Here's where I started:
The tour manager of my band used to race sportbikes in another life. He had bits and pieces of this 1987 Honda CBR600Hurricane in our warehouse amongst guitar amps, cases, and a buncha stuff. I always asked him, "What's up with that bike?"
He always said, "Unh. Well. It's toast. done for. Blown the F*ck up." It never really went past that.
Well, one day he called me and sait "Hey, man, 1-800-GOT-JUNK is coming, and do you wanna throw anything away? I'm getting rid of some old furniture, the bikes, etc."
THE BIKES? No way, dude. I'll come get 'em.
And thus began my journey..
Well, he was right. It was blown the f*ck up, that's for sure. The bike had about 9k miles on it and there was a crack in the block that had mixed oil and water together, and seized the bottom end. Then, unfortunately, someone took the airbox off to look inside the carbs and then left the bike outside for a few rainy months. Toast.
Anyway, I pulled the old motor out (much like a porsche, 4 bolts and a jack is all you need.) And for some reason, after it was out, I kept going and going and going.
So, I repainted the frame and trim bits, new tires, new brake pads, brake lines, fluid new petcock, fuel lines sprockets, chain, and a 3k mile donor engine from a 1990 model. And here I am today:
I gotta say getting the carbs clean and right was a b****. I spent about $250 in carb parts alone, all of the floats were cracked and broken from water, all new gaskets, idle jets, mixture screws, etc. But once I got it right, it was great.
The 1990 engine and all the race bits that came with the bike bring me in at right under 100hp, which is waaaay more than I care for on a bike. But It's great fun. I'll get more pics later, but I can't find the little USB cable for my real camera.
I still have a few pieces of plastic to paint and then I'm done! I had to forego a real paint job for now, So I've been working on my backyard sand and rattle-can chops. Maybe if I ride it for a while and enjoy it, I'll get it painted correctly.
Thanks for reading!
Gogar