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Vfr8 Streetfighter


keef

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The rad is brilliant. The run i did a couple of weekends ago was through the snowy mountains, there was still snow on the higher peaks, so it wasn't that hot, the temp was about 15 degrees C (i think), no idea in Fahrenheit. The temp sensor said coolant was about 85 the whole time. On the ride back on Sunday, it was 6 degrees C and raining, and the coolant temp was 70 - 73. I haven't run it in hot weather yet, but i wouldn't want it any smaller. Its 450mm across, and 140mm high. It's a bit smaller than the combined size of the 2 side mounts.

Handling wise, seems pretty good to me. I had stiffened the front right up to hide the fact the springs are too soft. This gave me a bit of chatter on the brakes when going downhill, so i backed the compression damping off, and made it a lot better. If anything, it is too stable, i may drop the forks a bit to sharpen it up, but before i do that I need to get it resprung by trooper lu's here in Sydney.

They did my KTM motard a while ago, and the change was amazing. Speed humps/gutters/median strips all felt like flat ground, it turned my KTM 640SM from a good commuter to a fugging amazing one. I just need to save the cash for the suspension work. I also have a 929 rear shock in it.

I used the GSXR stem and triples. I just typed yamaha srx400 steering head bearings into google, and this is the first ebay link. Mods, delete the link if its against the rules.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pyramid-Parts-Steering-head-bearings-seals-fits-Yamaha-SRX400-All-Years-/390558313469

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I used the GSXR stem and triples. I just typed yamaha srx400 steering head bearings into google, and this is the first ebay link. Mods, delete the link if its against the rules.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pyramid-Parts-Steering-head-bearings-seals-fits-Yamaha-SRX400-All-Years-/390558313469

What dimensions is this bearing kit? I have an 07 GSXR front end and believe it uses the same lower bearing as the Honda, but could not source an upper bearing that was Honda O.D. & GSXR I.D.(don't remember the numbers off the top of my head). What year/model are these forks?

PS nice mods! :cheerleader:

BR

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The rad is brilliant. The run i did a couple of weekends ago was through the snowy mountains, there was still snow on the higher peaks, so it wasn't that hot, the temp was about 15 degrees C (i think), no idea in Fahrenheit. The temp sensor said coolant was about 85 the whole time. On the ride back on Sunday, it was 6 degrees C and raining, and the coolant temp was 70 - 73. I haven't run it in hot weather yet, but i wouldn't want it any smaller. Its 450mm across, and 140mm high. It's a bit smaller than the combined size of the 2 side mounts.

Handling wise, seems pretty good to me. I had stiffened the front right up to hide the fact the springs are too soft. This gave me a bit of chatter on the brakes when going downhill, so i backed the compression damping off, and made it a lot better. If anything, it is too stable, i may drop the forks a bit to sharpen it up, but before i do that I need to get it resprung by trooper lu's here in Sydney.

They did my KTM motard a while ago, and the change was amazing. Speed humps/gutters/median strips all felt like flat ground, it turned my KTM 640SM from a good commuter to a fugging amazing one. I just need to save the cash for the suspension work. I also have a 929 rear shock in it.

I used the GSXR stem and triples. I just typed yamaha srx400 steering head bearings into google, and this is the first ebay link. Mods, delete the link if its against the rules.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pyramid-Parts-Steering-head-bearings-seals-fits-Yamaha-SRX400-All-Years-/390558313469

Thanks for the update. Again I appreciate you laying the groundwork and letting me take advantage of your experimentation. I'm going to like the preload adjustability of the gsxr front end. Also the 06 07 are 900lb rate instead of the 850 of the 04 05 so maybe it will help a small bit.

I was wondering about a smaller surface area radiator for the climate around here. I don't know a ton about radiator design but I do know of some trick units out there in the car world with superior design and cooling capacity than many stock retrofits. Don't know if the same is true In the bike scene. Regardless the tl rad is brilliant and easily found/replaced.

Any pics of your 929 shock mount mod? I've got one here in my garage too and was thinking about getting out a dremel and some aluminium square stock to fab an adapter for it. Seen steel thick walled pipe welded to the stock bracket as well ala VeeferCanuck on here I believe.

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Thanks BR,

I can't remember the dimensions anymore, the front end went on at least 2 years ago, now. It's an 04/05 gsxr 600 front end, and the bottom bearing was the same as the VFR, so knowing Suzuki, the 07 gsxr probably has the same bottom bearing.

Everything I saw online said it wouldn't fit, so I took it to a mechanic who I knew could make it happen. He cross referenced the bearings, and the yam is one was almost perfect, from memory he took a mm off the ID on the top bearing, in the freezer, and popped it on.

If you can find a bearing that is close, you can make it work.

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reed, no problem. Hopefully it will mean more vfr8 fighters.

I took me a while to find something that wasn't that tall, but still big enough to cool a big that runs notoriously hot. Although with the front mount, it runs fairly cool now. Apparently side mounts aren't that efficient. Who would've thought? You get get one custom made that is twice as thick but not as wide, just depends on how much you wanted to spend. The VTR fighter that was on the ride with me has a custom made, double thick rad that works well, he doesn't run a fan, and his has been running fine for years.

No pics of the 929 shock, but I just followed a how to from here, I think. I grabbed a spare mount from a local wrecker, made the spacer, had the mechanic weld it, and chucked it in.

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Hey Keef. Wondering what the dimensions are like on the TL radiator. Which neck did you have to relocate again? Any shots of the swingarm side of the bike?

Im looking at Sv650 radiators and wonder how they compare.

ex:

http://www.madhornets.com/radiator-suzuki-sv650-2003-2004/?gclid=COv_xtHkgLsCFU8V7AodRncAow

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it's 450mm wide in a straight line, but the rad is curved, (so there is a bit more surface area) and 140mm high. I used it because is wasn't very tall, so would leave enough room for the front wheel (it sits just above the cutout in the front cylinders).

Most of the other rads that i looked at were too tall. If the TLR top rad was a bit narrower it would look better, but the width will be hidden behind the hypermotard shrouds I'm going to use. I just have to find the time to bend some brackets.

I relocated the inlet on the TLR rad, from top left to top right, and blocked off an outlet on the bottom right - the tlr has top and bottom rads.

It now runs in at the top right, and out at the bottom left, so it matches up with the vfr hoses.

I have mounted one TLR rad fan on the left hand side of the rad. The TLR uses 2, but so far the temp hasn't gotten high enough to need one fan, let alone 2, so I'll add it if i need to later.

No pics of the swingarm side, but i can take some. What do you want to see?

And how high is the SV rad? If you are going to do a front mount like mine, you need to relocate the oil cooler, the rad mounts under the headstock (where the OEM oil cooler mounts), so i moved the oil cooler down low, between the motor and the headers. Would love to mount a water cooled oil cooler like Toro was using for his supercharger kits one day.

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Hi keef, just joined this forum site and realised you must live somewhere near me possibly as I go to Harley at R&B racing since they are near me. I'm interested in what was needed to fit the ducati rear wheel to my 2001 vfr800. Cheers

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Had the guy who I bought the gsxr stuff from measure his SV rad. Apprently its dimentions are as follows.

~ 159mm tall

~ 400mm wide (its flat)

~ 38mm thick on the sides and about 23mm thick on the cooling fins

Definitely narrower but is a little bit taller. They're abundant on bikes here I think I'll pick one up to mock. Also the only other benefit to it in particular is the inlet and outlet pipes already being where they should. Just thread and throw a bung plug into the bottom neck.

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Hi keef, just joined this forum site and realised you must live somewhere near me possibly as I go to Harley at R&B racing since they are near me. I'm interested in what was needed to fit the ducati rear wheel to my 2001 vfr800. Cheers

I live on the other side of Sydney to RB, but it's worth riding to Harley, brilliant mechanic.

Some pics for the rear wheel conversion, basically, Vfr arm, but ducati everything else, hub, eccentric, axle, caliper holder, caliper, etc.

post-28591-0-62946700-1385507630.jpgpost-28591-0-22004700-1385507650.jpgpost-28591-0-60335200-1385507667.jpg

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Interesting with the eccentric. Doing the same with a triumph eccentric and axle for a 4th gen. Do you have a measurement on the difference between the ducati eccentric and the 5th gen?

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Not a proper one, but the duke is 3mm smaller, made up by the 1.5mm shim, and the 3 mm spacer to centre the wheel.

Sorry mate, but a slightly smart arse answer is the best I've got, the wheel was done 3 years ago.

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After commuting and lane splitting on motards (and now the Versys) with handguards for the last few years, they come in really handy. I felt a bit exposed without them on the VFR, so went out and put a set of barkbusters on.

Our US (and everywhere else) brethren may not understand what Barkbusters are - although I'm sure they have their own local market versions. Barkbusters are a dirtbike add-on that saves your knuckles from being destroyed by the branches of Australian hardwood trees, and anything else the Barkbusters come up against.

Top work Keef! She's a beast. I love the Duc rear end, I'm fiddling with a Triumph hub and Duc wheel, getting there slowly.

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Just a quick update on the rad fan....

I took it for a quick spin to the shops, and the coolant had reached 80 degrees C, so I thought I'd let it idle until the fan came on.

It came on at 98 degrees, a lot lower than I thought it would. I didn't keep it running until it shut off.

I wonder if all the concerns about vfrs running hot has anything to do with the location of the temp sensor for the dash being so far away from the sensor for the fan switch.

I have the temp sensor from my Koso temp gauge right next to the OEM fan sensor; both are mounted in the right hand pipe as the coolant comes out of the engine.

It doesn't really matter, just an interesting observation.

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Keef,

I was thinking about using my OEM left rad unit, with fan, and installing that at the center of the bike. The size/surface area of that single rad is within about 10% of the size of the 4th Gen OEM rad. It is such a good quality unit and the fit is just about perfect from what I can tell. My logic is that side mount fans need more surface area because they are not getting direct "New" air. A front mount does get direct "New" air. This would be an experiment but it may be within reason to consider.

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Air needs to flow through a rad to make it work, not just around it. Honda tried to use engineering to beat the laws of physics, and I don't think it worked out. They needed to design fairings that would direct air in directions it didn't want to flow. May have worked in a wind tunnel or in a computer program, but in the real world, not so much. Especially once you strip away those fairings.

The OEM left rad could work, the TLR rad is a bit smaller than the 2 side mounts combined, and works really, really well. almost too well, but i haven't ridden in full summer yet, so i'll have to wait and see. If you use the OEM left rad, its probably woirth going to a bigger oil cooler as well. Not necessarily an SP1 oil cooler, just any 4 row cooler that fits, and that has generic fittings - getting oil lines made was a pain in the arse, and would have been easier to crimp the VFR engine fittings on to generic cooler side fittings.

A couple issues you'll have to figure out..

the TLR rad is 140mm high, the VFR is about 150mm. You'll have a bit less clearance to the wheel than i do, so you'll have to see if that works. Although i also have shorter GSXR forks.

The TLR Rad is curved, the VFR is flat, that may cause clearance issues to the forks.

The TLR rad fans mount on the ends of the rad, the vfr fan mounts in the center. The TLR rad is mounted pretty close to the engine for clearance, the vfr rad and fan would have to be pushed forward a bit to make room for the fan.

Although, the temp has only gone high enough for the fan once, going through the tunnel under sydney harbour in peak hour - warm air and slow moving traffic,it got to 110C, but as soon as i was out of the tunnel, it dropped down to 85 The fan wasn't actually connected at the time.

Some dodgy phone pics for you. And if you are wondering what the orange stuff is, it's nomex honeycomb, a cheap rad guard, comes in a massive sheet, it cuts with a razor, flexible, except from front to back, then its pretty indestructible. They use it to protect the rads in speedway cars, apparently. I may paint it black one day.

photo9.jpg

photo5.jpgphoto3.jpgphoto1.jpgphoto10.jpgphoto12.jpgphoto11.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
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The 5/6th gen cooling works fine, if you reverse the left fan & use a lower temp fan switch. I did mine couple of years ago & added a very high flow 120mm fan to the front of the right rad too. We had 32c temps here last summer, this is unheard of & my Viffer was running at 75C same as always. My fan kicks in at 95 & out at 75, which is perfect. As soon as the temps start to rise, the extra cooling kicks in. Even in 32C ambient temps, the bike cooled from 95 to 75 when stationary.

With fans blowing out on both rads, the only place for air to come from is in front, so no cross contamination with hot air from the other rad or engine. Perfect :)

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I would suggest ceramic coating and or wrapping your headers to keep as much exhaust heat as you can from cooking your oil cooler and radiator at low speeds.

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Agreed, stock cooling works great. Great at speed, and with fairings. Stop and go is where it doesn't work as well, and the idea of the fan pulling cool air from outside is valid at a stop.

I've done track days on a RC51 at 100° abient and the water temp was in the normal range.

Without fairings, nothing draws air through the cooling matrix, so it doesn't work. Must have front rad in that case.

Devils advocate on my own statement; race versions of the RC51 have a front rad.

I think the mistake was in using a numerical readout on the display. Too much opportunity to scrutinize instead of just seeing a "normal" reading. My ST1300 is warmed up fully at 3 bars. Fan comes on with 3 bars showing, and still on 3 bars when it shuts off.

Sorry to digress, nice work!

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Mohawk, it might work fine if you have fairings to make air flow through the rads, but when you take them off, it flows over the rads, not through them. I only rode the bike a couple of times before stripping it.

Once you take the fairings off, there is nothing to force the air through the rads. I changed to a vtr fan before going front mount. Without bodywork, the fan was always on.

Short trip to the shops? On.

Track day, high rpm but nice clean, cool air flow? On.

Low rpm commute down a freeway, but not stop and start. On.

Heavy stop and start traffic with no free flowing air? Very definitely On.

It tells me that the vtr fan makes a massive difference, and was the only thing making air flow through the rads. Probably why your bike, especially with the extra fan, always runs cool.

Before I figured out the TLR Rad, I had bought a second fan for the right rad and was trying to figure out how to make it work.

Since I put the TLR rad on, the fan come on in heavy stop start traffic only, and turns off once I start moving. It's now using the laws of physics to make air flow through the rad like most bikes, instead of over engineered, wind tunnel tested fairings to make air flow sideways.

The tLR rad is far more efficient that the twin side mounts, and on a fightered Vfr, looks a hell of a lot better, too. It's a win win for form and function.

And candy red, I hear ya. You can't tell from the pics, but it been ceramic coated in black, and then covered in dirt for extra insulation. Ahem.

They are SS delkevic headers, and the first thing I did was get them coated. I may wrap them later as well for looks when I get round to removing the centre stand.

And kev and I were typing similar things at the same time, I'm just a bit slower.

The koso temp gauge is pretty good, and is attached with Velcro on to the top yoke. I watched it closely for the first ride, but saw it was all good, so don't really pay attention now.

That is made easier because the gauge is pretty much flat, so is hard to read in the sun. It's there if I need to look, but not distracting when I ride.

And before the front mount, I had no temp gauge at all, the ace well dash doesn't have a temp guage. For the couple of years before the front rad, I just use the fan kicking on and off to tell the temp. Fan on, hot. Fan off, cool. It never spewed coolant ever, so it never got to the third temp setting of very hot.

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  • 11 months later...

ITs been a while, so time for a quick update.

I hot an MT09 as a work bike, so thought I'd take the VRF off the road for a bit.

I have an er6n headlight unit mounted on dodgy homemade brackets because I hated the 35/35 acerbis headlight. Well, liked the look, hated the lighting. The er6n is 2 H7 globes, so should be good when it's done.

While getting it ready for a streetfighters run, I noticed some random leaks in my made in China rad, so I had a custom one made as a Christmas present. 350mm wide, 42mm core, Tlr rad fan, nipple for the self bleeding hose, threaded boss for the fan switch. Picked it up from the post office a couple of days ago.

Unfortunately, I crashed the mt09 on 10/12, so I only have one hand at the moment. Fitting it will have to wait 4-6 weeks for my surgically enhanced radius and ulna to heal.

Also have a pair of zx14 master cylinders and shorty levers to go on, too. New parts and no way to fit them sucks, but I'm glad to be showing the veefer some love.

And almost forgot, I have a coil on plug setup ready to go on as well- front 2 cylinders are done, haven't touched the back ones yet.

Even bought some mother board stand offs if I need them.

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dude! happy to hear of an update.

very sorry to hear about the mt-09 though. those are incredible looking bikes. I bet they ride like a beast. Is it totalled or a new candidate for modification?

can't wait to see the pics man. welcome back


btw. I hope you've seen this.

this advert alone made me want one.

so dope.

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Reed!

New for old insurance policy on the MT, so should have one in my garage waiting for my cast to come off. I caught a bus to work today and felt dirty.

And my arm works again, I can start tinkering on the Vfr.

If you get one, extreme creations make a turbo kit for them.

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