lubricated one but not the other??? The swingarm had a bit of water in but not much. I have removed all the little screws that go into the swingarm and put gasket silicone on them when I put them back so hopefully that will keep a good deal of the water out and the adjuster bolts got a liberal coating of copper grease. They are the same adjusters as the CR500 so I had a new pair on hand, nice to have a win every now and then.
Oil pump was replaced. Made a rookie mistake here. Bare in mind this is my first 4T engine to rebuild. I ordered the oil pump parts from a parts diagram before stripping bike. I ordered everything that moved or was a seal. When I disassembled the pump I found the inner rotor had picked up two tiny pieces from the metal backing plate and spun them. The backing plate was the only part of the oil pump I didn’t order and it was the only part in the oil pump that needed replacing… Mutter, mutter. Phone the Honda Shop on Monday morning, sorry sir that part is not stocked locally it is Ex Japan and a minimum 2weeks. Mutter, mutter $3 part.
Got a piece of glass and a new sheet of 400 wet and dry sand paper, layed the paper on the glass as it’s a perfect flat surface and sanded the backing plate smooth. Then with some 80 grit I put some light cross hatching in so oil can sit on the surface, might prevent it picking up again.
Swing arm and Linkage bearings have been done, not too hard although nuts were hard to undo. Got the swingarm tool from turbosuzuki, they are nicely made and well priced. Swingarm bolt was a bit corroded but not too bad, lots of grease went back in.
Also changed the chain adjuster bolts, dodged a bullet there. One was easy one was a little tuff, it seems me ol’ mate the PO lubricated one but not the other??? The swingarm had a bit of water in but not much. I have removed all the little screws that go into the swingarm and put gasket silicone on them when I put them back so hopefully that will keep a good deal of the water out and the adjuster bolts got a liberal coating of copper grease. They are the same adjusters as the CR500 so I had a new pair on hand, nice to have a win every now and then.
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
My right side foot peg had been slightly loose at some point so instead of just upgrading the bolts I decided to weld the loop over the frame and pick up the front bolt. Harder to get spot on than it looks, especially for someone like me who is not a fabricator by trade. Far from it in fact, I know my weld is pretty ugly but I’m sure it will be pretty strong and a big improvement.
It’s a very tight fit so hopefully there will be no chance of it moving and flogging out the frame.
The long bolt is where I’m a little unsure on what to do. I can’t find a bolt that has a long enough thread so I can avoid drilling out the thread in the frame. I extended the thread down a 12.9 rated bolt but it wasn’t pretty, turned out rough and jagged. I also wonder how much this has weakened the bolt. Although it is now taking a bit less load as it’s spread to both ends of the bolt.
I won’t be using this bolt below as it was an experiment, I had a couple of goes on different bolts. Used lots of lubrication and I just couldn’t get it to cut nicely and make an acceptable job. I really wanted to leave the threads in the frame so I could crank the foot peg up tight then put a nut on the inside of the frame and crank that up tight and all would be dandy. But looks like I may have to drill out the threads in the frame and use one nut and a locking nut for safety. Any suggestions would be welcome.
It’s a very tight fit so hopefully there will be no chance of it moving and flogging out the frame.
The long bolt is where I’m a little unsure on what to do. I can’t find a bolt that has a long enough thread so I can avoid drilling out the thread in the frame. I extended the thread down a 12.9 rated bolt but it wasn’t pretty, turned out rough and jagged. I also wonder how much this has weakened the bolt. Although it is now taking a bit less load as it’s spread to both ends of the bolt.
I won’t be using this bolt below as it was an experiment, I had a couple of goes on different bolts. Used lots of lubrication and I just couldn’t get it to cut nicely and make an acceptable job. I really wanted to leave the threads in the frame so I could crank the foot peg up tight then put a nut on the inside of the frame and crank that up tight and all would be dandy. But looks like I may have to drill out the threads in the frame and use one nut and a locking nut for safety. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Last edited by dufasnz on Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:09 am; edited 2 times in total
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Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
That's it for now, the shed is a mess and I'm waiting on a few parts to arrive. Dufas out...
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Nice write up and great pictures. Really like the airbox mod.
Looking forward to more as you complete the bike.
Looking forward to more as you complete the bike.
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Welcome back!
Welcome back to the rebuild of this ol’ girl. Jeez it’s turning into some job! Thankfully had the folks visiting for a couple of weeks as I had nasal surgery the other day. Kind of a big bore and drainage job to try and alleviate these pesky headaches! Had to have a few days rest but eased back into it, so while Mum looked after my kids Dad and I spent a bit of time working on the bike. Was great to spend some quality time with him in the shed doing manly things!
So I’ll kick off where I left it last time. The foot peg bolt with full length thread, local fastener shop was able to order in 6x M10 x 100mm full length thread Cap Screws. They are 12.9 rated so very strong but they only came in black not Zinc coated. I shortened to desired length etch primed and silver top coated to minimise rusting.
Here is the finished result, on the inside of the front bolt is a Nyloc nut to clamp it up tight and I retained the thread in the frame. With regards to the rear bolt it was the longest one I could fit in there, 50-60mm at a guess and loctited in place. Can hardly notice the brace over the frame and because the bolt is pulling the brace down on the inside of the frame it’s under tension so definitely adding strength.
Next up was mount the Spal 4”/100mm fan, got it off Ebay out of Germany for a decent price.
Dreaded aluminium again, no bending tho so chill baby chill. Stupid airbox modification has put me right off ali.
Should have mounted the fan clocked 180 degrees, that would have had the wiring pointing down so water won’t run in…. Some extra silicone will need to be applied.
Fan sits about 2mm off the radiator core, had to trim some plastic gussets off the fan to make it work but it sits nice. Maybe a foam strip around the perimeter to seal against the core would increase its performance and I could probably reduce the size of my bracket although it’s a crap bit of alloy.
Dad helped a lot with the fitting of the radiators and the Unibiker braces/guards. If the radiators are new, straight and true, and the Unibikers are new I’m sure they are straight forward to fit. But my rads are bent, guards are bent, fan gets in the way and the headers get in the way to mount all the rear support rods. Ended up re-drilling and moving a few and drilling an access hole for the allen key just to do the bolts up. Much fun and quite a few hours of messing around…
Silicone Hoses are purdy but I’ll have to watch for rubbing as they don’t handle it like the rubber does. The top hose that joins the radiators is not sitting right as the tank rubs it pretty hard so some solution is required.
The thermostat housing has been drilled and tapped 1/8 NPT for a fan switch. Switch is still in the post.
Once the radiators were finally on, we soon realised there was a problem. The original forks are considerably smaller in diameter at the top than the USD, consequently the new to me ohlins hit the top of the radiator guards and on full lock there was quite a lot of interference. Out came the dremel with a cut off wheel and while I was there I trimmed the guard back so it didn’t rub on the oil line.
While I had the dremel handy I trimmed the bottom right triple clamp a tad as it also impacted the oil line a wee bit on full lock. Bit of an awkward spot and I slipped a couple of times, alas lads I’m only human…
I have been working on a unique way of mounting headlight, spot lights, indicators, dash, and wiring loom to the handlebar/fork area. Below is what I came up with, I have a mate who is the manager of a company that sells industrial plastic. It is amazing stuff and I use it all the time for all sorts projects, you can machine it and it will take a thread so very handy. I still have some way to go cutting shaping and drilling and tapping but you get the idea, they will be quite a bit smaller once finished.
It’s a tight fit around the radiators.
AS you can see there is not much room at the top for the block and it’s clamp because the steering damper post is in the way. The black marker pen scribbled on the steering damper post is there so I can see where the clamp bolts were just impacting and that area required attention from the dremel. My mate cut the 4 blocks for me and then I used a hole-saw to drill out the hole for the fork. It turned out that carefully placed 45 degree cuts across the holes put the clamps in the correct spot.
I tried bending the clamps out of some Titanium that I got off Ebay but turns out it was extremely hard to bend then it broke. That’s 3mm thick Ti Grade 5 (Ti 6Al-4V). I plan on making a couple of things for this bike out of this material, I have never used it before so it’s a learning curve. White sparks when you cut it are cool!!
I ended up making the clamps out of some stainless steel I had laying around, a material I’m much more familiar with. Here is how I bent them into shape, pretty low-tech. Used the same hole-saw that cut the hole in the plastic block and the trusty vice. Forgot to mention the plastic is cut with wood working tools so I used my Dewalt compound mitre saw to do the 45 degree cuts, hole-saw and drill press for the fork slot, belt sander to round the edges, easy as.
So I’ll kick off where I left it last time. The foot peg bolt with full length thread, local fastener shop was able to order in 6x M10 x 100mm full length thread Cap Screws. They are 12.9 rated so very strong but they only came in black not Zinc coated. I shortened to desired length etch primed and silver top coated to minimise rusting.
Here is the finished result, on the inside of the front bolt is a Nyloc nut to clamp it up tight and I retained the thread in the frame. With regards to the rear bolt it was the longest one I could fit in there, 50-60mm at a guess and loctited in place. Can hardly notice the brace over the frame and because the bolt is pulling the brace down on the inside of the frame it’s under tension so definitely adding strength.
Next up was mount the Spal 4”/100mm fan, got it off Ebay out of Germany for a decent price.
Dreaded aluminium again, no bending tho so chill baby chill. Stupid airbox modification has put me right off ali.
Should have mounted the fan clocked 180 degrees, that would have had the wiring pointing down so water won’t run in…. Some extra silicone will need to be applied.
Fan sits about 2mm off the radiator core, had to trim some plastic gussets off the fan to make it work but it sits nice. Maybe a foam strip around the perimeter to seal against the core would increase its performance and I could probably reduce the size of my bracket although it’s a crap bit of alloy.
Dad helped a lot with the fitting of the radiators and the Unibiker braces/guards. If the radiators are new, straight and true, and the Unibikers are new I’m sure they are straight forward to fit. But my rads are bent, guards are bent, fan gets in the way and the headers get in the way to mount all the rear support rods. Ended up re-drilling and moving a few and drilling an access hole for the allen key just to do the bolts up. Much fun and quite a few hours of messing around…
Silicone Hoses are purdy but I’ll have to watch for rubbing as they don’t handle it like the rubber does. The top hose that joins the radiators is not sitting right as the tank rubs it pretty hard so some solution is required.
The thermostat housing has been drilled and tapped 1/8 NPT for a fan switch. Switch is still in the post.
Once the radiators were finally on, we soon realised there was a problem. The original forks are considerably smaller in diameter at the top than the USD, consequently the new to me ohlins hit the top of the radiator guards and on full lock there was quite a lot of interference. Out came the dremel with a cut off wheel and while I was there I trimmed the guard back so it didn’t rub on the oil line.
While I had the dremel handy I trimmed the bottom right triple clamp a tad as it also impacted the oil line a wee bit on full lock. Bit of an awkward spot and I slipped a couple of times, alas lads I’m only human…
I have been working on a unique way of mounting headlight, spot lights, indicators, dash, and wiring loom to the handlebar/fork area. Below is what I came up with, I have a mate who is the manager of a company that sells industrial plastic. It is amazing stuff and I use it all the time for all sorts projects, you can machine it and it will take a thread so very handy. I still have some way to go cutting shaping and drilling and tapping but you get the idea, they will be quite a bit smaller once finished.
It’s a tight fit around the radiators.
AS you can see there is not much room at the top for the block and it’s clamp because the steering damper post is in the way. The black marker pen scribbled on the steering damper post is there so I can see where the clamp bolts were just impacting and that area required attention from the dremel. My mate cut the 4 blocks for me and then I used a hole-saw to drill out the hole for the fork. It turned out that carefully placed 45 degree cuts across the holes put the clamps in the correct spot.
I tried bending the clamps out of some Titanium that I got off Ebay but turns out it was extremely hard to bend then it broke. That’s 3mm thick Ti Grade 5 (Ti 6Al-4V). I plan on making a couple of things for this bike out of this material, I have never used it before so it’s a learning curve. White sparks when you cut it are cool!!
I ended up making the clamps out of some stainless steel I had laying around, a material I’m much more familiar with. Here is how I bent them into shape, pretty low-tech. Used the same hole-saw that cut the hole in the plastic block and the trusty vice. Forgot to mention the plastic is cut with wood working tools so I used my Dewalt compound mitre saw to do the 45 degree cuts, hole-saw and drill press for the fork slot, belt sander to round the edges, easy as.
Last edited by dufasnz on Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:13 am; edited 1 time in total
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Great write up, 1 question the right foot peg bolt doesn't look like the correct thread pitch it's a metric fine not standard pitch ?.....should be M10x1.25 which is fine and standard being M10x.15.....
Mauser- XRR Monger
- Joined : 2010-09-13
Posts : 1970
Location : UK
XR650R Year : 2002
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Well the previous owner strikes again, I put the same thread size in as I took out. At some point the original bolts must have come loose as the frame mounts show some wear. He has then changed them to the standard M10 thread. Front bolt is of no concern as it has a Nyloc nut locking it all together, the rear bolt is wound in ridiculously tight with heaps of locktite and the brace will reduce the load on the bolts. Not much I can do now and I'm certain it will hold up, I won't be hitting big jumps!!
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Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Dad spent a bit of time before he went home on chain alignment and even with a non O-ring chain clearance is tight with the 5” rim and 160 tyre. No matter what we did to the XR’s Only rear chain guide the chain is too close to the tyre. I have no problem with a bit of chain rub but the inspection guys do. I have made a completely new rear chain guide using the XR’s Only as a bit of a template, the black industrial plastic is self lubricating. Quite different to the other stuff I have used, a real bugger to cut as it’s “chewy”. The dewalt drop saw which eats the other stuff spins too fast, it just gummed it up and wouldn’t cut. I ended up rough cutting it with a hand saw then using my router on a low speed setting. I had already cut the Titanium backing plate and used a router bit with a ball bearing on the end to follow the shape.
On top of the swing arm I made an odd looking chain guide to hold the chain away from the tyre, it is fixed to the top and the inside of the swing arm by rivnuts.
I sealed up the rivnuts as I installed it, hopefully that will keep water out of the swing arm.
Here is a couple of pics of the cush drive I took while I had the wheel out.
Here is a random picture of an insect native only to New Zealand, I get a lot of them in my yard. It’s called a Weta and this is a medium size one, cool critters.
The Brembo caliper that came with the forks has been beaten on a bit, the seals for the sliders had torn and the slider were a mess. I took the Nissin caliper from the XR and started to disassemble both, the sliders are basically the same, the slider seals are the same. There is actually very little difference between the two. Didn’t measure the piston diameter as my vernier’s are on fritz but eyeball they look about the same…. Nissin on the right below with the pads, piston wall thickness is different.
I brought a brake caliper adapter from Italy made by Moto Master, they make a lot of brake parts but not exactly for the fork/brake combo I have. The Husqvarna range of the late 90’s early 2000’s have the same caliper (as do most European bikes) but crucially it also had the 60mm bolt centres required to fit the fork bolt pattern.
What I didn’t count on is the Husky has a 260mm disk and the VOR/TM Racing brakes are 270mm so my $120 adapter takes the caliper too far out and not enough of the pad is contacting the disk.
Solution, make my own adapter bracket. Went to the aluminium shop (aluminum for the Americans) and got a piece of 6061 billet 25mm thick 75mm wide, their minimum length was 500mm. Cheaper than I expected $61. Lucky I got plenty as the first bracket I made moved the caliper too close and I had to start again. Mark 2 is perfect, the cut outs overlap a bit so I made the ends a bit chunkier for added strength. The Moto Master one is 20mm thick and mine is 25mm but both put the caliper in the right spot.
I don’t have a mill so my trusty router, a careful hand and some patience has produced a bracket that once it’s polished and anodised will be just like a brought one.
Front end is starting to take shape.
On top of the swing arm I made an odd looking chain guide to hold the chain away from the tyre, it is fixed to the top and the inside of the swing arm by rivnuts.
I sealed up the rivnuts as I installed it, hopefully that will keep water out of the swing arm.
Here is a couple of pics of the cush drive I took while I had the wheel out.
Here is a random picture of an insect native only to New Zealand, I get a lot of them in my yard. It’s called a Weta and this is a medium size one, cool critters.
The Brembo caliper that came with the forks has been beaten on a bit, the seals for the sliders had torn and the slider were a mess. I took the Nissin caliper from the XR and started to disassemble both, the sliders are basically the same, the slider seals are the same. There is actually very little difference between the two. Didn’t measure the piston diameter as my vernier’s are on fritz but eyeball they look about the same…. Nissin on the right below with the pads, piston wall thickness is different.
I brought a brake caliper adapter from Italy made by Moto Master, they make a lot of brake parts but not exactly for the fork/brake combo I have. The Husqvarna range of the late 90’s early 2000’s have the same caliper (as do most European bikes) but crucially it also had the 60mm bolt centres required to fit the fork bolt pattern.
What I didn’t count on is the Husky has a 260mm disk and the VOR/TM Racing brakes are 270mm so my $120 adapter takes the caliper too far out and not enough of the pad is contacting the disk.
Solution, make my own adapter bracket. Went to the aluminium shop (aluminum for the Americans) and got a piece of 6061 billet 25mm thick 75mm wide, their minimum length was 500mm. Cheaper than I expected $61. Lucky I got plenty as the first bracket I made moved the caliper too close and I had to start again. Mark 2 is perfect, the cut outs overlap a bit so I made the ends a bit chunkier for added strength. The Moto Master one is 20mm thick and mine is 25mm but both put the caliper in the right spot.
I don’t have a mill so my trusty router, a careful hand and some patience has produced a bracket that once it’s polished and anodised will be just like a brought one.
Front end is starting to take shape.
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Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
I have made a Titanium number plate holder, out of China it’s not as expensive as you might think. I have spent NZ$190 including freight on 3 pieces 3mm thick 300x150 and 2 pieces 1.5mm thick 400x200.
This box is also titanium, it will be where the bulk of my electrical connections and relays will be. It will be mounted behind the headlight between the plastic blocks. The corner is curved for the front brake to slide around nicely.
The brackets holding the LED wide angle spot lights and headlight are also Titanium. Front brake hose comes through the block where my finger is, the light bracket makes the front of the hose guide. You can see in the picture above where the box sits in relation to the hose guide.
Spot lights had to sit forward because the lower fork guard with the front brake hose clamp sticks out a lot. Headlight bracket is shaped like that so the headlight can tilt forward giving access to the box behind which may have fuses in depending on how full it gets…
I had some help welding the number plate and box and I made a s^!* job welding the brackets!!!
Still to make top head light brackets that are easily adjustable for when carrying a load. I will polish the titanium, then it’s start the dreaded wiring loom….
Until next time, ride safe.
This box is also titanium, it will be where the bulk of my electrical connections and relays will be. It will be mounted behind the headlight between the plastic blocks. The corner is curved for the front brake to slide around nicely.
The brackets holding the LED wide angle spot lights and headlight are also Titanium. Front brake hose comes through the block where my finger is, the light bracket makes the front of the hose guide. You can see in the picture above where the box sits in relation to the hose guide.
Spot lights had to sit forward because the lower fork guard with the front brake hose clamp sticks out a lot. Headlight bracket is shaped like that so the headlight can tilt forward giving access to the box behind which may have fuses in depending on how full it gets…
I had some help welding the number plate and box and I made a s^!* job welding the brackets!!!
Still to make top head light brackets that are easily adjustable for when carrying a load. I will polish the titanium, then it’s start the dreaded wiring loom….
Until next time, ride safe.
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Starting to get close now, lots of fabrication that has slowed me down but I do enjoy it…….to a point!
Here is the brake caliper adapter back from anodising, was fast service but holy s**t $107 seems pretty steep for a matt finish. The bracket I brought from Moto Master cost $120 and that was machined, anodised, sold to a retailer and delivered from Italy for $13 more.
I drilled the thermostat and fitted the sensor for the fan control relay. I brought a “Hayden Automotive 3651 Fan controller” It can control two fans and you can adjust the temp at which the fan comes on. I’ll only be using one fan but what sold me on this kit is the sensor is small and the on temp is adjustable. It’s made for cars so a bit overkill….
Here is the brake caliper adapter back from anodising, was fast service but holy s**t $107 seems pretty steep for a matt finish. The bracket I brought from Moto Master cost $120 and that was machined, anodised, sold to a retailer and delivered from Italy for $13 more.
I drilled the thermostat and fitted the sensor for the fan control relay. I brought a “Hayden Automotive 3651 Fan controller” It can control two fans and you can adjust the temp at which the fan comes on. I’ll only be using one fan but what sold me on this kit is the sensor is small and the on temp is adjustable. It’s made for cars so a bit overkill….
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Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
As mentioned when I made the air filter clamp I needed to bush the holes in the top clamp. I used rivnuts then sliced the threaded section off, with a bit of love from a flap disk I now have pressed on bushes. No more Ali filings when bolting up the filter.
Bit of filter grease round the rim, had the PO bothered with this step I would say the top end would not have needed rebuilding….
Clamped up good and proper, no way that bas^**d is leaking!
Maybe if I just drilled a few holes?
Bit of filter grease round the rim, had the PO bothered with this step I would say the top end would not have needed rebuilding….
Clamped up good and proper, no way that bas^**d is leaking!
Maybe if I just drilled a few holes?
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Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
I have replaced the bulb with some fangled new LED, not expensive ones either. Cheap china ones I have installed in my folks camper and they have lasted ages. How they will last bouncing around on there we will soon find out but at a few bucks each I have plenty! Before I put the lens on I put a bit of silicone on the wires and body of the LED’s just to reduce movement. They came with 3M double sided tape on the back.
The top LED with individual diodes is a lot dimmer than the solid pad below, top is tail and bottom is stop.
Number plate holder has lights now, indicators are Oxford and stick out more than I thought they would. Great to be seen but exposed to a crash. Tail/stop is China made as is the black bolts/LED for plate illumination. Some may scoff at the China made LED’s, I have brought a heap of stuff for this bike direct from China and do so without any worries. Obviously there are some things I def wouldn’t buy, but lets face it, a large proportion of the stuff we buy from big brands is made in China. I would say 90% of the gear I have brought has met or exceeded expectations, I’m not buying knock off branded stuff, fuse holders, LEDs, chunks of Titanium, switches, crimp joiners and plugs etc. I have had to save money where I can cos I have blown the a** out of the budget in other areas!!!!
This is the underside of my Ti number plate holder now it’s wired and the cap over the connections. Once the number plate is fitted the bolts with LED's can be wired up for the last time and I'll add some silicone to the cable entries to stop them chaffing and seal up the connection box.
The top LED with individual diodes is a lot dimmer than the solid pad below, top is tail and bottom is stop.
Number plate holder has lights now, indicators are Oxford and stick out more than I thought they would. Great to be seen but exposed to a crash. Tail/stop is China made as is the black bolts/LED for plate illumination. Some may scoff at the China made LED’s, I have brought a heap of stuff for this bike direct from China and do so without any worries. Obviously there are some things I def wouldn’t buy, but lets face it, a large proportion of the stuff we buy from big brands is made in China. I would say 90% of the gear I have brought has met or exceeded expectations, I’m not buying knock off branded stuff, fuse holders, LEDs, chunks of Titanium, switches, crimp joiners and plugs etc. I have had to save money where I can cos I have blown the a** out of the budget in other areas!!!!
This is the underside of my Ti number plate holder now it’s wired and the cap over the connections. Once the number plate is fitted the bolts with LED's can be wired up for the last time and I'll add some silicone to the cable entries to stop them chaffing and seal up the connection box.
Last edited by dufasnz on Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:10 am; edited 2 times in total
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Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
I have raised the handlebars considerably to try and get as upright a riding position as possible just like my CR500. I do this because I have 16 screws in my lower back and don’t bend too well, low bars just don’t allow me to ride very long before becoming very sore.
The upshot of high bars is short throttle/clutch/decomp cables, also I have made the decision to ditch the forward mounted post for the steering damper. With the big triple clamps it’s just a pain in the ass for cable routing (pull cables and electrical) as it wants to pinch everything.
I will attempt to make a rear mounted post that still allows access to oil filler, will be tough but worth it for two main reasons. a) no more pinching cables. b) I only have one steering damper that’s fitted to the CR with a rear post that I made, wouldn’t have to change the lever on the damper with a rear post on the XR.
Anyway throttle cables now needed to be run through the triple clamps as going behind they will get pinched and I have the high clamps so custom cables and a new throttle tube to make a sweet set up. Coastline Honda locally made an appalling job of making these cables and charge me an arm AND a leg. Motorcycle mechanics 101 is making cables and he reckon 2 throttle cable set up on the carby and throttle tube took him 4hrs to make…. He destroyed the brand new cables that came with carby, destroyed my good decomp cable but the new one’s inner is too long…. One end of the decomp cable was crimped with side cutters FFS!! I don’t pay shops for much for this reason I just didn’t want to buy a swag of raw materials to make them, burned.
Wrong size adjuster bolt and no rubber boot that covers both cable entries.
Had to make an extension bolt as the inner was too long even to he had the original to copy. I know I should have taken them back but I was so mad and would end up going ballistic, I just don’t want to set foot in there again. I won’t be giving them anymore money and I will be showing everybody I can what s**t work they are happy to charge top dollar for.
Battery is a Shorai and I have water proofed it as per someone’s instructions and will do the terminals when I'm finished, it’s pretty exposed where it sits. The centre cable is the charging cable that will tuck up on top of the airbox for easy battery connection to the Shorai charger.
Here it is fitted, choke extension uses the battery clamp and I used part of a stainless bracket that was a headlight mount so not much work required and quite a handy spot. Will add 2 fuses straight off the battery that are not there yet, one for starter and one for everything else.
The upshot of high bars is short throttle/clutch/decomp cables, also I have made the decision to ditch the forward mounted post for the steering damper. With the big triple clamps it’s just a pain in the ass for cable routing (pull cables and electrical) as it wants to pinch everything.
I will attempt to make a rear mounted post that still allows access to oil filler, will be tough but worth it for two main reasons. a) no more pinching cables. b) I only have one steering damper that’s fitted to the CR with a rear post that I made, wouldn’t have to change the lever on the damper with a rear post on the XR.
Anyway throttle cables now needed to be run through the triple clamps as going behind they will get pinched and I have the high clamps so custom cables and a new throttle tube to make a sweet set up. Coastline Honda locally made an appalling job of making these cables and charge me an arm AND a leg. Motorcycle mechanics 101 is making cables and he reckon 2 throttle cable set up on the carby and throttle tube took him 4hrs to make…. He destroyed the brand new cables that came with carby, destroyed my good decomp cable but the new one’s inner is too long…. One end of the decomp cable was crimped with side cutters FFS!! I don’t pay shops for much for this reason I just didn’t want to buy a swag of raw materials to make them, burned.
Wrong size adjuster bolt and no rubber boot that covers both cable entries.
Had to make an extension bolt as the inner was too long even to he had the original to copy. I know I should have taken them back but I was so mad and would end up going ballistic, I just don’t want to set foot in there again. I won’t be giving them anymore money and I will be showing everybody I can what s**t work they are happy to charge top dollar for.
Battery is a Shorai and I have water proofed it as per someone’s instructions and will do the terminals when I'm finished, it’s pretty exposed where it sits. The centre cable is the charging cable that will tuck up on top of the airbox for easy battery connection to the Shorai charger.
Here it is fitted, choke extension uses the battery clamp and I used part of a stainless bracket that was a headlight mount so not much work required and quite a handy spot. Will add 2 fuses straight off the battery that are not there yet, one for starter and one for everything else.
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Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Mikuni TM40-6 carby . Haven’t set the accelerator pump yet but starting point jetting is as follows:
Pilot Jet 25
Main Jet 145
Needle Jet Y6
Needle 9DJY4-96 middle clip, spacer in
Air Jet 1.2
Float level 20.8mm
Sea level, 20C.
Lightly ported head, stage 1, Batwing, opened airbox, XR’s Only full exhaust with the pre-silencer expansion chamber thingy.
I started it for the first time the other day so that was a joyous occasion only to find it’s lean on the pilot as when choke is pushed in it dies. Thought I had a few more jets than I do so waiting on a 27.5, 30 and 32.5
Carby came from Niche Cycles so no idea what accelerator pump jet it has, will sort that next time it’s out.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated I have only tuned a two stroke before.
Still have wiring at front of bike to finish, did use the electric starter to start it and it requires pulling the decomp lever to turn it over. Battery will go for plenty of short bursts, until the starter is pretty warm before it slows. If you repeatedly wind her over as I did to circulate oil before giving spark the battery seems to fade, give it 20seconds between starts and the battery is back to full power.
It’s the 14Ah Shorai if you’re wondering, the starter doesn’t have the gear reduction of other starter systems hence the size of the motor and drain on battery. The charger is quite fast too and man battery weighs nothing compared to a lead acid.
Hopefully first ride soon!
Stay upright, let me know your jetting suggestions please gentleman.
Pilot Jet 25
Main Jet 145
Needle Jet Y6
Needle 9DJY4-96 middle clip, spacer in
Air Jet 1.2
Float level 20.8mm
Sea level, 20C.
Lightly ported head, stage 1, Batwing, opened airbox, XR’s Only full exhaust with the pre-silencer expansion chamber thingy.
I started it for the first time the other day so that was a joyous occasion only to find it’s lean on the pilot as when choke is pushed in it dies. Thought I had a few more jets than I do so waiting on a 27.5, 30 and 32.5
Carby came from Niche Cycles so no idea what accelerator pump jet it has, will sort that next time it’s out.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated I have only tuned a two stroke before.
Still have wiring at front of bike to finish, did use the electric starter to start it and it requires pulling the decomp lever to turn it over. Battery will go for plenty of short bursts, until the starter is pretty warm before it slows. If you repeatedly wind her over as I did to circulate oil before giving spark the battery seems to fade, give it 20seconds between starts and the battery is back to full power.
It’s the 14Ah Shorai if you’re wondering, the starter doesn’t have the gear reduction of other starter systems hence the size of the motor and drain on battery. The charger is quite fast too and man battery weighs nothing compared to a lead acid.
Hopefully first ride soon!
Stay upright, let me know your jetting suggestions please gentleman.
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Yo Dufas,
Nice project/bike, but.... get yourself a remote idling adjuster (a cable), you'll thank me laters
Nice project/bike, but.... get yourself a remote idling adjuster (a cable), you'll thank me laters
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Got all the wiring done and she flew through the road worthy inspection $500 later I now have 12 months Warrant of Fitness and 6 months Registration.
Now it was road legal I had no concerns about chain rub on the tyre I actually rode the thing for the first time!!! After owning it nearly 4yrs it’s a good feeling.
Couple of issues to resolve, new seal on counter shaft is leaking and the clutch which I haven’t touched seems to be slipping. I found the clutch problem on the second ride when I applied a bit more throttle, I guess it shows I’m making at least a bit of hp…
Just when you think it's finished the "still to do" list gets longer:
Change pilot jet from 30 to 27.5. Found the 25 too lean
Heated grips
Heated jacket plug
USB / Cig outlet
Clock cut into the bottom left of dash
Radiator shroud, tank and fork graphics are coming.
Replace clutch
Forks need a rebuild as they don’t operate as smooth as they should.
Wind screen works a treat at keeping wind pressure off the chest, although top of it is getting close to helmet. I made it tall so I could trim it down if required.
My two babies
Now it was road legal I had no concerns about chain rub on the tyre I actually rode the thing for the first time!!! After owning it nearly 4yrs it’s a good feeling.
Couple of issues to resolve, new seal on counter shaft is leaking and the clutch which I haven’t touched seems to be slipping. I found the clutch problem on the second ride when I applied a bit more throttle, I guess it shows I’m making at least a bit of hp…
Just when you think it's finished the "still to do" list gets longer:
Change pilot jet from 30 to 27.5. Found the 25 too lean
Heated grips
Heated jacket plug
USB / Cig outlet
Clock cut into the bottom left of dash
Radiator shroud, tank and fork graphics are coming.
Replace clutch
Forks need a rebuild as they don’t operate as smooth as they should.
Wind screen works a treat at keeping wind pressure off the chest, although top of it is getting close to helmet. I made it tall so I could trim it down if required.
My two babies
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Nice work, bike looks great!
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
Nice write up. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
Is that an IMS 4.6 you have?
Is that an IMS 4.6 you have?
Guest- Guest
Re: Long Awaited Rebuild with Lots of Mods and Plenty of Pics
From tame to an aggressive one, you did a good job of transforming that bike.
Guest- Guest
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