Rebuilding my wounded Viffer starts here:

[veefer800canuck]

This here is a fixit story, one with a sad beginning  and hopefully a happy ending.  



For everyone who told me to buy another bike and move on, you were right.

I should have bought my wreck back for $650, bought another used Viffer, transferred over my mods and farkles over time, then EBAYED anything leftover that had any value or worth.  

Instead, I trusted the "structural engineer" from the insurance company who never said that the frame was bent. In my narcotic-addled mind, fresh out of the horsetable, it looked to me like the forks were bent. And I ASS-umed that if the frame had been bent, it would have been given "non-repairable" status rather than "repairable salvage" that they assigned to it.  

Had I known it was the frame, I would have gone another route. There is a 5th gen on canadatrader.com with ONLY 12,000km at the moment. They want FAR too much money for it, but it's at a dealer, so you know, everything is negotiable, right?

So here I am with a roomful of boxes, boxes full of shiny new (and grimy used) parts, bought and paid for, and I'm so far down the river now that it's too late to turn back.

The only upside is that I'm still spending insurance company money, and not my own. I had figured already (if not for the bent frame) that I'd have about $1500-$1800 surplus from the insurance money, but at this point, as reality is setting in, I'll be right about the break-even point by the time I pay to get a new VIN assigned to the new frame, and pay for a safety inspection.  

Could be worse, I could be upside-down on the whole deal but I'm not.



Sidestory:

And, well, I probably would have had a better handle on this whole wrecked bike deal had I not inherited a BIG problem from my stunningly beautiful eldest daughter late last year.

Seems that she blew the motor in her car, ran it right out of coolant, probably from a leaky head gasket, and seized the motor solid. SO, Daddy spent all of December and most of January yanking the motor from her car WITH A BROKEN FOOT! and installing a new (used) one.

A: I move slow
B: my friggin foot and shoulder hurt so I could only work on it for short periods, then rest for a couple of days
C: I was also back at work full time since Oct 23rd, so that leaves only 15 days per month free to do anything at all, so you can see why it took so damn long.

Add in Xmas, New Years, blah blah, blah, good thing I don't charge by the hour. Actually, I did it for free. I must be nuts.  :blink:

Good news is that the 1997 Fjord Tortoise lives again with a low-mileage, solid engine, and my daughter's "social life" only suffered a minor setback.  

Thanks Dad!  

/Sidestory.
 

Now where were we?


 







After stripping off all the plastics (and I still had my original cowl left from before the De-dumbo mod) here is what I have left for serviceable plastics:



No, the CB is not mine. It belongs to my buddy Wes.

I already have a new/used rear cowl, left cowl and VTEC tank, as well as a gauge surround and inner fairing "V" panel. Thenks EBAY.

And that's the best part, those two good body panels. It goes downhill from there. Well, more like a permanent right-hand turn than downhill.......  :goofy:








 

And that is how she sits at the moment. Monday, call the insurance company, enquire about Ubuilt assigned VIN# and how it may/may not affect the insurance coverage/rates, then order new frame from RonAyers.com.

After that, siphon the fuel from the tank and see how the VTEC tank mounts up. You might be able to see a slight dent in the tank, just below the Honda wing:



Once I get the VTEC tank fitted (I even bought a rear tank hinge for a VTEC as well), then it box up all the parts and send them to Andrew Swenson for paint.




Stay tuned for more updates as things happen.

[veefer800canuck]

Drained the fuel tank tonight, siphoned it out as far as I could get, then ran the bike for about 20 min to get all the fuel out that the pump could get.

Propped the tank up as it was dying to get the last dregs and kept it sputtering until it finally died right out and would not restart.

Drained the oil and removed the filter, might as well while it's hot eh?



Next step is to test-fit a VFR-VTEC fuel tank, different design and more fuel capacity, 5.8 gal Vs 5.3

So huge props to VFRD member FROZEN for tipping me off to this mod. I like the shape of the VTEC tank better, and the increased fuel capacity can only help.


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The front of the tank lines up perfectly, the spacing of the bolts is bang on.


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The rear, not so much. The two bolts are much further apart. What I did was to buy half of a 6th gen mount and will use a longer bolt to attach it to my 5th gen lower hinge.


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You can see that it lines up perfectly, I did have to bend the rear tank flange downwards ever so slightly to get the hinge bolt lined up just so:


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Finished product:


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And the 5th gen fuel cap bolts right in as well:


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Now tomorrow, I have to check the fit of the seat, and if that's a go, I'm all set for a new look fuel tank!

It is a tad wider at the front of the tank, and juts out a teensy bit from the framerails, but it's most apparent when the bike is stripped, and should be far less noticeable when the bodywork is on.

[Bearly Flying]

Good Luck Robbie.

Looking good so far.

[atadaskew]

Dang.  Good luck with the re-build.

[spinalator]

This is FAR more therapeutic than quilting or lawn bowling! Good luck!

[veefer800canuck]

Brand new frame coming, Honda Canada's price was actually on par with the US pricing from Ronayers.com!!!!    


I was shocked, but in a good way.

PLUS, with a frame from the US, I would have to pay shipping, duty, exchange rate, plus GST.

Getting it from a local dealer = only paying the 5% GST.  

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Damn! Nice work thus far! You ambition far exceeds mine when I crashed my VFR. But I did get her looking pretty again  

From this:







To this!!!!





Of course my forks and frame were still intact. The worse thing I had to deal with was the headlight unit and the fairing stay. And new plastics all around  

[veefer800canuck]

Your cat looks pleased with the results!  

[veefer800canuck]

Today was a day to test-fit the bodywork and boy am I glad I did.

Removed the 5th gen rear tank hinge and temporarily fitted the 6th gen one:


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I will have to make some spacers later so that the rear part of the tank cannot shift side to side, the spacers will go here:


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It looks like the bolt is hitting the tank flange, but it's not.

The seat junction worked out quite nicely:


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Seems that the wider front portion of the 6th gen tank causes interference with the fairing lowers here:


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So what else could I do but MOD THEM! (one good mod deserves another....)


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Other side, same thing:


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I'll hit them with some hand sandpaper to smooth the edges, as I did that with an angle grinder of all things. Slow and careful.



The gauge surround will need the same treatment on both sides, so I marked it off and will do it tomorrow, as I'm totally beat now.
Went to the doc and got my staples out before lunch, and it was about 7 hours of activity and walking after that, my legs are jello and my ankle is bitchy!


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So here is how it stands at the moment:


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Rainbow bike. Paint to come later......

[spinalator]

If you got a white tank , you could be red, white and blue!

[veefer800canuck]

This is going to be the paint scheme, but obviously it'll say VFR instead:

[JamieK]

Are those the signal light filler plates I made?

[veefer800canuck]

Are those the signal light filler plates I made?

Why yes, they are.    Good eye!

I had bought another used upper some time ago and had the signal holes filled, painted it, then put a set of Mazda 6 side marker lights in there with some LED bulbs.

That modified upper was destroyed in the crash, so I still had my original upper left in the garage with your filler plates on it.


I have gotten some clear OEM style turnsignals, and that is what I will be putting on the bike this time.


Beeyotch who hit me said "I saw him, but I THOUGHT he was turning".

So I figure any extra visibility for the turnsignals now trumps "cool" looking flushmounts.  

[veefer800canuck]

If you got a white tank , you could be red, white and blue!

....and Pearl Conifer Green.  


Thanks, but no thanks.

[JamieK]

Why yes, they are.    Good eye!

I had bought another used upper some time ago and had the signal holes filled, painted it, then put a set of Mazda 6 side marker lights in there with some LED bulbs.

That modified upper was destroyed in the crash, so I still had my original upper left in the garage with your filler plates on it.


I have gotten some clear OEM style turnsignals, and that is what I will be putting on the bike this time.


Beeyotch who hit me said "I saw him, but I THOUGHT he was turning".

So I figure any extra visibility for the turnsignals now trumps "cool" looking flushmounts.  

Cool...pieces of Strega live on  

Those signals will look good. I agree, visibility trumps cool...at least in traffic...you should see my new jacket

[Mookie]

Love the tank idea.  It looks a lot better and I'd have never guessed it would fit so nicely.  

[Rogue]

Very sorry to hear about your VFR crash.  That was a beautiful VFR.

My wife and I laughed about your side story regarding your daughter's car.  It was out of respect though as we've been there and done that.  Parents will walk through fire to keep their kids from getting hurt!    You're a good father for doing what you did.

How come you didn't just get a 5th Gen VFR tank?  Seems like a lot of trouble to fit the 6th gen tank in.

[spinalator]

Can your modified handlbars/forks go to full lock? Or is it hard to know with them still slightly "bentish"?

[veefer800canuck]

Very sorry to hear about your VFR crash.  That was a beautiful VFR.

My wife and I laughed about your side story regarding your daughter's car.  It was out of respect though as we've been there and done that.  Parents will walk through fire to keep their kids from getting hurt!    You're a good father for doing what you did.

How come you didn't just get a 5th Gen VFR tank?  Seems like a lot of trouble to fit the 6th gen tank in.

Well Rogue, one of the guys on VFRd in Isreal had already fitted a 6th gen tank to his 5th gen Viffer, BUT, he also fitted an entire 6th gen rear subframe, tailsection AND exhaust. He called it a "Gen 5.5" for lack of a better turn.

So I knew the tank would fit the frame, just not so sure about the seat/tank junction.

Another VFRd member in California had both a 6th and a 5th in his garage (one was his wife's bike), so I got them to temporarily mock the 5th seat onto the 6th, really just slide the forward part into position, and they took pics and showed that it fit just fine so I was elated because of the different look.

My old 5th gen tank has only a slight depression in the right side from my knee, and I've already sold it to another guy for almost what I paid for the 6th gen tank!

So moving to the newer tank cost me all of $30!  


Oh, and I am charging the crotchfruit for parts, because I had to put the motor on my VISA, just not charging her any labour!

So it's $800 for a new/used motor and associated mtnce items I did at the same time, belts, idler pulley, tensioner, sparkplugs, oil, filter, airfilter, thermostat, battery, etc.

Cheap whatever way you slice it!

[veefer800canuck]

Can your modified handlbars/forks go to full lock? Or is it hard to know with them still slightly "bentish"?

Not at the moment Terry, but when I get the new frame in, it'll work fine.

I always had full lock before, what I did was use the steering locking pin as a guide, as when you turn the stock forks right to the frame stopper, that is where the steering lock engages, so I had my RC51 setup geared to do exactly that. I engaged the ignition lock pin and marked where I needed the stop to be placed, and repeat on the other side.

It'll be the same when I am finished.