1994 RVF400R Build Project

A little update...very little.

A little progress on the gauge resto. My fab guy finished up the new foam surround pins for the cluster yesterday. I had told him to put it on the back burner, as it was going to be a few months before I actually needed them, but he sent over a pic yesterday. Think it turned out great, his usual work.

Before:



After:



Going to look decent with the new foam, white faceplates, and carbon bezels. One of these days, I'll get a chance to send them out and have the faceplates installed. No idea when that's going to happen with my work schedule, but it should be in the next month or two. Can't do anything with them now anyway.

The engine is still progressing, with all of the parts at some stage of cryo treating, isotropic coating, polishing, or machining. Still on track for completion around the end of April. The best part is that I have it 80% paid off now and the cash bleeding should stop in the next 3 weeks, when I make that final payment. It's been painful, but it will soon be history and won't matter. Just have to get on the stick and get the aluminum subframe and carbon hugger coming from Tyga.

 

The new faceplate for the speedo is in MPH, correct? So the speed indication should be close but the odometer will still be in KM? Or am I missing something. Just wondering if you have something up your sleeve.

 

Good question, Karl. Nope, you're not missing anything, that's exactly it. The speedo will read in MPH, but the odo will be spinning in KMH.



Although I was only able to put about 50 miles on it before it grenaded, it was just something that bugged me. I had an adapter gearbox that converted it to MPH, but I just wanted the speedo in MPH and to get rid of the adapter gearbox to unclutter the area under the cluster. The gent that's going to do the faceplate installs for me, is also going to check the calibration and make sure it's perfect. It would have been the only component that wasn't restored, or modified. I couldn't have that, lol. Interested to see the setup fully assembled.

 

I have a tank and some parts for this bike to get rid of

 

What is the year and condition of the tank? Also interested to hear what you mean by parts.

 

Just a little update.

Received a message from Mike Norman at GForce Engine Development. He has started assembling the first three, of the five, engines that were done as a group to get the lower group pricing. My engine will be the last of the five to be assembled and should be done the end of April, first of May. He sent over some pictures of what's going on and I thought I would post them up in here.

Weighed and matched cryo treated Cosworth piston sets and superfinished HRC spec Carillo A Beam rods





Bottom end assembly of 428cc engine number 1, no info on the owner of this engine. Cryo treated case, cylinders bored to fit the 57mm pistons, The longer superfinished HRC spec rods, cryo treated, balanced, and polished crank, cryo treated and superfinished transmission gear sets.



I'm starting to get a little more excited about things, as they start getting closer to reaching the end of this epic journey. I have one last $2k payment to make it an even 15k for the engine and then the bleeding will finally stop. Below is the build sheet for the engine so everybody can tell me how crazy I was to do this....With no OEM parts available, I just decided to go all in and get it done, once and for all. 399 cc's to 428 cc's, hp boost from 60 to 80+.



The gauge cluster went out to have the faceplates replaced last Wednesday. They arrived at Dick's Speed-O-Tach on Thursday. Hoping to get them back this coming week. More updates when I get them.

 

That's some serious work NB, with a price to match.
You get what you pay for I say.
As we say here, no point going in half arsed.

 

That's what I'd describe as a "you only live once" engine.

I've never (yet) had an engine (car or motorcycle) rebuilt by the widely recognized top-shelf expert/wizard in whatever the mark/type is. Maybe I'll get that opportunity one day, and if/when that day arrives I hope I'll have the guts and funding necessary to pull the trigger.

 

Wow, thank you for posting the engine prices !! Yes, it seems like a lot, but it seems you are going to have a fabulous mill when done !
I'm teetering on the edge of starting something similar for a 750, but I'm going to try for a slightly more low-buck angle.
Could you list the weight-savings on the pistons ? Any compression increase (I don't think the displacement increase can account for 20 Hp) ?
Also glad to have the name of that Santa Clara shop for future engine work.
Thanks for the great thread !
Brian

 

From Mike Norman:

Pistons

The 428cc kits are also available in the HRC configuration pin height, which is designed for a +3mm longer connecting rod (which we have available as well). The longer rod reduces angular loading against the cylinder walls. This reduces wear, and reduces friction - which, in-turn, results in slightly more power. Also, the longer connecting rod changes the rotational geometry, adding a longer dwell-time at BDC for better cylinder filling, which also, in-turn, results in slightly more power. This is, of course why HRC released their racing kits in this configuration, so we are as well.

These pistons are worth a 10hp gain at the rear wheel over your current state of tune.


Cosworth also looks at every nook and cranny to see where they can safely remove weight to lighten the pistons even further. These pistons weigh 85.0g compared to the stock RVF piston's weight of 97.5g. Add the 3rd ring to the scale and you see the combined parts push right up to 99.6g. Round that to 100g, and the pistons lose 15g of reciprocating mass at 15,000rpm. However, the weight reduction doesn't stop there. The wrist pin was also shortened to make it stiffer as well as lighter. This brings the pin weight down to 24.8g from 29.0g. Another 4.2g of weight shed from this quickly moving set of parts. With the piston moving at 21 m/sec (4305 ft/min) at 14.750 rpm, that equates to a loss in force against the wrist pin, rod and rod bearing of 1239 Newtons (278.5 Pounds). This not only helps the engine accelerate faster, but live longer.

Rods

We also have G-Force Engine Development specification racing rods, made by one of the world's best connecting rod manufacturer, Carrillo Industries. Carrillo is another one of those companies that has produced nothing but exemplary racing parts in their history. Therefore, we only source our racing connecting rods for the NCs from Carrillo Industries. Carrillo rods simply do not break.

These rods have been developed by G-Force Engine Development to deliver the best performance available from a connecting rod, while increasing the strength, durability and reliability of your Racing Engine. The weights have been optimized for decreased loads on the crankshaft and engine bearings, while increasing the acceleration of the engine (due to lowering the mass & inertia of the components).

These rods are manufactured to G-Force specifications to exceed the +3mm longer HRC F-III Racing Kit specifications. They have also been optimized for increased strength, durability and reliability, while adding the extra performance advantages described above.

The 20+/- horsepower gains are a combination of the components, compression ratio, cylinder head porting, combustion chamber shape, and +1mm intake valves. The coatings also contribute to the gain through friction loss and heat control.

Example dyno chart for the 428 cc HRC spec, long rod, FIII configuration



I also have the Radtec UK higher capacity race radiators that utilize the stock fan and a higher pressure rad cap. These radiators are necessary to control engine temps for street use.

 

Had a little part to start working on today. The plan is to have two Koso Super Slim style digital temp gauges hooked up to monitor the inlet water temp coming from the thermo housing to the top radiator inlet and a second gauge to monitor the outlet temp on the bottom radiator going to the water pump inlet. I'm doing this so I can keep accurate track of the radiator efficiency and these gauges also have a safety feature where the gauge will start flashing when the water temp reaches 248* F (which I'm hoping it never does).

The OEM temp sensor is mounted in the thermo housing and the gauge functions normally, but it is only an analog bar display. I will keep this connected where it is, as I don't want a dead gauge in the instrument cluster.

Because space is limited inside the upper cowl and there aren't any infill panels around the instruments, and not really having a good location where they would be easily visible, I decided to have a mount fabricated to put the two gauges in a location where they would be easy to see, but not cause any clearance issues.

I drew up a mount that will attach below the steering stem nut and have a built in spacer to mount it just above the top triple clamp.



Transferred the design to light cardboard to test it out.



Did a test fit on the triple to confirm it would be good and to get an angle figured out so they would be easy to see.



It worked out pretty decent, good angle, low profile, and can still easily get the key in the ignition. Tomorrow I'll drop off the model and the template and have my buddy see about having the part fabricated from aluminum.

I will power the gauges off a keyed hot lead from the harness with a relay. The gauges come with a nice wiring harness, that I just have to wire up to get them functioning. I also plan to have a manual fan switch inline with the OEM switch, I have a clean solution figured out, just need to source the bits and make a little harness to get everything connected, but that is for another post.

Have a few things in the works that I will be working on to put the finishing touches on a couple things that I want to change when it's time to make it whole again. Really hoping to see my refaced cluster come back this week, so I can put the finishing touches on that.

 

Got all of the preparations for the dual temp gauges completed today and got all the bits and pieces ordered.

Took my drawing to my fab guy's shop today and used his computer software to draw up the temp gauge mount and get the file together for the CNC machine to cut the part. Ordered the 3"x 5" x 1/4" piece of aluminum stock that will get whittled down to make the part. Hoping he can fit me on the machine this week and that can get knocked out.

Ordered two Koso Super Slim digital temp gauges with blue displays to match the OEM gauge lighting, the sensor adapters, and some Gates SB heat shrink clamps. I didn't want to use two more worm drive clamps, as the hoses aren't very long and it would have ended up looking like an abortion. I've never used them before, but I did a lot of research on them and decided these were the cleanest option.

Koso Temp Gauge - Blue Display



Kosoa Sensor Adapter 22mm and 26mm



Gates SB Power Grip hose clamp



To supply the power for the gauges I went with a 3CS Sealed fuse panel kit from Eastern Beaver. I've had really good luck with Jim's stuff in the past and this will also allow an extra open slot, in case I decide to add a third accessory.



It's a really clean setup that connects to the battery and I'll tie the relay into the taillight wire to trigger it when the key is on. I also ordered some nice 0.26" high temp wire sheathing and chemical resistant adhesive heat shrink sleeve to make up the leads from the panel output plugs to the gauges.

Should have all the little bits and pieces to connect these all up when the time comes. Also need to start getting the bits together for the manual fan switch, I have the solution, just haven't ordered it yet. More to come, man I wanna get this done.

 

great story, but won't those white face gauges glare too much in the az sunlight ?

 

Yet once again, thank you for sharing and the great pics. All that racing technology is very interesting and I like to read and understand. Wish my riding skills were equal. But, then again, I am happy with the stock gen 5.
I used similar digital temp gauges on my wood boiler. They are simple to wire and work great.

 

I thought it through. The glass will always be a bigger glare issue than the faceplates. It's all about the angle of the dangle.

 

Riding is exactly like wrenching, you can only get better by doing it.

 

I like contrast, personally would go with not a bright white... however, noticed you needles are white, perhaps paint the tips with something tasteful so you can readily see at a glance? Just a thought while it's apart.

 

Thanks, already got that part figured out and it's already in the que.

 

Started futzing around with the layout for the manual fan switch, ended up just doing most of it.

I was looking at the fan wiring and noticed that the covering on the ground wire had split about an 1/8" away from where the wire enters the fan motor housing. It was too close to the hot lead to the motor to really do much with it and I couldn't cut it off and splice it because it was so short, so I jumped in the rig and headed out to get some liquid electrical tape to seal it up. Like most everything else, you can't buy these fans from Honda anymore, so fixing it was necessary.

Had to cut the shrink wrap off and remove the high temp wire sheathing to get at it. The liquid tape takes about 5 minutes between coats, with a full cure at 24 hours, so I spent some time to put a half dozen thick coats on it to make a solid repair. Reinstalled the sheathing and sealed it on.



Once the momentum started I just kept going, didn't have anything else to do. started working on adding an additional ground wire between the OEM switch and the fan that will be routed up to a switch I have coming. Doing it like this allows you to maintain the functionality of the OEM switch, or you can flip it on whenever you need it.

Spliced the three wires together with a crimp fitting and soldered it up to form the Y

Coated this with half a dozen coats of liquid tape to seal it up.



Put together a shrink wrap Y to cover it.



You can buy these Y's already made up...but they cost $18 each. Just decided to make one. Got it all sealed up, got the sheathing on and set and spliced a new flag connector and boot on the new wire to the OEM switch.



Finished putting a nice seal on the joints and left it to cure.



In 24 hours it will be fully cured and that will be done. I'll do a quick test to confirm it's all good and bolt the fan back on the radiator. I have some high temp sheathing and adhesive shrink sleeve coming from McMaster Carr that I will use to to finish the wiring running up to the bar switch that is in transit.Won't be able to do that until the moto is assembled again. At least I won't waste a day dicking with it later.

Temp gauges should arrive from Koso tomorrow. Still no word on the shipping of the sensor adapters, the shrink clamps, or the 3 CS wiring harness and fuse block....think they might have been Corona'd.

 

Wrapped up the manual fan switch wiring and the repair of the fan motor wire.

Did a temporary install of the fan



Setup up a temporary power circuit that mimics the stock wiring harness, added a temporary inline switch to confirm my work was up to snuff



Every thing tested good, finished cleaning up the wiring install on the radiator so it was ready to bolt in when the time came. Turned out decent.



Ready to bolt up, plug into the stock harness, and make the final connections to the switch at the bars, which I should have next week. One less thing to dick around with when it's reassembly time. Creeping towards the finish line.