I don't consider myself a mechanic but back in October 2006 I decided I'd like a track bike but wasn't prepared to spend over £1k for one. I only passed my test in November 2005 and started riding in March 2006 when I'd bought a VFR400 NC30. I'd stared doing the basics on that, like oil and filter changes, taking the wheels off and taking the fairing off so I was a bit nervous of buying something half completed, let alone building something half completed.
I picked up a ZXR400 H that a guy used for spares for another ZXR400 L for under a grand with loads of spares chucked in. It had most of the parts but needed putting together, plus a few bits and bobs here and there.
I'm finding that getting spares for the H are mainly from Cradley Kawasaki and breakers yards. Some L stuff can be modified to fit but I'm still at the mechanical stage rather than the cosmetic stage of development. I guess the fairings and painting are the best and final part of a build. The aim is to get this bike sorted for a track day at Llandow on 1st June 2007.
I didn't completely strip and rebuild it but I did take all the fairings etc off along with the carbs to give it a good clean and de-grease.
As you can see the exhaust might need de-rusting. There's some good stuff from Halfords that I'm looking to get but if anyone has any thoughts on what they recommend I'm all ears.
The first problem after putting the carbs on was the throttle cable. For some reason it wouldn't snap shut. Some said that for a race bike you wouldn't need it but on deeper research they check this in scrutineering (not that I'm going racing with this... I don't think so anyway
).
I was told that I'd need a throttle adjustment spring, which I ordered from Cradley Kawasaki but wasn't entirely sure where it was supposed to go! Stupid really but managed to sort the throttle return so that it would spring back nicely, purely by getting a pair of pliers and tightening the clamp that holds it in place. You see, at first the cable was slipping out of the clamp and not returning, no matter how much tension was on it. By holding it in place it return no problem. If anyone knows where this spring should go (its about 10mm long) please let me know!
Next I had a problem with fitting the L clocks on the H frame. The bracket is totally different and without sawing it up would not fit into the frame.
I know the screws are still in but it wouldn't fit either way!
I looked on eBay for a clock mounting bracket only to find that one breakers yard was selling one for about £20. Sod that. Waited about 2 weeks later and another one appeard for 99p. Cost about £5 including postage and packing but was worth it as I'm so lazy and couldn't be arsed to saw up the L bracket 
. Anyway, I'll come back to this later...... In the meantime, I got the airbox on and connected a few hoses. I'll have to get someone to check they all lead to the right place or I'll end up setting myself on fire.
Then I put on the tank and it's starting to look like a bike now!
Still, the rust on those exhausts are really starting to annoy me
I looked around the interweb for an undertray to secure the electrics to, instead of that horrible black plastic thing on the subframe. Seems as though these are not yet invented, so looks like I'll have to make my own.
While I'm researching possibilities for this I try and get the tank connected and some fuel into the carbs for a possible sample start. As you can imagine I'm crap at getting one thing finished before starting another thing, so usually when I'm waiting for parts to arrive I'll make a start on something else.
I turned the fuel tap on when I connected the tank and the tap started to leak. I'm no genius but even I know that's not supposed to happen. I ordered some new rubber seals after taking the tap apart and giving it a clean internally. They arrived last week minus the main oval seal that sits between the tank and the tap so I had to phone them up yesterday to get them to send it. I'll not be paying for P&P for that one though!
After reconnecting the hoses I now know (thanks to RobB and Masterofinsanity!) that some were the wrong way round or connected to the wrong places. I now know that the fuel pump hose B goes to the carbs (in the middle?) and A now goes to the fuel tank.
I connected up the battery and turn on the kill switch and the motor wirred and clicked into life. At least I know this works!
Anyway, back to the undertray project...
... I've seen various pictures of modified aluminium and carbon fibre plates to hold various electrics and thought all I needed was a small aluminium plate with 2 drill holes either side to hold it to the rear subframe.
I made one up with a slice of cardboard box (from Threshers
) and taped the electrics to it. Can anyone tell me if this is the CDi unit? What is the other bit?
I also needed a battery box made up. Perhaps something from aluminium again. I made up a cardboard prototype and slotted it into the subframe where I thought it would be best kept. I have no idea where it would go originally. But I guess I would sit it in between the tank and the rear swing arm where the hole is. This doesn't seem to foul the suspension but I haven't had it fully compressed yet with my butt on it.
The idea was to get brackets to attach the master cylinder and fuse box to the subframe. Here they are taped up in position. Hopefully this will not foul the battery box.
Ok, back to the clocks. After I did a mock up with fitting the L clocks to the H clock bracket I knew I'd have to shape the plastics slightly to get a better fit. For this, I simply cut a 'V' (if you're doing this try a 'U' as my cutting ability sucks ass and the bar it sits on is round) and screwed the clocks in place.
Oh, before I did this I gave it a spray with Hammerite as it was a tad rusty.
The clocks fitted on to the bracket fine and then onto the H frame fine.
Are you still with me?
Good. This has been over a few months by the way. I do have a full time job!Still waiting for the rubber tank seals I decided at the weekend to try and get a seat cowl sorted. The guy I bought the bike from threw in a couple of seat cowls to play around with. The original didn't fit so well, so I'm guessing this is the L model. The one below fits better but with a few interesting mods.
There are only 2 bolt holes (one either side) fixing the cowl onto the subframe. I tried putting pressure on it but I could hear this god-awful cracking sound so it has to be supported in another way somehow.
I had a block of wood that I screwed in under the subframe so it sat on top of the tail. This raised the back and the front of the cowl dropped. At least it didn't foul the tank now. Looking underneath it, it doesn't come into contact with the CDi unit and 'plate'.
Still, it wasn't properly supported at the front. I took it upon myself to model my own brackets form an old seat I had. I cut the cover and foam out and was intending to use the plastic lugs underneath.
I cut them out on each side to the size below.
The idea behind the madness is that the seat cowl will sit on top of the plastic lugs and give more support. The plastic bits will need drilling through the top so they can be held in place where the seat would normally go. I have a feeling that there may still be about another 10mm of space before it touches the underside of the seat cowl. For this reason, I cut out a strip of foam from the massacred seat with the intention that this would fit across the width of the subframe so as to spread the load so it wouldn't crack in the middle. This may need further support so a metal strip may need to go underneath the foam for even more support. I'm not that fat honest, but the thought of falling through the seat at 100mph gives me the willies.
That's it for the moment. The seals should arrive by the weekend so I can get the fuel tap leak sorted and I also want to get the spark plugs out to inspect them before I check the spark during ignition.
If anyone has any feedback please let me know or if they spot something that isn't right (like those bloody rusty downpipes :smt013 ).
