Clear Cover Mod

I was gonna do this under my "Disaster" thread, as it's part of the healing process- but I thought I'd better make it a separate topic & just link it there...

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Thanks to Metallican for the idea,

To Seb for the OUTSTANDING craftsmanship,

And to Veefer800Canuck (o'er at VFRD) for all the time he spent setting me up for success.




Y'all know I dumped the '07.

Instead of buying a new clutch cover I opted to send mine to Sebspeed for a mod that was gaining momentum with our other VFR cousins. http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/...h-cover-questionall-gens-how-to-add-a-window/

New covers are $217 and up, so for an extra $33 bucks I figured FUGGIT.


My UGLYNESS



So off the beeyach came, along with the clutch pressure plate.




Then off they went. The cover to Cairo NY, and the pressure plate to my local powder coat shop (who better get it right because his prices are fuk'n NUTZ).

Last Friday Seb got the cover, and before nights end he had it DONE!

Pics he sent me:

cut up my cover & noticed a change in color for 07



Workin...


Almost...


FINI


After that he had some things come up, so it didn't get shipped till monday...




and I waited.....






and I waited some more.........









Then today arty2:



Check out the CNC quality on the rings he had fab'd, and how he welds both sides of the cover:




Alright- FUN TIME


First, carefully disassemble the whole thing- EXCEPT FOR THE OIL SIGHT GLASS. You break that & life's gonna suk.



I did a good job of cleaning mine up before it was shipped to him, but now it needs to be clean.

Throw it in a HOT sink full of sudsy dawn dish soap and let it soak while ya head out for a few supplies.




Now remember: I'm in GA, and my shop is back in NC- so I don't have much here...

I went out & bought:


1 can of black VHT Krinkle paint
a medium 3M sanding sponge
A decent xacto knife (w/ extra blades)
Blue painters tape
Blue loctite
Blk RTV sealent
and some other things we'll get to later...... :wink:


Before you do anything else READ THE DIRECTIONS on the can



Now- take the parts out of the bubble bath & rinse them really good. I threw mine in the oven on low to dry them quickly, but you don't have to do this. I just wanted to see how clean they were.

Get your sanding sponge & rough up all the leftover factory paint that is still on the cover. Don't rush this part. If the VHT starts peeling later on you'll wish you'd listened to me.


I worked this into a 2nd round of cleaning under hot running water.


After you're sure it's good enough, go ahead & run another all hot water bubble bath with lots of dawn. This is the last chance you're gonna get to prod the remaining oil out of the metal.



While it's soaking (I let it go another 20 min), get out your xacto knife, blue tape, and a cutting board.

Once it's ready to come out, rinse the hell out of it, & feel free to dry it in the oven. My low setting is 170F, and took about 12 min to be completely dry.



Now the sucky part. If you aren't patient here you'll probably cut off a finger :heh:, and the finish lines will suck when it's done.

I started w/ the mod ring hole. I figured I'd work from biggest to smallest, but to each thier own...

Lay the tape in strips, and do 2 layers in opposing directions. This makes it easier to trim the excess off later- TRUST ME :frusty:



After you have both layers on and you've rubbed the tape down take your xacto and trim the excess off. I pressed the cover down on a plactic cutting board and traced the outside edge, The areas you can't reach have to be carefully trimmed free hand.





And that's one down...



Follow the same pattern for the access plug opening, and the oil fill hole.






For the sight glass window, carefully get strips of tape up under the lip as far as you can. After you've covered all of the glass & pushed the tape down (I used a butter knife edge) check it again...





Lastly, flip it over & tape off the mating surface.



DONE.




TIME FOR PAINT

Again: Follow the directions on the damn can!!


This part is very particular. Ya screw it up, and you're starting over.

3 coats of paint.

Each coat in a different direction

5 min between coats.






After an hour or so it'll look like this:




CAREFULLY peel the tape off.



Now don't touch it. She's oven ready, but ya gotta let it sit overnight or longer first...

After work tomorrow I'm gonna bake it in the oven at 200f for 1hr.


To Be Continued.......

 

Good God that boy can weld!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was thinking a bit of bake time would be needed to relax that thing after throwing all that heat at it. I used to do a lot of case welding back when I was willing to deal with it and tension in the metal must be released.

 

Clear cover=crotchless knickers.

Ho boy !!!!!!! 'Ere we go, lads.

 

Now that's just cool...........

nice work, I'm a little surprised you didn't grind the weld down though and make it nice and smooth.

 

Well, no real progress on it today. F'n douchenozzle at the P/C shop hasn't touched my pressure plate yet (says his gopher), and I can't seem to get a return call :mad2::mad2::mad2:

I did get the cover baked though, and since it was a nice day (I should be ridin :frusty I took it out for a couple of pics:





Without the pressure plate I'm stuck waiting, so I'll dig into cleaning & inspecting other sh..- Things, in the meanwhile.. :twitch:

 

Looks good, monkey.

Jose

 

Hiya, the Greasemonkey and I were doing a bit of discussing behind the scenes as to how I approached this mod.

Don't want to steal TOO much of his thunder, I'm sure it will look absolutely awesome with the powdercoated pressure plate, and well, you've already seen his case cover all painted and out in the sun, so.......

 

Freakin' A!
How much does this cost?

 

The krinkle paint really sets those covers off as different, I like it. Nice work.

 

$217
+$33
=$250

**not including supplies

 

PART II

So today, after MUCH waiting the powder coat dude finally had my pressure plate done.



Ok- back to the bike...

Take your new bolts (I used M6 x 1 x 30 S.S. socket head cap screws) and put your new buddy: blue locktite, on the threads. Place the slave rod bearing on the slave rod, & hold the pressure plate in position. Carefully place the 5 clutch springs back into the holes. Take the new bolts and washers, and start them each 4 or 5 twists by hand. Be warned- you have to press the pressure plate toward the bike pretty hard to push the slave rod back in.





Tighten these by hand in a criss-cross pattern EVENLY until they are just barely snug, than torque to 9ft lbs.



Now cover everything inside with clean shop towels. Use a copper wire brush (steel will mar the aluminium) and clean the old gasket and RTV off of the mating surface on the engine case. Be careful not to get any crud inside the crank case.




After you do this, wipe it down with a rag moistened w/ brake parts cleaner. Now reinstall the 2 guide dowels back in the engine case- NOT in the cover.

Now here's where the monkey differs from the manual...

I have always, and will ALWAYS, use black RTV sealant when resealing anything that retains oil in a crank case. I prefer "Right Stuff", but the standard Fel-Pro shiz will work if your local hillbilly auto parts doesn't have the good stuff

Apply a very thin coat of RTV on the mating surfaces of both the crank case, and the cover. Allow it to tack-up for a few minutes, and be careful not to get any in the bolt holes or inside the engine. After it's tacky, place the gasket on the crank case guide dowels and align the other gasket holes by pressing them against the RTV.

Now, lay out your 14 cover bolts (I used M6 x 1 x 25 S.S. socket head cap screws and M6 S.S flat washers) under the work area, and blue locktite them (place the washers on if you aren't using stock bolts).

THIS PART SUCKS pick up the cover, and put RTV in the channel that lines the center of the v shaped access for the sensor. Carefully reinstall the sensor and tighten the 8mm bolts just snug by hand, again using blue locktite. once this is done, apply a dab of RTV to both corners of the sensor gromet where it contacts the crank case and case cover. Now carefully place the case cover onto the guide dowels while watching your gasket alignment. Start installing your prepped hardware by hand, but snug none of them until they are all started. Once this is complete work your way back and forth across the case cover snugging each bolt a little at a time until they are all snug. WATCH THE CASE COVER for anything that might be binding because these will crack.

Book says torque these to 9ft lbs, but I just use the calibrated torque-wrist method... Let it dry for a day before adding oil.

DONE






Just figured out how to do vids...



I have extra S.S. hardware if anyone wants to try this. You only need 5 for the clutch, and 14 for the cover. Fastenal only sells them in bags of 50.....

 

That is mighty sweet, good job on the write up too. I currently have the few little scratches on my clutch cover touched up with a little black touch up paint just to make them less noticeable. If I ever find another bike to replace the VFR as my daily rider I'll certainly be looking for some wrinkle paint.

 

Nice addition.

 

Excellent writeup. Thanks for your time doing it. Thanks for giving me another reason to blow more coin on my baby

BTW the colour scheme on your fairing is excellent.

Your bike is an inspiration, just like stoshmonsters.

I just wish being inspired didn't cost me so much