Race: Here's where it gets confusing

Intro

The short version is (spoiler duh): There are now two CBR400RR's in the shed. One race and one road. Most stuff would be relevant to either but for the specific bike you should see the Road/Race prefix on the title. 

I had always had the CBR400RR as a road bike but on the back burners was the option to turn it to the track should I decide to enter a SS400 class. There was no such class in my club (CRMC) so I was in no hurry to do this so had focused on tidying the old girl up.

This was the case up until recently when the CRMC changed the Constitution to allow machines up to 1994 in. There still wasn't a class but the likelihood of one coming up had suddenly grown. I was also well aware that I could race this bike at the Bob Mac' and at the Belgian TT Geddine (and many more) as well adding value to another track bike. In this time though the bike had gotten too nice to race so I searched for an alternative. I resisted Andy Greens suggestions to race the NSR250 and kept a half eye on what was available online. A chance ebay visit brought me up on a crash damaged NC29  in London boasting 70bhp (with a dyno sheet showing 61bhp!?) and a natty Vallentino Rossy paint job. I put in a low offer and it was accepted to my surprise. It was a bit rough and would need some parts so I looked for the bits I thaugth I would need and came across a chap in Boston who listed a CBR400 engine up for sale. After a short chat I was told there were a few bits that might interest me so set off to empty my wallet.

The spares

A visit to Marsh farm in December is not for the faint of heart as the whole place is basically under water. The name is no joke!
He had a number of parts for CBR400's, mostly NC23 but I knew that the engine would fit into the chassis. This was good as he had two. Both had been raced with one a straight NC23 and the other with a NC29 top end.
I decided to have both (the price was pretty good) along with a bank of older carbs that had been matched to the later engine, a fairing set which had seen better days, a tank and generator.
I didn't need whole engines, I only really needed the clutch cover but who knows what else would be broken on this crashed CBR400?

Once I got the parts home, I popped the tops off both engines to see what the state of play was.
One was grotty looking but everything moved as it should. The other looked spotless internally but I couldn't get the thing to turn over.
After much messing with the gear shift, poking about and lubing I decided to throw some jumper leads on the starter motor and it turned just fine. Result!
The fairing had plenty of filler and is for an NC23 but it is solid enough to repair and use. Loosely assembled, it did look a bit happier than it did in parts and was quite light for its age. I will certainly repair it and try to fit it but I would quite like an NC29 fairing like the one at GF racing. 

The Bike

A week later I was ready for the trip down to pick the bike up. This would be a bit of an epic journey to see some mates too, ideal for xmas eve!
The bike didn't look too terrible when I went to pick it up so was quit happy with it at a glance
It travelled home without any mishaps and came with a few helpful spares too which was a bonus.

Once home I could have a better look at it with okay front discs, a new rear, pretty fresh rubber and a CBR600 F4 rear shock, things were looking up.
Clearly the fairings were damaged and the hole in the clutch cover was a worry.
When I turned the engine over using the other Blades battery, the exposed flywheel spun with an eccentric motion which indicated all was not well but it did at least turn over. It is a good job I bought those spare engines after all maybe?
All I had to do now was get this pesky Christmas out of the way and then get stuck into looking a bit deeper at the new shed dweller.

A pair of Gull wings