1990 CBR1000FL...Sat for 14 years, alone....

[Egon247]

Warning: this is going to be a long project.

 

Ok, so some background here would probably help people understand why I took it on...

My big brother bought this cbr1000fl on a G plate, back in 2006. Rode it around for a bit, got angry with it after he had to be brought home on the AA van a couple of times and one day, parked it up in his garage, bought a car and literally forgot about it. 

Fast forward through kids,divorces (him and me ) and the house is sold. 

Goes into the garage to assess how much junk he has to move and finds the cbr.

Now at this point I hadn't had a bike for 19 years, last one being a gsx750f teapot and after a conversation and some deep thinking about "what the hell am I doing??" I have to rearrange the garage - I'm blessed with a big assed garage- many dump runs and filling up the wheelie bin before I've got a space binge enough to fit it in and actually work on it....

 

[Egon247]

So the day arrives and after having to bash the front and rear calipers with a deadblow hammer to get them free, it's in the van and on my drive. 

Only I squeezed the front brakes and they promptly stuck on again.

Duh.

In and home. Got a ground anchor, big(ISH) chain and a disclock that's loud enough to wake the dead and she's secure enough. 

Gotta reinforce the garage door a bit though. 

 

Edited October 9, 2024 by Egon247

[Egon247]

So today was just having a look at what I have and what's in need.

Tank smells like old paint thinners but appears to have no Tinworm in it. This is good. There's a layer of grim brown icky inside but I'm hoping some petrol should help the varnish go away. Probably in the fuel tap too.

Couple of broken fairing mounts too.

 

[Egon247]

I also appear to have cornered the market on dead spiders. 

The snail was a nice change.

[Simon Davey]

Love that classic styling, very smooth, those lines intended to make the air just slip past.

Great looking bike.

Good luck with it.

Carb rebuild first, I reckon.

[Egon247]

11 hours ago, Simon Davey said:

 

Carb rebuild first, I reckon.

She's a big beasty!

Yeah, judging by the varnish inside the tank the carbs are going to need some serious staring at. I've been watching YT vids in how to shift it, meths seems to be a favourite. 

[AstronautNinja]

Will be following. Sounds interesting 

[RideWithStyles]

6 hours ago, Egon247 said:

She's a big beasty!

Yeah, judging by the varnish inside the tank the carbs are going to need some serious staring at. I've been watching YT vids in how to shift it, meths seems to be a favourite. 

I thought you were referring to the snail at first. .

That and isopropanol afterwards is quite good and doesn’t leave a coating nor a nasty odour.

[Egon247]

Snail has been relocated to next door.

 

So today's effort included removing the fairing, attempting to remove the carbs and air box. 

 

Some of this I achieved.

 

Most of the fairing bolts came out with an unnerving crack where they'd been left for a while. Only problem came when the bolts that hold the fairings together behind the front wheel. Found some mild steel "gutter bolts" holding it. Which had become one single mass, rather than a nut and bolt.

No amount of persuasion was helping so the grinder came out.

Shame but necessary. Need to sort that later on.

Both halves in fairly good condition. Just a couple of broken bolt tabs to recreate later on. 

Got the plugs out, fairly clean just a bit whiffy, dumped in the ultrasonic cleaner as they looked to be fairly new. 

 

Carbs however proved to be a different story. Got the cables off easy enough.

Rubber clamps undone easy enough.

Can't seem to get the air box out without the carbs coming out and they refused point blank to move. 

Those rubbers are harder than Chuck Norris with pmt. Carbies no move.

They wiggle. But that's it. Hmm. Need some hard staring at.

 

Got the rad cap off, which was very furry. Can't see any coolant either. Rad looks ok. That's also on the staring list as the water pump area was also furry with that lovely aluminiumy fluffy stuff. Yum.

 

Allegedly it has a datatool Mk5 fitted too but I'm buggered If I can find it unless its in the headlight pod. 

@RideWithStyles thanks for the info, I'll add some to the shopping list. Might have to do a bit at a time incase I trigger some buying alert for making serin gas or something.

[bud]

Nice bike. My cousin had one and went all round Europe two up on it.

[RideWithStyles]

Yey for snail, certainly less parasite than a alarm or tracker on a bike.

 

She’s not looking too bad, I’ve seen worse running bikes!

yes needs some tlc but a beauty in the wings.

 

probably a bolt or two hidden away keeping there?

could be the picture angle but that bracket and bolt looks connected-the carb bank and engine too cover? Then brackets covering(resting on top) lower down the picture or in the middle / far end of the carbs keeping them together as a pair? 

might be just the angle?

 

Heat the rubber somewhat, then spray penetrating fluid/wd40/GT85 (my favourite), leave to soak, repeat.

silicone is great to use when it’s off, inside and out with some heat and rub it in, you get some malleability into it again.

 

Edited October 11, 2024 by RideWithStyles

[Egon247]

@RideWithStyles eventually got them off this morning. Not sure a crow bar is the most dainty of solutions but they came off. It's the angle of the pic, that's the choke cable mount.

 

 

Black slimy gunge warning!!

 

Oh and I think I need a bigger ultrasonic cleaner.....

[Simon Davey]

Remove the jets before putting through the ultrasonic 

[Egon247]

8 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

Remove the jets before putting through the ultrasonic 

Yeah, they're all out other than the pilot which looked like it was going to be more hassle that it was worth. 

Strangely, none of them were blocked (in fairness, I've only done #1 so far) and other than a coating of light green gunge, seemed ok. 

Definitely going to need a new set of intake rubbers though. They're rock hard and nasty. 

[Nick the wanderer]

That carb is not that bad, I'd be happy with that to be honest, I mean it could always be cleaner but it could also have been a hell of a lot worse..

[Egon247]

4 hours ago, Nick the wanderer said:

That carb is not that bad, I'd be happy with that to be honest, I mean it could always be cleaner but it could also have been a hell of a lot worse..

Fair. I was expecting the worst. They're not that bad though. Bit of goop in the bottom and sticky slides but all in all, considering it hasn't even been started in 14 years, not bad at all. I'm going to get new gaskets as they're no good but might try using the original jets.

 

Put a battery on it today and spun it over.

(Had oil down the plug holes for a few days before, don't need a snapped ring)

 

That's it for today I think. Back to work for 4 days so I may go quiet for a bit...

[Egon247]

Amazon order. Lol. 

[Simon Davey]

You're likely to need new idle jets.... Mine was only sat for a little over a year, 3,000+ RPM was amazing, but low revs were awful until it had new idle jets. I'm not wishing it on you, but whilst the carb's are out and on the bench, you might as well ....... 

[Egon247]

Yeah, your probably right. Might as well if I'm going this far. I'll strip and clean, put them back together, you can access those with the bowl off. 

Good call.

[Nick the wanderer]

Good for carb spares etc.

https://www.allensperformance.co.uk/

[Egon247]

1 hour ago, Nick the wanderer said:

Good for carb spares etc.

https://www.allensperformance.co.uk/

Damnit man, you must have read my mind. Sat here at work abusing the fact that its sunday and theres not much going on and browsing where to get carb bits from!!  

Cheers matey!!

 

[Egon247]

There really is some cheap tat out there, isn't there?

[bud]

Yes there is. I have seen some of the cheap jet kits be up to 10 sizes out while fixing other people's bikes. No wonder it wouldn't run right.

[Egon247]

Keyster seems to be a decent brand. Any thoughts?

[AstronautNinja]

2 hours ago, Egon247 said:

Keyster seems to be a decent brand. Any thoughts?

I'm sure that Superbike Surgery guy has mentioned them