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1991 Rc36 Rebuild / Front Fork Swap


VFRBeast

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Hello Everyone.

Firstly i would like to say i am new to VFRD, & although i have found very helpful information on this site, this will be my first post.

So let’s get right to. I fist bought my RC36 in October of 2010, & i instantly fell in love with the V4 Honda, i have always respected the VFR's, but now it was my turn, to own a VFR. The bike needed some TLC but it was an awesome bike to ride.

This is what she looked like

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After a month or two, one of the side fairings blew off while I was riding, & i could not match up the color, so i decaide to respray her.

Bike after the respray

post-34133-0-40645800-1442828220.jpg

Edited by VFRBeast
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But then in February of 2013 i have a very serious accident, & the bike was almost beyond repair.

post-34133-0-41876200-1442832964.jpg

So after i have recovered from my injuries i pulled the bike apart to see the extent of the damage. I was very lucky that there was no damage to the frame, engine or suspension, however every single piece of fairing was broken plus the clocks, the sub frame, all the lights, the oil cooler & radiator all needed to be replaced. The bike was in a very bad state, but i decide it could be repaired. & that is exactly what I did, I got her up & running again, although it took me a year & 8 months to source the finance & all the parts, but i finally got her up & running in August 2014.

In my search to find all the parts i needed i stumbled onto VFRD, & found some very insightful information, with regards to upgrading the brakes & front suspension on various VFR models, such as FotoMoto's Rcbvfr Frankenviffer Texas Style or VIFFER93's, VFR 2000 R1 Fork Conversion.

So i decieded to look into this sort of modification for my VFR & found that honda use the same steering stem bearings in most of thier bikes.

O6 stem(left) VFR stem(right)

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After searching the interweb i found a supplier that could sell me a complete front suspension for a 2006 CBR1000.

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Edited by VFRBeast
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Before I started fitting my CBR suspension I wanted to make sure that the rear suspension / shock was in a good condition, & with my luck it was not, the seals were leaking & all the bearings & linkages were worn & old, & this is what they ended up looking like after the refurbishing.

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After the rear had been refurbished, I began work on the front end.

CBR front Rim Before

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CBR front Rim after

post-34133-0-73376200-1442837583.jpg

My VFR with the CBR fork fitted

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I just need to fit the set of ACEWELL digital Guages that i purchased & take her for her first test run.

Wish me Luck.

Edited by VFRBeast
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Please make sure you check the clearance of the forks under full compression. I had to make a number of modifications to the set I used on my 1996.

Hi SEBSPEED, thanks for the advice, i am busy putting new seals & oil in the forks, once completed i will refit them & double check the clearances, But please can you give me some suggestions on how I would go about getting full compression on the forks in the garage?

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Support the front of the bike, then loosen the fork caps until they are free of the tube. lift the front wheel and see if it hits anything while lifted and turned, in both directions.

Now is a good time to add stiffer springs, if your weight calls for them.

You should also flip your eccentric or shim the top of the shock to gain some ride height and retain/improve the handling.

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Did you modify the front subframe in any way, as the only thing I don't like about this setup is that the big and wide USD forks do not have a lot of room to rotate.

stl.jpg

frame1160966.jpg[/url]

Looking down the right fork leg you can see it touching the subframe

Btw. that exhaust on your 3rd gen, it doesn't look much like a silencer, is it just a straight piece of ss pipe??

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Hello V4 Rosso,

Yes i had to modify the subframe to make the space for the forks to turn, but in your pictures you are using OEM fairings & gauges. I have an aftermarket firberglass fairng & i had to lose my OEM gauges, to make space for the USD forks.

& yes that is a straight piece of ss pipe as my silencer(not so much :tongue:), make sure people hear me coming from a mile away!


Hi Guys, Sorry i haven't posed anything over the weekend but i was busy in the garage working on my second wife.

Ok so this how things panned out over the weekend.

I finished putting in new seals & oil in the forks, refitted everything for the 3rd time just to be 100% sure there were no issues with spacing after that I Bled the brakes & the clutch.

so once i got everything in its place I did the full compression test as suggested by SEBSPEED, & found that the wheel was touching the oil cooler & horn, so I had to move them both up slightly, not a big deal. Once all that had been sorted out I took her for a test ride around the block and everything seemed to work fine.

So after the test ride, I was happy with everything I stared work on the instrument cluster, “the dash”.

I got myself a set of ACEWELL digital Gauges & an external heat gauge which all needed to be wired up & tested.

This was not as much of a headache as I first thought it would be, now that I have all the Gauges & lights working correctly, they all need to be fitted into a piece of aluminum sheet that I will cut out tonight.

More pictures to come

Edited by VFRBeast
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Did you modify the front subframe in any way, as the only thing I don't like about this setup is that the big and wide USD forks do not have a lot of room to rotate.

Looking down the right fork leg you can see it touching the subframe

Btw. that exhaust on your 3rd gen, it doesn't look much like a silencer, is it just a straight piece of ss pipe??

Hi V4 Rosso,

Here are some pictures of the sub-frame & spacing

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post-34133-0-97633800-1444037770.jpg

post-34133-0-97733400-1444037806.jpg

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Thanks! :fing02:

Yes, I was thinking about going a similar route. I too have a fibreglass fairing awaiting to be painted and installed as my current fairings have to many battle scars :laugh: and good replacements are hard to find and/or very expensive. Also VFRD member keny generously donated me a dash from an RC24 that should give me some more room too.

Did you also had to move the oil cooler? I was thinking of relocating it to somewhere just in front of the radiator or the headers as in the stock position the oil hoses are not spaced far apart and rub the fork uppers.

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Hi Guys

So for those of you still interested in this thread, I just thought i should finish it off properly.

So I managed to finish the bike up late on Friday night & did a bit of testing on Saturday, & everything seemed to work well.

So on Sunday the Wife & i did a round trip of 195 Km (121 miles), and i was very happy with the way the good old girl handled the twisty bits

So just a remider this is how she looked before (completely stock).

post-34133-0-00604700-1444037991.jpg.

& this is how she looks now with the CBR front end.

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I would just like to thank the guys on VFRD that gave me suggestions & to the guys who posted a lot of useful information regarding this type of modification, the information I gathered from this site has been invaluable.

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Thanks! :fing02:

Yes, I was thinking about going a similar route. I too have a fibreglass fairing awaiting to be painted and installed as my current fairings have to many battle scars :laugh: and good replacements are hard to find and/or very expensive. Also VFRD member keny generously donated me a dash from an RC24 that should give me some more room too.

Did you also had to move the oil cooler? I was thinking of relocating it to somewhere just in front of the radiator or the headers as in the stock position the oil hoses are not spaced far apart and rub the fork uppers.

Hi V4 Rosso

No i kept the oil cooler in pretty much the same place, the only thing is i had to drop & move it slightly forward a bit so the hoses did not rub the forks.

post-34133-0-40114900-1444039840.jpg

as for the fairings i see a lot of guys that have used Airtech streaming & have complained about the quality of the finished product, also the German site Thurn-Motorsport, but they are quite expensive.

I managed to find a company in South Africa that makes & sells you a complete fiberglass kit for R4,200.00 (around $309.38), and it is a good quality kit that was not to hard to fit to the bike.

For those of you looking for a cheaper & better option than Airtech streaming or Thurn-Motorsport, check these guys out www.wareagle.co.za

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