CB1100F - The Keeper Build

[shinyribs]

This found me...

Then this found me...

I have these (F3)...

So if I can find these(F3 six-spokes)...

And a pair of these(again,F3)...

And also come up with a little...

And some spare...

Well, then I may be able to   and   and build my 1100 this winter.

[motogrady]

[Johnnylevi]

yes. yes. and yes.

[shinyribs]

Well, I found the last piece I was missing for the rear susp. Picked up the rims I like with all discs,calipers and mc's. All I need now is a pair of F3 fork legs! 600's are fine, but 1000's are 1'' taller. 1000's seem to ride better,too IMO. This is officially on the back burner now,though.

[shinyribs]

So I have a full setup of F3 rims, rotors and calipers. Dirty, but straight. Calipers came directly off a running bike.



The last piece of the puzzle I needed was fork tubes. Searching on eBay for good deals and ran across these. They are shorter than what I want, but for the price, I had to grab them!



Trees are pretty basic, actually. Maybe I can make my own trees that will give me the ride height I want. Also, I can cut then with my own offset, rather than using stock GSXR trees, and put the steering geometry exactly where I want it. Hmmm.....next winter should be fun. :)

Need more free time!!

[shinyribs]

So had a bud from another forum come up with a photoshop.....



Wasn't sure about the RR arm. Definitely sure now.

With fairing or without? Hmm...

[shinyribs]

So I needed to replace the rear mc assy for this bike that i stole for hackjob. So I ordered this, which in the ad pics, has useable pads on it.



Excited! I ripped open the box that arrived today and found this.


 Did the guy packing the parts not see the pic on the sales slip?


Well, upon ripping open the box my truck was filled with the aroma of  (left handed variety) which may explain the mixup.  

Anywho, just got a chuckle outta all that.

[TOOLS1]

shinyribs wrote

Well, upon ripping open the box my truck was filled with the aroma of  (left handed variety) which may explain the mixup.  

Anywho, just got a chuckle outta all that.

How do you know? What does it smell like? Have you smelled it before?
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

I've watched episodes of "Cops"??

Bill was with me. He can vouch. Nobody inhaled.

[shinyribs]

I wasn't going to do a full build thread on this bike since it's not a CB750. But, it's close. SO let's just pretend the engine is a little smaller than it actually is.

Decided to give the engine a look-at and see if it's a runner. First, as always, check the valve lash. Well, the lash is ok, but I found this.

Nice repair.  I mean, I'm all for JB Weld or epoxy, but come on. No matter, I had no plans for a mechanical tach anyway. The cam holder is still good, so I'll just weld the valvecover opening up when the time comes.



Next thing I saw was this rust. When I picked the bike up the valvecover was laying loose on the bike. Luckily, at this point I knew about the valvecover bolts, so I did check to see if all the correct hardware was there. It is. But is it so hard to just tighten it back down so water won't creep in?



But I think I may get lucky and this cam is savable. The rust wiped off with just a rag and left a healthy looking lobe behind. Thee heel has some slight pitting that is just starting,but the lobes are fine. If I repolish the heels and lose a smidge of material I won't really care. That pair of valves be run with the lash a touch on the loose side, but who cares.




So, cleaned all that up as good as I could and mounted the starter which came loose in a box of parts. Starter works!  And here's where it gets interesting...

Ok, so the story I was told:  Bike was running and riding and my PO decided to sell it ( this is years ago). Guy came to look at the bike to buy it. They started the bike and was letting it warm up when the bike just shut off. Crank,crank,crank....never started. Pushed in the corner. Now it's mine.

I asked about the loose valve cover and missing parts ( starter off the bike, a couple engine mount bolts missing, foot pegs, etc). He said he pulled the valvecover wondering why the bike quit, but didn't know what he was doing so just gave up. The loose parts were a result of being vulturized through the years. I'll buy that story.

Anyway, I checked the lash. A couple tight ones, a couple loose ones, but good enough to check compression. Cylinders 1 & 4 have 0 compression. None. Nothing at all.  Cylinders 2 & 3 both have 180 psi.  but  Air hose to the plug hole leaves you hearing air pouring out of the intake boot on #4 and out both intake and exhaust on #1.

I'm putting my money on stuck valves. Since the center cylinders had such good compression I'm hoping the bores, rings and piston will be ok. We'll see...

[TOOLS1]

You know, grinding the underside of the lobe on a cam actually increases lift. That is how they used to make hi-performance cams back in the day by regrinding them.
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

True. Because it would bring the shim closer to centerline....let's grind 'em all!!

[shinyribs]

Yup. It's sticky valves. Popped the cams out and can feel sticking when I work those valves by hand.

I'm not aware of any way to loosen them up with the head still on. I supposed I could try some sort of penetrating oil to get them moving, but if the stems are rusty I reckon it'll just eat the guides eventually. I dont want to pop this head and buy a head gasket just to hear it run. The 180psi on the center cylinders gives me confidence that the bores and bottom end are fine. Don't really want to open the cases. Not sure what I'm gonna do now. Head won't come off in the frame anyway. I wanted to hear it run, but I think I've seen enough to call this engine viable, and that's all I really wanted to confirm. Pushing her back in the corner now.......

[shinyribs]

I've been absent for far too long! Got married, moved to a new house and spent most of last summer building a shop. BUT!...a buddy of mine painted the bodywork for this bike for me. It's all done, so it's game on for the mighty 1100F this summer.  I just gotta make a 6 hour road trip to fetch my bodywork now.












I picked up another used bike lift for $150 and am gonna try to get this project moved out of storage from my old shop and in to my new shop where I can get cracking. Hopefully this weekend I'll get the second lift and the bike moved over.

The shop started as a hole in the ground...



...which grew in to a set of legs...



...which finally got a deck...



...and walls and a roof. The trusty KLR happily bringing home what she could carry for the project. Buncha ridge vents on this load.



And of course, I would'va been lost without my equally as trusty Ford to get the job done.

 

The joint was pretty sparse a few months ago, but it was keeping my girls dry. Planted my oil furnace in the corner and build a workbench right off.



Moved my tool chest and a few other bits over....and I was in new shop heaven  (gratuitous FZ shot...)



Duct system and loft for parts storage. This is the first shop I've had with proper lighting and it's sooooo nice to be able to see what I'm tearing up.



Sat aside a corner for parking the girls and made me a spot to keep all my riding gear.



I spent the last few weekends getting my welders moved over and the lathe set up. I call this wall Metal Working Alley



I'm still without an air compressor, but I'll make do. Hoping to build up a good head of steam and POSSIBLY be riding this bike before the end of summer. I've been far too long without a CB fix. Time to fix that. Wish me luck!

[TOOLS1]

Good luck! That was a nice hole, how did you get it so square?
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

TOOLS1 wrote

Good luck! That was a nice hole, how did you get it so square?
TOOLS

Easy. I applied a generous amount of OCD to it.

I didn't want to have to dig holes much bigger than necessary, so I had to make clean corners to have plenty of space to lay the blocks.

[TOOLS1]

Hey I know a guy that has one of those CB1100 F bikes that is like new, and he is wanting to sell it. He is askking $2000.00 for it.
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

Did you buy it?

It's weird. The guys you read about online with these bikes treasure them like they're some type of rarity, and parts on eBay reflect that with bare frames bringing $1k+, cracked engine cases also go for over a grand that I've seen a couple times.....yet I see them on Craigslist almost constantly for $2-2500 ready to ride in what looks like very nice condition  What is up with that??

[TOOLS1]

No, did not buy iy. Had too many things hanging off the handle bar for me. I once knew a guy that bought an M1 Garand at a gun show with a cracked stock. He too the stock off, and took it to the next gun show. Everyone wanted to know what the gun was. He sold it for twice what he had paid for it.
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

Things are heppenin' here.

Hackjob has moved on to greener pastures ( to someone that will actually finish it)...



...in return, Hackjob's new owner painted the bodywork for the 100 for me ( the cowl and fender is painted, too, just not pictured). So I moved the second lift and the 1100 in to the new shop, finally.



Drug out my assortment of assorted thngs and tried some one for size.



GSXR forks are way too short ( no surprise there). CBR600RR arm is way too long.



F3 arm is a good fit, tough. About 1.5" longer wheelbase. Not much of a visual change, but it's a stiffer arm and will allow the use of a F3 mono shock and it's linkage...if I can get that stuff to fit over the engine.



Drug the heart out to make things easier to manage.



Whipped up another engine stand. This one with wheels since this engine weighs as much as I do.



Went for a loose mockup. I'm seeing 10" from bottom of the frame tubes to the ground and 33" seat height to the low spot. Not bad ride height for sitting on 17's.







This mock up showed I'd need about 32" long forks. CBR600 F3 forks are 31.75" and the front rim has a 60 series tire on it. I checked that 120/60 against the 120/70 on my FZ07 and the 70 series tire is half inch taller, so that gives me the full 32" I needed.

I was thinking about twin shocks, but seeing that bigass tail floating in mid air seriously makes me want to go mono shock now. I've got a F3 shock and linkage in the mail to me now, but I'm not sure it will work. The F3 shock lays at a weird angle. If it happens to clear the cases it's definitely gonna kill the battery box.



Was gonna do a stem swap and hang the whole F3 front end on the bike, but the offset in the yokes is too shallow and I'm gonna run the stock instrument panel/ front cowl. I've never had a bike with a dashboard before.  There is SO MUCH STUFF hanging off the yokes of the 1100 that it would be a nightmare remounting everything. So...the stock 1100 yokes are currently at a friends house waiting to be bored to accept the 41mm F3 legs.

I'm still focusing my attention on the XL500, but I'm fiddling with this one the side. Waiting on a muffler for the XL to show up so I can fab up a midpipe.