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1994 Fireblade Hack

3K views 39 replies 8 participants last post by  AgentOrange 
#1 ·
Pickup up a pretty rough cbr900rr today, it's been too long since I butchered something. The clutch hub was cracked and the previous owner didn't want to bother repairing it.
The cracked center has about 15 degrees of rotation but doesn't come out.

I have read in a few places that the fueling is disturbed without the fairings, any truth to this? It definitely needs some bigger mains according to the dyno sheet from 2005.










If anybody wants the fairings they will be next to the dumpster, trash day is Wednesday...
 
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#2 ·
If anybody wants the fairings they will be next to the dumpster, trash day is Wednesday...
If they are OEM and not Chinese, or broken, I'd be interested in the two small center tail section pieces.

The one that covers the tail lamp and the one with the rear seat lock cylinder.

Obviously wouldn't be able to make it to the dumpster, but I'd be more than willing to pay shipping plus a little extra for your troubles.

On a side note, that was dyno'ed about 10 miles from where I live...
 
#3 ·
They are definitely OEM. Black paint and shitty stickers over the original black/yellow/purple. The tail pieces are all definitely fucked. I think all the plastics are cracked or missing pieces except the mid fairings. I'll take a closer look tomorrow.
 
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#7 ·
keep the airbox trumpets, big problem with lack of fairing is too much air getting in, causes it too bog down . We had to duct tape our tanks to the frames on the IoM a few years ago. Bike will run with wires stuffed in front of frame,but its messy
 
#12 ·
I like it too. Makes it worth the tank slappers.

Did some work on it today. Scuffed back the frame a little, needs more work but it's going the right direction.


A little concerned by the tank embedding itself in the frame. It isn't all the way through or cracked but it's deep.


Made a small box for the battery and electronics
 
#13 ·
There should be rubber spacers either side of the tank to keep it off the frame. Easy to lose when you take the tank off and if you lose one the other can fall out in use. If they're missing the bike feels bad to ride as the tank shifts around under you.

Looks like still available new, if you don't have anything around the shop.

https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/1994-honda-cbr900rr/o/m2066#sch19145

Don't recommend to leave the regulator there. They run hot in normal use, anything up to 70 degrees Celsius. They lose that heat through the metal plate on the frame. If they can't, they melt and take your alternator and battery with them. They typically only hold out around 30k miles either way. You can tell yours has already done that once as that's an aftermarket regulator.
 
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#14 ·
The bike has 88,000 miles. I'm surprised anything works. I'll definitely screw it to a heat sink.

Thanks for the info the tank spacers, I should have enough crap lying around to make something work.

Should I bother filling the frame with some JB weld or something?
 
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#17 ·
That's in great shape for age and mileage.

Given the mileage and lack of history, it's probably worth looking at valve clearances, servicing the rear linkage, swing arm bearings, and steering neck. It'll ride nicer for it and breeze through that 100k.

It's also still in original brake lines so the fluid could be ancient. Plenty of stuff to go through. Or just ride it and go with"it'll be fine".
 
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#18 ·
Thanks for all the support guys. I'll plan on getting the frame welded in the future and just leave it alone for now. I was looking at dampers but I'm a cheap bastard, I'll put some miles on it before deciding.

Definitely planning on checking valves and replacing/greasing all the bearings I can get to. The carbs and valve cover will come off probably next weekend when I get spark plugs and larger main jets.

Brake fluid and fork oil are next on the list. The pins are seized in the rear caliper, it tweaked over and dug itself in the rotor, I put some pictures of that when I fix it.
 
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#19 ·
Depsite all the hate I seem to be getting around here lately, I have more experience with 929s and 954s than anyone here. 900 is just a fat 929/954. I have been dealing with cbr head shake for 20 years. The easiest way to deal with it cheaply is to get the stickiest tire you can, balance it perfectly, rebuild your forks perfectly, make sure your shock is fresh and properly adjusted, and then slightly over torque the top nut on the top bearing. As long as you have ball bearings it works great. Make sure you throw some fresh grease in their, and tighten it down until you have a degree of resistance in it. Then take the bike out and figure out what tire pressures work for you on that bike. I like low-mid 20s on cbrs when pushing them.

I flip bikes for a living. I get bikes with zero resistance and the front ends flop, and others with over torqued triples, and they grind. You can get away with a little torque. It works. It helps. Personally the best 954s I have ever ridden, and they were putting down in the 140s, weighing just over 400, wouldn't head shake no matter how hard you pushed them. But they were flawlessly dialed in. I have also had cbrs that tried to kill me the instant you touched the throttle, or took your hands off the bars. I had one that would tank slap ONLY on flat land accelerating through the 70-90mph window. Talk about some bullshit. Full tank slappers. No fucking warning. Bikes are very individual. Take peoples advice with a grain of salt unless they have dealt with hundreds of the ones you are dealing with. Personally I wouldn't put a damper on something unless everything else was dialed in first.
 
#22 ·
Dave, you're going to advise someone to run their tyres at 'low to mid 20' psi range?

That's way, way down from what the manufacturer says (36/42), and verging on running a flat. I'd say it's a great way to increase fuel consumption, get weird wallowy handling, lose speed, and maybe even get a tyre delaminate in the long term.

It's a good thing you know everything about bikes, eh.
 
#23 ·
36/42 is WAY too high unless the bike is seriously loaded down. It might be reasonable for touring 2 up, but solo without a bunch of shit on the bike you'll never get any heat into the tires.

I wouldn't quite run low to mid 20s on a leadrebike, more likely high 20s when riding for fun, but nowhere near 36/42.
 
#27 ·
I used to run 32/36 for regular road riding on the last blade I had, rode just fine. If it dipped 5psi lower I could tell in a bad way, any less than that I couldn't tell (as I found out with a slow puncture in the rear). Still 10psi more than Dave recommends.
 
#24 ·
Seems like most people run about 30 pounds, I'm 160 pounds without gear.
I have taken off about 30 pounds of fairing, brackets, etc. I'm not sure if that is enough weight to affect tire pressures.
 
#25 ·
Greased and dialed the head bearings, just a little drag. The last guy who touched it must have thought the top nut had something to do with the bearing preload. I just about broke my back getting that thing off. The preload nut was finger tight and the grease was dry. Would have made an interesting first ride.

Another issue I came across is the rear brake caliper. There seems to be a hug amount of play. As far as I can find there are no missing parts and nothing is too worn. The caliper plate, caliper, and pads are seem to be wandering and embedding themselves into everything around it. The top pin seems to fit very poorly, tons of slop. Like missing a bronze sleeve type of slop....
 
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#26 ·
The caliper floats on the mounting bracket, in and out in the sliding pin (front) with rubber boot and the rubber bushing on the (rear) fixed bolt (sorry not sure on tech terms here). If the rubber boot on the sliding pin gets torn and the grease gets out, the sliding pin will run metal on metal where the soft cast alloy hole will expand. It could also just get worn with very high miles.

If the front hole in the mounting plate is wollered out, the mounting plate may be junk. Unless you're really good at drilling off centre holes and fitting brass bushes in them.

If the hole still looks round, could be that replacing the rubber boots will do it.

The boots usually tear due to people using ordinary grease on the sliding pins. You need to use rubber safe grease, ordinary grease will absorb in the rubber making it swell, then tear.
 
#28 ·
The hole is definitely wollered out. Looks pretty round. The pin measures 9mm, the hole is just over 10mm. I could probably drill it out and press a bronze bush in there. Mcmaster has them for just under $2.00.
 
#29 ·
It isn't meant to be a tight fit as the rubber takes up play. But it is meant to be round. Get yourself a set of rubbers, and see if that solves it. If not, go crazy with bushings.
 
#30 ·
Figured out the brakes. The boots weren't seated. Bled the rear brakes. The fronts probably need a rebuild, the fluid was milky, I ran out of fluid before it cleared up.

Adjusted and cleaned the chain, need a new one of those too. Just past the "replace chain" line.

Grips, jets, and spark plugs showed up today. Should have some time Friday.
 
#31 ·
If you come to the fronts and find rusty pistons or other faults that make them no good, just fit the whole setup off a 929/954/600rr. Fits right up, improves performance, has alloy pistons that can't rust.
 
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