CBR600 F3 1998 - amateur restoration

[Hairsy]

Lots of cleaning today - and no new jobs presented themselves. So that's a win.

 

First was the chain. It was looking like chains look when they've sat around for a few years. I'd already checked for no seized links and it didn't pull away from the sprocket so I was reasonably confident - but this project has a habit of presenting new costs when I'm not expecting them.

 

I should have done this yesterday before removing the rear wheel! But it was easy to loosely reattach it.

 

 

I started off with a wire brush to deal with the surface rust. I was slow and methodical, going for all 4 sides of the chain for the full length. This gave an immediate visual improvement. Then I painted it liberally with paraffin which seems to be the popular recommendation amongst manufacturers and gave it a good brushing with a stiff chain brush. I then rinsed off the paraffin and old lube that it had broken down. I helped this with a light spray of diluted citrus degreaser and then water. I dried it off to avoid more surface rust coming but I didn't give it new lube at this stage because I don't want a freshly lubed chain when I'm painting.

 

I'm really pleased with the outcome - better than I expected.

 

 

Then the wheel came back off again and it was time to look at the rear brake. First thing I did was to remove the caliper from the carrier and then give the carrier a clean.

 

 

 

Then the caliper itself. And, of course, it was at this point that I realised that I should have loosened all the bolts before taking the caliper off its bracket. However I was able to crack the bolts without too much trouble.

 

The pad retaining pins were corroded but cleaned up easily (forgot to take pictures).

 

The pads themselves were as awful as you'd expect, given that the friction material has fallen off one of them. I'm surprised that the rear brake worked well when I took the bike out - and also very grateful.

 

 

The caliper itself was filthy.

 

 

However, with some brake cleaner, toothbrushes and elbow grease it cleaned up quite well. As an experiment, I finished it off with some Autosol metal polish, applied with a toothbrush. This worked really well, particularly in the nooks and crannies. Sadly the photo doesn't do it justice but it looks great.

 

 

The piston had the usual corrosion that you'd expect so that needed a cleanup using some fairly fine emery paper and then very fine wire wool. It looked much better, although not pristine. Importantly though, it felt much smoother. I then pushed the piston fully into the caliper and blocked it in place with some wood. This allowed me to repeatedly apply the brake hard to see if there were any leaks. I removed the wood and pumped the piston out again (not all the way!) so that I could check for any sign of fluid making its way past the seals. There was none. Great news.

 

The improvement to the caliper's cosmetic appearance made me go back to the front calipers, that I previously mentioned I wasn't overly happy with. I gave these a go with the Autosol and a toothbrush and they improved nicely as well.

 

Again, I'm not sure the pictures do them justice but they definitely look much better.

 

 

Tomorrow the rear wheel will get stripped and cleaning of that will start.

 

 

Edited January 30 by Hairsy
Typo

[Simon Davey]

Quite a noticeable difference after the Autosol treatment.

[Hairsy]

Today was a cleaning day. I like cleaning days. Stuff tends not to break.

 

To start with I had a look at the front wheel - it looked bad in yesterday's photo of the brakes so I wanted to see whether it could be improved. Otherwise I might need to paint it.

 

First realisation was that it's had got covered in dust since I cleaned it. This really highlights imperfections in the paint. After wiping that off I had the idea of applying some Autosol Trim and Bumper Gel to it. It's amazing stuff on black faded trim on cars and, it turns out, it does a really good job at masking age related imperfections in the finish on wheels. Definitely one to notch up to experience.

 

 

Then on to the main job for the day, stripping the rear wheel. It wasn't pretty.

 

 

Disc first. The bolts needed an impact driver, partly due to the length of time they've been on there and partly due to the loctite on there. It was strong stuff.

 

I'm trying really hard to make sure fixings don't let the bike down at the end so the bolts got a clean. Two on the left of the picture aren't cleaned yet. In themselves, the improvements in things like this don't look a lot but I think it will make a significant difference at the end if there isn't corrosion on all the bolts scattered all over the bike.

 

 

The disc itself is fine. I measured it and it's well within spec. It does have some grooves in the surface but it will do its job fine. However, it wasn't pretty. I worked mostly on the non swept area using a wire brush in a drill. I gave the friction surface a little going over with emery paper but it's a fairly pointless exercise as they'll clean up as soon as they used.

 

The end result was pleasing although, as always, possibly not so clear in the photos.

 

 

 

Onto the sprocket next. This looked really bad and I wasn't sure how well it would come out but I was determined to make the best of it. Again, wire brushes in a drill were my weapon of choice. I started off with a thin brush and went around every tooth. Laborious but satisfying by the end. Then onto both of the sides of the sprocket with a larger brush. This took perseverance and was hard work. I finished to off by applying a thin coating with Autosol polish with a rug and then rubbing it down with a wire brush in the drill. Again, that was just an idea I had and decided to experiment with it. However it worked really well at getting most of the final stubborn bits of corrosion off and I'm really happy with how it came out.

 

 

Final job for today was the drive hub. Not much of this is visible when it's on the bike but I still wanted it clean. I also wanted to check the state of the rubbers (which turned out to be fine). I cleaned up the hub with paraffin first to break down the grease, then soapy water and finished it off with Autosol rubbed down with a toothbrush on the bits that will be visible.

 

 

Tomorrow is a bit of a busy day but I hope to find time to clean up the wheel itself. Then it can be rebuilt with today's clean parts.

 

And the new rear brake pads arrived today. The friction material appears to be well attached to these ones.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 31 by Hairsy

[Simon Davey]

That sprocket!! Nice........

[RideWithStyles]

Good job....

Where did you find that rear tyre? Its over 6 yrs old! (2017) Im guessing the front is a decent bit newer at 2021? but hard to tell as the picture is poor.

Please be 'mindful while running it in.

[Hairsy]

Found it on the wheel! They were just on there.
 

As you say, age appropriate levels of aggression. 

[Hairsy]

Finished off the rear wheel today. First job was cleaning it.

 

 

I gave it a clean with soapy water first and then used some polish to give it a harsher clean. This let me see what was under the dust and cobwebs. The answer was some decent paint but with quite a few little chips. So I cleaned off any polish residue with panel wipe and spent 20 minutes going over each side of the wheel with keen eye and a gloss black touch up pen. I left this to dry and then, based on my experience with the front wheel yesterday, I gave the whole wheel a coat of bumper trim gel. I've no idea what this stuff actually is but I really like what it does to black wheels with paint that's a little 'mature'.

 

I was then able to put the wheel back together with the sprocket and disc. All the cleaned up fixings then got a coat of XCP Rust Blocker.

 

Another fairly satisfying result.

 

 

 

Tomorrow I move on to preparing the swingarm for paint but, while today's touch up paint was drying, I removed the chain adjusters and gave them the usual treatment of paraffin, clean, wire brush and autosol.

 

They clearly take a lot of road muck spray being located where they are. The nuts took a lot of penetrating fluid and effort to remove. Even when they eventually started turning, there was heaps of frictions so I was very careful with small rotations back and forth and continued penetrating fluid. Patience is definitely a good investment with this sort of thing. And with the threads cleaned up, they now operate exactly as they should.

 

They're not looking pristine but still much improved from how they started.

 

 

One of the many lessons that I'm learning with this exercise is the importance of cleaning bikes for the benefit of their long term health. I suspect that even if this had just received some regular hosing down with fresh water then it would be in a better state. Even better, a regular application of XCP or ACF50 would mean this kind of exercise would have been SO much easier.

[Simon Davey]

I'm going to order some Autosol.

Then I'll bring my bike around to yours for a clean up 

 

You're doing such a great job that, I'll not need to do mine, watching your work is satisfying enough......

[Hairsy]

Thank you Simon - encouragement really makes a difference.

 

And as for me doing more of this when I've finished ... no chance!

[Hairsy]

Did a few hours work today. I'm really not sure that I feel I've made progress that reflects that amount of time. But there's always going to be days like that.

 

I'm now onto the swingarm which, in brief, needs a lot of degreasing, a lot of surface rust removed, and then final prep and paint.

 

First job was to put the bike onto a pair of axle stands under the centre stand mounts so that I can remove the rear stand from the swingarm. This felt like a proper progress moment - an indication that I've moved onto a new phase.

 

 

Next was to remove the grease from all around the swingarm and surrounding areas. It feels as though I'm constantly degreasing but it seems never ending and there's always more. I'd already got some big clumps of chain lube off when I was cleaning the front sprocket and chain so I started off today with paraffin and a small brush on all areas with significant amounts of grease on them. But the more I cleaned, the more I found. There was a lot. Then, to get rid of the loosened grease and paraffin, I used some watered down citrus degreaser and then sprayed it with some water to wash it off. Given the amount of grease that came off, it's definitelycleaner but running my finger over areas shows that I haven't got rid of all of it yet.

 

Which leads to a question : does anyone have advice on what to use to get ALL the grease off an area like this? I've got to get rid of it all because I'm going to be painting and that's never going to work unless everything is really clean. For now, I'll just keep repeating the cleaning process time and again but is there a better way? Or a better product?

 

Next, in order to get easier access for cleaning and painting, I removed the pillion footpegs. They looked OK but they got a clean anyway. More importantly, they were grinding a bit when folded in and out so I took them apart and cleaned up the mechanism. That also allowed me to get rid of the rust on the pivot pin which was annoying me. They now operate smoothly.

 

 

Next was another satisfying little cleanup - the remote reservoir for the rear shock.

 

 

The last thing to come off was the right rider footpeg and brake pedal. This was to enable access to the front of the swingarm. I'd already removed the brake pedal when I first brought the bike home because it was incredibly rusty but there was still lots of corrosion to address so that was another half hour of stripping and cleaning.

 

The original state of the brake pedal:

 

 

The improved master cylinder and brake light switch (the effort didn't really deliver much of a difference!):

 

 

And the footpeg:

 

 

And with the slightly less rusty brake pedal:

 

 

Cleaning alloy parts like these is quite tricky. I don't want to use power tools on them because it's very easy to add too much shine to parts like this - so it all has to be done by hand with a cloth and toothbrush. And you can't go too far with it otherwise you get too much shine.

 

Finally, just to see how well it's going to work, I did a bit of wire brushing on the first bit of the swingarm. All seems to work fine with a wire brush in a drill - it gets rid of the surface rust and also keys the non rusty bits nicely. The coming week is going to involve quite a bit of this.

 

 

Although the etch primer I'm using claims to help stop rust in future, I've decided to apply some rust converter to all the areas where I remove surface rust. It adds another step but this exercise is taking a lot of hours and so I really want to maximise the longevity of the final result. So I've got some Kurust on order and it will arrive some time next week.

 

Please do let me have any suggestions you have on how to do the best possible degreasing job on the surfaces, prior to painting. Ideally not involving hoses and jet washes as it wouldn't be easy to move the bike outside at the moment (although not absolutely impossible if that really was the only answer).

Edited February 3 by Hairsy

[Tinkicker]

Once you have applied enough elbow grease and kerosene to completely remove the grease, give it a good rub over a couple of times afterwards with brake cleaner on a new j cloth or kitchen towel.

This will remove the oily film the kerosene leaves behind and the brake cleaner will evaporate without leaving any residue.

 

 

[Hairsy]

1 minute ago, Tinkicker said:

Once you have applied enough elbow grease and kerosene to completely remove the grease, give it a good rub over a couple of times afterwards with brake cleaner on a new j cloth or kitchen towel.

This will remove the oily film the kerosene leaves behind and the brake cleaner will evaporate without leaving any residue.

 

 

That makes perfect sense - thank you.

[JRH]

I used GUNK engine degreaser.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I also use GUNK degrease. Screwfix also sell a degreasing fluid that is cost effective. 

[RideWithStyles]

Just like tinkicker says but also Just plain paraffin as an option, cheap as chips and works really well on grease while not aggressive with paint then give it a spray with brake cleaner.

[Hairsy]

Uninspiring day today but it's all progress.

 

I set off with confidence based on the help provided above - all I need to get the degreasing done is to continue with paraffin / kerosene and finish it off with brake cleaner. I even remembered that I have a bottle of Gunk Ultra in the loft.

 

Of course the reality is that when a bike has been unloved for a while, there is an almost unending supply of grease that just keeps appearing. So I went over the swingarm systematically, three times, constantly using fresh clean pieces of paper shop towel as soon as the last one was dirty. Even at the end of that, every new piece was getting dirty. However, I do think that most of the colour making its way onto the towel now is mostly brown from all the rust. So I think I'm getting close.

 

I had a very quick bit of satisfying cleaning therapy when I removed the surface rust off the hugger fittings that I've given up trying to remove. Once they were clean I gave them a light brushing with XCP to keep them looking nice.

 

Then I moved onto the removal of surface rust. I used three different shaped wire brushes for my drill plus a dremmel for the tight bits and some sandpaper for keying the rare parts that didn't have any corrosion on them. After about the 10th time of being hit in the face with a wayward bit of wire from the brushes, I made the sensible decision to put on a pair of goggles - this would have been a good idea at the start. That aside, this turned out to be a successful exercise with loads of surface rust (and bits of shed wire) deposited on the old curtain that I'd put under the bike to catch it.

 

The slightly sad thing is that I think the swingarm now looks worse than before I started - this is definitely one of those prep steps that isn't there to make you feel good.

 

Before and after - not really a cause for celebration.

 

 

The only other thing I did today was to degrease the clutch and stator covers which I'm planning to paint at the same time as the swingarm.

 

I've got a busy week so I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have but when I get a chance I'd like to give the swingarm another couple of goes with paraffin. It can't do any harm. And the Kurust hasn't arrived yet, which is needed before I can progress further.

 

I'm consoling myself with the thought that this is probably the worst job left. Although the frame work, which comes next, will be a bit fiddly and time consuming, it's not going to come with the same level of degreasing.

[Simon Davey]

With all this (impressive) work, it's going to be a "keeper" when you've finished.....

[Hairsy]

Sadly not, or at least unlikely. I already have a CBR600F and so the plan is for this one to go to a new home.

 

The plan was always just to bring a bike back to life and learn some stuff. And hopefully someone gets a bike they'll really enjoy.

 

I guess there's an alternative option - to keep the project bike and sell the current one. I'll see how the mood takes me.

[Nick the wanderer]

You didn't fancy taking the swinging arm out and cleaning all the shock linkages while you are in there? Could do a right proper job on that swing arm.

[Hairsy]

20 minutes ago, Nick the wanderer said:

You didn't fancy taking the swinging arm out and cleaning all the shock linkages while you are in there? Could do a right proper job on that swing arm.

 

Well, yes, I kind of fancied it and have contemplated it. However I'm already going further than I originally intended and I've got to be a bit disciplined with myself. Although I hope the bike will end up being better than average, it's isn't going to be perfect and I need to draw a line somewhere.

 

I did seriously consider removing the swingarm but, at that point, it would seem silly not to get it properly blasted and powder coated. And then I'd want to strip the frame and have that powder coated too. That would then lead to many other parts letting the bike down and I'd want to do something to them. Realistically, there's no way the value of the bike would financially justify all that work and I really don't want to lose money (although it may already be too late for that!).

 

If the bike had special meaning to me then I might have gone down that road but that was never the plan. I do quite fancy a Sprint ST 1050 or perhaps a VTEC VFR800 as a keeper - so perhaps when this is done, I might seek out one of those that needs work and then that might get the full treatment.

[RideWithStyles]

if you have to remove the swing arm you might aswell change the bearings/bushes.

 

also to note have you thought of testing / service or change the fork and shock? that shock looks old and tired from a cosmetic point of view so id be very surprised if its still good as is.

[Hairsy]

Very little time to do anything on the bike today but I had another 15 minute go with paraffin on the swingarm and, finally, there's very little dirt now coming off. I think I'm getting there.

 

In response to RideWith Styles ...

 

Yes, you're right, if I'd removed the swingarm then I'd probably have felt compelled to change bearings too.

 

The forks & shock really didn't look too bad. The suspension operates smoothly and without noise and the damping is effective. Although I'm no Valentino, the bike felt fine to me when I rode it. Of greater value is the view of the previous owner whose enormous shelf full of TT Mountain Course trophies gave him credibility. He talked me through how the bike rode as well as giving me an honest appraisal of areas that I'd need to look at - he wasn't simply telling me everything was great. His assessment has proved to be spot on in terms of what I've found.

 

The view in the picture that I think you're referencing shows lots of surface rust which, I guess, is inevitable with the exposure that area has to whatever the road throws up. But I'm confident that it'll be much better following removal of the surface rust, a couple of treatments with the rust converter and then priming, painting and lacquering. Ultimately though, as I've said before, I've had to set my limit on how deep to go.

 

In the unlikely event that I keep the bike, I'll be comfortable with what I've done and I think the level of restoration is aligned with what the bike is realistically worth.

 

Of course the new owner is very welcome to pick up where I left off if they're inspired to do so.

[V650]

You are doing a great job so far  well done

Should be great when all done and dusted  

[Hairsy]

Quick update after a delay for some quality half term time with my family.

 

The Kurust has now arrived so I applied a generous coat to the swingarm today. Masked up the plastics in the area as the instructions said it can stain and then just applied it. It goes on white and then changes to a purple/blue colour as it does its chemical thing.

 

Now need to wait and see what effect it has once its dried. Hopefully a good one, in which case I can move onto getting the swingarm primed, painted and lacquered next week.

 

Again, subject to it doing a good job today, the Kurust will be coming out again later for other parts of the bike.

 

Edited February 17 by Hairsy

[Hairsy]

Nothing exciting to show today but the Kurust has dried and it certainly seems to have done some magic. All the previously rusty areas are now hard and dry. If I wipe them with a clean cloth it leaves no residue or marks on the cloth. Previously it would always leave a bit of brown rusty colour on the cloth.

 

Limited time today so all I did was was to give the whole area another clean with brake cleaner in case the Kurust has any kind of film left on it. It didn't seem to have done but there's no harm.

 

Tomorrow I'll give the whole area a going over with some sandpaper to ensure a good key and then get it masked up ready for paint.