So this is my first bike, a 1990 CBR600F. It was a little rough when i bought it, and it still needs a little love but it has come a long way. Working on a bike is so much easier than a car, everything is easier to get to, less to screw up. Anyway, I just thought i would post up what I have done so far and try to get some advice and help on stuff I have yet to do.

When i bought it, it was mechanically stock, with a custom dragon paintjob. To be honest, the quality of the work up close was very good, a lot of time and effort was put into it, but it wasn't completed, and dragons arent honestly my thing. The guy who i bought it from had modified a stock exhaust off an F4i i think it was, and welded it to fit, which would have been nice if the welds didnt look like ***. I dont have any pictures, but trust me, it looked BAD. Still better than the stock black exhaust, even though it didnt sound any different.
Anyway, this is what it looked like after i got it back to my friend's house and put the F4i exhaust on it.






Unfortunately I didnt take many pictures of the process, but currently it has come a long way. I went to change the oil, and found out the drain plug had been torqued down so hard that when i tried to put it back in, it just slid right into the hole. A trip to a local auto parts store the next day got me a new oversized self-tapping drain plug, filled it with oil to realize the oil pan itself had cracked from the force to remove the old plug - great, now my pan is screwed and I just dumped $20 worth of oil on the driveway - one of those situations where all you can do is stand there and watch it drain all over the driveway because you are too mad to do anything about it. I got lucky, got a new pan on ebay for $20, new oil pan and exhaust gaskets and it's good to go.


The guy gave me a set of EBC kevlar brake pads to go with it that he hadnt put on yet - when I went to put them on i found out why; one of the damn retaining pins was stripped out. Bought a screw extractor set, spent 20 minutes working on it trying to get it out before snapping an extractor and deciding just to drill it out. Luckily I took my time and saved the threads in the caliper, and i'm still waiting on the new pin to come in.

Other than that, so far I have gotten a tinted windscreen, new grips, I have a new seat coming since the one on the bike now is badly faded and torn in places, I have a Vance & Hines slip on coming also. Currently the bike is stripped down in my friend's garage while it is getting painted. My friend works at a body shop, so all the prep work is free, all i have to pay for is paint, which will be very cheap. It will definately be black, we were playing around mixing up colors tonight and so far i really fell in love with black paint with a red/violet pearl in it - it looks like a very dark Black Cherry type color. I don't know if they can mix this up again, since it was just a random "throw in some of this, this, and this" type deal, but I love the color


A few problems I have right now are the mirrors and the passenger pegs. The mirrors right now are in bad shape, all scratched up and the fact that they can't really be painted black is difficult. I don't want to put on cheap ebay mirrors as i'm sure they suck, but I can't really find any other mirrors, stock or aftermarket.

 

Welcome dmt.

Is that what the bike look like now? Thats one of the problems with getting an old bike is if its 20 years old, then someone has had 20 years to screw around with it. You will find many other WTF type things as you work on the bike.

As for your questions....when I purchased my F1 it had no mirrors, I bought some ebay mirrors and the spacing was a little short than the stock spacing, I corrected it by drilling another hole, which I understand you may or may not want to do. I have not seen the same mirrrors on ebay again though, but I do entireley understand your concerns with quality, or even the ability to fit. Mine does not look ghetto, but my project is not complete yet either.

You are correct about the F4 pegs fitting. They will bolt right up. Also, your concerns with the blinkers is accurate as well. They will have to be relocated or something fabricated to mount them, the entire back end is not on the F4 pegs. I installed mine on the rear fender which forced me to lengthen the wires as well. There are two more issues you need to be aware of while changing the pegs. First is the F4 pegs angle out a little more and are thicker, your rear side panels will contact them and be pushed out a little. It is possible to have them on their, so long as you dont mind the rear plastics being forcibly bent a little outward. When I put mine on it made me a little uncomfortable, but I am soon replacing it with the tail from a 600RR so all is well. The second thing is the exhaust mount. Since the shape and angle of the pegs changes, the mounting hole for the exhaust will move ever so slighty, but enough to make the exhaust not line up correctly. The exhaust on my bike is the same as the V&H, has a mounting bracket welded to it. So to fix it, I took a hammer to it. Not something you typically would want to do to a new exhaust, which mine is not. Also one I am soon to be replacing. I originally wanted a V&H SSR2 but realized the discrepincy in mounting it correctly without damaging it. Other exhaust models such as the D&D Show N Go is that the exhaust is mounted not via a welded bracket, but an adjustable steel band. Allowing you to move it and allow for the change in angle. I saw you said you already order a V&H which I am assuming is only the SSR2. Sorry for the bad news, but unless their mounting system is different than shown pictures, you are in for a dilemma is you want to change the pegs.

Other things...do you know the condition in which the bike had been stored? Was it inside, outside, was it ridden often? Alot of times these older bikes are stored for long periods of time in which they develop rust and gunked up carbs. Check the inside of your fuel tank for rust, also check the fuel filter and spark plugs. How does the bike run? Have you been riding it?

Nice bike and good luck. Keep us updated with the progress with pics of course.

All in all, nice bike and good luck!

 

I am pretty sure the bike was stored outside, because the seat was kind of rough up close, and the windshield that was on it was covered in micro cracks. I've ridden it alot since I got it and it runs perfectly, no bogging or anything. Putting F4 pegs on isnt a big deal, i would just like a way to replace mine since they are slightly rusty from age - nothing bad, but noticable when you get up close, especially since everything else is going to look so nice.

The guy that owned it before me said it had a ton of work done recently to it, oil change, fork seals, plugs, small stuff like that, which so far has been a load - The oil looked like it hadnt been changed in years, the fork oil was disgusting, and didnt even work - the forks were very soft and would bottom out a lot, they feel great now that I replaced the fork oil now.. Over the winter I am pretty much going through and replacing everything that needs work, luckily nothing mechanical has come up, it needs small stuff but it runs beautifully - starts up on the first try every time, smooth, no issues at all. Hopefully I will have all the parts here and have it painted and put together by next week, so I'll post up some pictures once I do, if I can ever stop riding it

 

you could always check ebay for another pair of them if you dont mind the stock pegs. or you cold always have them powdercoated as well. Does yours have a lock on it or no?

 

it has a lock on it, but the guts of the lock are missing, i wouldnt use it anyway... the bike already has a new ignition lock in it, so a key for the ignition and a key for the gas cap is enough. My new seat just got here today, and the rest of the parts should be close behind, I really cant wait for it all to come together

 

i was just wondering how it would look around the lock or if it would get in the way of a powdercoat. just keep us updated!

 

exhaust got here last night, went on today... sounds great! gas tank is still at my friends work waiting to get painted, so I didnt have enough gas to let it warm up and all that, but it sounded good so far. I too a short video but my camera sucks at taking videos, so i will just put up the pictures. the blue thing on the end is a cap from an aeresol can, it's on there to keep squirrels and stuff out of there - my buddy's garage is old and full of holes and leaks, havent had any problems yet but I dont want anything to happen to it

 

nice.

i know i had told you the mount on the V&H was welded but i had seen another one and it had this adjustable thing on the backside of the can which you bolt the plate into, and then onto the bike. is that how yours is? it appears to be with the black mounting plate.

 

mine has an adjustable mounting plate - 2 bolts, i probably have about 1/2" adjustment side to side, but no real up and down adjustment with that. finally got over to honda to pick up my caliper bolt, so mechainically the bike is pretty much good to go. There was an issue with the paint booth at my friend's work, so tomorrow is the soonest we will get around to paint, hopefully we can get it done and put back together tomorrow night, the anticipation is killing me

 

sweet, make sure to post some pics. now that im done with my aquarium I can get to stripping my bike and get it ready for paint.