Hello to all!
I am into track racing and have a couple of projects working at the the moment. One is a Big Bore single road racer and the other is a 89 ninja ZX600 that I was going to build up to use as a "classic class" track bike. I was going to replace the wheels and front end on the Ninja to upgrade and had been looking to find some when I came across an ad for a F3 parts bike. I called the number and a girl told me it had no title but would give me a bill of sale. The bike did not run and was missing parts. From the crappy pics on the ad I thought the bike might be a good donor for my project and went to look. When I got there the gal told me she and her boyfriend bought it to ride but it was more of a project than they could handle. She said the folks she bought it from had wrecked the bike in a lowside and parked it outside where is sat for a few years. I ended up buying the bike and hauled it home.















When I got the bike home I looked it over. The bike did have some damage from the crash. The plastics were gone and the bike had some parts picked off. the cdi, relays and some other electrics were gone. The seat and tail section was history too. The right side engine cover was broken and the frame was tweaked very slightly just above the cracked cover.
As I looked the bike over I realized the bike was actually not that bad off. The major parts were all there. All the intake box plastics were unmolested and motor was intact. The wheels, brakes and front end was actually in good build-able condition. I was looking for parts to build a track bike and bought this bike to rob parts from but this bike is ten times the 600 the Ninja is.
So now instead of a parts bike I have another project. I'm kinda exited at the prospect. This bike seems to have real potential and I'm into it cheap enough at the $200 I paid for it.
So what do you think? Am i crazy or thinking straight? Can anyone give a hot rod nut some advice as too what it will take to get this thing back in the saddle?
Thanks,
Scott

 

looks like you got a pretty good deal, if it came down to it you could get your money back just for that exhaust!
but overall the f3's are still great bikes, and theres at least one person on these forums that has/had one as a track only bike.

from the looks of it your biggest expense, other than chain/sprockets/tires, is going to be the plastics

 

Thanks.
I am going to go through the motor, replace all the bearings, cables and the chain/sprockets. I am looking to replace the brake pads with EBC HH pads and I heard that a good upgrade is the 05-07 600RR master cylinder. The rear brake arm was bent back so I dont know if the rear m/c is any good. I can get a lot of the electrics cheap enough on EBAY. My biggest concern of course is the engine. I don't know what damage has been done to it. The bike looks like it was rode hard and out up wet! The frame was not hurt. The spot where the whacked it it the wreck is easily fixed.
So to all you CBR F3 experts... What is the normal hot spots for wear and damage engine wise? What are the cheap hot rod mods I can do to make this bike a little more competitive

 

Oh yeah I am going though the suspension too. Looking at Racetech springs and valves,seals for the front. Same for the rear.

 

i would definitely check the tranny, from the looks of the rear tire it did some serious burnouts, dont forget to check vavle lash.

as for 'go fast goodies', there really arent any 'cheap' ones, but take out the carbs and see if its had a jet kit put in it, if that exhaust was put on without a jet kit its gonna run like crap

 

Thanks for the advice.
I read here about F4i piston and a cam swap but can find very little on that. I have a performance shop local thats pretty good. They work on all the local sprint cars. I am gonna let them work over the head and do a bore job. New cam chain, adjustable cam gears and ignition. Definately go through the tranny/clutch.
As it is I'm looking at a 2K budget that does not include bodywork.

 

There's a thread on here where a guy did the piston and cam swap, you could probably get some info from him

 

Are you planning on keeping it as a track only bike? It has no title to make it street legal. If you are going to put it on the street, work out the title first. I would hate to see you put $3k in it, just to find out it's stolen (which it probably is, looks like someone tried to remove the vin tag).

 

No not a street bike for sure. This will be a pure track bike. I have bikes for street riding and have no need for another. I already have a police friend checking the vin to make sure before I spend a dime on parts. I hope it comes back clean. I saw that too on the tag so we will see. The club I am affiliated with requires full vin disclosure and performs their own checks as well. A number of years ago they had a issure where sheriff's rolled in a meet and started checking vins and took a bunch of bikes that did not have clean tags. They also took some high end custom race bikes that had custom race frames that obviuosly were without vins. It was a mess.

 

Well good news! Both the local tag agency and my county sheriff's office say they have no record or warrant on this vin. The tag office said the bike is not even in the system at all. They told most likely it has not been tagged for over ten years or was last tagged out of state and the registration lapsed. Either way the bike is not stolen and clean for me to register or more importantly build for track use! YaY!