[JNSRacing]

This thread keeps getting better and better!

And my wallet keeps getting thinner and thinner!! :toothy: :toothy2:

 

[JNSRacing]

By the way, I have not mentioned it yet, but at this stage of the build, the total weight that I had reduced by, from stock form, was 47 lb. 9.78 oz !! hyeah: :spin: :toothy:

 

[JNSRacing]

Still chasing weight loss, I modified/replaced some more items.
I took the apparatus I fabbed up for mounting the rear of the race tail, and slimmed it down a bit, going from this:

To this:

And I guess I was a little bored at that time, because I polished the thing as well. :bore: :dontknow:

I removed the OEM ignition switch, drilled a hole in the cluster base of my modded OEM gauge set, and installed a simple race ignition switch.

I had robbed the battery box cover to put on the street bike, so I got a new one from the dealer.

I trimmed the top triple clamp, removing metal that pertained to the OEM ignition switch, made some 2mm interval notches, for track setup data on the clip-on position, polished it and reinstalled.

 

[JNSRacing]

The new spools arrived, so I removed those temporary jobs, and put the Pit Bull spools on.

Right-angle valve stems are preferred for race bikes, but not required, but metal valve stem caps are required, so since I had these nice looking red ones already, I put them on, until I got some right-angle stems.

Since the new street bike was going to be wearing this bike's previous street clothes, and the black/silver tank worked with that, I decided to do a tank swap, so I could paint the red tank black, and put it on the race bike, eliminating the temporary cover.

I got it stripped clean... it's strange, but in this picture it looks like the tank has numerous dents, but it's just a trick of light on the stripped finish, because it was perfectly straight!

I put 4 or 5 base coats of gloss black on, then lightly wet-sanded with 1000, and applied the Honda wing decals.

Clear-coat applied.

Started putting it back together.

Cut some Tygon for deleting the rear brake reservoir.

 

[JNSRacing]

So, let's talk about those '94 cartridge forks I bought... not '94 F2 forks at all, but rather from an F3.
The internals are very similar, but since I've never dismantled '94 F2 forks along side either era of F3 fork, I can't say how similar, all I know is that the part numbers for the Race Tech springs and the fork seal/wiper kits are the same for all years of F2 and F3 forks.
There are some differences, however:

1) The caliper mounting bosses are a few millimeters higher on the F3 forks, as the F3 rotors are slightly larger than the F2 rotors.

2) The F3 forks have the plastic guards for protecting the lower portion of the stanchions from debris, and the '91-'93 forks do not... I am not certain about the '94 F2 forks.

3) The F3 fenders bolt up differently than the F2 units... BULLS-EYE!! This is how I learned that the forks I bought were from an F3, and not a '94 F2.
I went to put the fender on, and just as I was beginning to scratch my head at the issue, it hit me that these must be from an F3.

So the fender issue is easy - just get an F3 fender, though, I was a little irritated at needing to spend the extra money, when I had two F2 fenders handy!
I was concerned about the brakes lining up, but I totally lucked out in this department, due to the special brake setup I already had.
Apparently, the EBC 310mm rotor setup puts the brake shoes a little lower on the new over-sized rotors, than where they would grip a stock rotor, because upon checking things out, I saw that all of the braking surface of the pads, are gripping the rotor in the appropriate area.
So anyway, forks have been rebuilt and re-installed.

My old "Panic" button had been de-faced by brake fluid, so I got that replaced! :toothy2:

I got the bodywork back on, this time with the ZG double bubble screen.

My head and neck are going to appreciate the additional wind deflection, while at speed on the track.
The bike looks really strange, though, without the fender in place.

At some point, when this bike was still doing double-duty, going from road setup to race-trim, and back, I had made the trip to pay the kid for that street bike, and collect the title. On this trip, I passed a big truck on a 2-lane highway, and as I was returning to my lane, I struck a brick that was laying in the road... I mean literally, a brick!!
It was quite a jolt - I expected that the tire was going to go flat on me at any second, and I was going to be stranded a couple of miles outside this little town, in the dark... up the creek without a paddle! :sad3:
To my surprise, I made the last 5 to 10 minutes of the trip, and though the bend was quite obvious, even in the dark, the tire held air during the half hour or so that I was in the guy's house, and further held for the hour-long trip back home... also, there was no vibration or wobble, at any speeds.

So anyway, I have not yet gotten that wheel straightened, but I needed to get it replaced quickly - I ordered a very rough looking front wheel from a guy on Craigslist, getting it for $40 including shipping!! I say rough, but this was cosmetics only - the rim was perfectly straight, just ugly!
There was so much caked on road grime, grease, and brake dust, that it literally took me several hours per side, to get it cleaned, after which, I doctored up the many scratches to the finish, and applied striping, taking it from looking like this:

To this:

 

[JNSRacing]

At this point, it was time to get the chain replaced, and this time I decided to do something a little different, with regards to the sprocket setup.
The AFAM race sprockets are very light, true, but how about even lighter?
I thought, to get more acceleration, we either decrease the tooth-count on the front sprocket, and increase it at the rear, or both... previously, I had been running a stock size 15-tooth sprocket up front, and 45-tooth rears (OEM is 43), but why not go down one size up front, and then also go down in the rear, to get the final ratio very similar to the 15/45, and have both the front and rear sprocket be smaller than before?

So that's what I did - this time I put a 14 up front, and put a 41 in the rear, which is very close to the previous final drive result, but is 6 1/2 oz. lighter.
I also got some 42-tooth and 43-tooth rears for alternative gearing, and of course, D.I.D. erv3 chain.

My Dunlop slicks arrived...

I got those puppies mounted, along with the new chain/sprockets.

I've got an extra sprocket carrier with a 43-tooth rear mounted, so I can change gearing quickly, if necessary.

The new Airtech fender arrived.

I mocked up the fender to get the drilling marks for the rear mounting points, and got the square nuts "glassed in".

I mocked up the fender again with the rear fasteners in, to get a final estimation of how it will be postitioned, so the spacing to the tire is even, front and rear, then removed the wheel and marked the fender for the front-most mounting holes.

 

[JNSRacing]

I put 4 or 5 coats of gloss black on the fender...

... got the decals applied, for Dunlop contingency sponsorship, and put on 4 or 5 coats of clear - also applied the Dunlop decals to the new forks, which is also required for contingency.

Full view:

Test fit my tire warmers, to be certain the new fender had decent clearance.

I sourced a second Two Brothers race header from a WERA fellow, this one as part of a full exhaust set - the header is the same model as the one already installed, just a lot better looking... it will be installed with the existing Yoshimura RS-3 can, and I will put the other Two Bros. race header on the street bike, along with the Two Bros. can, once I have refurbished it.

I also received a Motion Pro standalone choke cable, for a 900RR, so that I could eliminate the left-hand switchgear, replacing it with the new cable.

Here is the newer race header mounted.

 

[cr250dave]

I love your progress and the weight savings is incredible. Can't wait to see more

 

[JNSRacing]

I love your progress and the weight savings is incredible. Can't wait to see more

Thanks Dave! There will be more, though I am drawing near to the end.... but honestly, does it ever really end? :roll: :toothy:

 

[JNSRacing]

Two things arrived which would aid in trimming the bike up significantly, with regards to weight - a Graves Motorsports race fairing stay, and Koso RX-2 gauge set.
The Graves aluminum stay is feather-light, weighing 2.75 lb. lighter than the OEM unit.

Mounting the Koso cluster required some planning, as the Graves fairing stay has a large hole for a tach mounting, and though I could have just fastened a sheet of aluminum to it, making mounting simpler, I wanted to keep things as light as possible, so I did numerous mock-ups to determine my drilling points.

I played with the mounting positions, looking for not just a place to mount it, but the place which would not "foul out" on any other components, and give good visibility.
After I was pretty sure I had it, I re-mounted the upper and the windscreen, to verify clearance there, which I had plenty of.

I had to yank the tank, airbox, and carbs once more, so I could replace the OEM water temp sending unit with the one that came with the gauge set.

After finalizing the mounting position for the Koso unit, I drilled the holes and bolted it on, and also drilled for the ignition switch, and installed it as well.

I temporarily wired the unit up, so I could verify power, and perform the setup routines.

The Koso set allows you to change your display background color, but I learned after some head-scratching, that this is done with the high beam switch... I no longer had a high beam switch... so I ran the Koso high beam indicator wire and a hot wire, to a simple little push button switch, so I could toggle the background colors, and drilled for and mounted it below the gauge set.

 

[ash2020]

great job on the build,looks brilliant

 

[JNSRacing]

great job on the build,looks brilliant

Thanks ash... almost done with it!

 

[JNSRacing]

I got the Koso speedo apparatus installed, choosing to use 6 magnets, for the most accurate reading.

There was one major problem I was having with this gauge set, which was that I could not get even close to a reliable tach reading, with ANY of the methods of signaling the unit, that were included in the instructions - this was a bit frustrating, since these sets are not cheap.

I did a lot of research, and found that many others had encountered issues with this, and in several cases, it was resolved by a signal filter they acquired from Koso, so I called them up.
The tech I talked to stated that in the previous year or two, they had sent out these filters, but said that for my bike, they had found the best setup was getting the signal directly from the active pulse generator wire - I tried this as well, and it was still VERY far from an accurate reading.
I called again, and got back with the same tech rep, and kindly stated that this was getting long in the tooth, and that I would like to try the filter, and he relented, and shipped it right away.
It got to me in just two days, and once implemented... voilà! I have a working tach!

All my wiring connections were already properly soldered and heat-shrink wrapped, so now at last, I could finalize all the taping of the front end wiring.
Also, during this time, I pulled the entire OEM wiring harness, tore it down, eliminated any and every wire that was no longer needed for a race-only application, and re-constructed it... I ended up stripping a little over 200 grams of unnecessary wiring, which is almost a half pound.
I reinstalled the OEM harness, and tidied up the wires/cables up front, relocating the fusebox to the main shaft of the new fairing stay.

I finally got around to deleting the left-hand switchgear, as I had already by-passed the clutch switch when working on the harness.
I got the appropriate bracket from the Honda dealer, for installing the 900RR choke cable, and got it mounted... substituting this cable, bracket, and mounting hardware, for the OEM left switchgear, shaved another 3/4 lb. from the bike's weight.

So, later that night, I got it all buttoned up... finished for the time being.

Close-up of the new cockpit.

 

[Miweber929]

Like I said earlier: Really nice build, I like everything but the shortend exhaust. Personally I just think they sound raspy and look strange but to each their own.

Love the fact a bike of this vintage is still getting love as they are sweet do-it-all mounts; one of the guys my dad used to work with raced an VERY trick F3 with the AMA in the mid 90's and I saw the build out on that, very similar to this. I think he was clocked in the low 160 moh range on the front straight at Road America so they can be fast, though his motor was blueprinted and had some aggressive work done to it.

Keep the updates coming!!!

Mike

 

[JNSRacing]

Like I said earlier: Really nice build, I like everything but the shortend exhaust. Personally I just think they sound raspy and look strange but to each their own.

Love the fact a bike of this vintage is still getting love as they are sweet do-it-all mounts; one of the guys my dad used to work with raced an VERY trick F3 with the AMA in the mid 90's and I saw the build out on that, very similar to this. I think he was clocked in the low 160 moh range on the front straight at Road America so they can be fast, though his motor was blueprinted and had some aggressive work done to it.

Keep the updates coming!!!

Mike

Thanks Mike! Yes, the F2/F3 era are absolutely great "all around" machines!

With regards to the exhaust, yeah, I get where you're coming from, and believe it or not, I am not actually a fan of most of the shorty jobs I see out there, but this is a race bike, and every ounce I can squeeze out, must be squeezed! The raspy sound kind of goes with the racing territory, but I should mention, that it does still fall under the sound regulations, at tracks where this is required.

As far as the original length, though, for me, 18 inches is just too darn long!

 

[JNSRacing]

I got some Duplicolor tire paint pens on Saturday, and added a little flair to the race bike, by putting yellow on the Dunlop logos on the slicks.
Honestly, the pen itself was pretty much useless, and I had to extract the paint, and use a separate brush to apply it, but it turned out great, nonetheless.

I wanted to get a decent looking picture for a BOTM contest on another site, so I threw the warmers on, so I could make a short jaunt to a park in my neighborhood, and scrub-in the slicks a wee bit on the way over... yes, that is correct... I took the race bike for a street ride! :toothy: :ciao:

The lighting was touch and go, due to the sun not being in the best place, so this is the best pic that came of that deal.

 

[Raj24v]

Wow... I haven't looked here for a couple weeks at mist and you've created a beast!!! I love this build. Good work man.

 

[JTRC51]

Nice build man, I always liked the F2/3 bodystyle! Those tires (Slicks) are awesome tires too.

BTW.. I have a really nice rear wheel for that bike (F2) if you are interested. It was a buddy of mine who had it freshly powdercoated (orange) with new bearings, seals put on it. LMK if you're interested.

 

[JNSRacing]

Wow... I haven't looked here for a couple weeks at mist and you've created a beast!!! I love this build. Good work man.

Thanks Raj! There's just a wee bit more to come, in prep for the 2014 race season, but beyond that, the only mods I have planned will come after the 2014 season concludes, mainly due to a street bike project, and potentially a café racer project.

 

[JNSRacing]

Nice build man, I always liked the F2/3 bodystyle! Those tires (Slicks) are awesome tires too.

Thanks JT, I agree, the F2/F3 style still works!

BTW.. I have a really nice rear wheel for that bike (F2) if you are interested. It was a buddy of mine who had it freshly powdercoated (orange) with new bearings, seals put on it. LMK if you're interested.

Well, interestingly enough, I will be in need of an additional rear rim, which will need to be in Repsol orange, for a street bike build - I really can't tell from that picture for sure, but it seems more reddish-orange than the Repsol orange.
Also, I run an F3 rim on the race bike, and the new rims needed for the street bike will also need to be from an F3 (5 inches wide vs. 4.5 inches wide for OEM F2 wheel)... measure it and see if it's 5", in case someone had previously installed an F3 rim on that bike - it's a common mod for the F2.