92 Rebuild and Modernization

[axiom-r]

Jeff - that is a good looking shock....  find out the stock spring weight- if its less than 1000 your new spring might be wider. 

Pat- not a thread jack because Jeff will have to address the loss of the mechanical speedo too!  I saw that thread and I am going to go that route.  The idea of replacing the gauge (even at $800) seems like the best and most reliable solution vs. trying to install a box that can translate from electronic to mechanical.  I am hoping that the new electronic gauge can be preset at a given mileage too- therby starting the new clock where the old one left off....  I will post to my thread when I take these steps.

tim

[Pat Conlon]

.... The idea of replacing the gauge (even at $800) seems like the best and most reliable solution vs. trying to install a box that can translate from electronic to mechanical...... 

Naaa, shouldn't be that much, a 160mph GPS speedo 3 3/8"dia. will be ~$280....if you were to go crazy replace all three gauges (so they match) by getting a  Tach and a fuel level/voltage dual gauge....you will still be around $620.

[jscgdunn]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:  Machine work on swingarm completed.  This is how much is left on each side:




Here is the bushing turned down to fit inside the R1 bushing.  As I mentioned earlier, the fj bushing is a bit too narrow because the R1 dust caps are thinner than the FJ ones.  The FJ bushing was not quite perfect, and lathe showed where.



Here it is mounted.  The bottle jack is there because fit with the thin washers inside each dust cap made it a tight fight; tapped it in with a rubber mallet and then used the jack to help get it into the final resting place.



This is the R1 shock mocked up.  Note the offset to the left.


and from the side


This is the dog bone...it is not quite all the way to the right of the front mount.  I cut down the bushing from the stock FJ link to fit here.


And from the side


R6 Wheel mounted.  One 3mm washer on each side as it is narrower than the R1 wheel (5.5 vs 6 inch wheels)



Don't mind the mess....idiot at work


Oh, and for you flyboys...another flying FJ

[movenon]

Looking great Jeff !  I admire your work in the "puzzle palace". That shock looks familiar . Is the flying FJ the 89 ?
George

[axiom-r]

Looking really good and very familiar!   Jeff one of the things I did was remove the spring from the shock, mount it back up, and move the swing arm through its full range of motion by hand with the wheel off.  This allows you to observe any point of contact that might occur in a bottom out condition.  This procedure resulted in ruling out the use of a piggyback mounted reservoir shock as at the highest level of compression the swing arm would foul on the reservoir. 

You may have found a slightly different way to bolt the linkage together that eliminates this issue but I was not able to avoid it after running through multiple configurations and positions of the triangle. I went as far as to buy triangles that were different dimensions from other production years of the R1 - still no luck.

Please do this test as bottoming out hard with contact between the shock res and swing arm would be a significant safety threat and would/could cause a catastrophic failure of the shock..

Man, I have to say that the 2007-2009 R1 swing arm is just ideal for the FJ's. Especially later models that had ABS - the offset of the arm matches so nicely with the offset of the shock.

Nice to see this mod happening again....  When a third conversion occurs it will be a "movement". 

Cheers- 

tim

[jscgdunn]

Hi George,
Yes that is the '89...really the assembly of a parts bike form all the pieces left over and gather up.  Again, always amazed how little interchangeability model to model.  A 3XW motor into a 3CV frame presents a number of challenges. 

I think the following will address some of Tim's questions:

No shock here but virtually no interference with subframe,



Here is a shot of the Honda shock installed with no spring and at top of travel.  Very slight deflection of chain guard at top of travel.


I did have to cut the battery box down and plastic weld it back together.  Lith Ion battery is only 3.75 inches tall:



Here is a comparison


I built a spacer for the bottom mount out of the Honda dogbone.  Had to grind 4MM off it.


The shock interfered with the fender so I cut a relief in and covered over



The R6 wheel required a 3mm washer on each side.  This moved the brake stay out.  I drilled, tapped and screwed in 2 3/8 bolts to ride in the groove


Being it was -25 Sunday morning, I was reminded to install these




I await the spring from eShocks

[movenon]

Looks good ! You know that air box could go away ..
George

[X-Ray]

Good idea George. Put some Unifilter Pods on their instead of the crappy Yamaha airbox and you'll have heaps more room under there. (Plus also have proper filtration!)

[jscgdunn]

Been a while since I had time to do much on this...anyway Eibach 1200 pound spring received.  You can see it is a bit shorter that the original.


Also 5mm larger in diameter; sorry for the lousy pic.


I got it mounted.  As you can see the cheapo spring compressors took a beating.  Race tech supplied the aluminum spacer.



I also had to get the bottom eye turned down (it is quite a bit wider) to fit the R1 linkage.  The bearing and the seals from the R6s shock worked fine.

[jscgdunn]

A few more shock notes: I also had to press out the top mount bushing as it could not be drilled. This is pretty difficult as it has a spring clip under the seal on one side and the other side is smaller...thus it can only be pressed out one way.  I tried it myself with my six inch vice but actually broke the vice.



Eventually got it out and got a new bushing made for it.  I think it might be better to modify the frame to accept the smaller bolts with he more modern shocks.

[jscgdunn]

So I got everything put back together.  Another addition was the elimination of the signal lights.  I got these turn signals off ebay...I paid about 15.00 form a US supplier but then I saw them again from China for about $5.00...do a bit of searching.  They stick on with a 3m tape and seem really solid.  We'll see.  By the way, the lith ion battery is really light compared to stock and really cranks it over.



Here is a pic of it all put together except windshield...I need some polishing lessons from George or Pat.

[giantkiller]

Looks great  Jeff. What is the length of the Honda shock? And is that a 2012?  Cheapest 2012 I could find was $200 when I just looked.

Thanks Dan

[jscgdunn]

The Honda shock is very close to the same length as the R1 (and 92FJ) shock...right about 12 inches.  George mentioned it to me and my first ebay search at the time found me a 2012 in Edmonton for $100...so I grabbed it.  The 2011 is the same length and looks similar but it is not the "high tech" one the 2012 is.  Comparing them side by side you can see the difference.

Jeff

[giantkiller]

Thanks Jeff. I'll keep looking for a 2012.

[Antonn3]

jscgdunn , just noticed the placement of your turn signals, as I was looking into something similar.
But reading the BC laws I'm wondering since those are not DOT/TC approved and too close together, that  you might be setting yourself up for a ticket?


Mounting of lamps and reflectors

4.03 (1)  If 2 lamps of the same type are required or permitted on a vehicle, the lamps must be mounted at the same height unless otherwise specified in this Division.

(2)  If 2 lamps of the same type are required or permitted on the side, front or rear of a vehicle, the lamps must, unless otherwise specified in this Division, be mounted with one lamp at or near the extreme left and one lamp at or near the extreme right of the vehicle, so as to indicate the approximate width of the vehicle.

[en. B.C. Reg. 476/98, s. 2.]