1993 CBR900RR - rebuilding an iconic super sport

620dark

You can always get it running with time or money.
Hi folks,

Either because of or in spite of the advice that I received on this forum, I picked up a '93 CBR900RR at auction. Looks like she ran into something hard at speed, mushed the forks into the exhaust, and cracked up some of the fairings.

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Reminds me of this :eek:

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Plan is to get the bike back together to stock and move it on to a new home. Sometimes we build them to fund real life, right? :)
 
Considering the time and money involved with "restoring" this scoot, I say turn it into a straight up street fighter. Basically, replace only what needs replacing to get her on the road. Just my two cents.
 
I stripped the ruined forks and fairings off of the CBR to get an idea of what I was dealing with. I knew worst case I could come out ahead parting it out, but was hoping that it was rebuildable, as that's more fun (and more profitable! ;D )

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Good bones!

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Hrm, need a replacement fairing stay bracket

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Not sure this will buff out :p

I pulled the tank (slightly old smelling gas, but no more than a month I'd judge), and checked the air filter. The air filter looked brand new - that's a good sign! I opened up the throttle and told the carbs to say "ahhh!" and they were clean as a whistle. Also good!

The oil filter was mushed along with the header pipes, but was not leaking oil. I replaced it, checked coolant and oil levels (full of coolant and clean oil, yay!), and was able to get the bike fired up in short order using nothing more than the choke. The bike sounds strong and mean with the bolt on aftermarket exhaust. It settled right into a nice idle, and I was content at that and shut her down.

So, parts list; the bike needs:

header pipe
forks
front axle
one brake rotor
fairing stay brace
brake side rearset bracket

to be rideable. At that point the bike could be sold and ridden away, so that's my first milestone.

Moving on from there, a lot of the plastics can be repaired - they only have one crack or one or two broken tabs, and some of the plastics have no damage at all. The headlight fairing and headlights will need to be replaced, however.
 
Forks, brake rotor, front axle, headers, and instrument / fairing bracket on their way, along with an original dealer issue service manual. Yay Ebay!

Time to find a right side rearset mount, and it will be an actual bike (some assembly required). I also have to check out the bearings to make sure they weren't cooked in the accident. Good news is that they are inexpensive!
 
MNBikerPup said:
Considering the time and money involved with "restoring" this scoot, I say turn it into a straight up street fighter. Basically, replace only what needs replacing to get her on the road. Just my two cents.

Yea, getting it going down the road is step one; the parts on the way are what is needed to get it rolling. I know the fairings look rough, but the "nose" is the worst of it. I have to go through the fairings and see what can be repaired and what needs to be replaced. You guys will be the first to know! ;D
 
Maybe it's the angle of the picture, but it looks like the frame is bent....Is the steering neck stressed looking? The neck takes a lot of force in an accident like that..
 
mydlyfkryzis said:
Maybe it's the angle of the picture, but it looks like the frame is bent....Is the steering neck stressed looking? The neck takes a lot of force in an accident like that..

It's the angle of the picture - the steering neck is fine and the neck bearings are even still tight :eek: I'll probably replace them anyway.

I spent part of today gluing the cracks in the faring pieces together with Devcon Plastic Weld epoxy. We'll see how it turns out, but epoxy is cheap and fairings are expensive ;D

Now it's hurry up and wait for more Ebay parts to arrive - the instrument cluster / fairing stay bracket arrived today, as well as a pristine factory service manual. Anyone have a spare headlight assembly and fairing nose lying around? :D
 
Great project. I was just at a moto flea market a few weeks back that had that exact front fairing you need. Talked myself out of buying it... damn.

bob.
 
Bobdot said:
Great project. I was just at a moto flea market a few weeks back that had that exact front fairing you need. Talked myself out of buying it... damn.

bob.

Son of a...if you come across it again, let me know. They are not cheap, and I don't know how well epoxy will hold what's left of this one together. Thanks!
 
Im pretty sure Airtech-streamlining sells fairings for that bike. They arent painted, but might be cheaper than factory stuff?
 
Yea, only $131 for the upper fairing I need! I'll have to give them a call and see if it bolts right up to the rest of the stock bits I have. The darn headlights are expensive as well, as the dual headlight setup was only used in '93 and '94. I wonder if I could use the glass off another H4 headlight?

My big ole box of pieces should arrive this week. I'll feel a lot better about this project when I have it back on two wheels and and have run it up and down through the gears. I have no reason to doubt that the bike is in excellent mechanical condition based on the condition of the fluids and general maintenance, but I really don't know having not done anything other than fire up the bike and kick it through the gear pattern.
 
Parts have arrived!

I received a brake rotor, forks, and an exhaust header in the mail today. The parts were in good used condition, and the forks were especially nice other than some brake dust. The header has some surface rust on it, so it will get wire brushed and hit with high temp paint.

Do you folks have a good recommendation for black exhaust paint? I know some use BBQ paint, and some use header / engine paint, but I haven't had much luck with header paint in the past. It just seems to burn off after a month or two.

Here are some before and after pictures for the cleanup. Next step is to get the parts on the bike and see how she rolls...

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More parts have arrived! :-D

First, a new right rearset bracket - the old one was not only broken, but bent, so welding it back together seemed like a bad idea, one that would be regretted as the peg and rear brake went away at speed.

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Also, the "chin" fairing arrived - this holds together both lower fairings around where the exhaust is.

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It is #14 in this picture. All that was left of it from the fairings that came on the bike was bolt #16 and about a square inch of plastic. Yikes. You can see how it holds the lower fairings together, so I felt it was important to have that piece.

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Now all's that is left is to start "going clockwise" as they say, and install some parts. More pictures this weekend when I get some time to wrench.

I'm still soliciting suggestions for black exhaust pipe paint if anyone has a particular favorite. I'm going for black because that's what color the pipes were stock.
 
Well, I made some progress today and had some setbacks, but overall more success than failure. I'm exhausted, but wanted to share at least one picture from today; enjoy!

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Ok, here we go, time to talk about yesterday's work.

First, I put a sling under the front of the bike to get the triple trees high enough in the air to install the replacement forks; as I first went to slide in the forks I noticed that the top triple tree bracket had rotated relative to the bottom one. Sigh, find a BAW (big ass wrench), loosen the stem nut, line everything up, install forks.

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Oh crap, I forgot to install the clutch side clip on before I slid the fork on. Take fork out, install clip on, rinse, repeat.

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Ah, that's more like it!

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Ok, replacement brake rotor installed on the wheel, time to install the wheel on the forks! Axle goes in like this, and like that and WTF? There's too much axle? Huh?

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Well fuck, I bought an axle off a '95 CBR900RR, and it is slightly longer:

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'93 and '94 had mechanical speedometers, '95 on had electrical speedometers. Sigh. I'm not going to let that stop me, however!

With this ring, I thee ride!

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That's more like it! I'll get the proper axle ordered up and installed, but this is good enough to get the bike mobile.

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Time to get the calipers installed!

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This is the point where I realize I routed the throttle cables wrong when I installed the throttle clip on. Rather than pull the wheel and forks off again, I decided to disconnect the cables from the carbs and route them that way.

I also noticed the metal cable guides had been bent in the accident. I straightened them out, and the throttle became much "snappier", actually snapping shut when the throttle was released. That's a good thing, I think!

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Cables properly routed between forks, under top triple tree, and over the frame to the carbs. The factory service manual is wonderful for showing where every little wire and cable routes. Worth every penny of its $25!

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Here's the airbox reinstalled on the carbs. It turns out the airbox rubber boots weren't seated properly on the carbs, and I discovered this when I removed the airbox to deal with the throttle cable routing. Some WD40 and some pushing and the boots and airbox reinstalled fine.

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Man, this is a huge airbox!

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Broke brake bracket breplaced. This turned out to be important, as the front brakes weren't bleeding right.

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Fuel tank and seat reinstalled

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I turned on the fuel, pulled out the choke, and she fired up after just a few seconds of cranking. I turned the idle down to about 1200 RPMs and was able to putter around in first. This is a powerful bike. Even at 5 mph in first, I could feel how stupid fast it is. Transmission shifted very precisely, which is good. Steering is very sensitive. I think this bike is getting a steering damper. Sneezing while riding could result in being in oncoming traffic!
 
looking good! Is your tachometer cable driven or electronic? I've been looking for a replacement and I like the look of that gauge cluster.
 
Thanks for the complements! I'm glad to have her on two wheels.

The tach drive is electronic, but the speedometer drive is cable. The later model clusters had electronic tach and speedometer drives. Both kinds of clusters are pretty readily available on Ebay.
 
Some updates...

I have a proper length axle on its way to me now. $15, and hopefully I can recoup that cost by selling the longer '95+ axle to someone who needs it!

I also found an inexpensive set of black clutch and brake levers. It apparently will take 10-20 days for them to be shipped in by sled dog from our neighbors to the north. Free shipping - I get what I paid for it!

Finally, I have a replacement Motion Pro choke cable on its way. The current cable isn't the original one, the plastic sheath is hanging off of it, and it doesn't lock into position, meaning it has to be held all the way out when the bike is started cold. Just a little annoyance that will be resolved...

I still haven't pulled the trigger on an upper fairing assembly. I'm contemplating putting a single round H4 headlight on the bike with a set of fork mounts and seeing how that looks. Anyone have an inexpensive setup they're willing to part with? It may just be a stopgap until I get the upper fairings but it would make the bike legal.
 
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