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GET BENT!!!


Veefer800Canuck

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This here is a fixit story, one with a sad beginning and hopefully a happy ending.

For everyone who told me to buy another bike and move on, you were right. :beer:

I should have bought my wreck back for $650, bought another used Viffer, transferred over my mods and farkles over time, then EBAYED anything leftover that had any value or worth. :blush:

Instead, I trusted the "structural engineer" from the insurance company who never said that the frame was bent. In my narcotic-addled mind, fresh out of the horsetable, it looked to me like the forks were bent. And I ASS-umed that if the frame had been bent, it would have been given "non-repairable" status rather than "repairable salvage" that they assigned to it. :mad:

Had I known it was the frame, I would have gone another route. There is a 5th gen on canadatrader.com with ONLY 12,000km at the moment. They want FAR too much money for it, but it's at a dealer, so you know, everything is negotiable, right? :491:

So here I am with a roomful of boxes, boxes full of shiny new (and grimy used) parts, bought and paid for, and I'm so far down the river now that it's too late to turn back.

The only upside is that I'm still spending insurance company money, and not my own. I had figured already (if not for the bent frame) that I'd have about $1500-$1800 surplus from the insurance money, but at this point, as reality is setting in, I'll be right about the break-even point by the time I pay to get a new VIN assigned to the new frame, and pay for a safety inspection. sad.gif

Could be worse, I could be upside-down on the whole deal but I'm not.

Which brings me to my thread title:

GET BENT

(or, how I learned to stop worrying and love my bike!)

Where to begin, aaah, how about here:

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I am now the "official keeper of the sport-touring dot net cane". :biggrin:

Sidestory:

And, well, I probably would have had a better handle on this whole GET BENT! deal had I not inherited a BIG problem from my stunningly beautiful eldest daughter late last year.

Seems that she blew the motor in her car, ran it right out of coolant, probably from a leaky head gasket, and seized the motor solid. SO, Daddy spent all of December and most of January yanking the motor from her car WITH A BROKEN FOOT! and installing a new (used) one.

A: I move slow, B: my friggin foot and shoulder hurt so I could only work on it for short periods, then rest for a couple of days C: I was also back at work full time since Oct 23rd, so that leaves only 15 days per month free to do anything at all, so you can see why it took so damn long. Add in Xmas, New Years, blah blah, blah, good thing I don't charge by the hour. Actually, I did it for free. I must be nuts. :blink:

Good news is that the 1997 Fjord Tortoise lives again with a low-mileage, solid engine, and my daughter's "social life" only suffered a minor setback. :rolleyes:

Thanks Dad!

/Sidestory.

Now where were we? Oh yeah, time to GET BENT!

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After stripping off all the plastics (and I still had my original cowl left from before the De-dumbo mod) here is what I have left for serviceable plastics:

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No, the CB is not mine. It belongs to my buddy Wes.

I already have a new/used rear cowl, left cowl and VTEC tank, as well as a gauge surround and inner fairing "V" panel. Thenks EBAY.

And that's the best part, those two good body panels. It goes downhill from there. Well, more like a permanent right-hand turn than downhill....... :goofy:

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And that is how she sits at the moment. Monday, call the insurance company, enquire about Ubuilt assigned VIN# and how it may/may not affect the insurance coverage/rates, then order new frame from RonAyers.com.

After that, siphon the fuel from the tank and see how the VTEC tank mounts up. You might be able to see a slight dent in the tank, just below the Honda wing:

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Once I get the VTEC tank fitted (I even bought a rear tank hinge for a VTEC as well), then it box up all the parts and send them to Andrew Swenson for paint.

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Stay tuned for more updates as things happen. :comp13:

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As always, best of luck Rob. These things happen. About buying a new frame, are you having no luck at all finding a used one? How long have you been looking?

I'm wondering if you'll be better off by biding your time a bit with trying to find a used one. I'm sure you're anxious to work on it, but is it worth spending an extra thousand bucks for the pleasure of doing it NOW, when you can't even ride it yet anyway? New frames will always be available, but a good deal only comes around once in a while.

In the meantime, there is plenty to keep you busy! Clean, polish, paint, repair, restore, etc... maybe take a page from my book? I've been reassembling my 83 750 for what, 2 years now? :beer:

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Good luck Rob, that's going to be a fair amount of wrenching. Does give you that chance for custom paint. Any possibility you can go back to the ins. co. for more money to cover the frame since it was their oversight?

How did the forks come through? They look twisted in the triples but not obviously bent.

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As always, best of luck Rob. These things happen. About buying a new frame, are you having no luck at all finding a used one? How long have you been looking?

I'm wondering if you'll be better off by biding your time a bit with trying to find a used one. I'm sure you're anxious to work on it, but is it worth spending an extra thousand bucks for the pleasure of doing it NOW, when you can't even ride it yet anyway? New frames will always be available, but a good deal only comes around once in a while.

Well, I've been researching used frames, and all the ones I can find are already listed on CARFAX as having been in a wreck. SO, I takes my chances on a frame that may or may not be straight, has a salvage title, pay ~60% of new for it, pay $180 shipping on top of that, and the RIV doesn't recognize it as being a "vehicle", therefore I cannot "import" it, so I have to get a newly assigned VIN anyhow for $400, THEN after it's all assembled, the reassembled bike will STILL bear a salvage title for the rest of it's life, as the used frame came from a donor vehicle that was in an accident.

At least with a NEW frame, I am guaranteed it'll be straight, and the procedure for getting a VIN is the same, but when I'm done, since the frame is not from a salvage vehicle, I only have to pass a safety inspection, not a salvage inspection, and will have a clean non-salvage title on the bike.

{sigh} As well, it's still insurance money I'm spending, none out of my own pocket.

The only way I could get around this is to find a Canadian frame with no salvage designation, and the only way I can think that might happen is if the owner had an accident like a simple lowside, didn't report the accident, and parted out the bike. Highly unlikely. OR, the motor went and he parted out the bike. Again, highly unlikely to have a blown motor in a 5th gen.

I can call Re-cycle in Stony Plain tomorrow and ask, but I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, there is plenty to keep you busy! Clean, polish, paint, repair, restore, etc... maybe take a page from my book? I've been reassembling my 83 750 for what, 2 years now? :beer:

Yeah, I could be like you or Murray, but I don't have anything else to ride, and I really, REALLY want to go the the PNWVFR meet in Oregon in August.

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Good luck Rob, that's going to be a fair amount of wrenching.

Actually, I'm going to take a cue from rufrydrsc2 and leave the majority of the bike intact and just lift the frame off the motor like he did here:

And if I can pop out a 3.0 V-6 with one leg, I should be able to tackle this. Speed records will be not be set however. NASCAR pit crews will not pheer for their jobs just yet. :happy:

Does give you that chance for custom paint. Any possibility you can go back to the ins. co. for more money to cover the frame since it was their oversight?

How did the forks come through? They look twisted in the triples but not obviously bent.

The property damage claim is signed off as complete, and in the fine print of course, it says that there is NO legal recourse for further damage claims whatsoever on into infinity, etc........

The bodily damage is a whole different kettle of fish and entirely separate from the property claim.

The forks I have not measured yet, but will when they are removed. The LH one has the forward fender mount tab snapped off, but I have the tab, and it would be possible to JB weld it into place and repaint the lower portion of the fork.

I DO have another set of RC51 forks in good shape.

I don't have any fancy V-blocks or such for measuring, but I was thinking of gently chucking the fork legs up into the metal lathe at work, on the topmost part of the fork where the upper triple and clipon normally mounts, then starting the lathe VERY slowly, and work it up easy to a reasonable (slow-ish) speed that would show any bend in the fork as an off-center wobble. Clamping say, a popsicle stick in the lathe's tool mount should show any runout as increasing/decreasing clearance, no?

Do you think this would work? :comp13:

And custom paint, yeah, that's still in the pipe. White/black RC51 scheme like I had planned.

She'll be a KEEPER by the time I'm done! :huh:

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Do you think this would work? :comp13:

I don't see why not.

Bummer about the frame being bent, by the time you find a good used one, you'd be better off just buying a used bike. sad.gif So how do you get your VIN onto the new frame and get it registered?

Good luck either way!

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Do you think this would work? :comp13:

I don't see why not.

Bummer about the frame being bent, by the time you find a good used one, you'd be better off just buying a used bike.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking...... time or money, one or the other.

sad.gifSo how do you get your VIN onto the new frame and get it registered?Good luck either way!

A new frame comes without a VIN, and you cannot "transfer" your old VIN over to the new frame as that is akin to forgery or counterfeiting. Highly illegal and frowned upon. :happy:

I have to apply to Alberta Transportation, who works on behalf of the Insurance Bureau of Canada and recieve a brand-new (assigned) VIN as a "custom-built motorcycle", just like you would do if welding a custom frame for a bobber or a chopper and putting an old Harley 45 in it.

I already called Alberta Transportation and asked, the procedure is quite straightforward, only it isn't exactly free. :huh:

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I don't have any fancy V-blocks or such for measuring, but I was thinking of gently chucking the fork legs up into the metal lathe at work, on the topmost part of the fork where the upper triple and clipon normally mounts, then starting the lathe VERY slowly, and work it up easy to a reasonable (slow-ish) speed that would show any bend in the fork as an off-center wobble. Clamping say, a popsicle stick in the lathe's tool mount should show any runout as increasing/decreasing clearance, no?

Do you think this would work? :comp13:

You should be perfectly ok checking the fork legs in a lathe. I would think that if your work has a lathe, there should also be a dial indicator floating around somewhere. A popsicle stick would show you an obvious bend, but the tolerance on the fork tubes is .008". For reference, the hair on your head is on average .010". To know for sure, you need an accurate way of measuring deflection.

Harbor Freight has cheap & decent dial indicators, maybe Princess Auto does too?

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You should be perfectly ok checking the fork legs in a lathe. I would think that if your work has a lathe, there should also be a dial indicator floating around somewhere. A popsicle stick would show you an obvious bend, but the tolerance on the fork tubes is .008". For reference, the hair on your head is on average .010". To know for sure, you need an accurate way of measuring deflection.

Harbor Freight has cheap & decent dial indicators, maybe Princess Auto does too?

Actually, now that you mention it, they do have a dial indicator with a magnetic base in the millwright's tool room.

I should be able to rig that on the tool rest of the lathe. Thanks Sebby!

I am now downloading the RC51 service manual to double-check your runout measurement. :comp13:

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OK, so I checked in the FSM for the RC51 and indeed, Seb is correct, it's 0.008 inches for the tube runout, but that's the INNER tube.

There is no spec for the OUTER tube whatsoever.

At least I saved the RC FSM to my flash drive for future reference. :comp13:

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OK, so I checked in the FSM for the RC51 and indeed, Seb is correct, it's 0.008 inches for the tube runout, but that's the INNER tube.

There is no spec for the OUTER tube whatsoever.

At least I saved the RC FSM to my flash drive for future reference. :comp13:

I would hazard to guess that the spec for the outer tube(more specifically, the BORE of the outer tube) will be the same, or tighter. Tolerances on mating/interacting parts don't generally vary from part to part. Makes sense, no? Why hold the tube to .008" and the slider to .030"?

Edit: On the other hand, if you find the tube to be in spec, your slider should be fine. It's stiffer, so the tube should bend first. If enough force was applied to the tube to bend it, you'd also see wear marks or scores in the slider bore.

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Drained the fuel tank tonight, siphoned it out as far as I could get, then ran the bike for about 20 min to get all the fuel out that the pump could get.

Propped the tank up as it was dying to get the last dregs and kept it sputtering until it finally died right out and would not restart.

Drained the oil and removed the filter, might as well while it's hot eh?

So huge props to VFRD member FROZEN for tipping me off to this mod. I like the shape of the VTEC tank better, and the increased fuel capacity can only help.

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The front of the tank lines up perfectly, the spacing of the bolts is bang on.

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The rear, not so much. The two bolts are much further apart. What I did was to buy half of a 6th gen mount and will use a longer bolt to attach it to my 5th gen lower hinge.

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You can see that it lines up perfectly, I did have to bend the rear tank flange downwards ever so slightly to get the hinge bolt lined up just so:

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Finished product:

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And the 5th gen fuel cap bolts right in as well:

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Now tomorrow, I have to check the fit of the seat, and if that's a go, I'm all set for a new look fuel tank!

It is a tad wider at the front of the tank, and juts out a teensy bit from the framerails, but it's most apparent when the bike is stripped, and should be far less noticeable when the bodywork is on.

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Looks great Rob. Of course, you've checked with Dan to be certain that the 5th Gen blower top hat will fit under the 6th Gen tank... smile.gif

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Looks great Rob. Of course, you've checked with Dan to be certain that the 5th Gen blower top hat will fit under the 6th Gen tank... smile.gif

Well, since the 5th gen and 6th gen share the same air filter, I'm thinking that it would fit! :wheel:

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:wheel:

Stunningly beautifull eldest daughter.............

this thread is useless without pictures......... tongue.gif

And I guess you put that cane to good use to put the fear of God into boys that come calling eh?

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For everyone who told me to buy another bike and move on, you were right. :fing02:

I should have bought my wreck back for $650, bought another used Viffer, transferred over my mods and farkles over time, then EBAYED anything leftover that had any value or worth. :rolleyes:

Instead, I trusted the "structural engineer" from the insurance company who never said that the frame was bent. In my narcotic-addled mind, fresh out of the horsetable, it looked to me like the forks were bent. And I ASS-umed that if the frame had been bent, it would have been given "non-repairable" status rather than "repairable salvage" that they assigned to it. :rolleyes:

So here I am with a roomful of boxes, boxes full of shiny new (and grimy used) parts, bought and paid for, and I'm so far down the river now that it's too late to turn back.

Sounds like their mistake, Rob.

Tell them to make it right.

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Sounds like their mistake, Rob.

Tell them to make it right.

Well, he never said that the frame WASN'T bent, and he didn't say that it WAS bent either.

Just that the bike was "repairable".

I guess everything is "repairable" if you replace 100% of the parts, one at a time, with new, eh?

I already signed off on the insurance settlement for the 'property damage', and in so doing, released them from all further claim in the matter, of course, 'bodily damage' is separate from that.

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So huge props to VFRD member FROZEN for tipping me off to this mod. I like the shape of the VTEC tank better, and the increased fuel capacity can only help.

Good luck first of all!

But, you should have read my last post in the tank topic. The new tank with old pump and sensor picks up only 20 liters (before the swap I got to the 20.8 liters refueling..)... I think It's maybe a different tank angle. I raised it's front a little, hope it may help..

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More good news:

I was thinking about getting a new frame from Ronayers.com, and it would have been $1164 shipped. But that's US pricing, then there's tax and duty, plus they said that Honda USA wanted my frame's headstock sawn off and sent to them, plus a copy of the title, plus a copy of my driver's license, I'm surprised they didn't want a kidney to boot.

But, the person answering the email was quick to reply and frank with me, so good customer service, even though I didn't buy anything.

With much fear and trepidation, I called my local Honda dealer and asked the price of the frame, and SHOCK AND AWE! $1140 Canadian!!!

Good thing I called now, because delivery is slated for late March, early April!!!!!!

Anyhow, I had to give a 50% deposit, and so now I wait.......

Off to the garage to test-fit the used bodywork with the new tank, some minor mods will be required to the fairing uppers, good thing I figured that out BEFORE paint. But really, it's just rounding off a couple of corners, pics to follow!

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