New Project and First Motorcycle

Discussion in 'Motorcycles' started by alexwlwsn, Jun 23, 2018.

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  1. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    Hey all! So with the MS3 gone for some time now, I finally picked another project. I've wanted a motorcycle for as long as I can remember and finally got an offer on a bike I just couldn't refuse. My buddy had a bike that had been sitting for some time, and was "in parts" but ran great when parked. I decided to follow up and it turned out to be a 2002 CBR600F4i with ~14,500 miles on it, and he wasn't asking much money at all. Basically, a project for a steal that I couldn't turn down.

    Looking into the fuel tank on purchase day lead me to worry a bit about the amount of maintenance the bike needed but more about that later....

    Obligatory vehicle purchase photo:
    received_10157470572249112.jpg
    Obligatory man on man action photo:
    received_10157470571534112.jpg
    (friend with the truck on the left, my dad on the right)

    The bike is definitely dirty from sitting under the cover and unfortunately there's a worn down Plasti-Dip paint job on the fairings that is far from attractive. For a starter bike though I am not upset at the ugly fairings as odds are, I'm going to drop the bike eventually and scratch it up anyway.

    So on to today's work. Here she is in her new home, which is my wonderful GF's shed. Kinda small but I'm not complaining.
    IMG_20180623_155015.jpg
    IMG_20180622_225458.jpg
    (that 14,000+ redline thooooo)

    First pulled the seat and put the battery on charge. The battery seems to be holding a charge so that's refreshing. Odds are though I'll replace the battery before going out as I really don't feel like having a battery die on me during my maiden voyage.

    After the battery, I moved forward to the gas tank (yay)... Needless to say it's pretty ugly in there. Lots of muck and grime from sitting. I didn't think it would look so bad in there, as it only sat for two years, but there's chunks and all just sitting in there. I've started the tank sitting full of water + Dawn + Pine Sol. I read good things about each cleaning nasty tanks, so why not combine. I'm thinking about putting 1-2 gal gasoline in a bucket and soaking the fuel pump in that, as gasoline is a great solvent. I don't really feel like buying a new pump assembly as on eBay they're right around $250 used.
    IMG_20180623_202436.jpg IMG_20180623_155822.jpg

    After that, I opened up the intake manifold (or whatever it's called on a bike) and it was surprisingly clean There was a little dust on the air filter but it looked pretty clean so I think I'll leave it for now. I just sucked the lawn clippings out of the airbox.
    IMG_20180623_160331.jpg IMG_20180623_160336.jpg

    Neat ITB pic:
    IMG_20180623_160433.jpg

    So now to do research on safe riding methods and to schedule a rider course to get my M license.

    If anyone has any advice on cleaning up this nasty ass fuel pump, please do comment below.
     

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  2. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    Oh and uggo tank interior vid:
     
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  3. SharksInSpace

    SharksInSpace Planets and shit. Silver Member

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  4. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    It doesn't look like anything but in a couple hours of soaking in gasoline + sta-bil I've gotten a good bit of gunk off the fuel pump assembly. It seems to brush off with my little nylon cleaning brush would that's promising. I have a new filter and tank gasket in the mail now too.

    IMG_20180624_113048.jpg

    And the inside of the tank is feeling much cleaner than before after ~12hrs or so of Pine Sol. So we're making progress but it's all still real dirty.
    [doublepost=1529887115][/doublepost]Status update on fuel hat and pump...
    IMG_20180624_185227.jpg IMG_20180624_185243.jpg IMG_20180624_185256.jpg
    Might just end up buying a clean used set. We'll see.
     
    alexwlwsn, via a mobile device, Jun 24, 2018
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  5. djohns

    djohns Greenie Member

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    Say whaaaat. I’m picking up a new bike as well come Wednesday. Currently have a gsxr750, upgrading to a cbr1000rr
     
    djohns, via an iPhone, Jun 24, 2018
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  6. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    Nice!! Bike bros :borra2:

    Oh and update: new fuel hat/pump assembly on the way. Even if I got my hat clean, I wasn't confident that pump would run well so after all this time. So whatever, clean one on the way along with a new filter. and neither was too expensive so I'm not mad.

    I did find my motor on sale on eBay too for more than I bought the bike for so that's kind of exciting.
     
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  7. mangosmoothie

    mangosmoothie Silver Member

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    f4i's are so good. you're gonna love it.
     
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  8. Code Monkey

    Code Monkey Platinum Member

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    Here is my version:

    Hey all! So with the MS6 gone for some time now, I finally picked another project. I've wanted a motorcycle for as long as I can remember and ... nevermind, fucking wife said no.
     
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  9. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    So sad :(
     
  10. djohns

    djohns Greenie Member

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    Get rid of the wife? Is that an option? You can go about it one of two ways, one you lose half your shit, the other you can potentially make hundreds of thousands of dollars....
     
    djohns, via an iPhone, Jun 25, 2018
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  11. Code Monkey

    Code Monkey Platinum Member

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    We do have six cars though so I cannot really complain....
     
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  12. djohns

    djohns Greenie Member

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    Fair enough.
     
    djohns, via an iPhone, Jun 25, 2018
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  13. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    Did a little cleaning last night with some etch and prep acid wash. The tank is certainly getting there but still needs a lot of work.

    After a few days soaking in Pine Sol + water:


    A couple minutes with mild(ish) acid shaking with nuts:


    Second longer acid shake:


    After these, I sat tank right-side up and put in a couple gallons of 2 stroke mixed gas. The oil should keep any new rust from forming and the gas should eat up the grime on the bottom (hopefully). A friend who has cleaned out a few tanks recommended hydrochloric acid. It sketches me out a bit to use that but he said it would only take a minute or so to melt all that rust out so I may try that tonight. Yikes. edit - I've also heard good things about Metal Rescue rust remover. It's apparently safe for paint, skin, etc.. While it is $25 a gallon I feel a little safer using something that isn't also trying to kill me.

    New battery came in last night and the motor turns over so that's a big plus. I was praying that some electrical gremlin didn't appear while the bike sat and so far so good. Tonight I'll be getting my new fuel pump and then the next day I believe my new fuel filter. if I can get this rust cleaned out within the next couple days we might have idle time over the weekend!

    Sill a way to go though, I don't have a good chain for it and will definitely be needing a new front tire. I also can't schedule a motorcycle class until late next month so that gives me time to get her in riding condition by the time I'm licensed.

    Stay toooned!
     
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  14. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    Tried a product called Evapo-Rust last night and it actually did pretty good. It isn't an acid and is safe to get on your hands. Here's a before:


    and an after shot with ~1hr of soaking/scrubbing:


    All in all I'm pretty happy with it's performance. It's far from effortless but it's coming along. Last night I let it sit on an angle to get the bottom of the tank and turned it this morning to get a different side. Hopefully tonight those two sides will be complete and I can finish all the cleaning. I'll probably still have to shake it with a bit of gasoline to get the finer crud out that's just floating now but that'll come in time.

    Also, changed the oil last night and turned the motor over a few times to get it circulating. Being that the engine and all is so small, everything is very easy to work on. The oil drain is easily accessible as is the filter. I still want to do a coolant flush, but just like the oil, that'll probably be pretty easy of a task.

    My new fuel pump also came in so once the tank is clean to a point where I feel comfortable with it, I think I'll reassemble it all and hit that start button. I'm pretty excited to hear her idle for the first time (and rev the shit out of it). Sucks that I don't have my license for it yet but the sooner I can get it running, the sooner I can start cleaning it up and making it look at least somewhat attractive.
     
  15. Maisonvi

    Maisonvi Platinum Member

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    Hey I have 5 cars (well 4 now) and a bike. Working on getting back up to 5. Just need a wicked slow one like mine.
     
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  16. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    10 days after getting the title, she runs!



    I went back and forth on the patio and I can tell it's going to take some getting used to for sure. The tiniest throttle input gets you to 4000rpm and letting out the clutch bogs that down quick. The flywheel must be all of 1lb or something. I'm sure once I'm on a quiet road I'll be able to start and stop a lot and get used to it, but for now I have to keep it stored since I don't have my license yet.

    Next up I'm going to start sanding down all the body parts and getting them ready to be painted. I have an Earlex HVLP sprayer I got off a buddy a couple years ago so I might try my hand at doing a start to finish paint job. Nothing fancy, just black, but I think I might be able to make it look better than it does now. Some of the fairings have cracks here and there but I'm hoping I can epoxy those shut, sand it all down, and maybe make it look like it hasn't been to hell and back like it does now. I suppose if any cracks are too terrible (i.e. missing chunks) I can just replace that single piece.
     
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  17. djohns

    djohns Greenie Member

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    Lets ride. Less than 24 hours after owning mine I put an exhaust on it and made it not stock anymore lol.
     

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    djohns, via an iPhone, Jul 3, 2018
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  18. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    Oh that does look good in black. Hopefully after paint mine can look somewhat as clean as that! I love the look of that shorty exhaust too. My CBR has an Erion slip-on which sounds pretty good from what I've heard so far. I know people trim them short to make them louder and look better but that can be a future project if I'm feeling crazy. Maybe tonight when the gf is still at work I'll warm the bike up and rev it up to the moon to get a good listen! I have to get used to revving something to 10k+.. it's still weird to me since in my car I shift at 4k, but on the bike it's basically nearly idling at that range.

    Also, there's an odd rattle coming from possibly the timing chain area at idle. I know it's a known issue with these bikes that the tensioner goes bad, but apparently that's only audible around 5-6000rpm. I'm thinking it just needs to warm up to un-stick, or maybe it's the actual drive chain rattling... not sure yet so I'll have to do a little digging.
     
  19. djohns

    djohns Greenie Member

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    Sport bikes sound soooo damn good when they’re revving up that high. You’re going to love your bike. Can’t wait to dig into this bastard during the winter months and powdercoat some things on it and add some more goodies to it. I bet you can’t wait either! What state are you in again?? If you’re somewhat local maybe we can meet up one of these days and go for a ride. I had to drive 400 miles to get this damn bike and ride it back the 400 miles haha. There were only two for sale within 500 miles from me.
     
    djohns, via an iPhone, Jul 3, 2018
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  20. alexwlwsn

    alexwlwsn Greenie Member

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    Well I'm in Maryland so I don't think that's terribly close to Illinois! I am thinking of planning a little trip on the bike to visit my cousin in North Carolina which is about 5 hours away from me. I could take the long way through the mountains of West Virginia and probably seriously enjoy the trip. Being an F4i you don't lean terribly far forward so hopefully I won't get too sore making that long ride. It's fun planning things like this out since it's pretty cheap to fuel up a motorcycle.
     
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