VTR Fighter

[VTRfighter]

Hi All, as from my "welcome to the madness" post i had said i would post a "from day one" build thread so here it comes.

After a chat with Gitzy i was informed that sitting in his shed was a mates 07 VTR1000f Firestorm that had been dropped. So i jumped in the car and headed on over for a sticky beak. A few days had passed and Gitzy had told me that the owner was looking to sell it. So after some pondering i decided to part with some money and take it to its new home. After hanging around Gitzy for too long i started getting the ideas in my head (prob more like he crammed them in to my head) to fighter the big girl.
First things to come off were the plastics, well to remove those that didn't fall off that is.
The day i first viewed her




After the broken and unwanted bits were removed i was surprised to see the damage was not as bad as once thought. First thing needed was a rear subframe. I dont think this one was up to scratch?



Next thing was to remove headers and radiators. I had planned on using the std R/h side radiator but re fitting in the front position but after taking it off it was a little sorry looking so i turfed it and started looking for suitable replacements.





Also to prepare for the front mounted radiator i would have to re locate the std oil cooler, so this was next on the "to do list"



after removing it i hunted around for a suitable position to remount it. I found two blanked off tabs that i drilled out so a allen head bolt would fit through and went about making a small bracket to hang the cooler. a quick trip to bunnings for some aluminum, a quick raid through the nut and bolt tin and i was set to go.







The end result was fairly neat and more than ample to hang the little cooler.

[VTRfighter]

Next on the list was to plumb up the oil cooler and with a little thought the decision was made to call Pirtek. While the result was not exactly what i wanted it was a job out of the way that was fairly important so i was happy to have it done.
After cutting the std lines to size, Pirtek machined and welded the fittings on each end and supplied some high pressure hose to make up the difference




the end result while not exactly what i was chasing was neat and tidy and will hopefully do the job. Price was $100 so not too bad either.





While all the excitement of the oil cooler was happening i was quickly running out of money for another month (monthly pay's suck ass) so Gitzy made up a rear shock spacer for me,and with the intent of doing SOMETHING i slipped it in.

[VTRfighter]

After searching eBay i was able to find a sub frame and with the help of Gitzy secured the sale, so while awaiting postage from the States i decided to start on repairing the seat cowl i had. It also had been up the road but thankfully was still in one piece and repairable.





and a few days later the seat unit arrived and in a bit better condition than the original so i decided to slap it on and see how it looked. it had been a while since it had one and when it started to resemble a bike again i was happy also fitted the new headlight (for looks)







and with the intentions of Matte black being the final colour i splashed some around to get an idea of what the finished look might be..





With not much money (again) i focused on some cleaning. i started with the swinger, a can of WD and a tooth brush.
Came up not to bad i think...




Shortly after this part of my build i separated with my wife and had to move house so the build was on hold for the time being (just so you know why the pics change)i went from a double garage to this BUT with more motivation then ever the build would continue..

[VTRfighter]

next i started on some body work, i had removed the Honda stickers from the tank and found a few small dents, and from the initial drop the l/h side had a nice gouge in it from an out of control clip on..so i started the required repairs..no bog was required thankfully but i did use quite a bit of spray putty to fill the small dents and scratches.



after a absolute crap load of sanding, re spraying in putty, sanding, respraying, sanding (you get the idea) it was ready to be primed and i still had some matte left so a coat or two was also on the cards.




and a quick fit up to see what she looked like



While progress was coming in hard and fast there was still one thing that remained on my mind...Radiator.
After some hunting around i had a phone call from the Gitz saying to check out a sv650 rad..
the end result was one of a 99-01 sv650. with not much altering it should be fairly straight forward.. From our friends at Delkevic, $199 free delivery (eBay) it was underway. also on the cards were some block off plates (Honda PAIR mod)to free up a bit more room on the front




first thing was to fit the plates



the radiator was dropped at the local rad joint for modding, not a lot was required other than changing the angle of the l/h outlet and removing the unwanted brackets. $30 later it was done. Just for a coat of paint to finish off. While i was at it i decided to give the headers a go too.





After removing the oil coolers original mounting bracket it was almost too easy,i had left the top, center bracket on the radiator to use as a mounting point and basically drilled and bolted it straight to the oil cooler bracket. results were good (this changes further on in the build)

[80s freak]

Probably one of the best radiator jobs so far, I've seen on a VTR. Lookin' good.

[Harry]

nice work mate she look's tidy............

[lurch]

Shit hot. Had one of these with a set of yoshis on it myself for a couple of years, miss that rumble

[Gitzy]

Bout time ya bastard.. welcome to the Funny Farm... this pic crazy crowd should love the build..

[OzmaK8]

Mate i really like that headlight, Can you tell me what it is ? and where you got it ?

[VTRfighter]

Thanks guys but plenty more to come yet...

while tinkering with the radiator i come across something else that needed to be re located...the front ignition coil. being in a nice hidden place when faired, once naked it stood out like dogs balls so next job was to find a new home for it.(this job was actually on/off for a few weeks but i could never find a spot) then it hit me while doing the pair mod, after removing ALL the hoses and related crap i noticed some room under my air box, so after rustling through all my little brackets id removed from fairings etc i found something suitable and a place for it to go...sorry not real good pics of this bit




while tinkering, i decided to splash some matte black on my headlight.



while spraying the headlight another good find turned up via Mr aus post..





after sussing out the radiator and playing with the old hoses i soon come to realize that the L/H side hose was a perfect fit for both sides now...so i was then off to mr Honda to order me some hoses............................................. .................
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.................................................. .................
3 FKN weeks later...





who would have thought it would be so hard to get 2 lh hoses? not like its a 10/20yr old bike that no one has?

[fimpBIKES]

good work mate, so are you from around newy too?

if so who did the rad work?

[VTRfighter]

as from the last pic you can see i re fitted my headers too after i painted them...

i wasn't 100% sold on my oil cooler so off it came (again) for a coat of paint and i also shortened the lines a little while it was off cause it was a little twisted?




next on my to do list was to kick up the ass, and liking the std seat unit i decided to modify it to get the look i wanted. first thing was to remove he seat unit, i worked out how i was going to do it so first thing first....i cut it in half




What i done next was re fitted the two halves and moved them to where i wanted them to go then clamped them in place, i then measured them to ensure they were in line and straight before i removed them. as you can see buy the grind marks it was raise about an inch higher than before.





after some welding and grinding...it was back together...and bugger me dead it fit straight back on as if never been messed with...bit of a relief to be honest




now to put it back together..

BEFORE




AFTER





a nice improvement i think!

[VTRfighter]

quote:Originally posted by fimpBIKES

good work mate, so are you from around newy too?

if so who did the rad work?

yeah mate up at cessnock.

Maitland radiators done the work i needed.

Cheers for the reply...

[Gitzy]

Hey wheres my photochop red one...

[VTRfighter]

ok so this part of the post is where i am up to now...

I finally bit the bullet and pulled the front end off the storm, not knowing if the legs were bent or not was the main question but also because i wanna upgrade to a USD front end. thanks to Gitzy i scored a few new legs off a member here (05 Gixer thou)for the conversion all i need now is some triples to get it started..while the front end was off i decided to revisit my radiator..i removed it and remade the bracket which raised it another inch and pulled it back about half an inch, which should almost guarantee any clearance issues to be now gone

[VTRfighter]

quote:Originally posted by Gitzy

Hey wheres my photochop red one...

in the bin hoping no one EVER sees it!

[VTRfighter]

this is the look im aiming for with mine, matte black finish with white wheels. not sure on wheels yet as im looking for a sssa to fit to it but never the less white wheels maybe white bars too or a white race stripe??

Any opinions??

[Fight_fan]

I fuckin love that gix! I rekon its a choice colour scheme mate! N the VTR has come up a treat too, good shit!

[sen]

White offset stripe would look awesome I reckon..

[margery]

Hey VTRFighter. I'm not quite down the track as far as you but I've installed my radiator at the front without the PAIR mod as I was unaware this could be done. Any chance you can provide me with some info on how to do the PAIR mod or point me in the right direction? A little more room for the rad would be great. Thanks.