And now the newest project. Getting rid of the "Bumblebee butt" my wife calls it. With the new forks, new swingarm, it only makes sense to make the tail look more modern as well.

So the 06 1000rr tail showed up in the mail today. The chopping commences shortly.

20160307_180634 by Skee907, on Flickr

Going to have to relocate the rectifier, as the tail is thinner there. The plan is to just remove the use of the pilion seat all together, as the bike wont be used with passengers again. So chopping and building new brackets, undertail, and some sort of trunk will be done.

20160307_180726 by Skee907, on Flickr

The tail will sit lower on the subframe once some cuts to the frame are done. Going to cut up the pretty powdercoat, but it will all be covered up once its all done.

But the plan is to mold the F4i side legs to the front of the 1000rr tail... To make the bike look like it came with that tail. I will be following Ludacrick's pictures as my guideline. I haven't been able to reach him for any updated pics on his thread so I'm just going to wing it.

017EDIT by Skee907, on Flickr

 

Got a jump on the tail swap project over the past week.

20160307_164542 by Skee907, on Flickr

Obviously, this is the F4i tail I started with. Had some slight body damage due to the lovely movers who loaded it and my new R6 up when we moved with the military.

The plan is to chop and section the front legs of the F4i tail off and mold them to the front of the 1000rr tail. In theory, shouldn't be too hard, right?

20160307_180634 by Skee907, on Flickr

Rectifier will need to be relocated, as the 1000rr tail is alot more sleek and narrow in that location. Also, it seems that is right where my mounts will need to be for the new tail.

20160307_180726 by Skee907, on Flickr

 

Test fitting the 1000rr tail to see where I like, what the angles will be, etc.

20160307_181049 by Skee907, on Flickr

The subframe for the F4i is alot longer than needed, and as you can see the new tail needs to come forward about 4" to meet up with the F4i seat.

20160307_181124 by Skee907, on Flickr

I chopped the F4i tail to leave as much excess and work room after. Its ALWAYS easier to chop more than to put back.

20160308_200619 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160308_200919 by Skee907, on Flickr

These are all going to have to go. The front seat brackets, and the bump stops at the very end of the subframe.


20160308_201145 by Skee907, on Flickr

 

Chopped and smoothed the subframe of all the extra brackets. Didn't remove the rear sets as we still use that as tiedown points, and it would show on the blue powdercoat.

20160308_202018 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160308_202022 by Skee907, on Flickr

Also took some out of the end and bottom of the subframe to make clearance for the sleeker tail. Too much subframe would show underneath if it was left. Also, it made it too wide for the tail.

20160316_195154 by Skee907, on Flickr

With the 1000rr tail fitting the way I wanted and the angles looking good, I made temporary brackets to hold it in place. Simple aluminum bent in 90* angles in a vice and drilled to match the existing holes in the tail.

20160316_195159 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160316_195203 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160316_195213 by Skee907, on Flickr


I plan to remake these brackets once I build the undertail/trunk box.

With that held in place, it allowed me to start trimming down the front til the angles were close to matching up. There is a point where the tails are just too different in angles, and you will have to make the transition smooth yourself from the fiberglass.

20160308_210812 by Skee907, on Flickr

This is the gap that I HATE when the tail swaps are done. Just looks out of place to me. Love the tail, hate how it doesn't fill in the sides.

20160309_170044 by Skee907, on Flickr

Then came the time to chop the front of the 1000rr tail to match. Just trimming the 1000rr, then the F4i, and back again til I got them to match.

20160309_182929 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160309_204156 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160309_204343 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160309_215447 by Skee907, on Flickr

 

As you can see in the previous pics, I removed the whole battery tray/plastic to have better access to everything. My plan is to chop and leave only the battery tray forward, and build a custom trunk. Its going to be fully sealed and enclosed for my wife to use to store things.

20160309_215659 by Skee907, on Flickr

I used the Dremel to notch the 1000rr tail. It comes more forward and covers the seat bolt holes. Just slowly trimmed it back little by little until the seat goes on and comes off easily.

20160313_124813 by Skee907, on Flickr

On the clutch side, the bolt held the front leg in place secure enough to start the fiberglass work. I originally purchased some foam to use as a backing for this, but it was too much work to shape and a pain to get behind the plastic anyways. So I just freehanded the glass. I just purchased one of the fiberglass repair kits from O Reillys, like 30$ and change. Plenty of mat and resin for this, and leftover. Although, it came with the chopped mat style, which I used for the clutch side, I purchased some of the "cloth" style to use on the other side.

20160313_142715 by Skee907, on Flickr

Cleaned the area with Acetone, prepped everything and started the process. Fully soak each layer with the resin. The chopped mat is hard to do since it wants to pull apart. It did NOT like the sharp angle I was forming around the corner of the tail.

20160313_170713 by Skee907, on Flickr

I went well past the plastics to trim everything back to where I want it later. But this was after everything cured.

20160313_175316 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160313_194946 by Skee907, on Flickr

Using the "cloth" style on the other side, it went MUCH better. Cut that into rectangles larger than the area needed, then layer it up. It didn't pull up around the corner hardly at all, but you do have to watch for air bubbles alot more with this style fiberglass.

20160314_183150 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160314_185821 by Skee907, on Flickr

After a couple hours of cure time

20160315_173341 by Skee907, on Flickr

Love the way it ties into the vents on the front as well. Just makes the bike look completely different, and a whole generation newer.

20160315_173739 by Skee907, on Flickr


After that, I hit both sides with the Dremel. Using a cutoff wheel, I trimmed all of the excess cloth and glass where needed. Then using a sanding bit, shaped everything in place. Going past the plastic with the fiberglass allowed me to shape the edges how I wanted to make the transition more smooth.

20160315_173739 by Skee907, on Flickr

Then came the Bondo. I layered this on pretty thick, as I wanted to be able to shape it again to my liking. Again, always easier to sand more down than to add more filler to bring up low areas.

20160315_223813 by Skee907, on Flickr



As of today, this was what I got to after work. After letting that body filler cure overnight, Hit it with 80 grit sandpaper to shape it and feather it down to the plastic. I will hit this all with staged 120, 220, 320, etc until smooth and ready for paint. ALOT more prep work needs to be done up around the vent and that corner/transition area. It was a pain to sand smooth and make it look right.

20160316_192536 by Skee907, on Flickr

 

This project is looking sweet dude! Keep at it!

 

Lookin good

 

More bodywork completed, sanded smooth and in the makeshift paintbooth. A couple of coats on tonight, and will be hitting with some clear and then mounting it back up. Fabbing up the hinge and lock setup for the cowl. Taillight is all wired up and ready to go. I discovered that I have a melted connector and that is why my right turn signal is inop. I need to either rebuild that connection, or get a new harness.

20160329_231016 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160329_231005 by Skee907, on Flickr

20160330_192041 by Skee907, on Flickr

 

thats going to look pretty slick when its done.

Ive always thought it was great when someone hears "that won't fit" and takes it as a challenge rather than a simple statement of fact lol

 

20160331_160011 by Skee907, on Flickr

First few coats of the black, now to follow with a few more coats and then some satin clear coat.