The CBR600FX Trackbike Project!

Rebuilding this thread so it will take a while for me to sort it out completely...
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Thought I'd post up a few pictures of my CBR600FX TD project which I work on in my spare time and when I can be bothered! Always had the plan to have it ready each year but it never seems to happen...hopefully will be ready for 2011.

This used to be my work hack a few years back but a chance encounter with a lorry ended that relationship, so I brought it back off the insurance company and decided that it would make an idea trackbike, and it (in theory) would be cheaper then going out and buying a late model superbike.

So here was the bike feeling a bit sorry for itself tucked up in the corner of my garage (where the Duc now resides).


It needed new forks, brake discs, front wheel, clip-on, mudguard and sported the usual fairing damage. So the plan was to scour Ebay for anything that I could use and to keep the costs down. Luckily it turns out someone was breaking a race 600 so I managed to aquire a few parts off them cheap as seen below!

Ohlins steering damper and Harris Performance fitting kit.



K-Tech revalved Ohlins shock with preload adjuster.

Some Harris Performance billet clips-ons, just need to source the tubes.

 

Set of front and rear wheels.

And my favourite bargain, a full Akro race pipethis was especially handy as the standard system was rusting bad on the header pipes so it needed replacing regardless.


So originally I was going to repolish and paint both the wheels, but in the end to save money, I sent just the front one off to be powdercoated and then I fitted new bearings and dirt seals as seen below.


I'd already sourced a set of F1-Sport forks off Ebay (can't seem to find the pic) and fitted some new head bearings also, you can see how my drive turns into a workshop! I also pulled off the old rusty pipe at the same time.

New forks fitted (old wheel/discs still)

 

Rusty old pipe removed!

New system fitted!

The 'temporary' workshop!

By now I needed the space back in the garage so I moved the bike to a lockup down the road, here it is in the lockup with the new wavy discs fitted and a replacement mudguard.

I'd brought some gel coat track bodywork off a company earlier this year, so decided to strip the original panels off the bike and crack on. The fairing support mount was twisted so I removed that also.

Stripped bike below.

Pile of bodywork!


Unfortunately the place I got the bodywork off didn't mention that it wasn't a direct fit, so I need to fabricate up some mounts now. The other problem is with the bike not being local I only get to see it now and then, so progress is slow. However I recently got a mount from Honda I needed and straightened the fairing support out, so I'll start to crack on with it soon.

I also had some parts anodised black which you can see below. I had the Ohlins brackets, the clip-ons and also a G-Craft brake reservoir which fits directly to the rear brake cylinder done.


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Ok resurrecting this thread as with the looming Lydden track day approaching, I want to use that as a shake down test for the bike. So have moved it to the workshop this week to get the seat bracket made, and will then bring it home and start putting it back together.

Picked up a few more parts last week for it...
K&N filter


New tinted screen

New SBS brake pads (come highly recommended so thought I would give them a try)


Hopefully the updates will be a lot faster coming now!

 

So next instalment finally got Nev to make the brackets to hold my seat unit on so I can take the bike away to finish it off, still have to add a 3rd mount to the back of the seat, but can do that at home.

Below you can see how the bracket started life, just a straight bit of metal...

Next after a few bashes with a hammer, and some fine chopping with the grinder you have the below...

Then it's a case of sticking the seat on to size up the bend and have a guesstimate from underneath...

Once thats ok it was a case of fabricating up a second piece to support the seat fully, here you can see both parts pushed into place for a final check before drilling the holes...

Once they are mounted it was on with the seat...


I'm not reusing the original plastic undertray as it no longer fits, so I'll be using a sheet of aluminium instead, because of this I needed a new battery tray (pic below) so I stole Nev's off his Blade (he won't need it), once I make a template up I'll cut it out of the alloy sheet and update the thread with some new pictures...


Once I got the bike home I decided to give it a good clean before rebuilding it. Considering it had never been done, and having been a commuter for many years, and then sitting in storage it was looking a tad sorry for itself.

So after scrubbing the chain/drive area (it was completely black before) and the swingarm area...

Next it was the other side...

Scrubbing the clocks and switchgear etc...

 

Then the headstock area, this was amazingly manky also...

While doing the headstock I went over both sides of the bike (frame/engine etc)


Next it was the carbs turn, I might take the airbox off tomorrow so I can get in all the nooks and crannies...

By now the light was fading so I decided to take a quick shot of the bike as it stands and carry on with the front end tomorrow...

aaaand a quick picture of the bits used today!


Stay tuned for more progress...!
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So today starts with an awesome sunny day and numerous cold beverages...which means my driveway looks like this...bliss!


I'd already removed and cleaned the front calpiers before fitting the new SBS pads before I took the picture above, hence it's wet under the bike so no pics of the pads being fitted I'm afraid.

So onto the first job and it's sticking the K&N filter into the bike, easy job as the bikes in bits already so just airbox cover off for this one!


Next up was the exhaust hangar, I found this bracket lying around Nev's workshop, I think it's for a bandit but luckily the bolt holes lines up with the CBR's footpeg mount, so I just ground the curves away on the subframe mount so the bracket would sit flush. Need some decent nuts/bolts as I just made do with what I had in the garage.


Now I thought I'd fit the new shock I'd brought for the bike, so I needed to stick it on axle stands as the swingarm would be useless with the paddock stand. I put the front paddock stand under the bike too so it had some extra support.

 

Now the new shock has adjustable height, but upon removing the old one I noticed that even on minimum the new shock was too long, and caused the swingarm to bottom out on the exhaust downpipe. So I laid them side by side for a quick think. It looked possible to get the length I needed by losing the blue locknut and hacksawing the adjuster down a bit.




So I chopped a bit off with the trusty hacksaw and got rid of the blue locknut, however I inserted a spacer inside (washers) so it would give me something to tighten up against at the correct length. Not an idea solution if I want to readjust the height, but will do for now until I can source a thinner locknut or something.


However another issue reared its head in that the reservoir very slightly touches the lower part of the subframe (must have done on previous persons bike, as it explained how it was worn in that area lol). To help matters I sanded a small part of the subframe down to help with clearance, and will keep an eye on this. But now the shock was finally fitted!


Then on the subject of shocks it was the turn of the steering damper to be fitted. Pretty straightforward but with the spacer under the top yoke nut it doesn't leave many threads for the top nutbut this must be normal as I can't see any other solution....Still it all fitted up ok as below.


Lastly before packing away I thought I would try the fairings for size, so after drilling a few holes for the new windscreen and fitting some new Pro-Bolts, I stuck it all together to get a rough idea of what the bike will look like, needs some trimming and stuff but gives you an idea of how she will look once finished!


Stay tuned for updates over the bank holidays!
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Ok been tinkering with it again this evening...removed a few unneeded cables (brake light switch/indicator relay) to try and reduce the clutter I have to sort out.

Currently still working on the undertray template to get the ideal setup.

Was intending to mount the undertray on the top bar as shown below


This is to keep everything neat and out the way of the shock, which would also make working around that area easier, you can see how much access it provides below.


Unfortunately this arrangement leaves virtually no room to squeeze the large cables in because the tank is so close to the battery compartment, so I tried it on the bottom bars as shown below (which is more like the original setup).


This makes it a lot easier but does bring the battery closer to the wheel (still clears though) however there is still a reasonable amount of room to work on the shock etc, so I think I'll stick with this setup...just a case of sorting out how to mount the relays and tidying up all the wiring.


There is quite a lot of it, but I don't want to shorten the loom just in case it ever needs to go back on the road. Once the design is finalised I'll cut it out of sheet alloy and mount it all up properly.

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Another post, not sure if it was worth posting but thought it may come in handy for others to know anyway. As mentioned previously after fitting the Ohlins steering damper the top yoke nut has hardly any thread to screw onto. Skortchio suggested removing a spacer so I'm assuming he was referring to the locknut underneath the yoke, which we have done before on other bikes (not a Honda though, mainly Streetfighter builds). So I decided to take this approach and see how it goes...

Below you can see how much thread is exposed in the nut


So next was to undo the top nut, loosen the clip-ons etc and remove the top yoke, which then left me with this picture showing the locking nut on the top.


Then I removed the top nut and the locking spacer leaving more thread exposed as below.


Next I went to reattach the yoke and so forth, but this is where I hit a problem, on my Honda it uses different size nuts on the stem, the lower ones (locknut/head bearing nut) are very slightly larger then the main top yoke nut and hence the yoke isn't able to slide far enough down the stem, you can see the reduction inside the yoke below.


So the only way around this is to probably mill the yoke out a bit deeper and allow it to drop down further, which as you can guess it's the easiest of options, so currently I've put it back to standard and just tightened up the top yoke nut as much as I dare.

Probably going to try and mill the inside of the yoke out a bit deeper when I get a chance.
So there you go, some more info for the sake of it! lol
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Today's instalment, although not a lot really as I've been busy sorting my car out...but basically I've just removed the two surplus brackets on the rear subframe because:
a. I no longer need them.
b. I keep catching the back of my hands on them!

Unfortunately I only have a grinder and I'm not exactly an expert on the best of days, let alone in a small space so the finish isn't brilliant, but it's smooth enough and the under-tray will cover most of the shock bracket.

So on to the chopping...first up the old shock bracket below.


A quick grinding of the welds and it's possible to prise the bracket off leaving behind the excess welding below.


Now a case of smoothing the welds down (or at least trying to) so it looks a bit better.


Now it's the rear brake reservoir bracket's turn.


This was welded up the back and along the sides so there was no way I could get the grinder in there, hence I had to leave the metal on the rear and just smooth it off. If I get a small Dremel drill at some point I'll neaten it up. I think this picture is pre-smoothing though, cos it looks better in the flesh.

 

Ok time for the next 'Ducky's Driveway' instalment!

Have picked up a couple of new items for the bike recently, first up was the Chinese Pazzo copies for about £30 delivered off EBay you can see below. I went for the two finger, black on black.


Easy to fit and just a case of removing the old levers and bolting these up instead, job done.



However one thing to take note of is the actual length of the lever! It may be advertised as 'two fingers' but the lever length is almost the same as the standard 'four fingers'!

Hence the clutch lever still squashes my other fingers, when using any less than four fingers to pull the lever. The fix is to move the lever further in on the bar (if you have the space), which I do not currently, so will correct this at a later date when I fit the new clip-ons.

You can see the two lengths in this picture where I've overlaid the old over the new.


Also I purchased a set of jack-up plates to give me a bit more ground clearance and to move the pegs a little further back (the 600FX has very low pegs which scrub out at the very hint of a corner). This solution was a lot cheaper than buying new adjustable rear-sets, although I still need to make a new shift rod as the old one is too short now. They look a bit crap in the 'silver' colour choice though...now I wish I'd got them in black instead. lol



Picked up some new black(firm compound) Renthal grips for use with my GP clip-ons. Unfortunately I found out earlier when test fitting, that the clip-ons are too small for the forks, so will have to come back to that at a later stage...but you can still have the Renthal pic for now!


Next we move onto the under-tray and subframe. While I was helping Skortchio yesterday I left the bike with my brother (Nev) so he could cut my template out of alloy for me, and bend up the last support bracket for the tail unit.

You can see the tail support below although it's a bit blurry as the auto-focus is a bit funny on my mobile sometimes.


Next up we have the under-tray using a slightly different arrangement than what I'd originally planned. Mostly because I had this cut down battery box to hand, and it just saved having a new one made with tabs.
A couple of shots showing the battery tray and the under-tray.

 

And a quick side shot with the battery in it, the bonus of the cut down battery tray is it keeps the terminals clear unlike the previous battery tray I was testing with (taken from Nev's Blade as mention before on this thread).


Next it was onto the wiring (I hate wiring), previously I'd already removed any unused relays, and so the excess loom to the tail light and indicators I've taped up rather than chop the loom down (hence the large mass of insulation tape in the pictures).

I basically tried various ways of running the cables in the neatest way and have finally come to this setup shown in the following pictures.

I was planning on adding small tabs to the subframe with which to hold the relays, but the 'temporary' tie-wraps seem to work so well I may just use these instead, hence I hadn't cut them down in the pictures as yet. However I may still tweak the layout slightly, but shouldn't change much from the pictures now.

On a side note because of the new layout, I need to extend some of the power cables and also the fuel pump wires, so will do this once I have some new cable and connectors.





So that pretty much sums up today's activities, hope you enjoy the updates!
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Quick update as I got home from work and decided to do a quick bit on the bike.

I managed to source another gear shift rod from a Bandit (I think), which is about the right length over the stock one as you can see below (needed to be about an inch longer), bonus is the new one is chrome plated too for an extra bit of bling!



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Another quick update for you all...

I noticed when running the engine (well at least as long as it ran for) that the regulator gets extremely hot and uses the subframe as a heat sink, these are prone to failing on the CBR's so I figured the cooler I can make it the better.

So much like on a computer, I decided to add some heat sink compound to the back of the regulator to improve the heat transfer to the subframe.

You can see the back of the regulator below, only a bit of it actually makes any decent contact with the subframe.


I had a tube of thermal compound lying around from when I'd used it before...


So after a liberal spreading on the back of the regulator it now looks like this!

 

And after bolting back onto the subframe, the excess compound has oozed out from around the regulator, so I know it's making a good contact underneath now!


Next up was extending the cables to the battery negative, I'd stopped in Halfrauds and picked up some audio power cable, this is very flexible and makes it easy to lay around the bike frame. I also picked up some gold eyelets as they didn't have any normal ones in the shop.

So off with the old cable below, this was a mission to undo from the engine as access to the bolt is a killer!



Then it was out with the new cable,


and out with the new connectors.


Then a case of stripping the cable back and fitting the eyelet as below.



and a bit of soldering,


finally it's little protective cover.


Then it was a case of bolting that connection on the engine and running the wire to the battery to guage the correct length as below.


Now I knew the length I needed, it was just a case of trimming the cable and fitting the eyelet and cover as per earlier. And below all done and connected to the battery, although I may fit some small p-clips to neaten it up a bit, although the wire won't be going anywhere without them.


I did make a start on the starter side, but the wire I'd got turned out to have that black wire disease, so I canned that one until I get some new cable.

 

Had a little time spare today, and had obtained another soldering iron also so figured I would sort a few more bits on the bike.

Decided for the small amount it costs I would replace the fuel filter, as I don't think it's ever been done and definitely not at the last service in Aug 2007 (just before accident) looking at the colour of it!

So after a quick purchase off Ebay we have the new filter below (which is exactly the same as Honda's one for a third the cost).


Then it was time to locate the original, which is easy as it's located just behind the tank by the fuel pump as seen below.


So after removing it I put the two filters side by side just so you can see the difference, even inside the old one it looked to have gone a bit funny, so worth changing I reckon!


Then just a matter of installing the new one and job done!


Then it was onto extending the fuel pump wiring, because the new battery location means the current leads no longer reach.

Below you can see the leads that need extending, first the one from the pump itself. Handily enough I'd swapped the pump a while before because of a failure, so I could just de-solder the wires where I'd joined them previously.


and the pump cable in the wiring loom.


So I sourced a new waterproof connector and made up the first part of the cable as seen on my desk, the other half is to replace the plug in the loom.


Then to replace the plug on the loom, it was a bit tight to work on such a small length of cable, but I didn't want to strip the factory loom back more. So here are the pins fitted and the waterproof plugs (didn't have any crimps so had to use pliers instead, v.fiddly)



and the plug complete!


Then it was just a case of tidying the wiring with the new negative battery lead I did previously, and all sorted!

 

Time for another quick update

For those who have been reading you will know I obtained some Harris Performance GP Clip-Ons ages ago, and which can be seen on the first page of this topic (or picture HERE) The bonus of these is it moves the bars further forward and also adds a 5 degree tilt, so should make the riding position a bit more track focused over the standard FX setup.

I was advised that they came off a CBR600FX too, so assumed all would be well and so I decided to have them anodized black to clean them up.

So after purchasing some black bar tubes from a MotoX dealer on Ebay (a lot cheaper than going to Harris Performance ) I decided to fit them to the bike.

However here is where it gets interesting as they did not fit my forks, and were about 1-2mm too small ! So in order to get them to fit I had to mill the centres out to about 42.7mm, and so this was done on Nev's trusty old Bridgeport machine as seen below!


And all milled out ready to go.


Once that was done another issue appeared (once I'd got home) in that they have a ridge on the bottom which prevented them from seating on the top yoke fully (remember these would usually be mounted underneath the yoke, but on a CBR600FX the clip-ons are on top).

So it was back to Nev's and on the milling machine again to take off the raised area as seen below. Luckily this part won't be seen when they're fitted so I don't need to get them anodized again.


Then back home again to try fitting everything together, I had to file a flat in the new bar tubes in order to allow the pinch bolt to fit, this also prevents the bars rotating should the bolt come loose.



Then I stuck everything back on the bike to get an idea of how it should look/feel, and to make any fine adjustments before drilling the switch gear holes etc.




Once I've done the fine tuning I can bolt up the switchgear and fit the new Renthal grips, also the bars need trimming down slightly and bar ends fitted again.

One thing I have noticed it that because the clip-ons are further forward, on full lock each way the Pazzo levers foul the fairing because they are deeper than the stock levers. Not sure if this will be a problem until I use the bike as I don't vision needing the brake or clutch on full lock at any time, but then this is all part of the testing process so I will wait and see.

I plan to finish up the switchgear one evening this week hopefully

Also I've got it booked into Bob Farnham Tuning in two weeks time, to have the carbs sonically cleaned (it's only running on 2 cylinders currently) and the Dynojet kit fitted and set up. So looking forward to that!

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Ok had a little time after work today so a quick progress update..

Decided to remove the PAIR valve and reroute the engine breather out of the airbox and into the pipes that the PAIR valve feeds off, so in theory dumping the engine gases out into the exhaust.

Now this should provide a cleaner oxygen intake, but I'm not sure what knock on effect dumping the gases into the exhaust might have (as usually this would only work under closed throttle) and if it will affect the exhaust pulses or not.

I may change it before the dyno session and just vent the crankcase to air instead and totally block off the PAIR inlets.

Anyway onto the changes.

You can see the PAIR solenoid below, this is vacuum driven from the inlet and opens the valve under closed throttle to pull fresh air from the airbox into the exhaust and clean up the emissions.



If I zoom out a bit you can see the disconnected pipe on the left, which would normally be connected to the rocker cover (the other end runs to the airbox) and vent the engine gases.


First up we need to remove the valve and piping as below.

 

Then by chance I happened to be in a garden centre at the weekend and came across this Hozelock T-piece, which I thought would do the job perfectly!


Then it was just a matter of fitting it into the pipes, I had to chop up the pipe I removed earlier and use some of it in the refitting process which you can see below.




Then I needed to block up the airbox holes, first up the one which the engine gases flow into, this was the larger of the two holes that needed to be blocked. I used one of the leftover bits of pipe and found a plastic tube (closed at one end), which I squeezed into it and hacksawed the end off to leave a flush fit as below.


and then fitted to the airbox...


Next up it was the smaller hole which the PAIR valve was using, easiest way was to just silicone up the hole from inside the airbox.


Then it was just a case of putting the airbox cover back on and replacing the tank.

Couple of quick ones, I managed to source a battery strap off Ebay as I didn't have one (original 600 has a plastic cover over the battery) and my new setup needed something to keep the battery in place.



Also my Dynojet finally arrived (below) as it had been on backorder, I have the bike booked in this weekend, but as I have to leave it with them I should get it back sometime next week, hopefully running sweet!


So that's it for this evening, if anyone has thoughts on the PAIR valve mod and the breather issue let me know.
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Another quick update this evening...

As I wanted to remove the left hand switch gear, but keep the choke I've been browsing Ebay for something I can use.

Now as chance would have it I found a listing recently for a choke cable off a Honda 600N, which is exactly what I was looking for and because it's off another Honda it fits the carbs perfect!


Next I needed a bracket (I will make up something a little nicer and probably reposition it when I get a chance, but the dyno session is soon and I need it working this week).
So after raiding my parts box I found an old bodywork bracket off the Ducati, which would usually take a zeus fastener and the holes are like a perfect fit too as you can see below.


Then it was just a case of running the cable and bolting the bracket to the clutch lever support! Job done!


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A quick update as I've just been to the Dyno to check some missing bits on the bike (missing ram air piping to the carb - explains a few things, have to order them now from Honda) but they were still able to dyno it and so I came away with the dyno sheet.

98bhp and 40.47Ft/lb at the wheel which is impressive considering the age/mileage, plus the curve is sooo smooth the dyno operator said it will be really nice to ride.

Graph is below!

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Ok another quick installment as I've been doing a few jobs on the bike today

First up a quick update as I hadn't posted this as yet. Before the dyno session last week I decided to change the breather setup I'd posted earlier on this thread, and to cap off the exhaust feeds on the head and reroute the rocker cover breather to it's own filter instead.
So below you can see the baby K&N filter I got off Ebay.


I've capped off the t-piece and left just the two exhaust breathers linked (won't do anything), but I will be replacing the hozelock part and linking the two pipes directly to make it neater.

I then fitted the K&N to the breather pipe and just tie wrapped it to the frame brace below.


So now I've caught up it's onto today's antics, which was replacing the leaky fork seal and fitting a few other parts I'd picked up today.

A quick shot of the bike minus one fork leg.


Draining said fork of the old oil, which wasn't a lot so I guess most had eventually leaked out! lol


Then it was out with the trusty Haynes manual and check the process, I've done a few forks before but I always like to check in case something is different.(these didn't come apart like my R1 forks) I won't list all the processes as the Haynes manual covers this for anyone looking to do their own. Below you can see the manual and a couple of parts from the fork on my workbench.

 

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