CBR400RR NC29

This is a work in progress but as the blog is being written at the same time as I am working (for a change), I thought I might as well publish it to make it a live update of sorts. So do pop back in the future to see when I finally give up and set the lot on fire. The " From Road rashed to race " Blog entry very quickly got a bit out of hand so I have removed some detail and made it more of a story. The real bones of any particular job, such as this one, are now in separate blogs which I will link between whenever relevant. This should make it easier to find useful info whilst still getting it all down. This story follows on from another branch of the rebuild where I fantasised about sticking an NC23 engine in the NC29 which you can't do. As a result of this, and with a lack of spares on the market, I was looking at repairing the engine I had. The main issue I had was that the crank appeared to be bent thanks to the previous owners crash damage.  I h...

 Sorting the scruffy Bumblebee I kind of liked the yellow CBR400RR but the bodywork was scruffy so I started looking for a replacement. I had a number of options open to me from repairing what I had, OEM replacements and aftermarket replacements of various qualities. As this bike was never intended to be a painting I didn't want to spend loads so out the window went any plans for Tyga performance bodywork or anything else expensive.  I'm not convinced yellow was ever a factory option so it looked like a colour change might be in order without faffing with paint. As it turned out the bike made the decision for me when its left mid fairing flew off into a field on the way to work. Funnily enough this is exactly what happened on the last CBR400 I ran but this time I didn't find the misbehaving panel. So my hand had been forced and now I'm fairing shopping a little harder. I had decided on some pattern Chinese bodywork like on the NSR250 MC28 . they are c...

This one is short and sweat, a simple bolt in mod in fact. The stock ignition has a hard red line, top speed restrictor and a restrictive ignition curve that an HRC ignition unit would sort right out along with associated HRC mods. Clearly these mods aren't about anymore but  GF Racing UK  have you covered with their fully programmable plug in ECU which conveniently comes with the HRC map already installed. I ordered mine after the dyno runs  previously mentioned and very quickly got an email from the owner of GFR. He didn't have an ECU in stock and offered to lend me his unit from his own bike! I was in no hurry for it so thanked him and waited patiently (what a guy though!). When the box did arrive, fitting up was a pretty easy process: Remove tail fairing on LHS. unplug and remove stock ECU. Fit GFR ECU under OEM ECU rubber boot. Plug in GFR ECU. Reassemble fairings. Then all all I needed to do was chuck my kit on and go ring the little CBR's neck! Th...