Maybe go streetfighter with my FZR?

[hawcer]

I've been doing some fiberglass repair...and while I was waiting for the glass to cure I decided to shorten the muffler a bit. It was way too long imo, and it had a really bad section that was beat to hell and welded over....so I cut it short enough to remove all that. I think it was a Micron muffler.

[JasonRDfan]

That's better. I wonder how many pounds did you cut off? What is it 10 pounds equals 1 horsepower? She's faster now

[hawcer]

Since I'm doing a bunch of fiberglass repair any way....what do you all think of trimming some off the end of the tail?

Look at this pic, does the tail look a little long for the bike to you?



I am thinking of trimming it off from the front of the flat area to the sides of the brake lamp up and back at an angle to the top. I'm guessing it will be about 4"-5" removed. I will also have to trim off the subframe ,make new rear mounts,find a different tail lamp and possibly relocate the Voltage regulator....and of course, I'll have to close back in the end of the tail with more fiberglass.

it seems it would be more pleasing to the eyes to do this, but what do I know,lol
Thoughts?

EDIT: Looking at some other pictures it doesn't "look" as bad...it might be the angle. Also, maybe adding another link to the chain would move the rear wheel back...that could help it look a little better, since the the wheel is almost all the way forward in the swingarm as it sits now. BTW, the chain and sprockets are pretty much new...so I'm not to worried about adding a new link. The stuff was only on there long enough for the sprocket nut to fall off and tear up the cover and the bike hasn't been on the road since.

[hawcer]

Today I pulled the carbs and went through them. Not as nasty as I thought they would be...I also pulled the idle adjust plugs so I could adjust the idle mix. I sure does run a lot better. I also ran into some electrical problems, but I have figured that out and it has been fixed. It probably looked a little funny riding it around town without any plastic on it,LOL.

[JasonRDfan]

When I adjusted my pilot mix screws it made a huge difference. They were all over the place one was even the whole way in, and one fell out. Lol

[DonTZ125]

Yeah, the stupid 'anti-tamper' caps the EPA demanded serve no real purpose except to prevent adjustment, thus causing POOR operation and increased emissions!

[hawcer]

I have a bone to pick with the last guy that had his hands on this bike too. He used standard "wide band" hose clamps on the airbox boots....they were so mangled and squished there was no way of getting them back on.

I tried something and it worked. I pulled the boots from the airbox and and boiled them in water. This softened them back up and they sprung back into shape, looking almost new. The time it took to reinstall the boots in the box was long enough to allow the boots to stiffen back up, making it really hard to get them mounted on the carbs.

So I took the hot water and poured it in a shallow pan and set the airbox on the pan so just the boot ends were submerged in the hot water....let it soak for a minute or so and they were soft enough to easily slip over the carbs. Once the boots were on the carbs, they cooled and formed to the carbs diameter...so now I can take the box off and put it back on without any problems.

I just need to find some factory clamps so it will stay there. Anyone know of any other clamps that will work on the airbox boots? I find all kinds of used clamps on ebay, but none for the FZR....whatever happened to the aftermarket narrow band warm gear clamps?

[JasonRDfan]

That was a good idea with the water. I'm not sure where to get the clamps, did you check bike bandit? I would think they would have the oem clamps.

[viken]

I've been doing some fiberglass repair...and while I was waiting for the glass to cure I decided to shorten the muffler a bit. It was way too long imo, and it had a really bad section that was beat to hell and welded over....so I cut it short enough to remove all that. I think it was a Micron muffler.

DID Y'ALL KNOW: Manufacturers build mufflers extra long for this exact reason. Choppy, choppy!

[hawcer]

yep, they always give you extra length so you have more fudge factor,lol.

As far as my muffler goes...I don't even know if it was made for the FZR. The thing was huge and almost came out past the tail light. It had been cobbled together where it is supposed to slip onto the intermediate pipe....so I'm just guessing someone made it fit. I made it fit and look a little better

[hawcer]

I've been a little busy, so not much time to work on this this week.

I did find a way to attach the seat. I was originally going to bolt it down....but that becomes a pain in the butt, if the batt gets low from sitting and it has to be jumped or charged.

So, what I did :

1) removed original rear seat keyed latch assembly and took it apart. I cut the long section off that contains the lock cylinder and relay shaft. I drilled and tapped the little nub on the arm that releases the latch hook and attached a cable over the nub and installed a small screw with a washer on the end to keep the cable from coming off.

2) Cut the latch cross member off the frame from the original rearward location and re welded it farther forward so it will be under the drivers seat....I also changed the offset so the latch is centered, not off to one side.

3) Mad a striker from 1/4" round rod and mounted it to the seat pan.

4) adjusted striker height for the best seat fit with no wobble.

It works great. a quick pull on the cable and off comes the seat

[hawcer]

I decided to to do a carbon fiber look vinyl wrap on the bike. I had ordered some cheaper(non-3m) stuff from the internet to use. I have the tank cover and tail done. It looks pretty good and I'm actually impressed with the cheaper CF vinyl. It is 3d textured and reflects light and applied really smooth and tight. It's not the "dry" look....but still looks very nice.

I ordered a 60"x 60" piece, which is barely enough to do the tank and tail. I tried to do the tank with one single piece, but I had problems excess material at the end and had no way of getting the wrinkles out no matter how I tried to heat and stretch it. So I trimmed out that small section and applied an overlay, so it would be smooth....the area is just in front of the seat, so it looks like a tank pad, so no biggie.

I had to do the tail in two pieces, the rear...and then overlaid the front/side pieces. It looks fine and the seems don't look bad at all. I wish I could have done it all from a single piece, but I didn't have enough length left to do it that way....live and learn, I guess.

Oh...I did the front fender too.

I have pictures to post, but I think my internet gateway crapped out at home and hasn't worked all weekend...I think the thunderstorm we had a few days ago might have something to do with it.

I'm still waiting to get my headlight assy. and a few other little things to finish it up...but it's getting there.

Next I'll be pulling the wheels and stripping them. I will be refinishing them in black. Probably paint the forks black too while I have the front wheel off.

[hawcer]

Some pictures...







And with the stock headlights temporarily zip tied on:

[hawcer]

Not much time at the moment to work on this since my son is graduating next week...I never had this much BS and complications when I graduated,lol

Anyway, I did manage to cut down and modify the original front fairing stay/headlight bracket to bolt directly on the triples. So for now I will be using the original headlights and gauges. I also trimmed down and repaired the original upper fairing to be used...still alot of prep work needed on the fairing, but I think it will work out. I'll get some pictures when time allows.

I have a few other parts on order...more on the custom fab/look side of things. If I can do what I have in mind, I think my idea will look great and I'll post pics....if not, you'll never know

[hawcer]

A little more work in progress...

While fitting the stock headlight to my modified headlight bracket, the bracket was perfect btw, I dropped the darn thing and broke one of the lenses.

So I had to back up and punt...

I used a headlight/fairing from an old Nighthawk S....I made the brackets for it and it will work just fine...now I have to modify the brackets to also hold the gauges.

I also installed a LED tail light with integrated turn signals....it is for a Honda RC51, but is very close to being the same size and shape of the factory FZR light....I did have to modify the bracket and move it forward in the frame to make it look right. The two studs on the light housing are just a bit different in width apart than the factory mount holes, so I drilled/elongated the holes in the bracket a little, no biggie. Works great!

I also have been envisioning another wild idea I haven't seen anyone else do on a a streetfighter/rat bike....I brought this idea to light, and I like it. Some may not...but I do,lol.

What do ya think? what did i do here????