| AK's Project FJ | |
| It is time to separate this from the Repairs & Mods section. I want to give you all an idea what rebuilding one of these bikes is like. At this point I have a very good idea after riding my FJ for a summer exactly how I want it to change. I will still continue to update the Repairs & Mods section with some of the things that apply for the sake of continuity. Other than painting the motor (which was bald around the cylinder block and head) I did not do much to the bike last year. As I have said elsewhere the bike was no fun to run around on because the suspension was shot. My first goal with this project is to update the running gear with modern YZF parts. While this is in process I will also be rebuilding the swingarm pivot areas and putting new steering head bearings in. I am also going to make some more cosmetic changes to the bike. The final stop I will make is an engine rebuild. With fingers and toes crossed I can say at that point there will be little to go wrong with the thing for a while, I hope. | |
| Cosmetic plans | |
| Once upon a long time ago I started planning a cosmetic change for my '83 Interceptor. I could not decide on a paint scheme. So I sat down with my sketch book on a light table and traced a couple of pictures of my bike. I dug out the Prismacolor pencils and went to town with my new coloring book. I still have the drawing and a photo of the results which I include here for nostalgia sake. I purchased the FJ last year and before long I began to make the same plans. This time the design was created on my PC. | |
| Much easier! I would recommend this technique to anyone who is the least bit artsy. I gives you a chance to really sit down and think about what you want. | |
| Suspension | |
| It took
a
ton of convincing for me to go with the rim and front end swaps. The guys
on the list had to work long and hard. I thank them for their patience.
Once I looked around I saw that this was fairly standard for FJ owners
as well as owners of other 80's sport bikes. I even saw an '83 Interceptor
with CBR600F2 running gear on it up at Mid-Ohio last year. I think that
was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was going to do the swap.
My next goal was to find a swap combo that I could live with. I looked
over my options and frankly changed my mind several times.
I quickly ruled out the FZR1000 front and rear swap because the rear rim is too wide to fit without faking it heavily and the FZR front end received poor reviews for eating fork seals. I saw the GSXR rear rim as a very positive choice because it did not require many changes to the parts to work. The swap involved just fitting some washers of the right width to take up the slack caused by the total width of the parts being a touch narrower between the sides of the swingarm than the stock FJ setup. The front that I chose first was Barry's '91 FZR1000 EXUP UD. It just looked way too cool. I started thinking about it very seriously and even looking for parts. The parts that I found were VERY expensive. You can expect to pay a little over a grand in US money for these goodies. Plus the mounts for the handlebars kind of worried me. The adaptor plate that Barry made (not to insult him at all) was very ugly. I knew that I could get a much more attractive piece made but, I still did not like the feeling that I was adding parts to the bike that would never be quite right. So, in the end I was set on a stock '89 or newer front and the GSXR rear. I bought the rear rim and was happily on my way to upgrading my bike when I ran into Jon Cain in Cincinnati. It did not take long for him to convince me that he had the right thing going. I had never seen his conversion ('97 or newer YZF600 not R6) because he was the only one who had done it and he had not talked about it much. He had worked in a Yamaha dealership for years and had a background as a machinist. He measured up a ton of bikes before he found the perfect match. I thought about this for a long time and this spring I came to the conclusion that I was going to do it. At the time I am writing this all of the parts have been ordered. I will get down to the details as soon as I have them in my grubby little hands. I thought that I would go ahead and use the GSXR rear but, I found a YZF600 rim with the front end at a reasonable price so... |
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| Disassembly of the Rear End: 2.26.00 | |
| My first goal was to
tear the bike down. I accomplished getting the rear apart in about 5 hours
because I hit some bumps along the way. I could do it in under 2 hours
now with what I have learned. Check it out so that you can benefit from
my mistakes.
After the first night I spent in my garage. I decided that I wanted to pull the front off too. I looked at what it would take and unless you have a bike lift I would not try it. The rear acts to counter balance the front, obviously. When the rear end is off the bike all of the mass is in the engine. The cylinder head leans too far forward to adequately balance the bike from the lower frame rails. I did not want to end up with the bike on the ground so I quit while I was ahead. In closing I would advise you to put something forward of the center stand |
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| under the bike's frame while you have the rear end off. The whole package is a bit unstable like this. | |
| Rear Suspension (Take 2) 3.18.00 | |
| I have been working for a while on the parts from the rear of the FJ. I am bidding my time while I await the arrival of the YZF600R parts. I am about halfway through the bearing project if you consider that getting them out is harder than putting them in. I also took the time to clean a few of the parts up just a touch. The thing that is left at this point is the swingarm. I have not touched it save for removing 45,000 miles worth of chain lube from it. That was a job in itself. I will begin on it at the next opportunity. I lack a way to polish it presently. I have been using a flex shaft, sand paper and a set of files for everything to date. The flex is too small for a large piece like the swingarm. Once the bike is all |  |
| together
I will go back and chrome or powder coat all of the parts that I have cleaned
and cleared.
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| Polishing (Take 3) 5.15.00 | |
| It has taken me weeks
to come to the point that I am happy enough with this leg of the journey
to feel I should go on ...or maybe I am just sick of messing with it. I
now know more than I care to about this art. I will impart what I learned
in this section. This task can be completed with minimal tools if you have
a ton of patience but, I would recommend after my experience to start by
buying the right tools and using less patience. If you love your hands
this task is not for you. Mine are so dried and cracked at this point that
I am having trouble typing. I will do my best to suffer through.
To all of those who have been telling me to update my site this section is for you... |
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| YZF Parts... (Take 4) 5.15.00 | |
| Well the parts are
all machined and everything fits up and works nicely together. I am not
going to claim to know much about this because I farmed the labor out.
I will say that if you have any doubts you should do the same thing. All
of this work was done by a professional machinist. He claimed that the
whole job was very simple but, somehow I doubt that someone with a basic
garage setup would feel the same way.
As presented this swap should work on any FJ with an aluminum swingarm. The rim will mount a 160/ 60 17 or a 170/ 60 17 that is made for a 5 inch rim. The reduction in unsprung weight is approximately 7 pounds.
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| With a
bit of luck I should be able to get the bearings pressed this week and
do the final assembly on the rear. Of course, I said that last weekend
and then had the issue with that clear coat. I love Eastwood. Their product
selection is great but, that really pissed me off.
On a bit different note my new YZF forks went off to the local RaceTech dealer today to be inspected, get an oil change and get the 1.0 Kg springs that are necessary to make them live happily on the FJ. They should come back next week. I have a couple hurdles to get by before I will need them so I figured that now was a great time to do this. They came from a salvage yard (D&M) so I wanted to have someone who knew something about motorcycle forks give them a look-see. Thank GOD I am about done polishing! |
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| The Revenge of Project FJ (Rear End Work Take 5) 5.28.00 | |
| Well it has now been a week as I am writing this since I touched the bike. I pressed the bearings and reassembled the suspension parts last weekend. I think that I was sore up through Wednesday. The work went fairly well but, not as smoothly as one might hope. I ended up taking the linkage and shock off the bike repeatedly. Pressing the bearings was no sweat. Once you have the old ones out the job is 2/3 of the way done. That was a relief because I expected that to be a nightmare. When your local handy dandy machinist tells you to get a professional with a press to do something for you the expectations go straight into the crapper. One of the parts was sort of tough but that was only because I resisted putting it into a vice after all of the keep up and paint that I had done. My roommate helped me to hold it in place and life was good for the time being. Well... Let's get to the full report before I give it all up with the intro... |  |
| The Front End 6.25.00 | |
| This part of the process has been full of small hurdles. The first one was actually getting my forks back from Performance Power Sports. I was told a week going in. It actually took them a month to get the parts back to me. They sat on the fork for a week and a half before they even ordered the springs. Just as a matter of principle I will avoid them in the future. I tend to steer away from businesses that can't seem to get their shtuff all in one basket. There is more to that story but... Suffice it say that I do not recommend that you go to them for work. |  |
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