Inconsequential ramblings of an Old Git

[mangocrazy]

For some reason I was only able to post 3 pics in the previous post, so here are a couple more:

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And lastly, proof that I did manage to get the damn things off the bike. More swearing was involved.

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Once I've had a cuppa, I'm going to compare the Motad offerings with the Honda originals (I never throw anything away) to see if I can detect a difference. In the mean time does anyone know someone who can either bend stainless pipes or do a cut and shut job? I'm also thinking of getting a slip joint made up in the straight(ish) section to make refitting less of a 'mare.

[Taipan]

[Mr. Dazzle]

They are a ballache yes, but V4 exhausts always look so racecar-ey

[Cousin Jack]

A classy lady like the VFR should not be exposed to public gaze in such a state of undress.

Should have bought OEM bits.

[Druid]

I've replaced the headers on two different Gen 3(94-97) VFRs and they were a ballache but yours looks much worse. The ends of the header pipes were not level on mine either, I used Motad headers on the first one, Delkevik on the second. The Motad ones were much better quality

A classy lady like the VFR should not be exposed to public gaze in such a state of undress.

Should have bought OEM bits.

Have you seen the price of the OE mild steel headers? Assuming the're still available

[mangocrazy]

Should have bought OEM bits.

No longer available and haven't been for quite some time. And I shudder to think what the price would be if they were still available...

[Cousin Jack]

I've replaced the headers on two different Gen 3(94-97) VFRs and they were a ballache but yours looks much worse. The ends of the header pipes were not level on mine either, I used Motad headers on the first one, Delkevik on the second. The Motad ones were much better quality

A classy lady like the VFR should not be exposed to public gaze in such a state of undress.

Should have bought OEM bits.

Have you seen the price of the OE mild steel headers? Assuming the're still available

Sounds as though I had a lucky escape. The front headers on my VFR were looking distinctly tired when I traded it in, I have never seen the rear ones.

[Druid]

Yours was a VTEC, wasn't it? Stainless steel pipes on them, all you needed to do was clean them

[Cousin Jack]

Yours was a VTEC, wasn't it? Stainless steel pipes on them, all you needed to do was clean them

It was, and they weren't really rusty, just discoloured (or dirty).

[mangocrazy]

My exhaust dilemma will hopefully be resolved by handing the plot over to A Man who Can. The chap in question is Mark Chittenden, son of the late and greatly lamented Derek Chittenden, and someone who has probably made or modded more exhaust systems than I've had hot dinners. But he can't fit me in until February, so other work is going on in the mean time.

Said work is something I've wanted to do for a while - upgrade the front brake calipers. The calipers I want to use are the last of the non-radial Brembo 4 pot/4 pad jobbies, as fitted to mid 2000s Ducati 999 and Aprilia RSV Mille R and they need to mate up to the RC30 forks and 320mm vented discs I have fitted to the VFR.

Taking my lead from those fine chaps at Project Binky, I mocked up the arrangement in cardboard first, and then transferred it to 9mm plywood. I then fine-tuned it over 5 iterations of plywood templates, before settling on template #4 as The One. Here are the various iterations laid out on my work bench.

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I've since replicated the drilling positions on to two plates of 7075-T6 aluminium using transfer punches and had a go at drillingthe first holes earlier. Unfortunately, after only drilling about a mm into the 10mm thick plate, the drill bit squealed and grabbed and I'm not proceeding any further until I understand what I'm doing wrong...

[mangocrazy]

It turned out that what I was doing wrong was 1) using a crap drill and 2) using too low a speed on the pillar drill. But the main problem was a crap drill. Once I'd established that Screwfix was open, I trundled off down there and snagged a rather posh cobalt 8mm drill. This went through the ali like cheese. So all I have to do now is to reduce two holey 60 x 120mm chunks of 7075-T6 aluminium to the same shape and layout as my plywood template.

I have a feeling that 7075 isn't going to be quite as easy to shape as plywood...

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[Druid]

I made some adaper plates to fit a pair of 4 pot Nissins to a 95 VFR but I had access to a milling machine at work which made the job fairly straightforward. Ten years later I wanted to fit a similar pair of 4 pot Nissins to a different VFR but I no longer had access to a milling machine. I ended up using Firestorm fork lowers on the VFR fork tubes.

What master cylinder are you going to use?

[mangocrazy]

I've got a choice of two. They are essentially the same except one set of clutch/brake m/cyls has a remote reservoir and the other has an integral one. They're both radial Brembo types - the remote res ones came off an Aprilia RSV-R and the integrated ones were off a Ducati 999. It all depends on clearance to the fairing(s) which determines which set go on the VFR and which set go on the Falco.

This model of VFR was burdened with Honda's shitty TRAC anti-dive system on one fork leg, so fitting calipers off any other bike was pretty much impossible. That was why I went with completely different forks. The RC30 forks were a lot shorter than the OE VFR ones, so needed some fairly creative finaigling to make work. Derek Chittenden did that and it's a work of art. This is a pic of the top yoke arrangement with a previous set of master cylinders.

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[mangocrazy]

I've finally managed to climb out of the post-Xmas January pit of despond and start getting a few things done. The two pieces of rectangular ali with holes drilled were laboriously converted to (almost) the same shape as the template, using an angle grinder with slitting disc followed up by lengthy application of a flap wheel. They still need final finishing to remove the last burrs and cutting marks, but that can wait a few days.

I ordered some 18mm 7075-T6 rod and handed it over to my tame engineering company to drill an 8mm hole down the centre. This kind of stuff would be so much easier and quicker if I had a lathe, but I simply don't have room for one.

Yet.

Once I got the rod back, and having worked out spacer dimensions so that the disc sits as close to the centreline of the calipers as possible, I cut up the spacers on my Femi horizontal bandsaw. I really don't know how I would manage without that piece of kit. The RH caliper needed 13mm deep spacers, and the LH side needed 12.5mm deep spacers. Just thought you'd like to know.

So earlier this evening I reached the landmark of both calipers being mounted on their new brackets and the wheel spinning in silence, with no scraping or rubbing. That made me rather happy.

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[weeksy]

Can you do it in satin black please. It's upsetting me

[KungFooBob]

Are those RC30 forks?

EDIT:

Ignore me, I should had paid more attention to the earlier posts.

[mangocrazy]

Can you do it in satin black please. It's upsetting me

This is just the first pass to make sure they fit right. They will be anodised black, with black flanged high tensile bolts.

[MingtheMerciless]

Purple anodising please.

[mangocrazy]

Purple anodising please.

Er.... No.

Sorry.

You're just trying to get Weeksy's OCD going aren't you?

[MingtheMerciless]

Purple anodising please.

Er.... No.

Sorry.

You're just trying to get Weeksy's OCD going aren't you?

Purple plates, with a blue and an orange bolt, preferably different positions on either side.

Oh and a green brake hose one side and a white one the other side.