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The version 3 optimization build


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4 hours ago, JZH said:

Aren't open-end nuts, er, lighter?  :wink:

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

They should be lighter, but I don't like the look and to me it provides easy access to water and thus more prone to corrosion getting started.

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17 hours ago, jefferson said:

I would love to find aluminum closed end lug nuts with the proper ball seat, but it seems they are unicorn horns. I did read where a guy had aluminum lug nuts machined for the ball seat, but then you still need closed end lug nuts and all that seems to be out there are open end.

Here you go. With some spares.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/160983208468

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1 hour ago, jefferson said:

I think those are steel. Nowhere does it say they are aluminum.

Shoot, sorry I didn't read it carefully. Weird how there's no alloy lug-nuts in 12mm... maybe something to do with flexing of stud+nut. Stud in 14mm are 85% stiffer.

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I have looked long and hard for aluminum closed end ball seat Honda lug nuts with no luck. I don't know where that guy found some to machine. The only thing I can think of is they aren't made any more or they were open end. I don't know.

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Yeah, I could only find alloy closed-end with conical-end, not ball-seat. Those only came on the bigger Acura 4-door sedans and Honda mini-vans. Probably not enough sales volume to justify production. These are major aftermarket vendors that represent majority of market:

 

http://www.gorilla-auto.com/racing-lugs-page-02

https://skunk2.com/accessories/forged-lug-nuts.html

 

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At least you were able to find closed end ones that I could have machined to ball seat. I never came up with anything. I'm going to give them a call.

 

My Renthal rear sprocket made it here in a surprisingly short amount of time. The steel sprocket and hardware weighed 2.63 lbs. while the aluminum rear and ti bolts and aluminum nuts and washers weighed .94 of a lb. which saved 1.69 lbs. Thats unsprung and rotating weight so it makes a bigger difference. 

If I ever get those pair lines out I can start putting things back together, except I did see a couple of areas to lose some weight on the rear brake stay arm and caliper mount and I know the braided stainless brake line will be lighter along with the aluminum banjo bolts. I just can't help myself. 

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On 2/13/2021 at 11:17 PM, DannoXYZ said:

Yeah, I could only find alloy closed-end with conical-end, not ball-seat. Those only came on the bigger Acura 4-door sedans and Honda mini-vans. Probably not enough sales volume to justify production. These are major aftermarket makers that represent majority of market:

 

http://www.gorilla-auto.com/racing-lugs-page-02

https://skunk2.com/accessories/forged-lug-nuts.html

 

I have a set of the gorilla nuts on order. Thanks for finding those. Have to get them off to the machinist when they come in for the conversion to ball seat. Got all 4 for less than 1 ti nut and they weight less. Win, win. Hopefully the machining won't be too bad.

 

I finally have the pair system exorcized and everything came out to 3.07 lbs.

 

I added up all the weight of the rotating parts that were replaced and came up with 2.93 lbs. None of those are large diameter which would make a bigger difference, but it has to help.

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On 2/15/2021 at 8:34 PM, RC1237V said:

Wow, I didn't know they made aluminum banjo bolts, I thought they were only steel, stainless, or Ti. 

 

 

spiegler_anodized_aluminum_banjo_bolt_for_safety_wire_750x750.jpg

Spiegler is what I have on the other bikes. This one kind of intrigues me, but I can't find it in a search. Who is it that makes this one?

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It's getting close to riding weather so I'm going to try and not take anything more apart and get things put back together. An EK ZVX3 is on the new sprockets and I got one of the screw master links for it. If you haven't seen these you ought to check them out although they aren't as easy to find as they were at one point. There are no special tools required. You use a 10mm wrench to screw the side plate on and you can't get it too tight. I have the same chain and master link on the ZRX and am pleased with the chain on both applications. The screw master does not come with the chain as it is optional and costs extra.

 

I got the aluminum lugs nuts in the other day and they are less than half the weight of the stock ones. They're off to the machinist to do the ball ends and will be even lighter when they come back. I'm looking forward to my first ride of the season and I think it will be sans muffler just to see how loud it is. The muffler I want to put on is not going to do much in the way of silencing and I want to see if it is bearable or not. I'm afraid it won't be, but I love the look. It's a copy of an SC project muffler so we will have to see. There are several videos of VFR's with SC project mufflers on them and they are the best sounding I've seen.

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Honda left some things out of the service manual come to find out. I was trying to remove the middle fairing and referred to the service manual. Had all the hardware removed that I could see, but it would not come out from the upper fairing. Ended up removing the upper fairing and found 2 hidden fasteners that the manual didn't show nor mention that you would need to remove the upper fairing to get to them or remove the turn signals, but it would still of been a major pain to get them released. Now I'm ordering some bolts to replace those I can get to now so I don't have to do this again, fingers crossed. These fairings are such a pain. The reason I needed to remove the middle fairing was to do an epoxy repair where some pieces broke out. Should have just put some Elmers on it.

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Got quite a bit accomplished the last couple of days. Filled the crankcase with Amsoil along with one of their filters. I also got some of that Thermo tec heat barrier that sticks on and applied it to the heat shields as well as the frame I could get to. The bolts on the front shield were really a bear to get the bolts in and out. If the exhaust wasn't there it would have been a breeze. My hands are going to be sore for a week.

Still waiting on the ti bolts from the UK, but I did get 16 aluminum bolts in and on the bike. Replaced some 10, 8, and 6mm bolts with a total savings of .28 of a lb. The lug nuts are back from the machinist and that saved .27 of a lb. and look so much better. Got the rear brake master cyl and hose replaced with the tygon which was .35 of a lb. lighter. I also put the aluminum steering stem nut on from the first batch of aluminum goodies and that saved .06 of a lb.

I had noticed that the throttle cables and the clutch hose were both out of a stay and was putting some unneeded bends in the throttle cables. Finally got the cables in the stay and that just made things worse when the bars were turned so I cut it out and saved .02 of a lb. Throttle cables are the better for it.

Once the ti bolts get here it will be time to get things put back together and ready to ride. I think the sprockets and chain are going to make a noticeable difference. Here are a few pictures.

Well none of the pictures would load due to a server error. Have to see what error 200 means if I can. 

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  • I think the muffler and lightweight battery will add up pretty good when I get those done. I forgot to mention I found a set of the longer velocity stacks and got those in, but that added some weight and I didn't do a before and after. All that's left right now is mounting the back tire and then repairing some places in the plastic and putting it on, Oh and installing the ti when it gets here.
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The ti finally got here after being tied up in customs for 10 days in Chicago. 6 bolts netted .28 lb saved. 

These repairs on the fairings are going to be more tedious than I thought. The pieces that I need to epoxy into place pretty much fall apart so now it's going to be a real jigsaw puzzle trying to fit it all back together. These fairings have to be the worst thing about this bike.

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On 3/26/2021 at 11:35 AM, jefferson said:

The ti finally got here after being tied up in customs for 10 days in Chicago. 6 bolts netted .28 lb saved. 

These repairs on the fairings are going to be more tedious than I thought. The pieces that I need to epoxy into place pretty much fall apart so now it's going to be a real jigsaw puzzle trying to fit it all back together. These fairings have to be the worst thing about this bike.

Substantial repairs to my gen5 fairing - had the luxury of a hot staple gun on loan.  Stainless staples melted across the breaks adds a lot of strength and you're able to keep the outer surfaces flush.  Topped this with fibreglass backing as well.  Look carefully at areas to be repaired, especially where they mesh with other panels - some tricky little tabs and slots that once broken can go unnoticed. 3M makes a 2 pack epoxy plastic repair - hard, semi-rigid and flexible plastic to suit various locations/flexibilities. Really good stuff but damn expensive. Also need a mixing nozzle - this stuff sets amazingly fast so one mixing nozzle per use. Check headlight mounts, back of all places where front and side fairings mesh - these holes often are cracked - pretty thin plastic there.

Of course in the interests of dedicated weight saving you could ditch them all for the extreme nude look.

 

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The pieces I'm working with are way to small for any kind of staple. Just corners where fasteners go through. I've got some epoxy for plastic, but I don't think it's the 3m stuff. It's worked on other plastic repairs so I'm hopeful it works well here, if I can just figure out how to get all the pieces back where they are supposed to go.

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3 hours ago, jefferson said:

The pieces I'm working with are way to small for any kind of staple. Just corners where fasteners go through. I've got some epoxy for plastic, but I don't think it's the 3m stuff. It's worked on other plastic repairs so I'm hopeful it works well here, if I can just figure out how to get all the pieces back where they are supposed to go.


1 mm thick ABS sheet makes a good skeleton to build on, I replaced a chunk of fairing with that as a working base .....ABS pipe cement for the win

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