Project CBR600F: Pullin' Plugs, Polishing Holes, and a Pulsing Ride

 Long time no blog!  Work and life are busy so, that leaves precious little time for wrench twirling.  I've been trying to dial in the jetting but it's proving to be difficult.  I also used a q-tip, some Brasso, and a drill to polish the float valve seats. This seems to have resolved my weird overflow issue with carb 3.  I have yet to be able to recreate the overflow, by hitting bumps or using the test tank. 

I used my fancy USB fiber optic camera and checked out the cylinders, really just the piston crown, while I had the plugs out.  Number 3 was definitely the culprit.  

Gross. 

Grosser than gross. 

With the jetting frustration building, I changed direction and decided to do a much needed mod.  It's no secret that I hate clip-ons, and my back hates them even more than I do.  So, I wanted to switch to dirt style bars like I had on my XJ.  However, the Hurricane doesn't have stock holes and the idea of my life depending on bar mount kit, and some fat washers to distribute the weight didn't really sit well with me.  So, I started researching alternative ways to mount them.  Eventually, I found a company called Moto-CNC out of the UK.  The make a "street fighter kit" for 37mm forks.  It's a bit spendy at $180 but man, it's a solid piece of kit!  I opted for the taller risers to clear the fork tubes, however, due to where the bars "mount", it isn't really needed.  

The steering stem nut is stopping the mounts from seating all the way down.  Time for some Dremel action!

Much better!

Wide bars are wide.

Do you like my 80's neon pink fork guards? 

Routing the cables turned out to be pretty tricky.  I'm still trying to track down a set of longer throttle cables.  I bought a set from a VFR800 but the cable "throw" is too short.  Oh well, the stock work well enough for now.  The posture is soooo much better now and steering isn't as affected by our crappy roads.  These are the Pro-Taper Aluminum Sport bars, with super thick side walls . I can definitely feel a big decrease in vibrations.  Thankfully, I didn't need to move my dash panel, or switches.  It all worked out well.

I did have to swap out the top front brake hose with a rear hose from eBay . Worked great and will hold me over until I can do braided lines next year .  With the front lines flushed and bled, I decided I should probably do the same for the rear .

I tried shimming the needle with washers from my donor carbs.  It seemed to help the 5.5K stumble a little bit but still have some bad stumbling, hesitation.  

After my last test ride, I decided I've had it with this whole loud pipe bullshit.

Besides being too damn loud for street use, it's playing hell with trying to get my jetting squared away.  If I had the coin, I'd toss this set for a stock system and be fine with that . However, I don't.  Everything is always on a budget.  So, the "quiet" baffle is on it's way from Delkevic, as well as some larger pilot jets from Jets-R-Us.  I used a fancy jet calculator and it gonkulated that I should be using 110 Mains (stock size), 38 Pilots, and 2 shims . So, I'm gonna test it and see.  All those goodies should be here by Weds or Thurs.  

I've cancelled the trip I had planned for this autumn due to many factors, so the pressure is off but I still want to get it on the street so I can, you know RIDE MY MOTORCYCLE.