Damn fine job!! Very interesting seeing the incredible condition of your internals at 177k versus a 15k model in (seemingly) poorer condition!! A testament to the adage that you get what you put into it. Must be very nice to be able to keep the bike that you've put so much care and love into for 175,000 miles.

Congrats man!

 

wow....I'm a chick and read your entire post and am equally impressed....what an awesome job you did. I am always amazed at people who are able to tear into an engine like that and bring it back up to where they do....it truly is amazing to me...you are one smart dude! Many kudos to you and your love affair with your bike...it definitely shows through with your work. I wish for many more road trips and trouble free, safe miles to you and your bike!

 

How many sets of chains and sprockets have you gone through so far?

 

This is one hell of a write up, man! Went through every detail. Great "insider" pics of the engine. If I were to do this... mmm it would've taken me forever. So much recearch and preparation are needed, I wouldn't even know where to start lol
I'm glad to see you running on your pretty much original bike again! Good luck to you on the roads and watch out for those oil spills on the intersections

 

Great job! I can't get over how many pictures you took of the rebuild. I have always wanted to rebuild an engine so this is very interesting to me. You have taken very good care of your bike, glad to see that. Thanks for taking the time to post all those pics!

 

Thanks!! The decals I just got the stock ones. I ordered them when I ordered all the rest of my parts from Service Honda. I like a clean stock look, never been a big fan of the aftermarket decals (although some are alright, but others are just tacky)


Yea when I tore my motor down, I literally could find virtually no wear on anything. Everything was still perfect! It was still running 100% perfect before the crash... absolutely nothing wrong with it at all

I'd LOVE to have my own shop, I just don't know the first thing about owning/running one (as far as all the legalities and whatnot go). Trying to learn a little more on that so maybe in the future I can make that happen. In the meantime I am doing side jobs for people at home, cars/trucks/bikes for a little extra cash. I'm a Ford factory trained/certified diesel technician, but out of work right now so side jobs are pretty much all I'm doing at the moment, mostly on diesel trucks. But my buddy is gonna bring me his ZX-9 here soon with a whole list of repairs and maintenance stuff he wants done


Yea it had held up great! I've been using Mobil 1 full syn 10w-40 (and 15w-50 at first... and yes, both are car oils!) since 5,000 miles. I change it every 5,000 miles like clockwork, and using a Purolator filter. Never had a single problem at all, and she's never burnt or leaked a drop! I check it along the way and then again right before I change the oil, and the level is in the exact spot that I filled it to 5000 miles prior. Never once had to 'top off' the oil between oil changes....ever


Oh man... believe me I did too when she fired up!! Kinda glad it was late at night and I was out in the garage by myself, lol


That's a BIG sometimes for me, hahahah. Most of the time I swear if I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, lol. But this time, it really did work out in my favor!


Absolutely! I'm very proud of how good of shape this bike was still in after so many miles, both mechanically and cosmetically. Before the crash, my buddies would always play with new people that hadn't seen the bike before or knew me, and ask them "how many miles you think this bike has, just looking at it?". They'd sit there and look it over real good, minute or two later, say "I dunno.... 20,000??". Really makes you feel good about the job you've done! I've been very **** about maintenance stuff since it was new, and it's payed off. With all the riding I do long distances by myself, I can't afford to have a breakdown. My bike HAS to stay reliable (look at some of the areas I'm riding through in my cross country trip to Arizona for some perfect examples, lol). A buddy of mine even asked me if I ever worry about my bike breaking down on all these long trips I take, and I said nope.... not a worry on my mind. Of course anything could always happen, but this bike has been so good, that I've built that much trust in it. I took that cross country trip by myself and it turned 150k halfway there.... I didn't have a worry in the world about having bike problems, just enjoyed the trip. Hence the reason I wanted to keep THIS bike, and not get another one. A new one I'd have to build up that trust all over again


Oh god.... I have noooo clue, lol. I think I lost count at a dozen or so. For awhile there I made the mistake of going to the 520 chain and aluminum rear sprocket, which is absolute junk (trust me on this!!). I was only getting about 12-15k per chain before it was kinked up and the rear sprocket was missing half it's teeth. Keep in mind I do keep it cleaned, lubed and adjusted properly, every 500 miles (I usually did it once a week). I finally got sick of replacing chains every couple months and went back to the 525 chain and steel rear sprocket. Also switched my chain lube to 90w gear oil instead of the spray stuff, and I'm now getting right around 30k miles out of my chain/sprocket combos. I get the super high end DID chain so it's a little more expensive (usually around $200 for chain and both sprockets), but I get double the life so it's worth it just not having to deal with it so often (for a while there 12k miles was 3 months for me... replacing chains every 3 months gets expensive! Especially on top of tires/brakes/oil changes/etc)


Definitely! I'm taking it super easy this year.... still a little gun shy when it comes to trusting my available traction after this last get off. I'm quite paranoid about anything in the road after this (this is the 2nd time I've gone down due to crap in the road... hit a huge patch of sand down in Florida back in 2007 in the middle of a curve). Already told all my riding buddies that this year, I'm just taking it slow and not pushing it at all, and I don't care if I'm always the last guy in the group, I don't want to go through all the s**t that I went through with this rebuild... ever again!! LOL

 

Anyways, thanks guys soooo much for all the compliments and kind words!! Really glad you enjoyed the pics and story!! Makes me feel good knowing I'm not the only one that appreciates all the hard work that went into this project. I've now logged just over 2,000 miles on her since I got her up and running again, and have not had a single problem! I changed the oil once already after the first 600 miles (it was getting a little funky from washing out all the assembly lube, which was black). Put some more Rotella in again and been keeping an eye on it, and it's staying perfectly clean, but gonna change it at 180k and go back to the Mobil 1, and get back on my normal oil change schedule. Not burning or leaking a drop of oil! Or any fluid for that matter, lol.

I rode her down to the track at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia over the weekend to watch the AMA Superbike races (awesome!!), and she did great!

 

I told a guy at work about your bike and its mileage. He said I was full of chit. I loaded CBRF and showed him a couple of your threads. He called shenanigans. Showed him your youtube vid of it clicking over 100k... He was dumbfounded.

That bike is unbelievable. Hoping mine makes it to 1/2 as many miles

 

Wish I had known you were at RA this weekend! I would have loved to see such a legendary f4i! I went up on Sunday and watched from spectator hill. Awesome racing.

 

That was a great write up all I have to say is that I wish I was 20% as smart as you are with motors. I wish I had the skills to do something like that.