Hi All, Not sure if this is the best place for this or even if anyone would to see it! Either way, I thought I might as well spew my thoughts onto the keyboard for my own records and if it helps someone or prompts someone to give me any hints or tips then all the better! Setting the scene! Last year I purchased a pretty well used 2008 Fireblade to replace my 2007 ZX10R which was more of a boat than a bike. A fast boat but a boat all the same. The bike in question is no bog standard offering! The specs that I know of as follows: 2011 Wheels K-Tech DDS fork internals HRC Dash HRC Loom HRC ECU HRC Oil Cooler HRC Catch tank HRC front and rear subframe Brembo master Cylinder PP tuning clipons Carbon frame protectors PP Tuning Rearsets Showa Kit rear shock Quickshifter I think that's about it. According to the dyno it kicks out 198bhp at the wheel! Sounds like a lot and although I have the printout and riding it it feels like an absolute missile I still can't really believe it. After my little spill at Donnington last year it looked a little worse for wear! Due to a lack of time and money only gaffer tape and a fibreglass kit has been holding it together. Until now! So this is the beginning of my strip and refurb thread. It'll be predominantly cosmetic but I'll have to get the engine refreshed along the way as I have no idea what's inside it and when it might explode unexpectedly! I'm going to start at the front and work my way backwards but I've got to get it done pretty quickly so I'll try and post fairly regular updates. Wish me luck!
I cracked into it last night with reckless abandon! I started with the removal of it's clothes which you would think would be a swift task. Unfortunately one of the items I wanted to remove were the carbon frame protectors. They'd been glued on with silicone sealant which might be the "proper way" but getting them off is a total nightmare! Having thrown the bike in the gravel and ripped them to shreds they are in dire need of some tlc and were VERY firmly attached. The removal process included just about every thin strong object in the garage and after about an hour (on each side!) of swearing and knuckle bashing they were off and the frame was looking a little abused. The picture above also shows a very tasty addition of a billet brembo master cylinder, from Chris Walkers BSB bike no less (that's gotta be worth a few seconds a lap right ;-) ). I had a tube of silicone remover so covered it in it and after dinner got it to the state above. My new fairings arrived yesterday so I had to pop the tail on as I haven't seen it for about 10 months without the drooping backend and the idea of spangly bike spurred me on in the face of what currently looks like a pretty trashed machine. Tonight it's brake caliper rebuild and I'm going to try some tips I saw from the endurance boys for faster/easier wheel changes. As she stands:
Only problem with frame covers is if covering damage underneath, looks like apart from that shouldn't be too difficult to sort though, good luck with the rebuild
Only problem with frame covers is if covering damage underneath, looks like apart from that shouldn't be too difficult to sort though, good luck with the rebuild
was that damage covered over by the frame covers? if so I'd be giving a proper going over as look like it's ahad a good smack at some point. looks like a similar spec to mine ith the rad.cooler etc.would like to know whats been done to get 198 at the wheel though,as that's quite a high number for a blade
All the scratches are from removing the protectors. It was a truly horrendous job and I didn't want to just tear them off and have to buy a new pair. The picture makes the scratches look worse than they are and there's no dents or anything other than my grim surface destruction from last night. No idea on the internal spec Scooby, hopefully when it gets pulled apart for a refresh I'll find out. Seems quick in a straight line though, it reels in most things I follow like new 10r's and S1000rr's. You never really know what's what on a track though, gearing is different, might get a better or worse drive out of a corner, everyone's quicker than me etc. etc.
OMG - you wouldnt want to take them off a road bike then would you... be a right off that! and i sure as hell wouldnt buy a road bike with them on as would want to see the frame!! that said, couldnt heating them up with a hair drier or something get the silicone warm and the protectors off easier?... personally though i'd rather but new protectors than a frame!? good luck with the rest of the build mate and keep the pics coming, looks like it was a nice bike.... Craner curves by any chance!?!?
that's exactly how I took mine off the last blade,hot air gun+patience. is a bugger of a job,but I'd rather that than have my frame looking like that,that put anyone off buying that bike imo.or if tour strippin git completely,get it re painted around the air intake. yea keep the info coming,and when you split the motor get a list of the internals etc as it must have some money inside it. it's easy enough to see if it's been ported by just looking into the inlets,if it's been ported then generally it's had most other things done (head skim etc)
I tried heat etc. but silicone is hardcore stuff when there is that much of it. They must of used a whole tube! I might re-attach them with something a little more forgiving like that industrial velcro or something. The crash was at Redgate, someone else's bike blew up, sprayed their back tyre with oil and they went down and me and another chap followed suit on the oil spill. My Blade plowed into his bike wrecking the slip-on, fairing, oil pressure sensor, front subframe and various other little bends and scrapes.
Can't remember what the rad is, I'll have a look tonight. It's "Something Fabrications" but not sure what the something is. I'd like to get the frame and swing arm stripped and polished next year to get rid of all the blemishes and to give it a bit of the MotoGP look. No idea what it would cost or where to get it done.
keep your eye out for a silver swing arm, they are cheap as chips and easy job... or buy harris one as for frame no idea's.... bummer that on oil, not good when that happens...
So many additions! So I've been on a bit of a mission over the last week and a bit. The evenings have been spent spangling and sorting and the weekend was a painting epic! I started with the caliper rebuild which was pretty painless due to reasonable condition from last year. One thing that does annoy me is disc on pad snagging and caliper removal when doing wheel changes so I did a bit of modification this time! Magnets in the pistons to stop the pads falling inwards and stopping the disc sliding in: These are glued into the pistons and are just recessed in so that the pad still only touches the edge of the piston. Discovered this was important when the first stack of magnets shattered on brake application. Oops. A got the deal on the GPfax pads from bikehps.com whee you get a set for free making them 50odd quid for a full front set. These got some edge smoothing to allow for even smoother sliding in of the disc so there's no snags. When they are in the caliper they look pretty neat and most importantly the wheel swaps are smooth as silk! I also took a dremel to the front fender so I only have to remove one caliper and then the other fork leg swings out of the way. It's not ideal but doing it without removing either pad caused me more pain than it was worth and always ended up in me trying to force it which would scratch up the wheels etc. This means that process for a wheel swap is now a case of, jack up the front, whip off one caliper, remove the axle and slide the wheel out while rotating one fork leg. Going back in is the reverse and there is no faffing with parting the pads etc. Happy. To avoid a melt down I'm going to do a few posts rather than lose everything on a PC crash.
Part 2! Next up was the addition of some CARBON! So i got a bit greedy for the weave and ordered a clock mount not really thinking about the fact that it was designed for a road bike. That then meant there was nowhere for the HRC overflow bottle. Hmmm, not being a fabricater but also not wanting to ruin it I started off with a plan for cable ties but it didn't do it justice. So... I made an aluminium strap with a threaded hole and a thumb nut for keeping it in position: Not ideal but it works pretty well and it means the dash looks rather tidy! I also had a broken bracket on the rad so made a new one from the same Ali. The radiator I have now discovered is an AH Fabrications one. Never heard of them but it looks expensive so hopefully I can keep it in fine fettle! I can't weld so it's held on with CT1 which is the strongest stuff know to man so hopefully it should be ok. If not I'll pay a man with a flame or an electrode or whatever it takes...
So other than loads of cleaning, an oil change, some more cleaning, bit of polishing and some cleaning it was paint time! Late last year I picked up a cheap compressor from Machine Mart (less than £100 I think) and an LVLP gun from eBay for a cool £17.99 and I was ready! I was told nothing but horror stories about the whole painting process especially with cheap compressors and guns. I'm not going to be winning any hotrod paint competitions but having done 3 fairings I think I've got a method that's actually not that bad! For me the process goes: If the part is haggered use isopol filler to make it smooth again and do some sanding etc. until it looks pretty good Use 2k primer to make a flat surface and sand totally flat If the part is not haggered, skip steps one and two and just sand it a bit to rough it up so the paint sticks with a 600 grit sandpaper Wipe it well with panel wipe (i find this to be critical! I think it's due to the silicone based fiberglass mold release agent) Spray a load of colour on it and leave it to dry. There's loads of how to spray videos and the Gunman ones are pretty good. I just watched his style and tried to copy it. 2k Lacquer on the top because it's petrol proof the cellulose stuff isn't... i think. Put a few coats and leave it to dry. I'm no pro but these steps are few enough to not consider taking my own life halfway through and give me a good enough finish for a track/race machine. You'd want it better for your roadbike/car but I'm not bothered about that. The tank pre-lacquer The bellypan, still wet but post lacquer: The colour choice was forced on me by a bargain on a set of RST carbon leathers in Green. I wouldn't choose green leathers normally but at 50% off and therefore £300 I'd take poo brown. The last step for now was to get the guys that do our sign writing on the vans to do 2 A4 sheets of cut vinyl decals to give it the pro finish.
Here's the finished article with stickers, paint and cleanliness! Before: After: There's still a few bits to do like new engine protectors, new end can from pipe werx and an engine refresh (oh the expense!). If anyone knows anyone who has the HRC USB cable it would be great to try and plug into the beast at a trackday at some point if someone fancied a few minutes of loanage. I'd just like to see what the current settings are on everything. I've now put the seat foam and bum pad on so I'm ready to rock. Fortunately the Mallory trackday tomorrow had some fast group places open up so I'm now going to dash home and load up for the first trackday of the year! I am SO EXCITED! My comically green bike will probably be pretty obvious so if anyone is going to be there tomorrow then come say howdy.
Wow, sometimes it really feels like a secondhand bike hates you right? After finishing the above with TL and C and two trackdays the gearbox well and truly spat it's dummy out. It's at Ray Stringer's for some serious surgery and it turns out selector forks and 5th and 6th gear are totally bollocksed. On the plus side the rest of the engine is in pretty fine fettle and he says that the head work is really good on it. The icing on the cake is a set of Billet JE Pistons which look very trick! Getting the engine out was bad enough, I'm sure slipping it back in will be significantly more "finger trappy" and hopefully it will all be sorted by the end of next week. I know it's stupid but when they're on life support you realise how much you'd miss them if they died.
