Progress - My F4 Build
#1
07-18-2011, 08:53 PM
Progress - My F4 Build
So a little over a month ago I posted that I bought a 99 F4 that was in overall good mechanical condition. Since then it has been completely taken apart, cleaned, and bad parts tossed.
The current plan is to do an all black bike (frame, swing arm, motor, triples, etc... everything. think Batman's sportbike
). I'm tossing the idea around of having the rims powder coated an accent color (thinking orange), but again, all black is tempting. I'm also trying to decide if I go street fighter or not (leaning towards street fighter but have not finalized yet) Ultimate "problem" is I have too many possibilities right now (I'm entertaining them all). It's a street only bike that I'm building to go ride around in nice weather and generally have a good time hanging out with.
So, progress:
Rash/wreck damage repair:
Right off the plastic was trashed (cracked/rashed/missing pieces/etc) so that all went in the garbage (not to mention I wanted F4i stuff). Then I TIG welded and ground the frame to get rid of the road rash.
For the suspension:
Forks: The stock forks were bent so I dumped them, got a lower triple and forks from a 06 GSXR750 and made spacers to put the stock F4 axle and wheel in the forks. I'm waiting for calipers to show so I can see if the Honda rotor spacing is going to be workable. If the spacing can be setup right, I'll probably hunt for some 929/954 rotors as I need at least a 310mm rotor to work with the GSXR calipers and I really like BIG rotors (they look good....enough said). Worst case I'll ditch the F4 wheel/axle and replace with GSXR stuff.
Swing arm: I'm currently waiting on a 600RR swing arm to show up (the guy shipped to the wrong side of the country..... lol). I have done a little research and it looks like I have two options for the rear wheel (other than swapping to a 600RR wheel which is needless).
1 - I can either make spacers like everyone has done.
or
2 - it looks like the wheel bearings from the 600RR MIGHT be installable into the F4 wheel. From what I have gathered digging through parts catalogs, the ODs of the bearings are all the same. I can't confirm this at this time but I'm hopeful.
Carbs/Fuel Injection
This one has me really in a twist. All the rubber parts in my carbs are scrapped and I'm looking at a minimum of $300 to rebuild them totally. To me, this just feels like a waste of $300 that could go to fuel injection. Still have time to decide.
Motor:
Motor case: I disassembled the entire motor and the cases are down being powder coated flat black. When the cases get back I'll reassemble the bottom end less pistons/rods. I plan to have the pistons ceramic coated on the top ($100 they will ceramic coat the tops and re-Teflon coat the skirts). There is a company about 30mins south of Phoenix that does ceramic coating for aircraft engines and I have used them in the past for racing motors.
Cylinder heads: Cylinder heads will be dependent on my carb/fuel injection decision. If I end up going fuel injection, I have confirmed with 99.9% certainty that the 600RR cylinder heads WILL fit on the F4/F4i block, so I would use those instead of regular F4i heads. The F4, F4i, and 600RR all use the same head gasket and I have matched the deck surfaces back to back. Whatever heads I end up using, I'll port and polish them and then have them powder coated and ceramic coated as well. The same company will do the chambers, exhaust ports, and valves (valves get ceramic on the faces and Teflon on the stems). Between this and the pistons, I have been able to run 13:1 compression ratio motors on 87 octane in 110degree heat.
I attached 3 pics. It's not a lot to look at, but hey, I (and my daughter) got to sit on it so that's a big milestone!
The current plan is to do an all black bike (frame, swing arm, motor, triples, etc... everything. think Batman's sportbike
). I'm tossing the idea around of having the rims powder coated an accent color (thinking orange), but again, all black is tempting. I'm also trying to decide if I go street fighter or not (leaning towards street fighter but have not finalized yet) Ultimate "problem" is I have too many possibilities right now (I'm entertaining them all). It's a street only bike that I'm building to go ride around in nice weather and generally have a good time hanging out with.So, progress:
Rash/wreck damage repair:
Right off the plastic was trashed (cracked/rashed/missing pieces/etc) so that all went in the garbage (not to mention I wanted F4i stuff). Then I TIG welded and ground the frame to get rid of the road rash.
For the suspension:
Forks: The stock forks were bent so I dumped them, got a lower triple and forks from a 06 GSXR750 and made spacers to put the stock F4 axle and wheel in the forks. I'm waiting for calipers to show so I can see if the Honda rotor spacing is going to be workable. If the spacing can be setup right, I'll probably hunt for some 929/954 rotors as I need at least a 310mm rotor to work with the GSXR calipers and I really like BIG rotors (they look good....enough said). Worst case I'll ditch the F4 wheel/axle and replace with GSXR stuff.
Swing arm: I'm currently waiting on a 600RR swing arm to show up (the guy shipped to the wrong side of the country..... lol). I have done a little research and it looks like I have two options for the rear wheel (other than swapping to a 600RR wheel which is needless).
1 - I can either make spacers like everyone has done.
or
2 - it looks like the wheel bearings from the 600RR MIGHT be installable into the F4 wheel. From what I have gathered digging through parts catalogs, the ODs of the bearings are all the same. I can't confirm this at this time but I'm hopeful.
Carbs/Fuel Injection
This one has me really in a twist. All the rubber parts in my carbs are scrapped and I'm looking at a minimum of $300 to rebuild them totally. To me, this just feels like a waste of $300 that could go to fuel injection. Still have time to decide.
Motor:
Motor case: I disassembled the entire motor and the cases are down being powder coated flat black. When the cases get back I'll reassemble the bottom end less pistons/rods. I plan to have the pistons ceramic coated on the top ($100 they will ceramic coat the tops and re-Teflon coat the skirts). There is a company about 30mins south of Phoenix that does ceramic coating for aircraft engines and I have used them in the past for racing motors.
Cylinder heads: Cylinder heads will be dependent on my carb/fuel injection decision. If I end up going fuel injection, I have confirmed with 99.9% certainty that the 600RR cylinder heads WILL fit on the F4/F4i block, so I would use those instead of regular F4i heads. The F4, F4i, and 600RR all use the same head gasket and I have matched the deck surfaces back to back. Whatever heads I end up using, I'll port and polish them and then have them powder coated and ceramic coated as well. The same company will do the chambers, exhaust ports, and valves (valves get ceramic on the faces and Teflon on the stems). Between this and the pistons, I have been able to run 13:1 compression ratio motors on 87 octane in 110degree heat.
I attached 3 pics. It's not a lot to look at, but hey, I (and my daughter) got to sit on it so that's a big milestone!
Last edited by segraves1; 07-19-2011 at 12:23 PM.
#2
07-18-2011, 09:18 PM
#3
07-19-2011, 12:12 PM
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#4
07-26-2011, 12:27 AM
#5
07-26-2011, 08:45 PM
Well, solved my rotor/fork issue, 929/954 triple. The 929/954 triple is about 10mm wider than the GSXR, which moved the forks out wider and now allows me to space the rotors to their correct location in relationship to the brake calipers.
I'll have to swap my forks out for the 04/05 version as my 06/07 forks are 53mm at the lower triple, which won't work with the 54mm 929/954 triple. Fortunately they are in excellent shape so the shop that I got my triple from said they will even exchange me the set I need. Makes me sad though to loose the black forks.
I'll make a post when I get everything mounted up.
I'll have to swap my forks out for the 04/05 version as my 06/07 forks are 53mm at the lower triple, which won't work with the 54mm 929/954 triple. Fortunately they are in excellent shape so the shop that I got my triple from said they will even exchange me the set I need. Makes me sad though to loose the black forks.
I'll make a post when I get everything mounted up.
#6
07-26-2011, 09:04 PM
Well, solved my rotor/fork issue, 929/954 triple. The 929/954 triple is about 10mm wider than the GSXR, which moved the forks out wider and now allows me to space the rotors to their correct location in relationship to the brake calipers.
I'll have to swap my forks out for the 04/05 version as my 06/07 forks are 53mm at the lower triple, which won't work with the 54mm 929/954 triple. Fortunately they are in excellent shape so the shop that I got my triple from said they will even exchange me the set I need. Makes me sad though to loose the black forks.
I'll make a post when I get everything mounted up.
I'll have to swap my forks out for the 04/05 version as my 06/07 forks are 53mm at the lower triple, which won't work with the 54mm 929/954 triple. Fortunately they are in excellent shape so the shop that I got my triple from said they will even exchange me the set I need. Makes me sad though to loose the black forks.
I'll make a post when I get everything mounted up.
08 600rr forks are black, just sayin
#9
07-27-2011, 04:33 PM
#10
07-27-2011, 07:41 PM