The Phantom

What are these cool little cars used for?

I'm still dumbfounded here after having read this minutes after Ralph first posted (all of it) up, I still don't know what to say other than "thank %$#@ you are ok".

Steering stops look good. I nicked a bit out of my frame on each side when I did mine so there was a bit more material around the hole; probably not necessary. Out of curiosity, what *was* the measurement from axle to top of the lower tripleclamp?

Did you drill/tap the bottom triple itself? I haven't checked my radiator clearance yet... When you say you set the dimension from the lower clamp - do you mean you measured from where the lower triple clamps onto the fork down to the axle? Or from the 'top' of the CBR lower triple, which would equate to the 'top' of the VFR lower triple. Great to hear you're making progress. I've been stuck with dometic chores for most of the weekend...

A mate on OzVFR who knows about such things said it's got a desirable engine (something about oil galleries IIRC)...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1986-honda-...1QQcmdZViewItem Go get it Larry! I had meant to sort out the oil cooler clearance this evening but got side-tracked when DonnyBallGame posted about his CBR929 stem length issue - he's sorted that while I've been in the shed looking into it, but it's worth posting pics of the CBR and VFR hardware. Back to back - guess which one is off the Fireblade... The stem is pretty much the same length on each lower. The bearing races end up at roughly the same position - note that the CBR929 triple has the standard ball bearings while the VFR triple has roller bearings. Edit: Note that these pics show EVERYTHING that goes into the bike - the upper and lower bearing races that are installed into the steeringhead with drifts, the bearings themselves, and the upper capnut, lockwasher, locknut, and the top triple nut. When I reinstall all this stuff I'll take detailed pics and post them here. It looks to me like the VFR unit is a one-piece stem/lower triple casting - when you look up the guts of it from below there's no evidence of a separate stem. The CBR unit is definitely two-piece. If you're going to use the CBR929 unit make sure the stem is pressed into the lower triple properly (as per pic) - it apparently can be pressed in incorrectly (i.e not far enough), in which case the stem length will not be adequate for installation into the VFR steeringhead... just ask DonnyBallGame... Oh, and after having seen the beefy CBR triple next to the pissy little VFR triple, are there any further questions regarding why we like to swap out our front ends? : )

Cool, glad you got it sorted! I was just about to post pics of mine which would have just reinforced what was already suggested... Edit: The pics in question are up in my front end swap topic.

Ahh, now I see - I PM'd you regarding bearing sizes, but I think the problem is where the stem sits in the bottom triple. Will photograph mine in a couple of hours and post the result.

Good summary Magellan, I'd just add that for 3rd and 4th Gen owners you can gain up to 30mm of additional clearance between tyre and underseat canisters if you mod the rear brake caliper locating plate to allow the eccentric to be flipped - it changes the geometry of the bike, but you'd do it mainly for two-up work so handling variations at 9/10ths would not be a factor. Unless your pillion is very brave :unsure: Yep it would be fantastic to see an off the shelf set-up made available. Also an off the shelf USD fork kit. Oh, and off the shelf NR replica bodywork. (yawn) hey looks like it's time to wake up! nice dream...

Cross-pollination eh David? : ) Smithy is hopefully going to have the spacers back to me in the next few days, but I'll be doing further measurements tonight inc. checking out where the oil cooler is going to sit. Further updates tomorrow with pics.

Still completely undecided about the final colour. The bike is factory black (the tank is red underneath the black, all Australian 4th Gen VFRs have this regardless of whether they are black, blue, green or, uh, red) and I like it a lot in black. Was thinking of going with a matte/satin black like the Asphalt or Aprilia colour. Otherwise perhaps a combination of black, silver and gunmetal, I like the monochrome look. The front indicators will be clear ones in Blackbird mirrors, the rear will be LED behind a slightly tinted perspex panel. In its initial guise it will definitely be black, I'm not going to spend on flash paint until I know my Plastex body mods will hold up (and until after it's completed a couple of track days intact). I do agree that the R1 red looks good - sort of a candy apple finish.

Hey I've got two pairs of purple tights Roy! :goofy: Yeah it's probably the worlds longest running two/three month rebuild and tidy-up, but it gives me something to do when I have some free time :joystick: Rob, yeah even though it's not on its wheels (it's raked forward on the stands) I can see that the trail is going to be way off, I'll have to muck around with it to get it right. The Ohlins rear works out to be exactly the same length as the VFR shock when the ride height is wound out to max (it's off a CBR900) so a few shims might be needed to get the geometry right (oh and there's always the flipped eccentric to really shake it up; I might end up needing to afix that R1 steering damper somehow...) Regarding conventional vs. radial, I passed up on heaps of excellent sets of pre-2004 R1 front ends once I got it in my head that I wanted radials. Now I'm not sure that it was worth going the extra $, but I'm sure once I wind on some brake I'll be glad I did it (yeah yeah I know, how much brake could I need in the garage...) Regarding spacers - the OzVFR mate doing the billet bits for the clip-ons is also turning up a pair of 2mm spacers for the axle - using a spare OEM 04 R1 spacer for material. He's also making 10 x 2mm spacers to space the rotors off the wheels, probably out of brass (easy to get brass stock). I'll work out timeframes with him in the next day and as soon as they are done will post pics here. Beck I'll also post complete ground-up installation pics once all the bits are ready (i.e. difference btwn VFR and CBR steeringhead bearings, side by side pics of triples, forks etc. and will weigh everything). I'm leaving the R1 wheel black and using different colour rimstickers over the red (which is painted on). The 8-spoke will be powdercoated black next week (or maybe painted, I might want to polish the rim lips at some stage in the future). Now I'm off to the garage to Roy-proof it :goofy: Crown Lager actually : )

I'm not sure which one is my favourite two-wheeler :joystick:

These were taken when I did the first mock-up to see how it's all going to go together. How it all sits - note that the standard R1 clip-ons are fitted to gauge how much rise I'll need: The chosen clip-ons already have 20-25mm of rise, they are with a mate who's machining billet extensions for them to give me a choice between 1" and 2" above the standard height of these: Now this is the bit that made me smile - I'd fitted these set-screw years ago to reduce steering lock after I fitted VTR1000 clip-ons (just to stop my fingers being pinched against the tank at full lock, the VTR clip-ons don't actually hit anything). They work perfectly with the CBR929 lower triple :thumbsup: General bling pics : )

Just want to add that I respect that this is DonnyBallGame's topic! I realise I have a lot of my own stuff in it, I'll start a separate topic this week and get some pics of mine into it. Donny says "I am going to keep the VFR" - that's me too, and a good reason why I/we are doing this mod. I can't actually imagine a day when I'll sell it, so cost and degree of difficulty doesn't enter the equation. Tyrmeltr, I had the same brake system mods as you do, and came to the same conclusion - and solution : ) My mates reckon they've never seen a VFR go so fast... it helps that I spent 18 months on a ZZR-250 before the VFR (due to our tiered licencing system), so corner speed was never an issue : )

Yep there's lots of sleeve left on the large dia bit of the axle to accommodate the reduction in clamping area, and the axle bolt is likewise still threaded securely. The fork lower clamps use two bolts aside so there's no problem with the axle being securely located.I'm using new rotor bolts of course, I'd like 2mm longer ones just to be on the safe side, so plan to peruse the Yamaha parts catalog to see if another model uses same. Still a work in progress, but an OzVFR mate is milling up a pair of 50mm extensions to go between the fork clamp and the bar mount on these lovely billet 'Epro' items (Japanese company that specialises in Yamaha performance bits). Got 'em off an R1 at a bike wrecker for $200 AUD. They'll go under the top CBR929 triple and the 2" will give enough rise to clear the fairings (he wants to make two-piece extensions so I can drop it a bit for track duty but we haven't come up with the final design yet). I haven't taken many pics yet as I'm still doing the mock-up to make sure it all goes together well. Fair question, a few years back I too thought it was fairly pointless doing this even though I've been loosely researching USD forks for 4-5 years. I can't speak for others but my bike project is as much about having a play with the bits and pieces available to me, as it is about improving its performance and looks. I completely agree that you don't need this sort of hardware to go fast and/or have fun, but updating 10-15 year old technology will definitely enhance all aspects of your riding experience. I got an Ohlins for the back to even it out :unsure: I've ridden a 4th Gen with Eibach springs and modded shimstack and stock rear shock, against a VTR1000 with top-spec Ohlins shock and fork internals, similar riding ability between the riders, and he was no faster than me. He *may* have been a bit more relaxed at the end of each section of twisties than me though, and that's worth the price of admission. Other benefits include lower unsprung weight (more responsive suspension and steering, very nice to have on less than perfect road surfaces), less stiction due to the more advanced materials and design, stiffer forks for improved 'feel', a wider range of performance enhancements are available to you (rotors, fork internals etc.), and good looks to boot. The big ticket item you forgot about is the vastly superior braking you get with a late model USD front end - radial calipers and 310mm rotors for sir? yes please :thumbsup: