xbr500 cafe racer project - only 2 months to complete

[guest987]

I am loving this thread. Keep up the good work!!!!

The exhaust is nicely done. Tucked in and no doubt LAF 

Rob

[guest1529]

I have been a brave lad this week very brave indeed 
FINALLY
I have spent most of the last 2 days sorting the electrics probably 8 hours in total.Removing all the wiring not needed like indicator, rear & brake light warning system, side stand switch & clutch switch. Also removed all those dodgy taped & crimped Honda joints replacing them with proper soldered joints covered in heat shrink & extended the cdi, starter solenoid & rectifier wires so they fit in the seat hump, the rectifier sits under the carbon undertray, see pic 2.to keep nice & cool, everything works as it should, turns over on the button & i even get a spark. Did have a panic moment when i couldnt get the clock lights (illumination not warning) so ran a positive & negative straight to the wires & still nothing put test light across the feeds & we had light, nothing i had done wrong just 4 blown bulbs in both of the clocks.
Fitted the new gold o ring chain & carbon chain guard & made the carbon number plate & rear light bracket today, unfortunately i dropped the led rear light & it now does all sorts of strange things, 3 bulbs on all the time only half the bulbs come on for the brake light, some leds brighter than others, must have cracked the pcb (ordered another one today along with a new battery)
Tomorrow i will fit the choke & throttle cables & fire her up for the first time since rebuild.
The only jobs left to do are lacquer the tank & seat & do the graphics on them, chequers down the center of both in the same colour as the rest of the bike, make the mounting brackets to fasten the seat unit to the undertray which is secured to the frame, make & fit the starter to battery / solenoid lead, wire the new rear light & fit the number plate then its done just in time for winter!!

[SRXweb]

I love the rear mudguard. Is it efficient enough ?

[guest1529]

I love the rear mudguard. Is it efficient enough ?

not sure mate, the idea is it should keep most of the crap off the cone filter,
if the engine starts to get covered in road dirt i will make a wider rear mudguard.
only time will tell

[guest1529]

NO im not dead 
Im back now,
i went on holiday for a couple of weeks, came back got whooping cough felt ******* for 4 weeks & then spent the first week back at work catching up with the things that didnt get done whilst i wasnt up to much.
Anyway last week i had  just about  caught up so i did a bit on the xbr, here is what i managed to get done.
Both side rear sets were roughly cut out of plate ally & fitted with the carbon heel guards,
& i got the first coat of lacquer on the tank & seat unit, just need to flat it back & do the artwork silver base coat & the same fools gold as the frame,down the center of both, possibly on wed or thurs this week - then lots more lacquer over the lot
THIS PROJECT HAS TAKEN TOO LONG & WILL BE FINISHED BY THE END OF THIS YEAR (honest  )

[guest1529]

Im trying hard to finish the xbr soon so i did some more work today on the project.
My favorite job of all painting with a bit of masking too (about an hour in total masking the tank & seat).
Before masking i flatted the body work back with 240 grit on the da & lacquered the carbon to fill in the imperfections in the resin,(which you always get in the form of tiny pin holes) repeat this a couple of times, this gives a nice perfect surface, flatted the 8 or so coats of clear back using various grades of wet & dry down to 800.
First pic are both units masked & ready to apply the silver base coat
Then the base coat applied
& lastly in fools gold.
tomorrow i will be removing the masking which will take hours, lightly flatting the new paint back to remove the ridges & then clear coat over the lot, probably 10 -15 coats so the checkers are laying flat & there is a depth to the finish

[guest1529]

Well i couldnt wait to get into work this morning to rip all the masking off, took me around 2 hours to unmask & then remove all the glue that the paint mask left behind.
I just had to try them on the bike!           i always get this excited when doing paint work.

A quick flat with 800 wet & dry a good wipe with panel wipe, a rub over with the tack cloth & back in the booth for quite a few (read lots) of coats of 2 pack lacquer,I used 700ml on these 2 parts (can paint 1/2 a car with that)


In between the numerous coats of clear i decided the front disc looked bland so i decided to drill it in a similar pattern to the standard xbr disc - get this fitted tomorrow after counter sinking it

[guest519]

Can I just say.....WOW 

[SRXweb]

You really have got gold in your hand.

[guest1529]

Many thanks for the comments
really appreciate them.
just the foot pegs & hangers to finish off then its done.Seat pad should be ready on monday.
Will get it mot'd come the better weather (around april)ready for the shows.
We will be building 3 x gs550's (i know they are not thumpers but its what customers want building, if anyone wants me to i can do another thread on here)as soon as we get back in the new year & these should be finished by april (yes all 3 of them)

[guest519]

Will you be doing any more seat units in carbon? Think I prefer that look to the more regular fibreglass/plastic jobbies.

As far as the 550's go then I'd be interested in a thread of the build(s). If you need any technical advise you could do worse than popping in to the Katana Owners Club site and asking as we've plenty of experience with the 550's over there (not trying to step on toes just trying to give good advise guys...).

[guest1529]

Will you be doing any more seat units in carbon? Think I prefer that look to the more regular fibreglass/plastic jobbies.

As far as the 550's go then I'd be interested in a thread of the build(s). If you need any technical advise you could do worse than popping in to the Katana Owners Club site and asking as we've plenty of experience with the 550's over there (not trying to step on toes just trying to give good advise guys...).

hi mate
yes we always make the seats & tanks in carbon, usually to order which takes 4-6 weeks.
I will pop over to the katana site, may even join it as no matter what you know there is always something you dont, & im not afraid to ask

[JOOLZ]

Wonderful work, looks great

[SRXweb]

I wait with impatience each day to see how your work runs.

[Oldtimer]

Long 2 Months. Could work out to be 12 months
Maybe 2013 is going to be a good year.