CBR repair

[Itchy]

I'm bored and there are far too many doubters out there who crash their bikes lightly and decide to sell up.

Having been a bike destroyer for several years killing numerous XJ600s CB500s GS500s and assorted rat bikes I decided to start looking after them.

One fine afternoon Babyyam decided to have a barbie, the instructions were clear go hook up at Big D's , Gman , and Stiffler wanted to go for a warm up ride before hand...

So we all went round to Tim's place,

Around the back of Milnrow I broke my most important rule RECON the road before you go fast on it, and chasing Tim who knows that road well , overtake a couple of cars, and approach this tight bend which said slow, I took it at over a ton, I originally thought I low sided it , but then I remember being buckled about on the bike being thrown left and right, with me flying through the air to the right with the bike landing on its right then left.

And me playing superman along the road up the embankment and nearly into a tree.

I lay still and think oh crap I must have broken something remarkably I get up and I am completely uninjured.

Initial damage report:

Broken helmet
Scuffed busted leathers
broken gear lever, missing indicator.

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With some help from Tim who rides home and gets some tools the CBR is barely ridable and I ride home in 3rd.

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I took my frustrations out on this cure little kitten , nah only joking

I decide to strip the bike's fairings off completely and it looks alright.

But time is short and I change to my commuting gear and decide to go see Babyyam at her house for the Barbie.

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I get home the next day and have a look over the bike and the damage it ALOT worse than I first thought:

Crushed link pipe

damaged exhaust

dinged rear wheel dinged front wheel

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twisted front mud guard

bent clip on

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deep scratches into the genny cover

snapped clutch lever

broken indicator

few dings here and there

I took off the end can and the link pipe and noticed a big crack on the swing arm, thats NOT a crack it had completely snapped, I had in effect ridden home at ahem high speed on the motorway with a single sided swing arm. Crud hadn't planned for that.

G in the Chatroom consoles me that swingarms are cheap and indeed they are I mated a CBR600F4I (which is 4mm longer) to my FX costing me £25 inc delivery. As G put it there is a low demand on swing arms being that people who snap them tend to die.

I'm assured I don't need a castle bolt socket to remove the swing arm , so I manage to remove the left bearing completely and yet it won't budge the right hand bearing , I stand on it and no avail it won't shift....... Oh heck Honda Castle bolts, another expensive tool from Mr Honda.....

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Asking Mr Silver how much the tool was to remove it I was greeted by £70+VAT , I'm not going to pay that, as many riders will attest I am a cheap skate.

So I went out and bought a £20 Angle grinder and a £2 socket from Brabben and Rudd and cut my OWN. worked a charm. Mr Honda for your rip off tools!

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Infact I needed yet another tool a 10mm Allen key to remove the swingarm spindle , £20 on ebay inc delivery was the best I could manage , no thanks I have a look around and see some big nuts and bolts everywhere, and scanning around I see my NTV mirrors, and stick a 5p lock nut on the end, sucess it works fine, again to you rip off tool merchants!

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Sucess the swing arm goes on OK

I replace the clip on ,the clutch cable mechanism and the gear changer simple swap over of new parts easy as pie boring. Same with the mirror. Forks come out to check they aren't bent they aren't good stuff...

She is ridable at least...

Hmm what to do about the exhaust though

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it looks a tad bent , it is bent, I get some pipe expanders and expand it to a circular shape , and with the help of a big hammer I made it fit and used a tube of firegum in the process

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She is ridable! , and I take her to work on account that my NTV has developed a reg/rec issue.

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And I manage to get her to the Manchester bike show.

Onthe way home though I manage somehow to damage the zorst downpipes and it sounds terrible and thus put the CBR in surgery again

Having heard many horror stories about broken studs and Pete the local mechanic not wanting to do it (well he said he would but he moaned at me for such a long time I decided to do it myself.

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Remove the radiator to get a clear view and easy access spilling the green fluid all over the place..... it doesn't evaporate for ages btw.

I armed myself with 2 cans of penetrating oil and lubed it up the day before , and during the procedure.

The studs whined horribly as I slowly undid them but 7 of the studs came out clean , and one was stuck solid I left that one in.

I undid the bolt under the engine and the pipes fell out, bonza, and used a borrowed die or is it a tap to clean out the holes, Pete informed me that you need to be able to do the studs up with your thumb and forefinger.

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A few days wait for some rip off studs from David Silvers and the stainless system from Sandybike spares and I was ready.

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Hmm what are all these black rings on the ports, Ichy informed me they were gaskets, pliers no good, screw driver no good as I was fearful of breaking the valves. An hour later I stick a screw driver in hammer it home into the gasket and they peel out nicely.

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Stainless pipes didn't fit properly so I phoned up Sandy, the ports were not lined up according to him the pipes need to be pulled apart as the hand welding shrinks them in the Jig, so here I am with my fist between the ports pulling the pipes apart and lining them.

Next was a horrible bit doing up the brass nuts and yet again hearing t he squealing of the studs and the nuts as they go in,

port 1 ok
port 2 ok
port 3 stud 1 ok
port 3 stud 2 not OK it snaps
port 4 stud 1 ok
port 4 stud 2 not OK it snaps

Crap , I have a meeting with the guys at Big D's shortly and ride off and borrow a reverse drill bit from an engineering place in Whitefield , and drill them out they come out clean , new spare studs in and do up the nuts and its fine.

next the link pipe , oh dear it doesn't fit , as the link pipe is the same size as the collector box, I get my pipe expanders and attach a huge bar to them while parking a convient car over the pipe and just about expand it enough to get it on.

A big hammer helped make it fit.

Same situation again with the Viper can , so I put my scorpion race can on it instead it fits a charm.

Final bits are the cosmetics and I take the nose to Alan to weld up and the left panel to Pete to weld up , and they come back nicely and I put stickers onto them.

Problem is I have lost ALL my fairing bolts and Honda want £25 for a full set sack this I think again off to Brabben and Rudd and I get some dome hex bolts and washers for the princely sum of £2 for about 30 of them.

I think hmm new downpipes , needs some tuning and take it to a nearby Dyno who owes me a favour and he tunes the CBR to make the most of the downpipes and zorst. I cut a piece of scrap steel and make a centre stand tab.

Just in time for the summer and the MOT where she flies through the MOT no problems.

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Costs:

Swingarm : £25
Clip on £5
Clutch cable and assbly = £7
CBR manual £2
castle bolt donor £2
angle grinder £15
zorst expander £40
stainless system £180
Mirror £12
fairing panel £20
Welding £20 for side panel £20 for nose
£8 for indies for a full set
£14 for a new tail pod
£35 for a gear change assembly
£2 for nuts and bolts
£10 for new bearings
£30 in oils,grease and coolant etc new pads and brake overhaul and stickers

Total wallet damage £445 (note prices include being ebay scammed and thus if I wasn't ebay scammed it would have cost probably £350 to fix)

Which I recouped about £100 from selling various bits and pieces of the CBR that others could fix, didn't spend half as much as Titz though on his ZX6R.

Result?

I've become a much better mechanic and take notice of when it says slow on the road now.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[ms51ves3]

Good read.

Considering everything you've done it didn't cost much

[The Tot]

Bloody ell mate . £445 is reasonable. In fact, if you broke it down, my crash should have only cost me £300 in parts, but then things went hideously wrong. But you managed to get some good bargains.

New downpipes & titanium can - £140
Engine Cover £90 (no breaker had them & nor did any other place)
Head bearings with MOT - £110.

Unfortunately, i didn't get off lightly cos of impacting the car which caused every panel to become damaged - lugs were snapped in awkward locations.. the fairing HAD been plastic welded before hence, the rest of the wallet damage was pretty much cosmetic. In the end, I went the whole hog and spent 800 sprucing the body work up .... then my engine went So out goes another £700 for engine replacement & full service, the new engine itself was £225, but lacking the garage or tools or patience of workmates ( i didn't want to bother them for 6 hours every weekend for 2 weekends swapping the engine over) - i know it's a relatively simple job since i saw binge replacing dambuster's ZXR400 lump, but that's IF things are going well. Luckily, i trust my mechanic and my engine's been running sweet as a nut since.

I guess mine was due to impatience and the alck of a garage & tools to do the work in. I guess the whole extent of the damage was about 300 odd quid in my case, but then things started building up, and rather than persevering, i took the easy way out. Aftermarket pipes are a bitch to fit - i had difficulty fitting mine onto my bike.

Anyway that's a pretty good read, and i guess that budget is spot on, it's just a case of being resourceful and ingenious.

Oh, now that you remind me about recouping some funds, anybody fancy some ZX6R F engine covers

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The Tot 2007 Yamaha R1 4C8 2002 Yamaha FZS1000 Fazer &
www.youtube.com/Titot182 for your bike gear reviews and pop punk covers
Earl Of Easycore Pop Punk Will Never Die!

[garth]

Did ya hammer the wheels out?
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You ain't a has been if you never was