F3 Swap

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Savantjk

Street Tracker
Alright.. So after going back and forth on the idea for a good while, I am finally going for it. I've sourced almost all of the parts, just have the the master cylinder and speedometer to get. Figured I'd start a project thread to post my progress.

After fighting with the forks for days, I finally took them to a shop. Turns out, some of the components were frozen.. That's why I couldn't get the boots off even after removing the seals and cartridges.. A set that appeared nice on the outside has turned into a massive headache. That's what you get when you pay $60 for a set of wheels, 2 sets of calipers, 2 sets of forks, 2 sets of clip ons, etc. You get the point.. I junked a lot of it. One wheel was good, one had a flat spot in the lip. So I bought another set of wheels, rotors, working calipers, and a front fender from Texas Tech. They took apart a running F3 to source for parts. Forks are still at the shop. They got one apart finally! (They have had them for over 2 weeks). I'll take them to my powder-coater before reassembly.

I haven't seen a F3 swap using the front fender yet.. so I've decided to give it a shot. I know the other guys didn't use it due to the bulky and sport-bike look.. so I taped some lines and today I cut down the fender and gave it a temp shot of bbq black. Let me know what you think.

Before:
moto_0550.jpg

moto_0551.jpg


After:
moto_0555.jpg

moto_0556.jpg


Tex, thanks for responding to the million messages and helping Seth (D9) with the dimensions of the bushing.

Seth, thanks for responding to the million messages after I messed up that first bushing.
 
nohawk

nohawk

Rocker
The fender looks cool, nice work. Did Texas Tech build a Formula SAE car out of the cbr?
I sold a 600rr engine to UT Tyler for one of those cars.

The f3 swap must be a very big improvment from the stock crap.
 
S

Savantjk

Street Tracker
nohawk said:
The fender looks cool, nice work. Did Texas Tech build a Formula SAE car out of the cbr?
I sold a 600rr engine to UT Tyler for one of those cars.

The f3 swap must be a very big improvment from the stock crap.
Click to expand...

Not sure about the formula car.. I'm from La and saw the ad on a cbr forum.

The fender turned out good, looked nice over the tire.. so I set it between the forks on my bike to see what it looked like.. SHIT. the way it spreads from the tip and gets wider at the forks gives it a motard look that doesn't fuse with these bikes in my opinion. That mosquito-esque look didn't suit well under the round headlight.

So, I'm going to try cutting more off the width towards the forks and see if I can make it work with the mounts.. no promises. I was optimistic, but I see this is probably why the other guys chose not to use it!
 
Texas94fs

Texas94fs

Hooligan
Good deal man! dont forget, retain the stock rear rotor! it should bolt right up to the f3 rear wheel. the f3 rear rotor is too small. . . and doesnt work well.
 
S

Savantjk

Street Tracker
Texas94fs said:
Good deal man! dont forget, retain the stock rear rotor! it should bolt right up to the f3 rear wheel. the f3 rear rotor is too small. . . and doesnt work well.
Click to expand...

Yea I've read your write up about 10,000 times haha I didn't even get the f3 rotor because I saw where you posted the triumph one would work better but already sold it

Got the fork boots back today... I'm at a stand still.. Powdercoat black or try to sand them and polish? I saw where some guys did that to the triumph forks and it looked sweet. My bike is mostly black, but I've got a superbrace I scored on ebay for $50 shipped for the honda forks and I'll be getting that PC'd black and the wheels are black.. so I think the alloy on the forks might look cool. I'm currently stripping the paint anyway.

Opinions?
Pic for reference:
moto_0558.jpg
 
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S

Savantjk

Street Tracker
Decided to sand them down anyway just to see if I would like it and cut off the lower of the fender tabs. I'm going to take them to my buddy and see if he can weld them back on in a position so that the triumph fender will bolt on. Just a thought.

moto_0563.jpg
 
Texas94fs

Texas94fs

Hooligan
polished would indeed be quite bitchin, time consuming but then again if being cool was easy, every body would do it.
 
S

Savantjk

Street Tracker
Trying to get an idea of the polished. Forks are about 3/4 of the way sanded.. need to get all the areas between the brake and fender mounts.

It would be weird getting rid of the black.. but hell, the triples are black, fork brace will be black, brake calipers are black, and wheels are black.. I think I'll live if I don't powdercoat the fork lowers.

Any suggestions on gaiters? I think it would be a cool fusion with the wheels.

moto_0564.jpg
 
M

musicswapshoppe

Rocker
I have seen bikes that take the contrast of being mainly black with silver front end, that work well, Example

2197482720106757102S600x600Q85.jpg


But those bikes tend not to be as black as yours, so hard to work out whether will have same effect. I am inclined to say that the forks should be P/coated black and also black gaitors. But I just dont know for certain?

Hope my uncertainty helps :)
 
S

Savantjk

Street Tracker
musicswapshoppe said:
I am inclined to say that the forks should be P/coated black and also black gaitors. But I just dont know for certain?

Hope my uncertainty helps :)
Click to expand...

That is what I had originally planned. Although I think with evverything black down there it could just seem like one big mass.. If I surrounded the polished lowers with black, it might balance? Then I would begin the bike polished at the forks and end polished with the end of the exhaust.. eh. I'll probably end up going black and have spent hours sanding in vain.
 
RumRunner

RumRunner

Street Tracker
You could always do a black anodize over the polished... Or have them chromed and then put the black over the top... Would look very cool!
 
S

Savantjk

Street Tracker
RumRunner said:
You could always do a black anodize over the polished... Or have them chromed and then put the black over the top... Would look very cool!
Click to expand...

I hadn't even thought of anodizing. That might be a nice change and keep it dark. I'll check into it.

Sweat, I was definitely closely trailing you on the black-out scale until I had to get the new tank and went very dark gray. I'm thinking about painting it again in the future. It was supposed to be satin with no sparkle.. what did the guy do? High gloss with sparkle. I was too ready to get the bike back together to care at the time.

What type of gaiters would y'all recommend?
 
sweatmachine

sweatmachine

moped
I don't like black anodizing. It looks purple in the sunlight. It looks terrible. If you want to go black, get them powdercoated or painted.
 
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