To street fighter or not?

[spoonaltap]

Ok well my 400 has been sat for a couple of years, various reasons but mostly because I've not spent the time sorting her out and getting her back on the road. Now I've started stripping her down and I don't know whether I should rebuild her or street fighter her. I'm really 50/50 at this point, I'd love to make her into a great looking sport bike and use her like one but I'd also like a coolish street fighter.

If I go down the rebuild root I'd be looking at making a custom rear subframe with race style single seat and hump as I've never liked the rear end on the 400 and possible looking at changing the nose fairing to something a bit more modern. Spraying the frame matt black and bodywork would be white. Moto GP style exhaust and that's about it.

If I go down the street fighter root, well I'd want it to look something like this. (it's a zx9r)





If I knew it would come out looking something as nice as that I'd deffo go for it but I don't know how well the 400 would look streetfightered.

Anyway here are some pics of how I'm getting on with stripping her, will try and keep it updated.



Rough mock up with things I had lying about, just to get an idea.




Thoughts would be much appreciated.

[spoonaltap]

Well I've stripped the 400 down and got the engine out and sitting in my living room. Took the head off and cleaned it up and put it back together. Going to get a new head gasket while the engine is out but was getting worried I'd forget where everything went so built it together. Also tested the colour I'm planning to paint it on the tank, thinking of going white along centre of tank and front nose then sides of tank and side panels blue with metal flake.

[cargo]

Top tip engines are best cleaned before you take them apart.
And even after over 30 years of stripping engines I still lay parts out carefully in the order they came out and in approximately the position they came from.
Given the state of that engine I'm impressed that the head gasket was reusable.
I like to fit new head gasket with every rebuild.

[spoonaltap]

I am planning on replacing the head gasket and cam chain, they're both ok but figured since the engine is out might as well fit some new parts to it. The valve stems have a lil surface rust on them tho, I've tried cleaning it with carb cleaner and a toothbrush but can't get right in. Hopefully buying a part cleaner over the weekend so when head comes off I'll try again. Are the valves straight forward to come out with a valve spring compressor? Would like to give the top end a overhaul.

Looks like I'll be getting some new shims as well, just checked mine and one inlet I could fit a .20 feel gauge between cam and rocker and a lot of the exhaust ones I could fit .23 feeler gauge into the gap. Will measure the shims when I take the cams out.

[cargo]

I've never seen rusty valves.

Getting the valves out is straight forward if a little bit fiddley. You'll need an suitable valve spring compressor and a magnet is handy for getting the collets out

[spoonaltap]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ENGINE-OVERHE ... 35da1f7127

Is this the right valve spring compressor to get?

I've been a really shitty owner to this zxr400 so the engine isn't in great shape, there's rust all in the inlets and exhaust ports. One of the barrels isn't in great shape, had rust on it so I've used a polishing mop to make it smooth. I'm using the 400 as a learning experience so worst case scenerio if the engine is past it I'll either get a replacement engine or it will get a full tear down. I've never rebuilt a bottom end before so hoping the engine will be ok. Thanks a lot cargo, your help is much appreciated.

[cargo]

Nope that one is no good for bikes

Having said that it's exactly like mine however I have modified it myself

This one looks like it would do the job

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/450340-10PC-P ... 3f38ab5f53

Theres lots of these ones on ebay...............look for one at a good price

There is a Sealey one that is more like the style of the one you posted

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-Valve- ... 4d19eca011

I think the Sealey one is a bit bulky and unwieldy

There may be other opinions on the forum as to what compressor to use

The ZXR engine is one of the easiest engines I've every worked on...basic simple engineering principles and care is all that are needed.

The manuals are very helpful

[spoonaltap]

Oh what an absolutely Camel I am, forgot that the timing plate is held on by the allen bolt and managed to brake the locating pin. Fuuucccck, oh well I'll just put piston 1/4 to tdc and get it on. Feel like a complete bellend, on the plus side I ordered that valve spring compressor on wednesday and it showed up today so got the valves out.



Lovely, will give em a clean up and a polish. Got a new head gasket, chain and a few seals from kawasaki so it will be ready to build once the head is clean.

[cargo]

Which spring compressor did you get

[spoonaltap]

The first one you posted mate, didn't want to spend loads of money. Worked alright, moved about a bit wen screwing it in but no major hassles. Got a parts washer today for twenty quid so can give the head a really good clean. None of the valves leaked before taking them out so that's a plus.

[spoonaltap]

This is where I'm at now after ignoring the bike for six months.



I've not got a lot of spare income but I'm not gonna cut corners either so gonna get the yokes off and check the bearings in them. Have got the lock off so far, unless whether to keep the polished frame and repolish it or just spray it. Can't afford to powder coat it.

Got the yokes off, was suprisingly easy actually. Are these bearings okay? None are busted and they all move freely, can I just clean them up and regrease? Or should I replace the bottom? Top doesn't look like it has any wear at all. Also what grease do I use? CV grease or something special?

[JamieNeve]

Hi mate,

Replacing the bearings is always going to be the better job, but looking at the microfiche, those roller bearings are £50 a pop, so if it was me, i'd give it a go giving them a good clean up first. You'd be surprised at how well parts like that can be cleaned up! The only person who could tell you whether they are still good to be used is yourself, make sure there is no warping to either of the race's, no notches or worn down parts and they rotate smoothly. I'd probably clean and grease them up before doing this to make it easier! Tapered roller bearings tend to be pretty durable, so I would have thought you'd be okay re-using them, provided they are cleaned properly and re-greased.

As with the grease, I'm not too sure, I know they recommend grade 2 grease for wheel bearings, but these won't be under quite so much stress, so I would have thought CV grease would be fine!

Good luck,

Jamie

[spoonaltap]

Thanks mate, at the very least I'll need a new rubber dust seal as I've removed it to get all the crap out. It's all cleaned up now and I think I'm gonna give these bearings a go.

[p.lally]

Hi, did you get any more done on this bike?

[spoonaltap]

I've not touched the bike is ages, I've spent my money on other projects and left this but I'm wanting to get back into it in the near future. So hopefully as long as I can afford it I will get the frame and some other parts powder coated then get the engine mounted and see if I can get it running and go from there.