CB1100F - The Keeper Build

[TOOLS1]

Sorry to see Hackjob go. I hope the new owner will keep us posted on its progress. How did you go about removing the engine from the 1100? Did you use that technique of "going after it"?
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[shinyribs]

TOOLS1 wrote

Sorry to see Hackjob go. I hope the new owner will keep us posted on its progress. How did you go about removing the engine from the 1100? Did you use that technique of "going after it"?
TOOLS

Ha! Yep, I just went after it. Just rigged up a couple straps from the rafters while the bike was on the lift, loosened the engine from the frame, then swung the engine to the side while lowering the lift. Easy-peasy....what did we do before lifts??

As far as the new owner, he's a super good guy and seems really excited about owning the bike. He built a nice twin cam 750 similar to how my '80 was set up. But here in about a week he is being deployed again. So for that, I too hope to hear from him again. Soon. God bless our Vets and Soldiers.

[Gshall66]

Love this bike. Very cool lines and the rims are awesome.

[shinyribs]

Gshall66 wrote

Love this bike. Very cool lines and the rims are awesome.

I feel like I should say "thanks", but the lines aren't my doing, Honda did that.  But yeah, first time I saw one of these bikes in black with the orange stripes...



...I fell in love.

Now, this will be the 2nd DOHC F I've owned...it's neither have been black with orange stripes...  I don't get it.

[gareth06]

Nice bike! The orange stripes don't look bad at all.

[shinyribs]

I've been cracking on this. Got my buddy to bore the stock triples out to accept the F3 forks. Retains factory geometry and all the mounts. But 1100 trees are wider spaced, so urned up some new wheel spacers and the front end is basically done. Just need to shim out the calipers slightly for proper alignment.





Centering the rear wheel ended up being as simple as centering the swingarm. 0.245" spacer on each side of the pivot, but everything from there back is stock F3. Flipping the sprocket was enough to correct the chain run. Too easy!




Whipped up some tabs and started getting the suspension linkage angles all sorted. I had no hard info to run with. I just searched google for the best images I could find and sat there with my angle finder on the screen.




Reusing the centerstand crossmember for the dogbone attachment, but that crossmember is kind of attached the the main hoops in a cheesy way, so it will need reinforcing.





Wheel travel measurements matches stock F3 specs, so I musta got my angles and ratios purdy dang close!



Sat the bike on it's own feet to double check measurements. 7" ground clearance at the sump and 9" to the frame rails. One less degree of rake puts the bike to 900F steering angle specs. The interwebs swear the 900F steers quicker than the 1100, so why not shoot for that. Bike looks very happy on it's sidestand, so I'm pleased to have used modern suspension on a CB and NOT ended up with a belly-dragger!. Just takes some research and using the right parts. I hate low bikes.





Content that frame geometry and ground clearance were good, and I wouldn't have to start over, she went back on the lift to sort out remounting the electrical bits.

Whipped up this very un-finished battery box/ electrics plate. Evenything clears the shock nicely and I can use a fullsize stock battery. All other bits fits nicely under the side cover. Nothing will need to be moved and the wiring harness will not need to be modified. I'm very happy about that!






Can see above that the inner fender was trimmed and put back around the mono shock. All the electrics tuck behind it nicely. The slightly longer wheelbase needed the rear of the mudguard trimmed and bit. I always thought they hung down too dang far anyway. This was just a rough cut. I'll finish it up smooth all the way to the base of the tag later.



Next on the list is to sort out a rear master cylinder and some luggage mounts. Then it's probably on to building exhaust. I do have a pretty nice set of stock 4-2 pipes off a 750. I'm wondering if the 1100 will breathe through them ok? I really liked how those pipes sounded and the ground clearance they offer over a 4-1.

[TOOLS1]

Nice!
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

Thanks, man. I will admit that I am in love with my Yamaha, but I often think about how I miss my CB, especially the '80. I don't know why I've been sitting on this build for so long, but I'm happy to finally be motivated on it.

Speaking of the FZ07, the footpegs are getting revisited. After a quick lap on my Yamaha I came directly in and sat on this bike. Feet too far forward. Took some measurements off the FZ to compare peg location and realized those rearsets would actually fit nicely, so yanked them off and did a quick mockup. Shooting for recreating the FZ ergos and am very happy with the results. Also the anti-vibe nature of them is what I wanted. Chatting with a guy on a FZ07 forum and he needs some powdercoating done. Gonna trade work for his stock rearsets, so it'll basically be free to me.  

Gotta an idea for passenger pegs, but we'll see how that goes.

Lies. Lies, I tell you. Let's grind that off.



Cleaned the frame off to fiddle with rearsets and have no idea why Honda put that dimple in there.





Heel plate mount is the master cylinder mount. Hoping I get lucky and can reattach the CRF450 master cylinder I ordered on this same spot. Fingers crossed for pure luck. I dig the CRF mc due to it's integrated reservoir. One less thing to mount.
       


Stuck the fairing on for a look and don't dig it. So I lowered it as far as possible and it was better, but still didn't like. Plan B on all that. Most likely get a 6" round and a Trailtech unit. Original, I know.

Stock ^^^ - Lowered vvv


Downside is ditching the fairing will complicate wiring and I'll need to buy a headlight and gauge now, but upside is it knocks 10lbs off the bike. Another 4lbs saved using the rearsets. Quite happy about that.






Boring updates out of the blue, I know. But it keeps me motivated.

[easyrider12]

Greetings guys, it,s been a while, I fluked on remembrin the  password, hope you are all doing well in your bike adventures, I have yet to resurrect my Goldwing after 2 years rest, hopefully the upcoming year.

[easyrider12]

I'll be back!

[TOOLS1]

OK.
TOOLS

[pidjones]

The GL1000s are pretty simple compared to the CB dohc, IMHO. Although it had numerous PO induced problems, I struggled less with mine than with the CB750F I'm working on. One trick I found on the GL1000 was to ratchet-strap the engine to a furniture dolly with 2 doubled 2x4s screwed to it to fit between the headers. This allowed stripping the frame off of the engine, and after frame cleaning and painting and engine work was done the wife helped me jocky the frame back on to the engine. No heavy lifting needed!

[shinyribs]

Hey, Easy! Good to see you are still kicking


Making good progress on the bike.
Sorted out the rest of mounting the rearsets. On the FZ07 there is a nub that makes a 3rd point of contact to prevent the rearset from wobbling on it's isolators too much. I just turned up a small button that is captured between the rearset and the mounting plate. Also spaced them out slightly so they'd sit flush with the side covers.



CRF450 master cylinder showed up and matched the bolt pattern on the rearsets, but the MC was hitting the frame. Needed spaced over, but still tucks behind the heel plate.



Started looking at the exhaust and the Yoshimura system that came with the bike is in better shape than I thought. The can did have a hole in from what looks like the bike had been dropped and the centerstand got the can? It cleaned up pretty well, though. Need to find some double sided tape appropriate to stick this thing back on.




Can and emblem cleaned up pretty well after welding about a TON of little knicks and dings. The emblem isn't as wrinkly as the camera makes out.


I almost cut this system up for bends! My last 4-1 pipe drug horribly so I was gonna build my own 4-2 system, but these pipes tuck up VERY well.



Needs some dent removal one one pipe, though.


Midpipe was way too long, but it looks OK shortened up a bit.



Shaved down the retainers to get rid of the Royal Enfield art-deco look. This along with the Yoshi stuff give a solid 25lbs weight savings compared to stock exhaust!




Stock pipe weight.

Per side!



More progress has been made. I sunk the stock tail light and made a mount for the shock reservoir. In the middle of a snow storm currently ( booooo) and the internet is being slow. I'll upload more later.

[TOOLS1]

Great progress, you will be ready to sell/trade this one soon.
I see the taper attachment on Sheldon, did you ever get it working?
TOOLS

[shinyribs]

The taper attachment ended up being a halfway flop. It works kinda sorta ok if you want to cut a random angle, but for anything precise it chatters too much. I made the follower too small, so it had to be super tight tolerance to not cock and get wedged on the tube. As a result there's too much friction and you actually have to help it along by hand. Doh. Just another on my long list of "how hard could it be" failures.

Definitely not planning to sell this one! I learned a lot with Hackjob, the '76F and the '80F. I've ridden several different types of bikes over the past few years and I have a better understanding of what I want out of a bike. I can't turn out pro level parts, but I'm putting my best effort in to this one since, as the title says, this one is a Keeper Build.

[shinyribs]

Made some real goofy looking mounts for the front fender, but they are very light and strong. Once they get powdercoated black they will pretty much disappear. Pretty happy that the stock fender arch looked ok with the 17" tire. I really like the look of these fenders and wanted to use it.




Decided to recess the tail light and ended up dropping some more weight in the process. I like these big lights, but they do stick out pretty far. Like, really really far.


Lots of steel inner-structure to support the light and tag setup. Everything removed was 3lbs 6oz, but 6oz of it got reused. So another 3lbs shaved.


Stronger than it looks. Was gonna add some bracing for the middle section, but it's solid and would just be dead weight. That tab in the middle just keep the light from rotating on it's bolts.

Sinks the light in pretty good, but I had to make my own surround now.


Tail light surround is done. Very little forming needed and just a few tabs welded on to a cut out plate. Simple looking, but it'll get powdercoated satin and I might rivet on a Honda emblem if I can find what I want.



And made a quick tag mount.

Pretty pleased with the outcome. Over 6" of clearance to the tire and I've only got 4 1/4" wheel travel. I'll still double check the tire at full stuff next time I have the spring off just to be sure. The surround overhangs the tail light by about 3/4" taking some of the visual bulk away. Would've been a great project for a 3D plastic printer, but you work with what you got.


Made a piece of round stock not so round, and also turned up a ring I didn't photograph, but welded the two together and added some holes to make a clamp for the shock reservoir.


Sits at close in as is practical, but not sure I like the look. Seems to far out there. We'll see if it stays.



I think that's pretty much everything? I've got a headlight on the way so I can start building the front light setup. I would really like to find a set of stock grab rails if anyone has a pair they'd like to unload. Condition doesn't matter so long as they aren't bent.

Current tally on this build is $600 on the nose.
Current weight loss is 72lbs removed!

[shinyribs]

Not much done today, but I did redo the shock res mount and sorted out the hanger for the exhaust.




Pretty much at a standstill until parts start showing up, but 12" of snow on the ground has deliveries on hold. I did discover that worn out glass bead is busted up small enough to thoroughly clean the rust out of the pitted pipes, so that's win. Don't have to play with acid now. Found an emblem I liked for the tail light surround, but had to buy a pair at $10. Also ordered a speedo for $22. Yep, it's an eBay special.


Previous tally- $600
emblems- $10
speedo- $22
Current tally- $632
Pounds lost- 72

[TOOLS1]

Since you are at a standstill, why not try to make a set of bang bang cams for it. Could you imagine the corning traction, would track like a Ducati.
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[pidjones]

Please be careful with the glass dust. Inhaled, it can lacerate nasal and lung tissue. I used it outdoors with only a paper dust mask, and wondered why I kept getting sinus infections and pneumonia. After switching to aluminum oxide, I not only stopped having respiratory infections, it seemed to cut much faster and leave a better surface. I used 70 grit aluminum oxide.

[shinyribs]

pidjones wrote

Please be careful with the glass dust. Inhaled, it can lacerate nasal and lung tissue. I used it outdoors with only a paper dust mask, and wondered why I kept getting sinus infections and pneumonia. After switching to aluminum oxide, I not only stopped having respiratory infections, it seemed to cut much faster and leave a better surface. I used 70 grit aluminum oxide.

I have my blasting cabinet vented outdoors and use a shop vac to draw through the cabinet, but you are right, blasting media can be nasty stuff. I had never used glass bead before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. IMO, it wears out super fast and doesn't really leave that smooth of a finish anyway. Not a big fan, really, but it is handy for certain things.