tomk1960

Awesome work as usual Captain! Thanks for sharing.

My completed bodywork arrived late last week, installed on a spare bike that my painter friend had no use for. It has virtually all the little bits that my bike is missing, so I'll end up with a nice, original VFR when I'm done. Next up, I'll powder coat the wheels, engine covers, sub-frame, fork bits, and rebuild the forks. Most of the remaining parts are already done and in boxes in my shop. Carbs are overhauled and bench sync'd. Goal for completion is spring of 2021 - it will be here before you know it.

It's been two and a half years since I bought this bike and put it on the back burner. I had three other projects in the queue to finish first, so I mostly left it alone. While I was finishing up my second '83 CB1123 Rest-mod, I started pulling parts off this one to prep for powder coating and rebuilding. So far the entire brake system is done, along with the rearsets. Brake rotors were surface ground and then I PC'd the centers. Carbs went off to Mike Nixon for rebuilding and are now waiting to be installed. I still have to adjust the valves and PC the valve, clutch, and alternator covers, along with the wheels and fork legs. I'm in no rush to get this one done, but I expect to be finished a year from now. In the meantime, a good friend in Texas who runs a Chevrolet body shop insisted that I ship all the bodywork down to him for repainting last year. In exchange, I did PC work for him and provided parts for his 900F and 1100F projects. My bodywork looked decent front feet, but there were some scrapes, cracks, and broken tabs. He started out by fixing all the cracks and made new tabs to replace the broken ones. He has the same bike, so he used it for checking decal alignment after painting. All that's left is the decal for the rear cowl and clearcoating, then he's giving me the bike and shipping it up to me with the new bodywork installed. This is actually safer than boxing everything up and shipping. When I finish my bike, I'll sell the spare to recoup the shipping cost. (It was a runner.) I may not have any updates for a while, but thought I'd share a picture of his beautiful paint work. I just wish he was local so he could help me paint an old car I'm restoring.

I love the white CBR wheels on my CB1100R resto-mods. They really aren't that hard to keep clean if you have front and rear wheel stands and some S100 and a sponge. Well worth the effort.

The axle is hollow, but it tapers down to a smaller I.D. approx. .5" in from the threaded end. (probably so that the end doesn't squish in when the nut is torqued?) The threaded rod I used slipped through nicely until I reached that point, so I cut some threads in the very end to resolve that issue. The spools are on, but unfortunately, my PitBull is not tall enough to life the wheel completely off the ground. Not a big deal since this setup is only good for servicing the chain anyway. I've ordered a different rear wheel stand that doesn't require spools and will allow for wheel removal.

I love this approach - this is the route I'll take. Thanks!

Now that I'm done with my previous restoration, it's time to dig into my 86 VFR750F. Since it has no center stand and I have very little chance of finding one, I want to mount spools on the swingarm so I can use my Pit Bull. If anyone here has suggestions on how to do it, please reply. I don't know if the swingarm itself is thick enough to drill and tap, so maybe I need to machine a couple of threaded mounts to weld onto the bottom of each side? Anyway, you know what I'm looking for, so feel free to chime in. Pictures are always welcome. Thanks.

I've been using these for the past year and am very happy with them. They do a good job with wind noise and loud exhausts.

Beautiful bike and beautiful wife. Your wife is a saint - do not ever underappreciate her!