Hello, new to the forum, but not new to motorcycles, but new to efi motorcycles.

first things first, i managed to get my hands on a 01 honda cbr600f4i, for dirt cheap. and i mean cheap, but through legal means for one.
now, i have been working on and riding motorcycles for close to 20 years, but its always been carburated engines and simple points, ignitor modules or CDI ignition.
this is the first efi motorcycle that i have worked on, and for one, i hate it. from all the past forum posts ive read, the ecu and diode issues that this bike has seems to be a poor design feature on honda's part, but i do know that these bikes run and work terrific with plenty enough power to have plenty of fun.

now for my main point. since i know the engine is mechanically sound, lots of compression, right around 160-170 psi from all 4 cylinders, good clutch and it shifts through all the gears with no issues of hang ups, stator resistance is all within spec. now, since i got this engine cheap, and dont plan on spending a ton of money to get the EFI system working again, i figured id convert the engine to a basic, simple carb and either cdi or ignitor fired ignition system. now for one, im not planning on getting the most power or speed out of the engine, like what the engine was designed for, but for a simple, reliable engine that can be put into a different motorcycle, atv, buggy or what have you.

Now, first thing i did, was strip the bike of the fuel tank and fuel system, removed the throttle bodies, the removed the wiring harness and ecu. next was the subframe so all i had left was the engine, frame and suspension so that it was still movable. next thing on the agenda is figuring out the crankshaft ignition pickup system. the stock pulse generator and trigger wheel are going to have to go since im not sure i can use them for my purposes. i could use the trigger wheel, if i modified it to 2 post instead of the 12 post. but for simplicity sake, ill probbaly make a single post, and make a mounting plate on the clutch cover that can hold 2 pickup coils both 180 degrees from each other so they are both in the correct position for each up and down stroke of the crank. next will be the ignition coils. ill be swapping to 2 coil packs and have them as a waste spark system, which is extremely simple and fool proof. if i go with the ignitor unit, it simplifies it even more, the coils are charged through dc power from the kill switch, and the ignitor recieves the signal from the pickup coils, and send a pulse to the coils and that causes them to spark, which in turn, combusts the fuel that was drawn in from the carbs. and to kill the engine, shut off the DC power to the coils and it turns off. Simple.

now the next thing, is the carbs themselves. since i was simple, ill probably go with a set of keihin cv34 carbs, which are on many, hondas, kawasaki's and yamaha's. now since the carbs im looking at, are meant to run in a horizontal configuration, i will be making a intake manifold from the almost vertical ports to a horizontal plane. this will allow fitment for motorcycle with limited vertical frame clearence.

These are my plans for this engine, i plan to try and get this engine working for as little and as simply as i can.
there will be some more issues to take of, but with any project, there will always be issues and headaches.
let me know what your thoughts are on this conversion.

 

Hello, some news on the current progress.

i managed to get my hands on an old 83 honda nighthawk 550 with a blown engine for free, and all the the important bits that i need are there and in working order. well, maybe the carbs need a good cleaning and tuned abit. but onto the main thing. since the 550 uses a basic dc powered ignitor and ignition coils, i am one step closer to getting this engine running. now for the "fun" part, i have to now setup the engine to TDC, find the fork on the trigger wheel that would trip the pickup for the cdi to fire the 1-4 coil, then begin the process of fabricating the mounting point of another pickup coil 180degrees from the stock one, all the while maintaining clearence from the timing chain. for the other pickup coil i may have to break down and get another stock one for the cbr600f4i, or the f4, but from what ive found, they use the same pickup coil, so getting a cheap china one will probably do for now. but as for mounting, making a mounting plate would be the easiest and quickest option, of i could dig out the tig welder and weld new mounting post onto the inside of the side cover. getting everything line up would the challenging part, and would leave alot of room for error, while using a mounting plate, i could add slots for fine tuning adjacent pickup coil. one good thing about the 550's ignition system, is that i doesnt have a mechanical timing advance, which makes things easier.

now onto the carbs, they are Keihin CV32 carbs, the CV34's would be better if i was going for high horsepower, but the cv32's will work just fine. now, since the cbr600f4i engine used almost vertical throttle bodies, i will have to either fabricate a custom intake manifolds and use o-rings as a sealing point on the head, or i can go the easy option and get some 40mm 90degree silicon elbows. im leaning towards the elbows since they will be easier for the time being.

now as for what this engine is going into, i have decided to use parts from the cbr and nighthawk, and make a custom project. i am going to use the forks, rear swingarm and engine from the cbr, and im going to modify and buildup the frame from the nighthawk, and since it has a title, getting it legal will be easier. here are some pictures that i have taken of the progress that i have made with the project.

This is just a test fit of the engine, swingarm tank and a seat i had lying around for a general idea.


this is with the cbr forks test fitted up, i am currently waiting a stem bearings so i can make it permenant.

and this is with the engine swingarm and tank test fitted with the cbr forks.


this is how far i have made it with this project. this is probably not where this post should be now, but 3/4 of this bike is a cbr600f4i, so maybe it is?