a little update:

got everything torn down and the bike it completely stripped at this point. figured out why there was no gas in the cylinders: all the jets were clogged and 3 out of 4 floats were stuck. this bike sat for a long time and i could tell. here are a few pictures:






i also started doing a little painting work while i was waiting for the jets to get cleaned while they were soaking in carb spray:



that gloss red is going to look awesome up against some flat black.

so once the carbs were reassembled (with the new jet kit i put in) i put them back on the bike and left the air box off. i think im going to just stick some cone filters on them and run the bike pretty much as is. i put the tank back on and the bike started (after a bunch of hard cranking and playing with the idle set screw). guess what? vacuum leak city. the idle isnt steady and it doesnt run unless i have the choke on. i decided to take it around the block to see what else is wrong with it so i can fix it all at once and put it on the road fixed and awesome within the next month or so. this is what i found out:

- forks are bent...should have known. i can still ride it, but the handlebars arent straight and it just feels funny to have to turn. i havent decided if i want to swap in a new set of forks or if i want to try and bend mine back yet...
- back brakes just straight up dont work, ill have to check the fluid level and too see if the pedal is even connected correctly.
- the chain is loose as a goose, so ill have to try and pull the tire back and snug it up for now, but a new chain is pretty much needed at this point.

after all that i can say that it runs and drives. the cooling system works, there is oil in the motor that is fine, the exhaust isnt all full of holes or anything and sounds good, and the transmission shifts smoothly through all 6 gears. once i address the vacuum leak in the intake boots ill be able to tackle the rest of the problems and then this bike is as good as its gonna get. it seems to pull hard and the engine makes no funny noises. the intake is pretty loud with no air box, you can see and hear them chattering which is kind of cool when you rev it and hear it gulping in air like that.

overall, decent purchase, but by the time im done fixing problems it will have about as much money into it as it would have been if i'd have bought it in running condition. either way, i love the bike in general so hopefully everything works out well.

 

Hi, Looks like you've been busy mate

With regards to the forks, are they bent or could they just be twisted in the trees? (I think that's what people call them on here :P ) I've had bikes before that feel bent coz the bars are all squiffy and all that was wrong is they'd had a knock and twisted, a loosen up of all the clamp bolts and a shake, or knock in the right direction and then bolt back up and they could be good as new

Another thing, not sure where you live but over in the UK we have places that will "roll" bent forks (as long as they're not kinked) back to straight and make them good as new. It's a lot cheaper than getting new. Also, if you have a kink in one then you can buy the fork tube seperate and although not as cheap as the other options, it's still far less than getting full forks.

You may know all this already but others may not know so my ramblings may help someone, lol.

Good luck, Gaz

 

i havent looked into much for the forks yet. there are no creases, but as is right now the wheel isnt straight in comparison to the handle bars which makes it kind of interesting to ride. i can try tweaking them to see if they straighten out. i was going to see if i can do that before i buy another set of fork tubes for it since the cheapest sets ive seen are on ebay in the $250 range without shipping.

 

Yeh mate, try the tweeking first and if that doesn't work then look into rolling them if they're not kinked before you spend out on new legs. Rolling them over here costs about half the amount of aftermarket new stantions/tubes so it's quite a saving

Gaz

 

new update:

did a leak down test on saturday for funsies, less than 5% all across the board. the continued to be astonished at why it wouldnt run until i took apart the carbs again and ACTUALLY cleaned them. the pilot jets (idle jets) were clogged severely and i had to use some wire to clean them out instead of just soaking them. once reassembled the bike fired up right away, idled like a dream, and actually drove! i have got to say, without the air box on the bike REALLY screams up top. i almost want to leave the exhaust quiet just to hear the intake noise. its fuggin loud.

so far so good, the bike mechanically runs well in the motor area. the chain is complete junk and ive got some work to do on the brakes and clutch/transmission to make sure that is up to par. right now the bike feels like it is slipping the clutch when i go WOT in first. the jump from 8-10 grand is almost instantaneous. it might just be the powerband, but either way this ****er moves when i crank on the throttle. i cant wait to have it in running order to see what kinda trouble i can get into with it.

and some more pictures since i started painting on saturday. the matte black looks completely badass and the red next to it is ****:







i need a couple decals, do you guys thing the dark red or light red would match better?

Honda Hurricane CBR 1000F Decals Graphics Stickers : eBay Motors (item 320495090197 end time Apr-29-10 18:13:48 PDT)

i am only going to use one or two of those decals, so dont get all worried that im going to cover up that beautiful black i worked so hard to get on there.

 

the pictures seriously dont do the color justice. it looks very, very mean in person and the 'rough' looking area where i sanded off the CBR decal a little too much doesnt look as bad in person either.

i did take the bike out for a ride and it rode very, very well (minus the stretched and beat to crap chain on it right now) until i got closer to home where it seemed like it ran out of fuel, but the gas was still on? the bike wouldnt run without the choke for a bit, got it home and fiddled with it and got it to idle fine again. i took it out to verify that it was good and it feels very doggy below about 3k RPM. i decided it was late enough in the day that id put her up to dry and come back at it another day. would running lean cause it to be boggy down low? i was always under the assumption that boggy was rich. bah...

 

Can't see the pics mate, unless your bike is a little red cross :P

Don't think CBR1000's have a powerband as such, just progressive power all through the rev range

With regards to the running, did you clean all the old fuel out of the tank and put fresh in? I know it may sound like a daft question but you wouldn't be the first person to clean all the carbs out and then run dodgy fuel through them, lol.

Gaz

 

to tell you the truth i basically ran it out of gas, flipped it to reserve and took it to the gas station down the block. its got new fuel in it, so i figure it would mix it up enough to be good enough throughout. im just hoping it doesnt come down to recleaning the carbs again because thatd mean i have some buildup to get rid of somewhere.

 

Hmmm, Well i can't say it is crap in your tank but if you ran your bike after the carbs were cleaned and it was fine, and then it bogged down again it could be. Running onto reserve would still leave about 2/3 of a gal or something like that of old fuel in your tank. I suppose it would depend on how dirty and old the fuel is.
Good luck mate

Gaz

 

Fuel filter or the jets are clogged???