1994 RVF400R Build Project

I just wanted to give a shout out to all you folks who keep sending your compliments and likes. I can't tell you how motivational and humbling it is for me. I really appreciate you folks taking the time to check it out. Thank You! Working hard right now, I would really like to have something good for this thread this afternoon.

 

we are waiting with baited breath!!

 

Awesome! I agree with you about the white fender choice.

 

The last three days have been an exercise in patience and attention to the smallest of details needed to finish the project off.

First thing to do was to test fit all the bodywork to make sure it was all going to fit. I was stressing over this for a long time, wondering about clearances, etc. I can't even count how many times I put it on and took it off, adjusting the fairing mounts and getting everything perfectly aligned.





After about 24 hours of effort, I finally got it where it needed to be nothing stressed and everything as perfect as I could get it.

Once it was all fit, it was time to insulate all the panels. I used gold film insulation in the critical areas near the radiators and exhaust. For the areas nearest the radiators, I used aluminized insulation that's good for sustained temps of 2000*. This was important due to the oversized rads and the aftermarket header pipes being a little closer to the panels.

Mid panels





Lowers







Installed new Dzus fasteners from KurveyGirl.com at the mid, lower, connection point



Had to deal with some more carbon fiber bits, the two infill panels and the inner trim panel. Thankfully, I didn't have any issues with clearance to the rads, which was a huge relief. Took about 8 hours with the rotary tool and a bunch of fitting.

Infill panels...sorry about the reflection on the right side



Left infill panel



Tyga carbon inner trim panel with blue titanium screen and the obligatory HRC decal, lol. This took some serious work to get right.





Finished tightening everything up. Used Probolt ti alllen head Dzus fasteners for the final touch and wrapped up the body work, grand total time into this was almost 40 hours, but it turned out about as perfect as I could get it. Almost perfect gaps on all of the panels, tight and clean.





Took it off the stands and got the front axle seated and torqued and installed the strengthened rear brake line guide and got the pinch bolt torqued. To finish it off I installed the bum pad on the seat cowl and clear Puig tank protector.



Gave it a good waxing with bike spirits and stood back and let out a huge sigh of relief. It ended up looking exactly as I envisioned it all the way back in September of 2018...the day I bought it.









Gonna take it out for a little ride tomorrow....time to take a break from wrenching for awhile, but I'm not far from starting the rally bike build, maybe I can have it ready for a Mexico ride this winter.

I'd like to thank the following folks for their help

Restocycle
Cycle Skins Paint - Don Tromble
Robb Kerr EFabEx
Evan Steele Performance - Tucson
FastBike Industries Suspension
Tyga Performance Thailand
Sprocket Center
KurveyGirl.com
Rick Oliver UK
Radtec Race Radiators
Road Race Parts Direct UK
HEL Brake Lines UK
Galfer USA
EBC USA
Kencourt UK
Titan Classics UK
Mettec Titanium
CMSNL Honda Parts Netherlands
Mussleman's Honda Center - Tucson
Service Honda
ProBolt USA
North American Powder Coating
Perfection Industrial Finishing
Brook Suspension UK

I'll post up again after we get it on the dyno......but for now, NCB is out.

 

NICE JOB!!!

 

Thank you! I appreciate the compliment

 

Above and beyond!

Enjoy.

 

stunning looking bike, excellent job

 

Thanks for the kind words and joining in on the journey, I've appreciated your comments.

 

NCB, thank you for all the great info you have posted on this thread. I for one have learned from you. IMO you are a master bile restorer.
The bike looks great. Will you update after the Dino? Would love to see a video of it in action.

 

Bike

 

Thanks, Karl! It's been great having your comments throughout the process. It was nice of you to follow along, glad you did.

I will keep this thread updated until the final tuning is accomplished. I'm interested to see how close it is before any tuning takes place. Should know more about when that's gonna happen after today. For now, I just need to check tire pressure, put a couple strips of helicopter tape on the seat cowl to keep it from rubbing the paint on the tank, put some fuel in it, run it, double check for leaks and fluid levels, and check the charging system output.....then it's going for a little rippity rip.

 

No one can say that you took any short cuts or took the path of least resistance. Also looks like you spared no expense, well within reason, so kudos on a job well done!

 

Absolutely beautiful build and bike. I was going to ask if you were using DZUS fittings, make thing so much easier. Looking forward for some twist of the wrist updates!

 

Thanks for the nice words, Gator. Very much appreciated. 2, out of the 3, are Dzus...the third one is unable to accept a Dzus, as it's a throughbolt, going through both panels into the mount. Comes standard that way from the factory, I just replaced the corroded oem bits with better stuff. I also didn't want the fairing to be able to be disassembled without tools, you just enver know these days.

 

OK, just wanted to provide a little update on how things are progressing, or not progressing, hahahahahahahaha

Yesterday morning I got up early, had my coffee and was pumped to take the moto for a little ride. Went and got 2.5 gallons of Shell premium and brought it home, dumped it in. This was the first time the tank had fuel in it. Started it up, all was good, then I heard a slight hiss, as a drop of liquid made contact with the hot header...uh oh, shut it down pronto.

Proceeded to do an investigation and found the source....the tattle tail on the petcock diaphragm was dripping a drop of fuel about every 10-15 seconds. Hmmmm, bummer, this means that the diaphragm wasn't sealed properly in the petcock, poor assembly by the idiot who put it together, rofl. Stuck a rag under it and, as quick as I could, I stripped off the seat cowl and got the tank removed....score one for the Motion Pro quick fuel line disconnect...got a soft balnket, flipped it over and extracted the petcock, disassembled it, and found that the diaphragm hadn't seated correctly in the sealing groove, no worries, straightened it out and did a very careful job of reassembling, reinstalled the petcock and set it up on blocks on the workbench to check to see if I had got it right this time...as luck would have it, it was good to go...no more drip. Took the time to test the vacuum function with a hand pump bleeder and everything was good. Reinstalled the tank and bodywork, fired it up again.

Next, I noticed a drop of coolant, started laughing and told myself, self, today isn't gonna go the way you thought. Figured I would get something cold to drink, chill out and attack the source...of course it ended up being the top, left side hose from the 90* cast fitting in the vee, down to the water pump. Stripped off the left side bodywork and tightened everything up good at the clamp. I don't like squashing hoses to within an inch of their life with hose clamps, but I obviously took it a little too easy on this one. Got that fixed and put a little extra tight on the rest of the clamps I could access. Fired it up a third time, let it get fully up to temp and gave it a thorough inspection, everything looked good.

Took a cold shower, donned my gear and proceeded to go for the initial rippity rip. First impressions were incredibly positive, compared to the time I rode it after it was delivered, it was a completely different animal. It is almost scary light weight. Got to a little straight and whacked it WFO, decent response, felt just a tad flat from about 3k to 7k...but then oh boy, at 7k, it just started shrieking and revved incredibly quick up to 14k. Hmmm, not bad for a little feller. Proceeded into town...then shit went sideways with a quickness, I stopped to visit a buddy and realized there was coolant all over the right side of the moto...well shit, that's not what I wanted to see. Turned around rode it home.

Got to the garage and started the investigation, part deux. It looked like it was coming from the rad cap. stripped off all the bodywork and gave it a good once over, got it all dolled up again, tightened the rest of the hose clamps, and switched out the rad cap to a new OEM cap that I had bought as an extra. Topped off the coolant, checked the charging voltages, everything was great, or so I thought.

This morning I got up early and took it out when it was cooler than the almost 100*, from the previous day, warmed it up good, no leakage, OK must have been the rad cap. Took it into town and dropped by the Honda dealer to show her off to my friends who had been wanting to see it....got two blocks away, looked down and there was a slight leak of coolant on the infill panel...ugh, bummer. Got to the Honda shop, shot the shit with my buddies and let it cool down. Wrapped a rag around the filler neck and rode it home.

Got home and got after it again...no screwing around, this shit has to end here and now. Off came all of the bodywork...no more fucking around. Drained the coolant and pulled out the rad. Grabbed another rad I had taken off when I got it...one that was known to be tight, threw them both in the Taco' and hauled arse to my fab guy. I had initially thought the filler neck was too deep and the cap seal wasn't seating, took out the digital calipers and started measuring while Robb finished up a repair on a set of CBR1000RR cases. Everything was almost identical. WTF? Robb and I stared at those freaking radiators for an hour, taking measurements, presenting theories. I was not feeling really good a this point....hmmm, it's not blowing steam, check...it isn't pressurizing the overflow bottle and pushing fluid out the overflow bottle overflow tube, check....it wasn't getting hot, check... although the fan did come on on the way home on Monday, after it pushed out a little fluid. I was about to leave...and I saw it, bingo! Looked at Robb and said, I know what it is....he was puzzled, then he asked if I cared to share it with him, hahahahahahaha. I told him, take a good look at the overflow hose fitting and the weld inside the filler neck...well, I'll be damned...they had missed welding about a third of the fitting seal inside the filler neck. Looked at Robb and asked, well, whaddya think...don't think you're gonna get in there, no room to work, prolly why they missed it.

He broke out the tig and tried to weld it on the inside...no go. Told him to quit putting himself through so much pain and just weld it on the outside of the neck and I could shape it at the house so it would look nice and the cap would go on correctly. Robb did a great job and welded it up, wouldn't need but a little spit shine at the house. Tried to pay him, he said no, so we agreed on lunch or dinner this weekend...deal.

Stopped by Evan Steel Performance and spoke with Phil, I could hear Evan was in the dyno room. I asked him about what he thought about putting a higher pressure cap on the rad. We had a great discussion about what I had gone through and he recommended going from a 1.1 bar cap to a 1.6 bar cap, due to the desert heat...great, let's do it. He got on the 'puter and ordered it up for me, good guy price of $22. Then we set a date for next week for the dyno run, and potential tuning. $50 for the initial run and measurements, then any tuning $290. Deal. I told him I thought it was nosing over just a touch between 3k and 7k, and that I would bring the needle shims to see if Evan could clean it up a little. It's not bad at all, but it's not exactly where I think it could be...cool, I'll check in tomorrow or Thursday, and hopefully, I can bring the bike.

Jumped in the Taco' and hauled ass to the house, stopped at the auto parts store and got a micro hose clamp. Wasn't gonna take any chances with the overflow hose just being clipped. Had a bite to eat and got busy polishing up the rad, spent about a half hour cleaning it up and making sure the cap seated correctly, then got to work reinstalling it. I had just enough coolant on hand to refill the system, and to top it off after a quick burp. Fired it up and let it get hot enough to turn the fan on, and then a little more...no messing around, it needed a stress test. With a huge sigh of relief, not even a microscopic weep of anything, even put on my magnifying eyepiece and made absolutely sure...it was good, FINALLY.

Reinstalled the body work, AGAIN, gave it a nice cleaning with bike spirits and polished her up. NOW, I think it's actually road worthy.





All of that bullshit for a holiday in a weld. All I can say is that I will give it a thorough testing tomorrow, but my spidey senses are telling me it's actually fixed this this time. I hadn't been 100% confident previously. I'll give it a ride around the area and test it out, if it's good, I'm heading out to Kitt Peak for a proper test. Can't wait to get in on the dyno...I only have about 10-14 days to get this done, but that's a story for another day.

 

Never underestimate Murphy.
All's well that ends well.
Fantastic job and great follow through to your obvious meticulous vision of the finish product.
I tip my hat to you sir.
Keen to find out final weight and HP.

 

Thank you. Much appreciated. I'm not guessing it's going to put out any crazy numbers, it's a bone stock engine, the only changes have been ignition, velocity stacks, high volume airbox, exhaust, and getting it tuned perfectly. I'm even running an OEM air filter. I just want it to run as crisp as possible. I know it's very close where it is, just needs the midrange cleaned up. I don't really know if I'll get around to weighing it, at least, not anytime soon. Starting a new job soon. It has been quite the adventure, so far.

 

sounds just as well that you sorted out the fit of all the panels to make sure they were ok, now you know you can remove and refit them no bother, great job

 

I bet your getting close to NASCAR tire changer fast on the bodywork. lol