1000RR living room build | GTAMotorcycle.com

1000RR living room build

eng2007

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Ive been on the board for a while and learned a lot here. I thought Id give back to the community with what Ive absorbed.

To make a long story short Ive been building and fixing bikes for me and my buddies and in the process Ive accumulated a 'few' parts. The advantage of working almost exclusively with Hondas means Ive got enough stuff lying around to complete a bike, minus a few odds and ends.

Heres what I mean:













The guts of this bike will be '05 1000RR motor with a spun bearing. It will undergo a full bottom rebuild. That includes a new crank and rods, bearings, and a thorough cleaning. Some pics of how an underusurped streetbike engine suffers with all the emissions control systems built into it, along with dull highway riding:





Ive already got to cleaning everything and Ill be posting pics as I go along. Heres the prepped block ready for pistons (and a PROPER ring compressor):



Some more contrast:



The season is fast approaching so I plan to keep this thread updated. Im waiting on a parts order right now (forgot to double my order of new crank & rod bearings d'oh!) Thanks for looking!
 
Im unsure why this motor spun the #3 rod bearing but I knew the previous owner and the bike wasnt abused nor neglected. Regular oil changes shouldve prevented such a catastrophe but from what Ive encountered on other forums the problem is not uncommon, especially when almost all the spun bearings occur in the #3 cylinder. Perhaps this points to a lubrication system issue in which those particular passages suffer from lower oil pressures. There was significant carbon buildup in the combustion chamber which would have resulted in higher pressures since the volume is so small but its likely that wear and tear had a lot to do with it. This motor had about 55k at the time.

Heres what the damage looks like:



It didnt take long for the bearing to get chewed up once it started to spin. The crank journal has been etched and while there are options to machine and replate it, the cost and hassle in finding a matching bearing to make up the difference would only really make sense on a unique project where replacement parts are inaccessible. The rods been etched as well and the steel has changed colour from the heat. Maybe Ill make a tribute sculpture to Honda out of this stuff. :)

As I wait for parts Ill be taking the opportunity to adjust the valves but thats as far as Ill be going on the top end...still learning :D
 
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looks like a very interesting build. subbed. looking forward to updates.
 
Update.

The pistons and rings were all up to spec after checking them against the service manual so I decided to clean and reuse them. I used oven cleaner to get the carbon off the rings and pistons for no more than 5 mins each followed by thorough rinsing then soaking in my trusty WD40. Aluminum does not take well to the solvents (acids) in the oven cleaner hence the short interval. They came out quite clean save for the heads which had only a film of carbon left over.
Finished product ready to be assembled:




Received my parts order the previous weekend and after finally getting the correct ring compressor (wrinkle band vs. the 'collapsing' kind (cave din on me)) I managed to get the pistons into the block. This was tricky because the compressor band is steel and youre working on an aluminum surface having to put downward pressure as you tap the pistons. The rings needed some good force to compress fully so I made a few scratches on the head but luckily it wasnt anything some swipes with a scotch pad didnt get out. I labeled all teh bearings as I opened them and I mustve checked the bearing codes 15 times before I placed them in the block and Im STILL nervous about it.
Ready for the crank:




The replacement crankshaft I received came bare so I will have to migrate some components. The starter clutch and cam chain drive sprocket were a cinch to remove but taking the flywheel off needed some persuasion in the form a puller which was a $10 MotionPro hollow 20mm bolt. Probably couldve made it but this bolt was of good material and very precisely finished (minimum impact on flywheel threads) so Im happy to add it to the toolbox.
Old crank on the bottom:





Replacement crank in the hole with rods torqued down with fresh bolts:





CONTACT! Finally got it buttoned down. It was tricky to mesh the gears with the flywheel balancer while mating the two cases as the 5min gasket maker sets but everything lined up and I torqued it down with fresh Honda bolts. Shot with the transmission in place as well:




Right now I found a washer that doesnt seem to belong anywhere but it had oil on it which means it came from inside the motor. I cant continue until I find out where it goes. Its about 1" across and has a small straight part to it.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/221/washerhqspvm.jpg/
 
Thanks very much! I appreciate any feedback because it keeps me up at night - Ive never been so deep inside a motor before so Im questioning myself a lot.

I found where the washer goes - its a spacer between one of the drive gears and shaft bearing. It mustve fallen off the end of the mainshaft when I originally removed it from the engine.

I checked the valves and they are quite good. The intakes are perfect and the exhausts are slightly tight but Im not sure its worth shimming for the 0.001" that they need.

I hope to dedicate much of this weekend to the build - the goal is to have the engine complete and in the frame by Monday. From there it should come together smoothly if I havent made any glaring omissions, which are always a possibilty :).
 
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If the valves are tight they will get tighter, why not adjust them now when there is easy access?
 
If the valves are tight they will get tighter, why not adjust them now when there is easy access?

Any idea who might exchange shims for me? I wont make it to Pro6 today and I was told theyre partying like its 1923 this weekend.
 
Or was that a replacement crank used? or was a re-man?

What did your bearing kit for crank bearings cost you?
 
Or was that a replacement crank used? or was a re-man?

What did your bearing kit for crank bearings cost you?

I got a low mile crank & rods for about $200 and even though the rod bearings looked good I didnt want to take any chances. Even ordering all new units from ronayers and picking them up in the US yielded $7 x18 so $150 shipped. Add to that $100 for new rod bolts and new stretch bolts for the cases plus a $50 head gasket = testing my Honda pride.

I finished bolting it all up this weekend and Im ready to throw it back into the frame. Ill post some pics when I get back into a Starbucks hotspot.

Whats troubling me is installing the APE tensioner. Their instructions are so vague and I havent a clue how tight it should be by 'feel'.
 
Whats troubling me is installing the APE tensioner. Their instructions are so vague and I havent a clue how tight it should be by 'feel'.


thats the easy part compared to what you've been doing so far. Just turn it in until you feel it tighten up (you're not using "gorilla strength" on it or anything...) just turn it in until you can't turn it without substantial force with your index finger and thumb. -then back it off a quarter turn. When you get the bike running, you can do some fine tuning when the engines warm. If its whining, too tight, if its clacking, too loose. Find a happy median.

nice write up so far!
 
So...update.

Ive been doing smaller, supporting-type work on the project of which Ill be posting pics as the components get installed.

I finally got the chance to install the motor yesterday with the help of a buddy. Its been a long time in the making but I hope from here things will start to flow. Only real mission is swapping my fork srpings (background). Im undecided on whether or not to cut the Honda spacer or get some PVC as Ive read others have done. I like the stock unit becuase the profile is already there to fit neatly inside the spring and would also allow the plastic cap to get installed between it and the fork cap.

Racetech's site mentions that the top-out springs on these forks are long & soft and that if youre not replacing them, you need 30mm relaxed preload. I can obviously achieve this number by leaving more of the spacer intact when I cut it. So instead of matching the total length of the assembly of the stock spring & spacers I would make it longer to add preload.



The top-out springs really mess with the equation because its really they that compress first when you add preload on the adjusters instead of the main spring. This increases overall fork length while adding minimal actual preload on the mains which means youre just putting the front wheel closer to bottoming out by using the adjuster.

My gut here is to just match the stock because frankly that makes the most sense since the new springs are set for my weight and will dictate fork behaviour along with the much lighter fork oil Im going to use.
 
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So to put this thread into 'perspective':



Ended up cutting down the spacers by 35mm to account for the longer Racetech springs. My neighbour helped me compress those bastards (thanks Boom) and after that I was so excited, I didnt crash till 2am working on this thing!

Now its time to see if demons live in the electrical...
 
Thanks.

Canada Day update.

Now that the bike's off the ground (haha) its up to the details. The list of short jobs is long.

Just put on the exhaust on this morning along with the rad & intake and the electrical evolving.



As we know manufacturers are faced with meeting increasingly stringent noise & emissions standards we also know how theyre dealing with them. In this case, intake noise was reduced by introducing 'flapper' valve - a flipping door at the mouth of the intake which would remain closed below certain RPM and then open after that threshold. While it was closed, 2 smaller flappers would be open at the sides of the intake to provide the engine with air at low RPM and would alternatively close when then main flapper would open when the engine exceeded a certain value, I think 5000RPM.

This system also carries with it a vacuum valve, vacuum chamber, sensor and a netwrok of hoses which can all be removed along with the flapper. This increases intake noise but serves up the extar air the engine needs when tuned with an exhaust. The metal plate is some aluminum I epoxied in place to cover the hole for the flapper actuator valve which I thought could reduce turbulence.

 
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As we know manufacturers are faced with meeting increasingly stringent noise & emissions standards we also know how theyre dealing with them. In this case, intake noise was reduced by introducing 'flapper' valve - a flipping door at the mouth of the intake which would remain closed below certain RPM and then open after that threshold. While it was closed, 2 smaller flappers would be open at the sides of the intake to provide the engine with air at low RPM and would alternatively close when then main flapper would open when the engine exceeded a certain value, I think 5000RPM.

This system also carries with it a vacuum valve, vacuum chamber, sensor and a netwrok of hoses which can all be removed along with the flapper. This increases intake noise but serves up the extar air the engine needs when tuned with an exhaust. The metal plate is some aluminum I epoxied in place to cover the hole for the flapper actuator valve which I thought could reduce turbulence.

Are you sure that's just a noise reduction system?

The way you describe its operation it sounds like a different take on a variable intake runner. The narrower openings would help maintain the charge or air at low rpm to help low end power. Quite possibly you could be hurting your low end and top end power by leaving all ports open without changing cams, tune, and everything else.
 
Are you sure that's just a noise reduction system?

The way you describe its operation it sounds like a different take on a variable intake runner. The narrower openings would help maintain the charge or air at low rpm to help low end power. Quite possibly you could be hurting your low end and top end power by leaving all ports open without changing cams, tune, and everything else.

This is a popular mod but there is some debate over it's usefulness. It sure won't replace a pc3 or whatever.
 
Essentially Ive modified the duct to work as if it were in the 'open' position at all times. I blocked off the smaller openings and cleared the throat of the duct. Shouldnt see the tac dip below 5000 on track.

Im getting ready to start it early this week - do I need to break in the engine?
 

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