Project 44 - 400/YZF Hybrid SHE STARTED TODAY!!!!!!

[China_Racer_1]

I have been working my ass off t finish this bike.
Remaining work is nothing more than adding fuel hooking up plug wires to plugs and hooking up the wires form the throttle (Kills switch on / off etc...)

While still a bit of a work in progress it should be ready t go test drive on the track next week or so. Depends when the next open track day is.

Here are a few shots of a few of the things I did over the past few days.






Since have a fuel cell and this is just a tank cover I needed to figure out how to mount it.

I used a bracket underside and used a Dzus clip for easy on off.

Keep in mind this is for the track so quick release where I can, save weight, etc... all in play on this bike. Even if it is Bastard bike made from all my spares.


This is my simple race electrical system and how I mounted it under the race seat.


In this pic you can see the orange air breather line attached to my fuel cell, A rectangle pad which takes the pressure of me laying on the front of the thin tank cover. I also have pads on the inside of the tank cover so it fits around the tank like a glove and I have no movement side to side when I am moving around.

Also shown is the "U shaped bracket that attaches the two via the Dzus clip


My buddy came over last night with his chain breaker and we cut the chain to size and crimped on the master link. I'll adjust tension later.


We also double checked that I had the new plates and barnett clutch springs in this engine. 9I forgot if they were on this one or my spare.)


Since no one liked the front end wind screen etc.. I decided to make it even worse and make the lenses Eyes 9Bood shot form a bit too much 420 of course)





A few shots of it as she sits now.

I have a new end can coming with a Carbon Fiber wrap.
I for these things for 50 USD each but they are loud track only for sure cans. Put it on a street bike you'll be in jail ASAP. (They are Moto GP loud!) I'll post pics when I get them in. On order now.

I will make the bracket for the radiator tomorrow.

[China_Racer_1]

bump

The bike is presently at the track getting a few things done before it heads out on its maiden voyage at the Shanghai F1 track next weekend...... That's the plan anyway.

[China_Racer_1]

Well I got the FZR-400 some what hybrid - spare parts bike running. (Its the fightered bike pictured.) It came to life with little fan fair and after changing the plugs it ran like a top. I was surprised actually, it sounded strong.

As she sits right now here is what she has:

The frame if a FZR-400 - a 1988 I think maybe a 1986 I don't know the difference, if there is one.

Swing arm is from a later model FZR400 as its a Delta Box Frame FZR-400 Swing arm but NOT a FZR-400 - 3TJ My 3TJ looks different enough to notice.

Front end, wheel etc is 2002/2003 R-1

The Brakes in the Front are from Brake Tech and are over sized.

Engine is a tired bet to crap pretty stock FZR-400 out of a 3EN model I bought 3 years ago. Rebuild scheduled for this winter

exhaust is stock for now with a knock off tri oval can.

Got my own rear sets on it of course

Carbon fiber seat and tank cover

Mod king made the custom fuel cell and I got anti slosh foam in there as well

I made the sub frame the solo seat is of my design... mostly

Rear Wheel is a Honda F2

Rear Caliper is an R6

No gauges whatsoever. Hoping there limiter works well yikes!

Got it shod with some Bridgstones not sure what ones yet I need to wait for them to get here. I got what they had on the shelf. BT - something or another. No clue really I usually use Michelin but Bridgestone locally had the size I needed on hand

Running a 160 - 17" in the rear and a 120 - 17" in the front.

I stripped the harness to the bare bone minimum

rear shock needs replacing its an after market no name brand

No steering dampener (Yet)

Torqued and safety wired all over the place!

Well Wish me luck I'll post Saturday evening with some pics and a bit about what happened and how it all worked.

I hope it works "As designed"

[China_Racer_1]

I took the 400 out to the track this past weekend.

Not a good showing I am afraid. The bike went forward well enough but the Carbs are royally screwed.

I could not keep the thing running well at all.

I decided to use the carbs of the 3EN model. I think they are a bit better and also they are simular to the 600 carbs. I will modify the engine over the winter and think these will work beter in the long run.

But before I could do that I needed to give them a 100% tear down and cleaning.

Here are a few pics.


I need help ID-ing the carbs so I can go to Sudco for spare parts I need to rebuild them. I need a bit more than jsut a gasket set I am afraid.

They are about 52mm (OD) 49mm (ID)on the air intake side and 36mm (OD) and 33mm (ID) on the rubber boot side



Any in put welcome



Before and after


All clean now


Parts


Slide


Top


jets

[China_Racer_1]

I have been working feverishly to get this 400/YZF together over the past three days.

I have come a long way from this old tired wore out 3EN FR-400


to this


As she sits i have the YZF600R engine in the FZR-400 Frame 3EN

Custom aluminum sub frame not shown in pics as its out to get a plate welded on the bottom to allow for attaching the black box and electronics. Also getting a battery box put on it all thin aluminum.

I went with the R6s model front end with the radial braking system.


I am wanting to change the rotors out as fast as I can and get some brake tech rotors... all I need is a job.

The swing arm is a 3TJ with a Honda F3 rear wheel as well as an F3 rotor and caliper. This was a bit of a nightmare to get together but I finally did it after a year of screwing with it, off and on.

Engine as you may know has been worked pretty hard. lightened and balanced crank, new everything inside, ported, polished soon to get a velocity porting. Keihin 33mm
flat slides, Undercut the gears added a pro series shift kit. Presently waiting on Weisco to come through with their sponsored 2mm over bore kit. They got the whole thing ready to go like the jugs have been bored and honed and pistons fit in at the factory R&D center. Just waiting for them to source rings and a gasket. I think they said they found the gasket or had one made.less rings.

I have a super lightweight stainless steel Hindle header and I have a GP style carbon fiber can coming that's a knock off of something I am sure, its pretty wide open loud.
Woodscraft clip ons.

Kawasaki 636 radiator


My own design rear sets

Fox shock twin clicker

OYA Carbon Fiber sponsored seat,tank cover and fender

R-1 Throttle and front brake reservoir.

Kawasaki ZX600rr Body work (Fitting it up and making brackets fr it tomorrow. Then I will spray it myself to make the race with the intent to take it to my shop and have the painter do a proper job in the booth over the winter.

That's about all I can think of for now but I am sure missed something. I hope it runs well for this coming race. need to save some face and make a good showing with this bike though so if its not ready and capable of placing in the top 5 I won't run it Nov 1st weekend.

[China_Racer_1]

Well MR Wang came down form my side car shop adn helped sort out teh electrical harness with me.

I mostly watched and handed him tape and shit like that.

he knew what he was doing so I watched and learned.

We lost about half the harness in wires and gadgets and plugs.

The rest we decided needed to stay to make the bike run.. or we were not sure so we just left it.

Cleaned up real nice. I will add pics.

So we gave her some fuel and cranked her and after one sputter she rolled to life then it was vroom vroom and an orgasm.

Mr Wang and myself just grinned when she started up. She purred and even though we revved it a bit we did not want to gun it obviously. But she sounded good and I think the lite and balanced crank will make a noticeable difference. Have to see next week.

Spyder I will break her in right don't worry!

[China_Racer_1]

Well a few updates on this bike.

I got the wiring harness mostly taped up, added a few lengths to some sets of wires to make the harness fit around the flat slides better and generally cleaned it up. I'll get a pic of it whe I finish later tonght or tomorrow. about 85%.

This is what it looed like when I started removing all the un-needed wres like for lights etc. I bet we stripped half the harness out.



Since this is an FZR frame it has a fuel cell rearward of the carbs and sitting low in the frame. I have no filler hole on the false tank cover so I chopped the fuel cell down a bit to get everything to fit under the tank cover.



We cut and welded it back together then we added the equivilent of JB weld all around the welded seam to sell it up tight so no fuel leaked out.

The tank cover I modified it and the mounting brackets a bit so it sits low and as tight as I can get it to the frame. This makes a defacto Airbox.

I am working on getting some thin aluminum plate to put over the carbs with just the velocity stacks sticking through. This will enclose the whole system up



Not to pretty but function over form on this one. A bit nerve racking cutting into the nice Carbon Fiber work I trimmed it out around teh cut area. The tube is a rubber flex tube with a thin fiberglass type wire/rod wrapped around it for rigidity. I taped it black to blend in . Original color is sky blue it looked like shit worse than the tape job.



Over th winter I will get some aluminm insulated material over it.

I finished setting up the tank covers ram air inlet tubes today and tonight will finish the system that attached to the body work in the front. (Not finshed yet so hold the comments on how it looks until I do a final mount please)

The subframe is fnished now as well. Again function over form. Its a race bike so bare and sinple works best for me.



I mounted the fox twing clicker shock under the subframe.



I only have three brackets to make for the body work which will be done tomorrow and then I am ready to paint the body work and go break the engine in.

Man I got 6 days before she goes on the Dyno machine and 7 days after that before I qualify for the race on the 31st and 1st.

Proper exxhaust can should show up tomorrow as well so I can finalize the exhaust hanger design and facb it up.

I been working until 2:00 AM everynight this week on this thing. But its in total about 95% there.

[feef]

nice work.

Interested in what you had to do to get the rear caliper and wheel to fit,

Did you use the original 3TJ caliper mount on the swingarm?

I'm looking for a rear caliper solution on my FZR with a 3TJ swinger on it, but haven't found much so far.

a

[Spyder]

I wanna know what that dyno says.. Im never on here, you know how to get ahold of me steve..

[China_Racer_1]

nice work.

Interested in what you had to do to get the rear caliper and wheel to fit,

Did you use the original 3TJ caliper mount on the swingarm?

I'm looking for a rear caliper solution on my FZR with a 3TJ swinger on it, but haven't found much so far.

a

Sorry it took so long to reply to this.

OK here it goes

With teh 3TJ swinger installed I used an F3 rear wheel. I also used teh F3 caliper. I am pretty sure it was the original f3 caliper brace/holder as well but I can not be sure.

I plan to do an in depth write up on this and the other mods I needed to do this week before I head overseas.

So please stay tuned - though I might start a fresh thread as there is a lot of jibber jabber talking on this one adn I wanted a clean thread for people to refer to.

I will keep you posted though.

Steve

[Spyder]

I heard threw the grape vine my motor smoked a CBR1000RR up to the top end of 3rd gear off the start, and it couldnt catch it in the corners..

that is so true. I pulle dhim to the top of his 3rd gear.

out of th corners he was helpless. in th long straights he could of course out CC me but in teh shorter strights he was pittiful.

he priased me and your engine all day saying it was a f*ck freak of motoryccle nature. you should be quite proud bro.

Fred thought because I babied the engine in the last season race it was a sled. but I kept tellign him "Wait until I get to teh F-1 track and can openher up" now that the engine wa properly run in I opened her up like I promised him and his jaw dropped.

I got footage of me pulling him on the way.

I thin kto the fact I built this bitch so light has somehtign to do with it. he he. I got to take a few credit point on this project

[Spyder]

Looks like Steve edited my post instead of quoting it LOL.. Looks like Im talkin to myself

Well Steve.. considering you shoe horned a 105+ Hp motor in a 30lb frame, that might have done the trick

[China_Racer_1]

Yes My great talents at computers and obviously not my best spelling day either. Geez I need to lay off the crack pipe when posting I guess ha ha.

I think this things has more than 105 under there though. the R6 bikes said i Pulled them out of th corner as well. and they got about 115 in their frames. Maybe its just low end grunt.

However, I can carry the speed on the back straight pretty respectfully as well. I am even geared a bit off though I think I still have too much 6th gear left at the end of the straight.

If I add a tooth or three in the back I think I will be hitting the rev limiter just before I need to hit the brakes which is right where I want to be. I can roll off just prior to hitting the limitter grab a gear on the way down and then start my heavy braking and down shifting for the hairpin.

6th wide open to a hairpin in 1st for a hard drive out. It puckers your asshole right up no matter how smooth or brave you are, IMHO. Makes my eyes bobble in my head if I do it wrong ha ha... no really.

[China_Racer_1]

I took the Engine back out of the frame.. I think I have done this 100 Times over the past few years.

I took it out for a few reasons.


1st I got the new cyclinders from Wiseco. The 2mm overbore pistons will arrive next week.





2nd While it is needing to be out I took the chance to get a cardboard mock up mader of the 1mm thick heat shield I will be in stalling.

Now 1mm is not much I know but I have some heat sheild material I will secure to the bottom to displace the heat and keep as much as I can away from the carbs and float bowls. I need 1mm thick so it plyable enough for me t work with it in the tight spaces.

I know I can not keep 100% of the heat from getting up in there and boiling the gas in the bowls. But I can keep about 85% of it out and thats a lot better than nothing.

I am a firm believer that heat robs the engine of HP in the long run.

I have also started to wrap my coolant hoses with a heat resistant material I found locally. This should keep the engine heat from heating up the water wetter I plan to put in when the time comes.

My hoses run real close to the exhaust and head so it needs a bit of protection no matter what the theory.

I am up in the air over if I should wrap my exhaust fully to keep heat away from the engine.

I guess yes it would do that but then the exhaust would be pretty hot with no air to cool it off. So what is better Anyone know about such things?

I have been reading about this and I get both sides saying they are right. Wrap or unwrap. hmmmm I do like the golden color it has right now after gettign them up to temp....... hard to say.


Check this out. I know that the 3TJ model was the last model Or one of the last models of the FZR-400. Mostly used in Britain for racing from what I can see. They stil have a 400 series over there.

But this is a YZF. So I guess that a lot of left over parts or parts that were of the same spec so why make a new mold where used in the YZF600R engines.

This was USA engine when it started out so I doubt it was because it was in the UK. Anyone ever run acrss this before? Just curious really.

Same basic engine as the 400's so I guess it makes sense they would take comparable parts from one run to use on another.

I have the engine back in right now temporarily waiting for my German engineer friend Uli to come take a few measurements and draw up a few things I need machined out Like body wark stays and upper fairing stay and a brace I am thinking about making on thee frame to stiffen/strengthen it up.

My machinist sponsor wil make all the parts. I only need 4 tabs welded 2 on the aluminum frame and 2 on the metal cradles.

I'll keep you in the dark on this one until its down just becasue I am not exactly sure how I am going to do it. I just have an idea of what I am trying to achieve and I think I have a way a way to make the stiffner work and not be ornamental..... I don't need ornamental

[China_Racer_1]

Well I finally got the Piston kit and new cyllinders from Wiseco. They are a bit different for ma normal piston adn the quality is of course much better.

These are what they call a single ring piston and are for racing. I need to change the rings after the season for sure.

Here is a side by side of a new shinny Wiseco piston vs a factory yamaha one - also new.


My ersonalized manufacturing code. Spyder called to confirm these were YZF600R pistons for me as the box was marked FZ600 and they said that code was for a set of pistons made specifically for me but they would not give out any information to him over the phone.





I also spent a bit o ftime doing a total rewire of the bike.


I moved the black box up front to the fairing bracket. Its zip tied on now and I will make a proper mount for it later.

I did this to help with the cooling of it. It was getting really hot where it was tucked under the seat.



I used 100% all new wires and routed them through the frame and out of the way of everything. I also made every single wire a quick disconnect so if a wire failed I can simply plug and play with a new wire.

The black box is a concern and I have a spare so this is easy to change out on the fly now.

I kept the wiring stubbed off and ready to be plugged into with a quick disconnect as well for the Voltage regulator, stator and starter. The VR will be mounted on the left side frame cradle for better cooling also if I choose to use it.

I am still up in the air if I want to go constant loss or not.


Next I went to work on the heat shield system. I am a firm believer that heat robs horse power. So I put a 1/4" (.5cm) heat shield material around the fuel cell which is siting right on the engine. I hope this helps keep the fuel a bit cooler and makes the bike run better.


I will also wrap the fuel lines, filter etc. I already have a heat resistant material almost like an exhaust wrap but thinner around my cooling system water lines. Some of the lines are danger close to the block so I wanted to protect them and try to keep the cool water cool before it entered the block.



I have a cut out for my heat shield that will go between the engine and the carbs as well in an effort to NOT BOIL the fuel on the starting grid and while the bike is in operation.


I got the heat shield material at a local store and also found this heat shield tape that is about half the thickness of common tin foil. It is used to cover the seames. Worked great i think and a total cost of about #3.50 USd I think was worth the investment.

Its balzing hot here in the summer and on the grid its got to be 110-120 degrees F. with the engine heat who know sbut hot is bad for the fuel delivery system.

I have engine covers and a few other parts out for powder coating right now and will hopefully get the new pistons in in the next week or so. Chinese New years will get in the way of a few delverable items but no worries.

I can get the bike back together in a few days andready for the track once al the parts are in my hands.
This bike is so stripped down its pretty easy to work on now. Doing it all or mostly myself is a big plus. I know every inch of this bike now.