Hey guys, new to the bike, and new to the forums; be easy on me

Now onto the meat of the issue. Just a warning, this might be long by the time I'm done typing, but I prefer to be thorough.

I just bought a 1998 Cbr900RR with 26,000 miles on the ODO. The bike was in a lowside, but the engine runs and sounds fine. The plastics are beat up, that aluminum thingy at the steering is bent, and I'm even missing a piece of the fairing, but I got the whole deal for $1,200. It has a K&N drop-in, full Erion Racing exhaust system, Corbin Saddle, flush mount signals, and rejetted carbs.

I recieved the bike in pieces; None of the fairing or lights were on the bike since the previous owner tore it down to inspect damage. The unfortunate problem here is that I've not a clue how to put these fairings on correctly, or in what order, and the Clymer manual that came with the bike does a poor job of explaining the process, relying heavily on crappy black and white pictures to do the talking. I attempted to put the plastics on the front end of the bike, but alas, the headlight has to go in first, and then the front plastics, so I will have to tear it back apart and do it again correctly. I seem to also be missing several pieces to hold the plastics together, so until I get those they will not be on properly unfortunately. Another thing is I do not know how to mount that aluminum bracket on. No matter how I mount it with the gas tank, the tank and the bracket are loose when the bolts are tightened in.

Onto the engine. The engine looks clean, previous owner has been good on keeping the bike clean and maintenance seemed legit. I did however find out today an unfortunate thing. I believe i may have a bad head gasket as the oil window got covered in white stuff after I warmed the engine up. I do not know if blown head gaskets are common on these engines, but any info either way would be helpful. The bike will recieve a full oil change tomorrow night in hopes that it is a one time fluke.

To sum it up: I can't get the plastics back on right, I need to bend that stupid aluminum bracket back, I need to figure out how to correctly mount that aluminum bracket, and there might be coolant in my engine oil. Help?

 

when you checked the oil dip stick was it a milky light brown color? well when you drain it you will know if coolant is mixing w/the oil. i doubt it was a fluke if there is a milky substance in the oil, occasionaly you may finde a milkey substance at the inside of the fill cap if ther is a lot of condensation but if it's in the oil you got some fixxing to do. good luck.

 

what aluminum bracket are you talking about? where abouts is it?
the fairing bolts are different sizes if you use one thats to long the fairing will rattle and be loose.
make sure that the clips that are mounted to the fairing sections are alighned straight with the bolts so it tightens properly.

 

I don't have a 98/99, but I can guess you're missing the rubber spacers and possibly the metal sleeves that go between the mirror stay bracket (aka stupid aluminum bracket) and the tank against the top of the frame. If you haven't already, take a look at the micro-fiche of Ron Ayers (then buy from these guys) and see what you need to get.

As far as the oil, do like you said and change it, along with the filter. See if you can get a new air filter, and if you haven't yet, flush and fill the radiator, get new spark plugs and a new battery, then bleed out and replace the old brake fluid. All of this can be done yourself and will do wonders for eradicating pesky gremlins.

The first thing you need to determine with the fairings is if they are OEM or aftermarket. If they are not from the factory, it's pretty much up to you to figure it out--unless you can find the brand name, then find someone who has the same setup--pretty low odds on that. If they turn out to be OEM, make a list of every piece you have, including any hardware you think might belong, and get back to us. For example, my upper cowl and headlight remain together whenever the cowl is removed from the bike, so I would have assumed that yours does as well--

Oh yeah, and welcome. Good deal on the 900...a little TLC and she'll be the best ride you'll ever have.

 

My model doesn't seem to have a dipstick, just a cap on the topside of the right side cover and the oil level window below that. From whatI could see looking into the engine, everything looks great.

The mirror bracket is what I was talking about, andit has 2 sets of rubber o-rings for each hole. It also has a 'sleeve' for the long bolt that holds the tank down. Worst comes to worse, I can just throw a few plastic/rubberwashers in between to tighten it up...I just thought I was foing it wrong somehow. The rubber rings look beat, they may just be compressed from 10 years of abuse. The bracket needs to be bent just a little and then it should fit the fairing fine.

The fairings I am most certain are Factory, since they have Honda on the inside of them and look identical to the pictures I have seen online. The headlight is supposed to stay on the fairing as you have said, but the previous owner took it off for whatever reasons he had, and I didn't know any better to place it in first before adding the clips on.

Tonight after work I'm going to grab a bunch of body clips at Wal-Mart, as well as some cheap oil to do the change and see if it does anything. I have all the hard bolts I think, it is the lack of clips. The old bolts were placed in the spot they came from when he took it apart, so I'm happy about that

Looks like I'll be working on this till midnight or later if my hands can take the cold

I don't know how pics work on this forum, but here are pics from earlier today:

 

looks like my bike. not sure all the extent of your bike plastics. mine was in the same shape. i am about a thousanddollars into my project and except for small things she should be riding by late this week or earlly next week. then a custom paint job. i see depending on how and what you buy and what total damage is there to be 1500 to 2000 dollars with cheap paint job.the most expensive parts arethe front fairing and tank. tank is really hard to find. and i recomend oem on the front fairing. i bought an aftermarket one from ebay and it doesnt line up my headlight right plus oem has built in screw holes with the something part for the screw to hold on. idefinitly recomend oem.other than that good luck and have fun with ebay.

 

The "white milky" look in the oil window it condensation mixing with the oil. Water in other words. Not a huge deal but changing the oil/filter will help although likely not cure it 100%. It needs to be ridden long enough to warm enough to burn off the condensation from winter warming/cooling.
Dont loose any sleep over it......change the oil when you can and take it for a good long spin. It'll be fine after that.

 

Well, I got the rear plastics on, the seats on, and a full oil change including a new filter. I won't run the bike until i can ride it on the road to avoid condensation build up. Now all I have to tackle is putting on and firmly attaching plastics on without a clue as to what I am doing haha.

After I'm done with dinner, I'm going to go out and work on the bike some more. My goal is to securely fasten and put to gether the front headlight into the front fairing, secure the side pieces (the one that goes over the fuses), secure the front wheel plastics, and maybe even figure out how to get the lowest fairing pieces on.

 

Alright, if someone could help me with this, it would be greatly appreciated. The mirror bracket is loose. I even added a 3rd Rubber bushing to maybe get some pressure on the mount by the tank, and it is still loose. Any ideas?

Also, Which way do I mount the tank and the bracket? Does the bracket go under the tank mounts? I have the bracket over the tank mount now, and the tank vibrates on the frame like it should be lifted.

Here's a pic of it currently.

 

Dude, looks like the bike landed on the bracket when it fell (looking at the scratches on the top), and its kinda twisted. Placing the bottom section in a table vise you can tighten it slowly so that it may bend into a flat piece again. With the table vise holding the bottom piece, twist the arms very slowly until the are semmetrical again. Do this very slowly and in small increments as fast twisting and large increments will weaken the metal.




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