New Tail Time. Your thoughts *Updated with finished product*
 

Well like many others I was less than thrilled with my girl’s rear end. I decided it was time for a change. I’m almost done with all the fab work and fitting is complete. I have some body work to finish before I’ll be happy with it. As it sits the tail is just done in black primer, my ultimate goal is to wrap it in carbon fiber.

Apologizes for the crappy cell phone picture but I wanted to get your guys opinions and see what you think.

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0408-19326.jpg
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0400-19325.jpg

Looking good so far, looking forward to see the end result.

:icon_naughty: looks like it was meant to be.

Im really looking forward to seeing the end result as well. I was going for making it look as OEM as possible glad to know Im on the path. Appreciated thanks

Looks good. Doing more than the tail in CF, or painting rest?

Thats looking sharp! How bout taillights?

Just planning on the Tail in Carbon Fiber for now. Once I have this project all done I thought about doing the front fender in Carbon as well to balance it out. The bike is matte black and looks good when there isn't a bunch of dust from sanding my little heart out on the tail.

As for taillights I have a 03-05 600rr integrated taillight going in. It's all wired up and ready to go once I get everything else squared away.

Call me an idiot, but what tail is that? Is that your stock tail reworked, an RR, or a combo job? I like it and have been getting the itch to change up my tail

I have a 1k rr tail sitting around. This makes me want to get mine done asap now

Curious about the tail as well...guessing a 600rr or 1krr. Also, are you using your original seat or a swap?

It also looks like you deleted your battery tray??

The tail started life as a 600rr race tail I found on ebay, picked it up for $35. I bought a used 05 F4i subframe on ebay $25 and started chopping it up to fit the tail and remove all the unnecessary tabs and brackets.

The seat is an 04 600rr front seat. Another ebay special for $30. I had to make some aluminum braces and brackets to hold it on and support it since it wasn't an exact match. It does fit up against the tank very nicely making it look stock

As for the battery tray I pretty much just chopped the battery box off the stock battery tray/under tail and had to bend up a bracket out of aluminum to hold it up.

I will post more pictures of some of the work, I just need to get them off my phone and onto the computer.

Started with a used but straight 04-06 f4i subframe. The 04-06's are cheap and easy to come by on ebay where as the 01-03 are expensive and in higher demand.
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0316-19327.jpg


From there I started chopping off everything I knew I didn't need and what was getting in the way of fitting the new tail.

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0318-19328.jpg

Then it was to start fitting the 600rr race tail to the subframe

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0351-19329.jpg

Cut out the opening for a 600rr integrated tail light and made a carbon fiber undertail

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0371-19330.jpg

Bent up some mounting tabs for the license plate out of 0.060 sheet aluminum and fabricated a carbon fiber mounting plate.

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0373-19331.jpg

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0375-19332.jpg

Now it was time to get all the old stuff out of there.

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0398-19333.jpg

And get ready for the new.

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0399-19334.jpg

A quick test fit to see how I was going to make it all look good

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0400-19335.jpg

Got an idea of where I needed to fiberglass to make the tail mate up with the tank and cover the gaps between the seat and subframe.

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0409-19320.jpg

Then it was on to setting up to mold to the tank and tail using fiberglass

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0411-19321.jpg

Once all the fiberglass was done I was ready to paint the subframe and get it ready to mount

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0424-19336.jpg

Your project looks pretty slick!

I like the solo tail. It looks good!

After doing all the rough fitting I set down the road to finish the tail in Carbon fiber. Here is the end result.
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0477-19338.jpg
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0462-19337.jpg
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0472-19339.jpg


And here is what it looked like with the bananna seat before I started this whole project.

https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0214-19340.jpg

In total, from planning and gathering materials it took me about 4 months. 1 month of that was with the bike completely down. Total cost was about $200 parts and materials included (I get the carbon fiber for free from work). I did every stitch of work by myself in my garage. I learned a lot and had fun but I'm sure my wife will be glad to have me back.

Wow. Thanks a lot ! Now that I know that we can replace our banana seats with RR tails I really don't know what to do (re: tail conversion) ! xD It looks really really good though. Thanks for the walkthrough !

I see your in mission viejo, I'm in Oceanside. If you decide to do a tail conversion feel free to pick my brain or if you need help let me know.

First great job, I love it. It looks great and makes the bike look more modern. I hate the banana seat look.

Does the new seat sit lower? I wouldn't mind doing this mod if the seat sat lower since i'm a little short lol.

So basically you made brackets to hold new tail onto the frame? How many brackets or areas of attachment? Seems like the battery and other stuff is really exposed to the elements, do you think that would be a problem?

Thank You.

The seat height is pretty much unchanged. I didn't do any before and after measurements but judging by feel it feels the same. I used a stock 04-06 sub frame and basically just shortened it and cut off all the unnecessary tabs so the attachment points to the main frame and angle it comes off the main frame did not change.

As far as attachment points there are 4 total. The fairing wraps around the sub frame rails, so on the underside out back I drilled 2 holes per rail so 4 total and installed threaded inserts into the rail to accept screws. These holes also act as the mounting points for the undertail. In regards to the battery and electronics, I don't feel as thought the battery is anymore exposed then it was with the stock set up and the electronics (rectifier, relays, fuses etc) are totally contained under the tail and seat. I live in SoCal and don't see much rain but I have washed the bike with my garden hose and didn't have any issues. Keep in mind that the electronics are designed to hold up to the elements so there isn't a need to make it completely water tight

Ok I see the four attachment points in your pic now. I have a 04 F4i so i wont need an extra subframe. Just need the tail fairing, lights. How is the seat attached? Sorry im a newb to bikes but i know my stock seat hooks onto the subframe and locks in place with a latch at the rear.

Wiring for taillight, was that simple? It uses the same type of bulbs?

What year 600rr should i look for?

You can use your 04 sub frame. I only bought a second one because I didn't want my bike to be down while I was doing all the fitting and fabricating. The fairing I used I found on eBay it was a 03-04 race tail. The tail light is a 03-04 fully integrated 600rr tail light and the wiring was pretty straight forward, it's not plug and play so a decent knowledge of wiring would be a big help.

The seat is a 03-04 600rr seat there are two original plastic tabs that hold the rear of the seat down. I fitted the seat and then drilled into the sub frame and installed threaded inserts to accept screws. The front of the seat has two hooks. I used some 90 degree aluminum stock that was riveted to the sub frame and then cut a channel into the aluminum so that the seat hooks catch. The seat then sits on the sub frame rails. In this picture you should be able to see what I'm talking about.
http://inlinethumb05.webshots.com/51...600x600Q85.jpg

gratz dude, i just quickly browsed over the thread, that tail looks freakin sweet.
I much prefer those modern sharp bee-sting-like tails to the original f4i ones.

You got anymore projects lined up for her?
The carbon kinda puts your paintwork to shame tbh, but my god would that bike be some jaw-dropping eye candy if you finished the tank and fairing off in the same carbon.

Thank You. I like your description of "bee-sting tails" I usually call them surfboard tails since they are thin flat and pointed.

As far as other projects I would like to do the front wheel fender in the same carbon fiber to balance out the look. I've seen bikes done almost completley in Carbon Fiber and sometimes it borders on overkill.

Looks awesome. Congrats. Still looking for the time to do my spilt seat.

How do you do the fiberglass? I am trying to figure it out, but i can't figure out if you do it off the bike, and if so, how do you make the shape that you need? It's my first time fiberglassing, but I know what I need to do pretty much

It looks like the pictures I had posted are unavailable so here are some new ones.

First I protected the tank with masking tape and painters tape. I started with some thin cardboard as a substructure that I could mold to in the open areas I was trying to cover. After I had an idea of the size I transferred the cardboard to thin sheet metal. Tin flashing used for roofing is a good material to use it's bendable and shapes by hand.
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0409-19320.jpg

Then I laid down some wax paper to act as a release agent so the fiberglass wouldn't stick to the tank or the masking tape.
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0411-19321.jpg

I cut strips of fiberglass about 1" thick by 6-8" long and started building layers. I think I did about 4 layers total. I made sure to go well beyond my intended final shape so I had room to cut and shape to my liking.
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0412-19322.jpg

I Let the fiberglass set for 24 hours before pulling away from the tank. Then from there I started getting my final lines and shaping the glass to meet my desired look.
https://cbrforum.com/forum/members/z...0416-19323.jpg


I hope this helps. If you want more information feel free to ask.

Thanks for the extra help! I understand what I'm doing now. I'm trying to put everything together in my head before I start haha. Do you think the 06-07 tail would work too? I know I'm probably committing blasphemy haha but I really like the look of them, they look so mean. I don't see why it wouldn't, but I'm worried it might be too thin or whatever to fit on our subframe

Or the 06-07 gsx-r600 tail. That is fatter, so would that one work?

I don't know for sure if an 06-07 RR tail would work or a GSXR tail but I would say that really your only limited by your imagination and creativity. If you wanted to make your own subframe the possibilities are endless. If you do some searching around on here there is a guy named ozziF4i I think or something close to that. He made his own subframe and used a 1000rr tail. My biggest reason for not doing a full custom subframe is I don't know how to weld and knew I would need to in order to fabricate a structurally sound frame

That is some fantastic craftsmanship Zim. Congrats, the tail looks great!

Where is moar pics??? :D

You did an amazing job man. Looks really good. I've thought about trying to do a 600rr or 1krr tail on mine actually. Just haven't had the drive to go and do it yet. Looking at this is a bit more motivation though.