Conrice's 954 FIGHTER build thread
 

alright, well i've decided to start my own build thread as i've done enough work on it now that i think it deserves it. i'm kind of starting it late into my build, so we'll see where this takes us. better late then never though. and i just made the photobucket account, so hopefully it works

this weekend, i finally got my SSSA and car rim on my bike. i'm really happy with it. there's a few things that came up that aren't in other SSSA builds, and i took a different approach to making it happen as opposed to others out there that have done this mod (mainly because of financial reasons - and limited amounts of machinists where i live). but using bushings that i had laying around the garage, and a homemade lathe, i was able to get this to work fairly easy and for a reasonable price. it did take longer, but sometimes that what it takes to save a few bucks.


first the obvious stuff. the VFR pivot shaft is 5mm smaller in diameter than the 954's original. and the VFR arm doesn't quite fit either, so i had to use the die grinder to take some of the inside of the arm off - not all that bad though. i lined up the arm using the rear sprocket, chain track, and countershaft sprocket as my guide, and i ended up taking more off of one side than i did the other in order to get the best line for the chain.
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you have to account for the vfr's pivot shaft in 4 places on the 954: both pinchbolt areas on the outside, and in the engine case's press fit flange bushings. the 954 swing arm bushings took care of the pinchbolts. and then i took some bushings that had the ID of the vfr shaft, and ground them down to fit inside the flange bushings by the engine. and then you have to cut down the chain drive side's bushing on the vfr arm.

pic of the flange bushing with my own bushing pressed into it
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pinch bolt bushing
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pic of the shaft on the bike
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then i decided while i'm at it, i should buy a BYO brake line kit and build a brake line that fits into the swingarm to clean up the rear end. here's that
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snaked through the arm
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here's the rim i went with. its a 17x7 and i'll admit, it was kind of scary seating the bead on the tire (pilot power 190/17/50), it didn't pop til 85-90 psi!
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and txsmainevent was kind enough to send me an exhaust he had laying around that was a cut off midpipe. it really sets the bike off i think. it looks mean, and it fits just nice. and then there's the sound.... its amazing.

after getting everything ready, i got into the groove and the next thing i know, i had it done. and here's how she looks now. the only thing i'm not 100% happy about is that the bike is now lowered (i'll have to mess around with some triangles and other dog bones to figure out how to raise it back up) and the wheel is a little off center (due to machinist woes - but its not noticeable when riding).
Attachment 46153 yes i know the front end is ugly as sin....
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and i'll be putting up more pictures later of it. let me know what you guys (and gals) think

One word comes to mind: WOW!

FML I HATE DIRTIES.... ill be 10000000000% honest and say the front end would look much tighter (physically and aesthetically) with clips... but i understand why guys run dirties, just have to hassle you about it ;)

love the vrod light btw.... shame i didnt know you were pickin one up, with my mad ebay skills i was able to find a guy selling them for $40 bucks haha planning on picking one up myself (was going to use a 7"er but plans change at that price)

moving onto the ace end... looks killer for sure man, love the vfr swap, if it wasnt so damn expensive to do i may have considered it myself haha... even with the WIDE tail on the 954, the nice wide rear combined with the vfr swinger set up makes it blend well

but with this new subframe i think the bike should have a good stance and perhaps even have a bit of a stretched look to it, if now i may stretch mine a FEW inches 3-4 (ill make my own extensions) most likely to give a more agressive look like moto's

ya, i love dirty bars (for my bad back) and the way it makes you feel, but i know its not near as "racey" as clip-ons are. the front end was kind of a "ehhh, i dont know what to do, lets just get it together so i can ride it" job (hence all the cut-up aluminum stock). i plan on making a small little nose fairing with some projectors in it and i will be re-doing the dirty bars when i do a front end swap. the risers are too high, and there is no good and clean way to mount the guages, its a crummy job, but it works until i can work on my fiberglassing skills and make a fairing and light combo i'm happy with.

i'm going to go one section at a time, and i've got this done now (well after next weekend anyways when i correct the ride height and wheel offset). but i'll be getting some more pics of her this week that'll show the final clean product.

and hey texas, that pipe is amazing, thanks again. it's so mean sounding. and it is really loud, but i'm still not that concerned with it because its not the loudest bike in my neighborhood (there's a lot of straight piped busas and gixxers around here).

when i was testing it out around the neighborhood yesturday evening, i did get a lot of compliments.

the brake line was pretty easy to build to anyone who is thinking about taking it on. i actually prefer the looks of the one i made to the galfer ones i have on the front. i went with the one from earl's plumbing - and it's top notch. all you need is a chisel, hammer, small flat head, 7/16's & 1/2 wrench, and you're good to go.

I want that damn swingarm set up!

its not that terribly expensive... i got mine through tampa chop shop. it came with everything except the pivot bolt and rim for $275 shipped. then the rim cost $100. you can run a 190 on a 7in. wide rim or go wider with it (the next tire will be a 200 series for me).

if you didn't want to make your own bushings, you could probably have them made by a machinist for around $100. and i got a wheel spacer for $35 from a friend, but if it were me and i were doing it over, id make a wheel spacer from scratch so it would be completely correct.

you could get a fortune for that PC'd swinger you have, and your chromed rim would bring a lot of money as well.

I dont know if you plan on keeping the passenger pegs but I have an exhaust side with no exhaust mount. It would clean up the right side peg assy. Only issue is that it has a chrome finish. You pay for shipping and its yours.

ya, i'm pretty sure i'm going to be ditchin the pegs in the near future, so i don't need the peg, but thanks for the offer.

i'm working on getting a stiffer spring for the back (for my heavy geared up ass), and i'm playing around with few different dog bones and triangle plates i have laying around in the garage to try and get the ride height back up to where it was before this week. thats whats going on with my bike as far as this week goes.


if anyone has a lathe.... or knows someone with a lathe that wouldn't mind doing some machining for me on my spacer (for a reasonable price), i'd be more than happy. the machine rates are REDICULOUS where i'm at... and the guys are hard to deal with.


if anyone has any ideas for a cleaner front headlight, throw them out there, i'm open to all suggestions

Looks great man, I love the exhaust and the rim style you chose.

Great build.