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4th Gen. Vfr/cbr F4i Body Conversion


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I seriously admire the dedication and the workmanship that has gone into this project, but I have to ask myself, why? Why would you want to junk the very distinctive and attractive 4th Gen bodywork and turn the bike into one that looks like every other sportsbike on the road? To me, it just doesn't make sense.

We didn't buy the bike wrecked. The bike was perfect and had 6k miles on it when my dad purchased it. At one point or another we both laid the bike down on the same side, so after a while we started sourcing body panels for it. And while sourcing panels, we decided to get rid of all that weight and transform the look of the bike too. The weight reduction idea started with the all-in-one gauge and it exploded from there. In the end we took off close to 70 lbs from stock trim (most of it was reduced up top, which makes a huge improvement in the handling). I also don't think it looks like "every other sportsbike" either. Single sided swingarm, hidden lights, solid paint job, and lets not forget the sound! :) It handles great and sounds like no other sports bike out there.

I can't remember now, but did you guys actually weigh the bike and get some hard numbers?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Electrodynamic

I believe Marty has the numbers on every little thing that was replaced (even the difference in weight of the bodywork). I'll have him check his files when he gets back from vacation.

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  • 1 month later...
  • Member Contributer

I seriously admire the dedication and the workmanship that has gone into this project, but I have to ask myself, why? Why would you want to junk the very distinctive and attractive 4th Gen bodywork and turn the bike into one that looks like every other sportsbike on the road? To me, it just doesn't make sense.

We didn't buy the bike wrecked. The bike was perfect and had 6k miles on it when my dad purchased it. At one point or another we both laid the bike down on the same side, so after a while we started sourcing body panels for it. And while sourcing panels, we decided to get rid of all that weight and transform the look of the bike too. The weight reduction idea started with the all-in-one gauge and it exploded from there. In the end we took off close to 70 lbs from stock trim (most of it was reduced up top, which makes a huge improvement in the handling). I also don't think it looks like "every other sportsbike" either. Single sided swingarm, hidden lights, solid paint job, and lets not forget the sound! :) It handles great and sounds like no other sports bike out there.

Hello, I was wondering what honda your new oil cooler came off and where did you get your veypor guages and how much, just finished rewiring vfr850rr, theyd removed alternator, stator, starter and all stock wiring. I'll have to relocate oil cooler, figure out a 2nd radiator below original, but have to change design of front head pipes, then change design of up pipe and collector for the twin undertail exhaust. The original builder didn't leave any room for wiring,battery fuel pump,etc. it was a full loss race system, your bike came out great, thanks for any info on cooler or veypor,Tom

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I seriously admire the dedication and the workmanship that has gone into this project, but I have to ask myself, why? Why would you want to junk the very distinctive and attractive 4th Gen bodywork and turn the bike into one that looks like every other sportsbike on the road? To me, it just doesn't make sense.

We didn't buy the bike wrecked. The bike was perfect and had 6k miles on it when my dad purchased it. At one point or another we both laid the bike down on the same side, so after a while we started sourcing body panels for it. And while sourcing panels, we decided to get rid of all that weight and transform the look of the bike too. The weight reduction idea started with the all-in-one gauge and it exploded from there. In the end we took off close to 70 lbs from stock trim (most of it was reduced up top, which makes a huge improvement in the handling). I also don't think it looks like "every other sportsbike" either. Single sided swingarm, hidden lights, solid paint job, and lets not forget the sound! :) It handles great and sounds like no other sports bike out there.

70 punds off?? I don't think the 4th gen bodywork and all it's related hardware could weigh that much? :blink: :huh: So you're saying you found a whole bunch of boatanchors hidden in the bike?? I can believe maybe 20+- pounds off , but 70? We need to know how that's done.

Beck

95 VFR

Edited by Beck
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70 punds off?? I don't think the 4th gen bodywork and all it's related hardware could weigh that much? :blink: :huh: So you're saying you found a whole bunch of boatanchors hidden in the bike?? I can believe maybe 20+- pounds off , but 70? We need to know how that's done.

Beck

95 VFR

Well, the stock slip-on weighs 11-13lbs by itself...

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70 punds off?? I don't think the 4th gen bodywork and all it's related hardware could weigh that much? :blink: :huh: So you're saying you found a whole bunch of boatanchors hidden in the bike?? I can believe maybe 20+- pounds off , but 70? We need to know how that's done.

Beck

95 VFR

Well, the stock slip-on weighs 11-13lbs by itself...

Yes, you typically knock it down to half (with an SS Staintune and a little less for a super lightweight CF can system. But there's still about 60 hard get rid off. pounds to go....

Beck

95 VFR

Edited by Beck
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  • 1 year later...

Yeah, 70 might be a bit much, if you lost that with the body conversion, then my bike has got to be at least 125lbs lighter than stock..

Which I honestly estimate the bike to be around 400, so you might be right.

What do you guys think, is there 400lbs of VFR left there?

188266_2033276723609_1594912006_1891797_3051789_n.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Electrodynamic

Second quess and question all you want (and poke fun with "then my bike has got to be at least 125lbs lighter than stock..") [by the way, we never said the body panels alone removed 60/70 lbs from the bike - those were your words, not ours], but the weight loss is there. The sub frame itself weighed at least 20 pounds and the all aluminum subframe we made weighs less than 5 pounds IIRC. Muffler and pipe are the same way, they weighed 20+ pounds and ours weighs ~5 pounds.

We did this conversion for weight and for looks as I previously said. While we were doing it we thought it would behoove some of you that wanted to modify your bikes also from an informational standpoint. However, it is blatantly apparent that some of you have taken this to negative town and are doubting this entire project. I'll see if I can get my bike on the scales and compare its weight to that of a stock VFR (460 lbs dry) and post up the result.

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Guest Electrodynamic

I just weighed it on two digital scales used for FedEx and UPS shipments. Totally wet (full tank of gas, coolant, and oil) my bike weighs 432.7 pounds.

And when I finish the exhaust with a custom header and re-paint the bike I don't know if I'll post it on here. The posts above make me not want to do a build/mod log anymore. Too much haterade.

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I like your project. Great job. - 432 pounds, that' s impresive. - if you have the old/new parts weight, I would be interested in that. The weight reduction thing is something I wanted to try on a 5th gen.

- Please continue to post - -- most people here are a bunch of techies & geeks and just curious. (me too) :beer:

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Haterade?

The thread was silent for one year, one post in jest (well that is how I read it) and now you do not want to post on your project? Come on. Lighten up! :tour:

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I wasn't poking fun or challenging what you said. If anything I was volunteering supporting information. I hadn't realized it was so old either, I honestly thought is was Sept '11.. I'd tell you good job, but I'll wait until you get your undies out of a twist.

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Guest Electrodynamic

Yes my panties were/are in a bunch. I'm too used to being on car stereo forums where there is no joking, only 15 year old kids spewing bile from their mom's basement all over everyone elses hard work. I own two stereo companies and those forums are how I educate and advertise. It's tough wading through the stupidity and negativity that consumes those forums. ...which makes it very different for me to come to this site and see such a drastic change from what I'm used to. Thanks for the reality check guys. :)

I haven't been working on the bike much in the past year as you can see. But I do plan on working on it a bit over this winter.

Has anyone seen the latest Performance Bike magazine? I absolutely love the paint scheme on the new Fireblade and I'm thinking of doing something similar to my bike. White wheels and the blue red and white color scheme but with silver stripes/accents instead of the gold accents they have.

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Sounds like a decent color combo, although I haven't seen the mag, maybe you can get somebody on here good with Photoshop to do a chop for you to see how it looks on the bike. I'm planning on painting mine over the winter too, just trying to figure out my tail swap options before I settle on color(s).

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Our pleasure!

You will see no discussions on oxygen free (OFC) copper wiring harnasses here.

The first VFR owner to tri-wire the brake light has yet to stand up :tongue:

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Guest TheWarrior17

First off, very nice job with the bike, looks awesome! While I'll admit I was never one who was much for modding but I must say I like what you did there.

As for the paint scheme I like the colors, but from my (only one man's) opinion too much contrasting white on the side panels compared to the rest of the bike, and that's a critique of the paint scheme in general. I'd say go with the colors but customize the scheme a little bit, even if its just the side panels, maybe draw on the older VFR racing paint schemes?

-Mike

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Has anyone seen the latest Performance Bike magazine? I absolutely love the paint scheme on the new Fireblade and I'm thinking of doing something similar to my bike. White wheels and the blue red and white color scheme but with silver stripes/accents instead of the gold accents they have.

Haven't seen the latest but I have the one that you posted the bike up in Readers Projects :fing02:

Good to see it is still coming along Chris. Say hello to your dad for me.

Murray

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  • 3 months later...
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Dad and I just installed the Vapor Trail gauge a little bit ago and MAN it looks great! It took us the greater part of 5 hours to install, but that included numerous trips to the local autoparts store to make the temperature sensor integrate with the factory piping and wiring up for future bar-end turn signals.

How difficult was the wiring conversion? I'm interested in the Vapor trail but I'm not the sharpest tack in the box with electrical.

Thanks

Chris

Oakland, Ca.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest Electrodynamic

Dad and I just installed the Vapor Trail gauge a little bit ago and MAN it looks great! It took us the greater part of 5 hours to install, but that included numerous trips to the local autoparts store to make the temperature sensor integrate with the factory piping and wiring up for future bar-end turn signals.

How difficult was the wiring conversion? I'm interested in the Vapor trail but I'm not the sharpest tack in the box with electrical.

Thanks

Chris

Oakland, Ca.

The wiring conversion wasn't very difficult if you are ready and willing to cut in, or solder, onto the existing factory wiring. Once you make the jump into cutting factory wires it's pretty smooth sailing from that point.

...well, that, and I've had to wire in a resistor in-line with the tach wire to keep the tach from going ape $hit all the time. Apparently the mighty viffer has too much signal and makes the tach go nuts.

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  • 8 months later...
Guest VFRkidd92

I have a 94 Vfr 750 that im doing a rebuild project on with a custom rear tail piece and ehaust, but id like to redo the front too. Would you be willing to help me out with the bracket as far as plans and dimensions and the info to where you got your plastics?? :wheel:

Thanks

"the ass end kicked out..so i twisted harder and taught her whose boss"- My Pop's :beer:
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Guest VFRkidd92

Blammo!

IMG_0077.jpg

IMG_0082.jpg

I still need to take some pics of the Veypor unit and dash. I was so excited to ride I forgot to do it.

For some reason my camera bleached out the red paint. It almost looks new to the naked eye.

Soooo i have a question, and call me a noob but i ave been super busy with school, but does the f4i body really mount up that well to the vfr body?? cause i did a custon project with a cbr 600rr subframe and unther the seat exhaust i just need to fix the front now.

"the ass end started to slide out...so i twisted harder adn showed her whos boss" -My Pop's

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I didn't mount the F4i front end, myself, so I am not sure of the fiddling that is required. The guy who did it said it was relatively easy with all the f4i parts, including the fairing stay, which needed to be mounted just so for the handlebars to clear (stock). Aftermarket bars may be a problem. He did cut the lower fairing on one side to clear the stand and the plastic fairing part just underneath the handlebars that mount up to the frame on the f4i but have nowhere to be mounted on the VFR. Otherwise, not too bad. If you have the ability to do the back end, I would think the front should work fine, too.

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