Member Contributer toro1 Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 So I've got a little time off between supercharger kits, and rather than taking a trip, or lounging around wasting away to nothing, I'm doing something far more constructive -- I'm swapping front ends. This has been a long time coming. I first obtained most of the parts from a member here on VFRD a few years ago, and since then I've been so busy that actually performing the swap kept getting pushed to the back burner. The story of how I ended up with these parts is interesting indeed, but let's just say this setup has passed through a few hands (and 4 continents) before now being installed on my bike. In fact, those of you with sharp eyes just might recognize some of these parts... The obligatory Before shot. Everything was still in great shape, but for my weight, the stock forks just weren't cutting it, especially after riding brand new literbikes around. My rear Elka was begging & pleading for help up front. I'm using 320mm Ducati Brembo 996R rotors up front, and had to turn up new rotor spacers to get them to work with my 900RR Marchesini mag. After taking extremely detailed measurements of the front end, I drew everything up in AutoCAD and thus knew exactly what size to make these. I started with a big chunk of scrap 6061. After turning, I then drilled the proper bolt circle. I made sure the faces were absolutely parallel and square to the bore, and they fit both the rotors and wheel perfectly. I also had to drill & tap a new bolt circle into the wheel. Fortunately, the Marchesinis have a constant wall thickness around the hub, so there's plenty of meat to bolt into. I used a roll tap for extra thread strength. The next dilemma came with how to mount the front wheel; my wheel fits the stock VFR axle, but not the RC51 axle. No biggie, I'll just replace the bearings with RC51 bearings, right? Nope, the ODs are different (42mm vs 47mm) and the RC bearings have an odd ID (22mm), so the only other option was to make a new axle... I started with a solid bar of 17-4PH stainless. The stuff cuts nice, but leaves never-ending stringers. It took a lot longer than you'd think to get to this point. I then hollowed the whole thing out (note: not fun), tapped the end, and made it nice and pretty. It ended up weighing less than the original RC axle. After modifying one spacer, I mocked up the wheel, axle, rotors, and calipers in the forks to take final measurements. The R1 calipers need to be spaced just a little bit. Or a lot bit, actually. I'll get to them tomorrow. So far, though, everything is lining up very nicely. I had the forks themselves sent out to Dan Kyle for custom internal mods, set for my application; I cannot wait to give them a go. That's all for now, but here's plenty more to come, so stay tuned. :fing02: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer AussieinUSA Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 Nice write up on this mod sofar, will be checking in periodically to see how it all turned out. Nice work with the axle and spacers :fing02: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melvis Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Man, I tell ya - some cats just have all the fun! You sir are the embodiment of many a young grease monkey that loved to tinker and build stuff, but got sidetracked along the way and now lives vicariously through others magnificent exploits... so, inquiring minds wanna know, will there be a Toro RC51 front end kit in the offing? (hint hint...) Bloody good show! :fing02: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AB-Oz Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 mmmmm, uhhhhhh, gold slidersssss..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer 2FAST4U Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 As usual, fantastic job! :fing02: What else do you think you might be doing to it? You don't have to go into details (just basics.) Also, have you thought about posting a video of your shop? I'm sure a lot of us would like to see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vfrcapn Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 Very nice. :beer: The 2011 VFR800SC is coming along nicely, know when you'll have them hitting the showroom floor?? :fing02: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Nice, your forks are on the wrong sides, but I bet you already knew that. Hey, those are Ralph's forks aren't they? :fing02: YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :beer: :beer: :beer: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Well it's about darn time buddy!! :biggrin: Lookin good, now get'er done!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer JustinR Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 great work :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer toro1 Posted December 4, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 What else do you think you might be doing to it? Well, I have to redo the brakes, so I'll be yanking the linked system and changing around the rear master cylinder. I'm also changing the geometry slightly from stock in an effort to keep the front end on the ground a bit better. There's more, too, but it will all be revealed soon enough. After the front end swap, the only other thing I'd like to do to the bike is the tail swap/surgery/liposuction. There's a lot of weight hanging out back there waiting to be shed. Nice, your forks are on the wrong sides, but I bet you already knew that. Hey, those are Ralph's forks aren't they? :biggrin: As I said, there are some sharp eyes on this forum. The madman who designed the caliper adapters swapped the forks to get everything to clear. How I ended up with them is interesting, but I owe it to Ralph to give his hard work a new home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 As I said, there are some sharp eyes on this forum. The madman who designed the caliper adapters swapped the forks to get everything to clear. Did you get the custom "SCARAB" upper triple clamp too? How I ended up with them is interesting, but I owe it to Ralph to give his hard work a new home. Do tell...... :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 How I ended up with them is interesting, but I owe it to Ralph to give his hard work a new home. Do tell...... :biggrin: They came to me first from Ralph after a few others expressed interest, then turned them down. During the time it took to ship them, I had something come up and was not able to hold up my end of the deal I made with Ralph, and so there was some quick word-of-mouth advertising and they went on to Dan. That's if I remember all that right - Dan's had these forks for a while now!! :comp13: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer 2FAST4U Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 What else do you think you might be doing to it? Well, I have to redo the brakes, so I'll be yanking the linked system and changing around the rear master cylinder. I'm also changing the geometry slightly from stock in an effort to keep the front end on the ground a bit better. There's more, too, but it will all be revealed soon enough. After the front end swap, the only other thing I'd like to do to the bike is the tail swap/surgery/liposuction. There's a lot of weight hanging out back there waiting to be shed. One of the two mods I'm still waiting for someone to do is to fab an entire new rear hub assembly to accommodate a Ducati or Triumph wheel (while keeping the actual VFR SSSA.) If you could pull that off, that would be way cool. :fing02: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer toro1 Posted December 4, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 Did you get the custom "SCARAB" upper triple clamp too? Oh, I've got it, though it's no longer gold -- I had it anodized black to match the rest of my bike. You'll still know it's a "SCARAB" design, though. Seb's got the story straight, and was nice enough to ship the parts to me way back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer toro1 Posted December 4, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 One of the two mods I'm still waiting for someone to do is to fab an entire new rear hub assembly to accommodate a Ducati or Triumph wheel (while keeping the actual VFR SSSA.) If you could pull that off, that would be way cool. :biggrin: That's entirely possible, Steve. Like anything else, if there was enough interest, I'd consider doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer skuuter Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 Lookin' Great... :comp13: .....now if I was still a little younger, and still wanted to tinker instead of ride all the time... :biggrin: ...keep up the Great Work...enjoyable to read and look at... :beer: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vfrrider Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Toro, I may be crazy (OK, everyone agrees on that one) but you always seem to do everything the hard way. I think you just like the machne shop. :biggrin: Larry VFRrider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Jmmymc750 Posted December 4, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 4, 2009 Wow. Toro, you really do nice work. Need a summer intern? I'm in college (again), but would love to work in a machine shop again! Don't have much lathe experience... I could be an unpaid intern... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer 2FAST4U Posted December 5, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 5, 2009 What else do you think you might be doing to it? Well, I have to redo the brakes, so I'll be yanking the linked system and changing around the rear master cylinder. I'm also changing the geometry slightly from stock in an effort to keep the front end on the ground a bit better. There's more, too, but it will all be revealed soon enough. After the front end swap, the only other thing I'd like to do to the bike is the tail swap/surgery/liposuction. There's a lot of weight hanging out back there waiting to be shed. The last time I talked to you, you were running a 45t rear sprocket, weren't you? I'm sure you've already thought of it, but why not go back to the stock 43t? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer toro1 Posted December 5, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 5, 2009 I turned up the caliper spacers yesterday using 7075-T651. They ended up being quite large, but they place the caliper pads in the ideal spot on the rotor. I kept the pin locating diameters accurate to 1/2 a thou, so everything should be nice and square once bolted up. It became instantly apparent to me that they were going to look way too bulky if left as is (and they did), so I decided to add a simple contour to the OD. I found a nice little mandrel that let me turn them to my liking. All bolted up and looking much better. I also couldn't see dropping $40 a piece for titanium caliper bolts, so I got some Class 12.9 SHCSs (for about a :rolleyes: per piece) and turned the heads myself. Now that the hard stuff is done, next week I'll mount everything on the bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer toro1 Posted December 5, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted December 5, 2009 I may be crazy (OK, everyone agrees on that one) but you always seem to do everything the hard way. I think you just like the machne shop. :rolleyes: This is true, Larry. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. The real problem, though, is that I'm a perfectionist that knows exactly what I want, so there's no stopping until things are just so. Plus, I was raised by a machinist, so things only get done the right way. Wow. Toro, you really do nice work. Need a summer intern? I'm in college (again), but would love to work in a machine shop again! Don't have much lathe experience... I could be an unpaid intern... Unpaid? Sure! I have tons of work needing to be done, and no money to pay anyone, so it sounds like a win-win to me. The last time I talked to you, you were running a 45t rear sprocket, weren't you? I'm sure you've already thought of it, but why not go back to the stock 43t? I still might, Steve. The problem is I like the acceleration characteristics of it now, I just want it to stay planted better on the ground. A lower CG should help that issue, as well as offer better handling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 A 45 tooth rear sprocket will help with the anti-squat characteristics of the bike and therefore help keep the front end more planted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 A 45 tooth rear sprocket will help with the anti-dive characteristics of the bike and therefore help keep the front end more planted. Say what now? :rolleyes: I edited my original post. I was half asleep when I typed it. It now reads "anti-squat". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer SAFE-T Posted December 5, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 5, 2009 One of the two mods I'm still waiting for someone to do is to fab an entire new rear hub assembly to accommodate a Ducati or Triumph wheel (while keeping the actual VFR SSSA.) If you could pull that off, that would be way cool. :rolleyes: The basic problem is how to RETAIN the linked braking system and still put a Triumph or Ducati wheel on. A cylindrical spacer to make up the difference between either the Ducati or Triumph final drive components would probably be sufficient as long as you were willing to delink the brakes and use the Triumph/Ducati rear brake caliper. You would have to come up with a custom brake stay, but that would be simple enough. The Triumph rear caliper seems to work OK with the VFR rear brake master, but you may need to look at something different if you use the Ducati caliper. Whether the Triumph and Ducati calipers are interchangeable or not is unknown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer sa1713 Posted December 6, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted December 6, 2009 One of the two mods I'm still waiting for someone to do is to fab an entire new rear hub assembly to accommodate a Ducati or Triumph wheel (while keeping the actual VFR SSSA.) If you could pull that off, that would be way cool. :rolleyes: The Triumph rear caliper seems to work OK with the VFR rear brake master, but you may need to look at something different if you use the Ducati caliper. Whether the Triumph and Ducati calipers are interchangeable or not is unknown. If you want to retain the linked system, your largest issue will be the 3 pot caliper. Both the Triumph and Duc use a 2 pot. I'm figuring there is only one way to do the single nut wheel, delink and use the 2 pot. Not enough room to squeeze a 3 pot inside the hub, unless Toro wants to mfg custom spec wheels...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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