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VFR to RC45 "ish" replica budget build


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Been on here randomly for a few years just asking dumb questions. Sold my rc51 and my crf450 supermoto before I got married 7 years ago (Big mistake! Not the marriage part but selling my bikes. I want them back, well the one that wasn't totaled after the idiot crashed it and wanted to buy the spare parts that I was including with the bike but he was cheap... live and learn). I love singles and twins and never should have sold them but always wanted a V4 and growing up when the RC30 and RC45 where debuted I wanted to complete the trifecta. Can't afford a rc45 so I picked up a 95 vfr750. Already had a gsxr front end although I can't stand the three spoke wheel. Also, it has the 8 spoke wheel from the 3rd gen.

 

Rode it 2-3 times in a matter of a couple weeks then parked it in the garage for at least a one year+ slumber. We had a baby girl 14 months ago.

 

Been buying parts here and there to "try" to make my 45 dreams come true and things just started to come together!

 

I have a NC35 tail but my taste kinda changed so don't hold it against me. I can always swap out the tail for the nostalgia.

 

I'll post more pics and if anyones interested on parts and quality I'll share that too. Sucks being old when a iconic bike like an rc45 has been forgotten! 

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Do keep up the good work and post pictures to your heart's content!!

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, getting older has the main advantage that you are still able to ride every day.  The # of people that have actually seen Slight, Edwards or Joey race is diminishing though....

 

 

And NO, you should never have sold your RC51 :goofy:

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Christ! Someone (myself) should tell me to never buy important parts from china (ebay)! Waited a month for front rotors and while they looked nice they did not look like the picture advertised and the machining was not symetrical?! How can you fuck up a brake rotor if you're copying it from a legitimate manufacturer? Sorry, but China sucks ass. Sure, the people are nice but they're screwing everyone. I'm an idiot... hope people don't buy brake rotors from china... you may end up dead, which is probably the intention.

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If not as advertised, complain and get your money back. Tell 'm you will not rate the transaction "just yet".

 

 

And indeed, I woud go to a local shop for rotors...

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Thanks, in the process of that. Chinese parts are so cheap but you get what you pay for... now I'll probably have to pay a butt load to ship them back to china. I knew better but rolled the dice!

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Part of the trouble with China is that they produce so much legit stuff for major brands and then sell everything that doesn't pass QC on EBay or Aliexpress cheap enough that return shipping doesn't make sense.

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I bought mine from ebay no problems.  Same price out of us exotic 1 motorports racing. Galfer wave knockoffs? After 4 laps at roadamerica chatter went away. Due to zero streetriding. In combination delink braided lines and nissin 19 radial master cylinder amazing bite probably better than my rc51. 

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 Trying to get my ram air to actually function. I decided to not screw with the stock tank and have a fuel cell fabbed up soon. Love to see how you did yours.

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Used a hole saw and drilled into the tank  first marking it a marker and then through the tank into the airbox.  Drilling somewhat on a angle  I then went to the muffler shop and they welded some exhaust pipe long enough to stick out the top and bottom of the tank.  To make up the difference with fitting the fiberglass tube i just wrapped it with black tape ie electrical till it was snug  wrapped it again to hold it in place no clips like the rc45 racer .  Use foam tape to seal airbox to tube to somewhat create some pressure.i drilled a hole in the airbox in the back and screwed in a 90 degree brass fitting and attached a  appropriate sized vacuum hose to the carbs to equalize the pressure. The gas tank eventually rusted out and had a new one made out of fiberglass from cobalt racing in ohio  which also leaked and had to get that sealed again.   Your way is much more easier without all the headaches i went through.

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Sounds like a lot work and headaches! I was thinking of doing that to my stock tank but was not confident that it would turn out well. Trying to keep things simple. Cheap plastic tank cover and a fuel cell.

 

Interested about the fitting and hose to equalize the pressure to the carbs? I know that's a thing with turbocharging carbed motors but is that necessary? Which hose?

 

Sorry for the questions but how did it work out? 

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I recall reading about such things back in the day when ram-air airboxes were first introduced. Maybe the ZX750? Anyway: carburetors deliver fuel through the jets based on the difference between the air pressure in the venturi (moving air hence Bernoulli's theorem of pressure dropping with increasing velocity) and the air above the fuel in the float bowl. If the pressure in the plenum varies due to ram-effect of changing bike speed, then the vacuum signal pulling the fuel through the jets will also vary. That could mean that jetting that works well at low bike speeds will be leaned out at high speeds (more ram pressure = lower venturi vacuum). So the pressure in the plenum should be equalised with the pressure in the float bowls, by connecting the float bowl breathers to a port in the plenum. Or so I read. 

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8 hours ago, Terry said:

That could mean that jetting that works well at low bike speeds will be leaned out at high speeds (more ram pressure = lower venturi vacuum). So the pressure in the plenum should be equalised with the pressure in the float bowls, by connecting the float bowl breathers to a port in the plenum. Or so I read. 

Yep. My other bike is a metric cruiser and I fitted a Kuryakin Hypercharger to it. It Dyno'd fine but wouldn't run properly on the road and bogged horribly above 60mph until we took an air bleed from the back of the airbox to the top of the float bowl...

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Thanks, that's good to know. There were a couple hoses not connected to anything coming from the carbs. Previous owner did it. One I believe should go to a little filter outside the airbox the other I'm not sure about. The bike ran fine but before but I'll have to identify them and hopefully one will do the trick. Maybe I'll take a picture or just look it up in the manual.

 

Finally found someone to make me bearing spacers to use the vfr front wheel with the 25mm suzuki axle. Hope my measurements were correct... vfr wheel has a wierd offset side to side.

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Thanks, I actually found his project on youtube before I bought the bike. I followed his facebook but was disappointed there was no more progress.

He definitely has time, skill, and tools that I don't have. I would love to do a traditional swingarm conversion at some point. I like the look of the SSSA but it's heavy. Wish I knew of a swap with no modifications to the frame or linkage... and that looks good like the endurance style swingarm.

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2 hours ago, monstar said:

I trimmed down the rear wiring harness. I don't think I did anything drastic. Do I need the stock tank's sender to start it? 

nope.. you can run it from a hanging bottle..

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Damn, I was hoping it was something simple. Now I have to go back and trace my connections. It was pretty straight forward shortening the rear harness and I think it might be the tip sensor delete. I'm sure I did it right but who knows. After I charge the battery I'll go through it.

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4 hours ago, gll429 said:

this bike doesnt have a tip over sensor either..

Previous owner/s deleted what I now find out is the fuel cut relay. They jumped the black wire and the blue&black wire and the bike ran. The fuel pump works but what I found is the red&yellow wire goes to the #4 coil and the ignition box. I'm guessing that if the #4 coil is not in the loop the ignition will not work. Turns out the ground wire to my #4 coil has broken. Hoping that was the problem. Not sure if that makes sense or if that is the cause. We'll see.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well my wiring wasn't the issue... idle adjuster somehow got way out. Haven't made too much headway lately but here's what I got so far.

 

The upper stay is mostly stock. I chopped it down and added some aluminum to make it work. It's kind of a "hack" job but it works.

 

The side mounts are temporary but I used pieces for wood framing. I can adjust them in and out but I'm going to have some stronger pieces made at some point.

 

I bought the tyga tail and subframe just hoping I could make it fit.

I had to grind some of the frame at the lower mounting area and I made a couple extensions for the top mount... it's a little ugly but it worked out.

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  • 1 month later...

Winter is around the corner so sending off pieces to get cerakoted and doing little things here and there. The list grows... I was thinking of trying to make a diy quickshifter for the second time. The first experiment I tried to use the kickstand switch which was a bad idea. Now I want to disrupt ground to one or two coils during upshifts. I have a couple questions:

 

1) Do the coils need to be mounted to metal (ground) like the frame or can they be mounted to plastic or other material?

 

2) What is the firing order for the 4th gen?

 

3) I will try to experiment, but should I try to cut 1 or 2 coils at once? If I do 2, I was thinking of the first and third fire rather than the first and second fire. Not sure if this is correct, just thinking theoretically to achieve the smoothest full throttle upshifts. I'm actually gonna use the stock rear brake light switch to actuate the ground connection to the coil/s.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I appreciate the feedback (sarcasm), but I think I got this DIY quickshifter to work but won't know how well until I get my sprockets and chain on and ride it, waiting for my 520 conversion with a 45 tooth rear. For those that were wondering the firing order is 1-3-2-4 I believe. Anyway, cutting just the #2 coil barely was noticeable audibly. So I decided to cut both #2 and #4 and now I can hear a noticeable bog in the engine and a pop of flame out the pipe after the shift. Hope it'll work while actually underload but if it doesn't oh well, didn't cost me anything.

 

Sending the valve covers(I'm using two front cylinder covers and running a separate breather), clutch cover, stator cover, and countershaft cover which I chopped up to be cerakoted burnt bronze this week. I'll take pics once I get them back. Should look pretty nice!

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