Hello,

This is my first time posting on this informative forum. Thanks for all the help so far.

I recently purchased a dilapidated 1996 CBR600F3 with 30k miles from a friend who decided to abandon a project that he was going to use the CBR's drivetrain. This is the first motorcycle I have ever owned or worked on, so there was a steep learning curve in trying to get everything situated. The bike needed front and rear brakes and calipers, the wheel bearings were so shot the rotors rubbed holes through the forks, all the fairings were missing or broken, and the bike was just in a poor state all around.

This is the only pic I have of the bike when we first got it. Yup, a broken CBR600 fits in the back of a Gen2 Exploder:


I stripped the bike down to the frame and cleaned, replaced, and painted most of the parts. This is the state it's currently in:


My next big purchase is a fairing kit for the bike, and I was hoping to get some input from you guys.

The original fuel tank is yellow and purple, and none of the fairing kits I'm looking at uses this color scheme, so I will need a fuel tank cover. How do these covers fit? Are these just as easy as slipping on a plastic cover over the original tank after removing the fuel fill door?

The two fairing kits I'm looking at are:


and:


The second one is the one I'm leaning towards, but I can find a picture of it on a bike. It's very similar to the original black/red/white color scheme, but it has silver instead of white on the tail. If anyone has a picture of an F3 with this kit on it, I'd be great if you can post it.

Also, has anyone installed these Chinese fairings on a bike? If so, how was the fitment?

Thanks, any help is appreciated.

-Jack

 

Welcome to the forum. Great job on your project so far.
I can't vouch for any of the fairings you are considering but the forum is littered with people who have tried various brands. I think they all say about the same thing. "Looks good, but you have to work at fitment."

 

You dont have to remove the fuel filler door to install and use the tank cover that comes with those cheap china fairing kits.

 

get a f4 seat or a split seat looks better on our f3

 

So the tank cover just slides over the original tank and is held down with the fuel tank fasteners at the front and rear?


Does an F4 seat fit with 97-98 F3 fairings? I purchased a 97-98 seat to change over to the newer fairings because I preferred the tail on the later F3s.

 

mine didnt come with plastics just the seat so i ended ip buying F4 rear plastics and
.tail light
I think the seat is a F2

 

Just wanted to post an update. I recently finished powder coating the front calipers for the bike. Slowly but surely it will get done.


I used black powder from HF and finished with gloss clear.


Taped up and ready for sandblasting:


After sandblasting:


HF Black powder put on:


Baking the clear on:


This is after the final bake with the clear.







-Jack

 

As can be seen above, I got the front calipers finished. I also powder coated and rebuilt the master cylinder. Just a couple days ago I put on the front brake lines and attempted to bleed the system. I bled a couple of full reservoirs through the system, but I have been unable to get the lever to feel as good as I would like. Is there some trick to bleeding this system?






I also was able to finish powder coating the rear caliper.





I also worked on the exhaust header. It was in pretty rough shape and I decided to try the electrolysis rust removing technique. I used Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda and a HF battery charger. I finished with silver high temp paint.











-Jack

 

Header came out pretty nice! How does the paint hold up so far?

 

So far it's held up pretty well, but I've only ran it a handful of times. I've done this before on a car header with primer + color + clear and had bubbling issues on the first start, so this is already lasting longer than that.