Hey all,
Here's the 'before' pic of my 87 CBR 1000F (Canadian fast version) and it's really not as bad as it looks. Okay, it's basically just as bad as it looks, but it's on the road to recovery. It's been in the works a while, but it recently made it to the top of my projects pile so I figured I'd document the build on the forum here and with luck she'll return to glory in the coming months. Goal is springtime 2018


The good:
-All original plastics, badly cracked and with a lot of tabs/posts missing, but repairable
-Original motor, recently rebuilt, says prev owner
-Corbin seat for all day comfort
-Original exhaust, undented but a little rashed
-Original paint + decals on tank, good enough to reuse
-It's complete. Nothing really missing
-Red and black livery
-It's not my daily rider so I can take my time

The bad:
-61000 km
-Tires need replacing
-Paint needs painting
-Disapearing clutch hydraulic fluid
-Questionable brakes
-No battery
-Exhaust leaks at header (this is when I became skeptical of prev owner 'rebuild')
-Burns oil
-Leaks coolant
-Weak spark

The ugly:
-Prev owner had hotglued a lot of the plastics together, also used fibreglass resin and patches on flexible parts (don't do this)
-When he painted the bike he didn't mask/detrim anything so all the parts have cheap black spraypaint on them (also don't do this)
-Compression test failed on cyl 3. Wet test indicated rings likely cause. Apart she comes!

I'd ridden the bike for a couple seasons a few years back, and it is honestly one of the better motorcycles I've owned, especially considering her age. The motor is an absolute joy, I love the retro superbike styling, and it's just a totally functional motorcycle. Perfect cross of speed and substance - oh sure she's a bit heavy for a soft suspension and skinny tires (possible future upgrades) but I'm used to a goldwing so this'll still probably feel like a 600 supersport in comparison

I'll be going for stock, with select quality-of-life updates. I don't want to change the bike too much. That said, it's not going to be a strict resto, and I'm not really interested in the museum treatment for her. This one's for riding, and I'll happily oblige. Just needs a bit of time and love and money to get back on the road. Can't wait!

 

Looking forward to the resto. Ask any questions you need.

Cheers, SB

 

Im onboard for this one.....

 

Thanks for posting this up, I think we all like to see the progress made by owners/restorers.

+1 to what Seb said, if you need any questions answered, there is plenty of help on here for you.

Good luck

 

Thanks guys - plenty of good info on this site. I've been lurking for a while gathering info. Sebastionbear's stick coil mod was one of the first things I did to the bike years back, before the hydraulic leak and burning oil forced her off the road until she could be given the proper attention. As it is, the previous photo's a few months old, and I've been busy since then:

-Rear end serviced, bearings checked, things greased, swingarm given a fresh coat of Honda billet silver met ('official' rattlecan)
-Trimmed down the license plate holder, lost the tiny useless lights for the license plate (because outlaw)
-Hydraulic clutch master/slave fully rebuilt and mc painted
-All three brake calipers rebuilt and painted, along with the front mc
-Handlebars and controls recoated, along with the steering head
-Stainless braided lines for front hydraulics
-Throttle cables. Probably should do choke too, but current works so meh
-Fork seals done, tubes powdercoated
-Exhaust off and painted with high-heat rattlecan
-Engine top-end dismantled waiting bottom-end rebuild (WIP)

Once the engine's done I can slap most of it together and start chipping away at the massive amount of bodywork waiting patiently on the floor of my garage. So far the engine has been a bit of an oddball. It was clearly done recently and can even still see the crosshatching hone in the cylinders. I think the prev owner might have gone wrong with aftermarket gaskets or maybe some other problem (might be the reason he sold it, hmm) so still bracing for possibility of disaster in the bottom-end but she runs so it can't be *that* bad. Doing the rings, and I'll get the crankcase apart to check main bearing/crankpin clearances while I'm at it. Few hours more work, maybe this weekend

Seems like if the part's mechanical, availability is still pretty good.
Found a parts guy willing to time-travel back to late-80's Japan so got most of the parts hoard complete. Going OEM for almost everything so far. Only the gaskets gave me some trouble. Lower cylinder gasket discontinued. Had to overpay for a Honda kit out of the states. $200 top-end kit's bad enough, plus $50 duty, plus 15% sales tax, plus $30 shipping... all this after they've converted our Canadian rupees to something resembling a greenback... sigh.

I'm sure she's worth it

 

You have been busy, I look forward to watching your progress.

Looks like you have a well sorted workshop to play in with plenty of room and a few other toys in the background to keep you satisfied in the riding department till the old girl is done.

 

That sure is a nice way of saying that I've clearly got a serious problem with hoarding old motorbikes lol. Goldwing's my daily. Hurricane's at the top of the queue. The Suzuki's my first, and a good running bike, waiting on paint after an incident during transport. Should get her done once there's room in the booth. The Magna belongs to my dad so doesn't count towards my total but I told him I'd look at the engine topend. Would be nice to get that back together for next father's day. Fizzer's at the bottom of the queue cause she needs money to fix. Oh and the XR80 I've got in the shed for my kid but he's only 5 now so I got time...

Um yup, nothing to see here. Definitely not a hoarder. Nope nope nope

 

The mathematical equation for the correct number of motorcycles you should own is:

n+1, where n = the number of bikes you have now.

Hope that helps

Cheers, SB

 

Got the crankcase apart last night, only had time for a quick visual of the mains and boy howdy, they look nice. The bad news is that I probably wasted my time opening the bottom-end up, but the good news is that I can sleep well knowing this powerplant should serve me well. Will check clearances tonight to be sure, then if all goes well it's into the reassembly phase. Feels good man

 

Ordered the bearings. Also going with new o-rings. The ones that were in there were probably fine, but I've gone too far to start cheaping out now. Found that the front rim has a small kink. Hadn't noticed until prepping for paint. So that goes onto my ebay list. Shame cause I'd already bought new rubber for it and if I'd known, I would have gone up to a wider combo

Snow's in the forecast tonight so we're getting close to the end of riding season up here in the wastes. Shame I couldn't get her done in time for a test ride