You may be able to see in the previous picture how incredibly dirty the bike was...look toward the front of the swingarm...it's black! Maybe that greasy dirt acted as a preservative. I knew when I bought the bike that it needed new tires, and I really wanted to clean and lubricate the swingarm and bearings. Off came the shock linkage, chain, front sprocket, rear wheel, and swingarm. I decided to remove the tank and airbox as well to clean out the airbox and make sure I didn't do something stupid...like drop a socket wrench on the tank and make an even larger dent.

I think I went through an entire bottle of Simple Green removing the greasy, sandy build up of chain lube that was around where the swingarm joins to the frame and the front sprocket.

Oh yeah...guess I should explain the blue tape in the previous post picture that is also visible in this one. That is painter's tape over the new OEM stator cover I bought to replace the original that was scratched. It's a good way to protect the finish from an accidental drop on the floor or to further cushion a light tap with a rubber mallet to seat it when installing, and it doesn't leave any nasty residue when you remove it.

 

Doing some eBay searching one night, and I ran across what was advertised as a Penske 8983 double adjustable rear shock off an F4 track bike. The opening bid was $250, and nobody had bid on it yet. I figured even if I had to send it to Penske for a heavier spring (the seller thought it was sprung for a 180 lb. rider, and I'm 225 lb.), it would be a decent buy at that price. I sniped it for $250, and sent it off to Penske for a rebuild/respring.

The good news...the spring was the exact one I needed for my weight. The even better news...it was actually an 8987 model -- triple adjustable. The shock was completely serviced and rebuilt with most of the internals replaced by Penske for $150. My total investment was $400 into a shock that goes for about triple that new. Score!

 

Nice project and good score with the shock.. Man.. I sold my f4 for just a little bit more than you paid for yours and it was nearly perfect and ready to rock.. I guess demand is much higher in NH

 

Thanks...well, there's no doubt I paid too much, even though they seemed to be selling like hotcakes when I was looking on CL. I offered him $2000, and felt bad for him since he was a kid and said that he recently bought it for $3000. In reality, a more reasonable price would have been $1800 - $2000, but oh well. The fact is, I've already spent more on it than it is "worth", at least in monetary value, and there's no way I'm going to recoup what I put into it. I'll do a tally when I'm all done...I'm sure it will be ridiculous (depressing?), meaning that with the money invested, I could have gone out and bought something much newer. This is part of the fun for me, though, bringing something back, making it better and different. This model is still pretty widely respected as one of the best street bikes out there, even considering its age, so I think I chose a good platform.

Most recently, I did this same type of transformation with a 2001 Ducati Monster M900Sie. When I bought it, it was yellow, was leaking from the fuel tank, and had corrosion on the frame and wheels. After I went nuts, here's the end result. On this one, much of the work was done by a Ducati mechanic, since it was a complete engine out of the frame rebuild.

 

In an earlier post, I mentioned the flat spot on the rear tire was worse than I'd ever seen. Here's the proof...it may look as though in the picture that the rear wheel is touching the tire in front of it, but it is completely free standing. As in, able to stand up by itself! FYI...motorcycle tires shouldn't do that...well, unless you ride a trike.

They look much better with Wet Black powder coat, the rotors polished, and new Michelin Pilot Road 3s on them.

OK, I cheated a little...I bought another set of rims to powder coat while these were still on the bike.

P.S. You probably can't tell from the picture, but yes, I painted the rotor bolt heads in black enamel.

 

I LOL'd when I read that! Ha ha. :-) Don't sweat the small stuff. ;-) <-I'm getting better myself. I used to be a lot like you. I spent more time in garage detailing/etc than riding. Well, maybe not that bad but close! ;-)

Ironically, I have a tiny 'dent' in my tank in exact same location.

Good news having the full exhaust system. You know the clear has worn on my Yoshi CF. How can I ignore that?! ;-)

Sorry about the mounting tab(s) on your plastics. Perhaps you can repair them instead of buying new plastics.

I use the blue painters tape tip as well. If you get a chance to review my split-seat tutorial, you'll see I've taped a few things w/ blue tape as well.

Excellent find on the shock! You did very well. Congrats on a great find.

Maybe you did pay just a little too much. However, I really appreciate seeing an older bike that's not been taken care of too well, get a new life.

Good work! Keep it up. I'm really enjoying this thread. :-)

 

yes i like ur bike too! ive had mine exactly a year now this month. ive put 30,000 miles on it since i bought it. it has 50,000 miles on it now. and every mile has put a smile on my face literally. well, except couple weeks ago when the police chief of a town where i live nailed me at 25 mph! that definatly put the "oh ****" look on my face at time of impact. place of impact was his rear right quarter panel and on myleft side right under the air duct. my left bar end put a dent in his car tho (my cbr fought back, he he)! no problems with the bike what so ever, just some scratches. we where going in the same direction and the plastic took all the impact. i was lucky, it didnt even throw me off the bike, it did knock me and the bike about 8 ft though but i kept the rubber side down. then a week later while out riding around deals gap right at dusk i was on TN side on foothills parkway and bambi and his little brother (****ing deer)decided to jump in front of me at about 30 mph. it smacked my front end with a loud noise and the little bastard just bounced right off the front tire and kept trucking! lol, im sure he got brused up a bit. no harm to my bike though. i toured around for the next two days without any problems. my point is, im so proud to own this bike its now part of me and its dependable and tough, for sure. so enjoy yours, and if ya have questions about the bike always feel free to contact me. i have learned a lot about this bike from this site in the last year. these guys and gals on here are real cbr pros.

 

What was i thinking? I'm sitting here reading this thread with "ooohs" and "ahhhs", like some 8-year-old listening to a story a bedtime, and it just dawned on me the tonight was my last night riding Aurora before her surgery season. I'm glued to this thread bro, when you mentioned "bringing it back", I flashed back to when I recently spoke about taking an older bike (not to mention the last of the carbs) and giving it an aura that almost convinces others it was built post-2010.
All jabbering aside, I'll be diving in head-first in a month or so, tearing her down starting tomorrow, following closely to your thread, documenting as much as I can, and not regretting a single red-cent spent. Thanx bro.

 

Lovin it and love the shock, I know I love mine keep up the posts and pics!

 

Haha if dents and scratches bother you, don't even look at my bike. The side fairings are different colors, as well as the gas tank and the front housing for the headlight. D:

I want to eventually fix the tank and repaint everything an off white or pearl white but seeing as how this is my first bike I'm just going to put some bar ends and frame sliders on it and call it a day for now. Just replaced the ignition and key set to the gas tank cover/trunk cover.

Haha I understand about the brown truck passing by. Seemed like it would take forever and a day just for the packages! Still waiting on a few more.