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FZ-07 MotoAmerica Racebike [re] Build


jb.junior

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Hi.  I was hoping to build a new bike from scratch for the 2022 season (and I still may in a few months), but in the light of long lead times and parts availability, I decided to rebuild my existing bike, just to make sure that I'll have a bike ready for the start of pre-season.  It's a 2017 Yamaha FZ-07, and it's what I rode last year in various club series (CCS, CMRA, CRA, ASRA, FMRRA, WERA).  A good bike, but way ready for a rebuild. 

For 2022, I'm doing a season-entry MotoAmerica Twins cup, as well as some club races here and there.  This will be my first season in MotoAmerica.

To start, here's some pics of when it was pretty and powerful throughout 2021.  (Next post will be a catalogue of its demise...)

(A little history: I'm the third owner of this bike.  Jim Whitten had it built, then Ryan Max Johnson raced it next.  I picked it up at the end of 2020.  People loved and recognized this paint scheme , but I'm excited to have one that's distinctively "mine" for 2022...)

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Edited by jb.junior
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Good Luck with everything especially the Moto America race's. You gonna race Houston in February for CMRA?

 

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15 hours ago, fzar said:

Good Luck with everything especially the Moto America race's. You gonna race Houston in February for CMRA?

 

Hi.  I appreciate that!  I hadn't planned on doing MSRH but may.  It depends when my SB engine build gets ready.  It's taking way longer than expected and has really screwed up my pre-season plans.  I may just buy another SB engine, or just a stock one, so I can get back on the track, then put the SB engine being built back in when it's ready.  

The "Florida League," as I call it (formally, the PanAm Superbike league), and FTD (Florida track days) have a lot of great events and races in January and February in south Florida, where the weather is guaranteed to be good in the "winter."  I did a few there last off-season, and it was great.  Solid racers and good conditions -- great season prep.  So I'm trying to get down there for Homestead and Palm Beach events, ASAP.  Check it out!  

 MSRH in February is kind of a crap-shoot for weather.  Plus the track is just so bumpy now, and I'm just sick of it.

Are you from Houston?  Do you we know each other?

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PanAmerican SuperBike is the fastest growing motorcycle race series in the United States. Enjoy qualifying, cash...

 

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Though "we" had a great season, this bike put in work and really paid its dues.  We did a great job with maintenance, but crashes are inevitable, and wear and tear was unavoidable with how much I raced in 2021.  I tried to keep things as cosmetically nice as possible, but, again, with that much racing, there were time and budgetary limits as to how pretty I could keep 'er.  By the season closer at Barber, the body work was toast, and I had to borrow a back up set from a friend to finish the weekend.  The crashes in the pics I think were first CMP and then Barber.

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M. Hausknecht
1 hour ago, jb.junior said:

Hi.  I appreciate that!  I hadn't planned on doing MSRH but may.  It depends when my SB engine build gets ready.  It's taking way longer than expected and has really screwed up my pre-season plans.  I may just buy another SB engine, or just a stock one, so I can get back on the track, then put the SB engine being built back in when it's ready.  

The "Florida League," as I call it (formally, the PanAm Superbike league), and FTD (Florida track days) have a lot of great events and races in January and February in south Florida, where the weather is guaranteed to be good in the "winter."  I did a few there last off-season, and it was great.  Solid racers and good conditions -- great season prep.  So I'm trying to get down there for Homestead and Palm Beach events, ASAP.  Check it out!  

 MSRH in February is kind of a crap-shoot for weather.  Plus the track is just so bumpy now, and I'm just sick of it.

Are you from Houston?  Do you we know each other?

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PanAmerican SuperBike is the fastest growing motorcycle race series in the United States. Enjoy qualifying, cash...

 

Possible engine for you.  Don't know the guy.

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2016 FZ07 LWT Superbike Race Package - MotoAmerica Legal 4908 miles - Only ridden to church on Sundays by a slow old guy . Oil and...

 

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28 minutes ago, M. Hausknecht said:

Possible engine for you.  Don't know the guy.

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2016 FZ07 LWT Superbike Race Package - MotoAmerica Legal 4908 miles - Only ridden to church on Sundays by a slow old guy . Oil and...

 

Thanks for this!  I'll reach out.

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2 hours ago, M. Hausknecht said:

Possible engine for you.  Don't know the guy.

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2016 FZ07 LWT Superbike Race Package - MotoAmerica Legal 4908 miles - Only ridden to church on Sundays by a slow old guy . Oil and...

 

That guy whos selling used to be on here.

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3 hours ago, jb.junior said:

Are you from Houston?  Do you we know each other?

I'm not from Houston, I don't live there either. I don't think we've met unless you were at Hallett trackday testing.

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On 1/8/2022 at 2:14 PM, AP996 said:

If you don’t crash your not trying hard enough, looks like your a guy who try’s 😀

One was a suspension issue (at CMP, didn't appropriately reset my newly rebuilt shock properly), one was a tire issue (got some pretty wack instructions on how to run the "special" Daytona Dunlops at Daytona...), one was just pushing hard and trying to make a pass and coming in to a turn too hot! (Barber), one was just a bumpy-ass track that I hadn't dialed in navigating the bumps (NJMP).  I did a sh*t ton of races in 2021, so four crashes wasn't too bad, I guess.  Haha.  (Maybe there was one I'm forgetting...)

Edited by jb.junior
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4 hours ago, twf said:

This guy has extra stock motor for sale.

 

I contacted him about both the SB engine and stock engine.  Thanks for posting!

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These pics are from November, when we pulled the engine and sent it off to be rebuilt. I work with a guy named Paul Grimley, out of Motospace Garage in Houston.  It's a "DYI" garage, but Paul takes pity on me and helps with my racing projects.  He's an amazing guy and mechanic, and I couldn't race without him.  If you're in the area, Motospace is the place to be.  Check out the "custom" wooden bracket Paul made to put in place of the engine while it's out!

Handling the rebuild is the esteemed Steve Upchurch, with Racing Engine Services, based in Alvarado, Texas, outside of Dallas.  Steve is generally regarded as "the guy" in Texas engine building and has built championship winning engines that have competed, and won, all over the country.  

Skipping ahead to the future, masochistically-induced supply chain issues (this is happens when you "lockdown" an economy for extended periods of time), are plaguing the engine rebuild, and we are currently [still] waiting on pistons to come in.  Steve is porting the head (which, surprising to me, hadn't been done on the original build).  The engine showed a lot of wear, including some detonation issues, mostly part because I waited way too long to rebuild.  The good news is that the engine still felt fast as sh*t to me, and the rebuild should undoubtedly add a few herspers, so it'll be even better.  (Albeit, running the poor MGP MotoAmerica spec fuel will likely negate those gains.  😕 )  

I plan on getting it tuned for VP MGP for MotoAmerica, and VP U4.4 for club races.  If you're racing club, and have a high-compression engine, U4.4 is a great option.

[FYI: I don't get any kickbacks or whatever for any of the plugs I give in this rebuild.  I mean, I'm open for them, but all the kudos I give is just because I like the people and products I'm working with.]

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Edited by jb.junior
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How do you like the roaring toys axle blocks?  Do you use a chain alignment tool when you change tires since the blocks no longer align to the marks on the swing arm?

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1 hour ago, Tpadden said:

How do you like the roaring toys axle blocks?  Do you use a chain alignment tool when you change tires since the blocks no longer align to the marks on the swing arm?

It came with it, so I've never used the stock set up.  But I've had plenty of other bikes with stock set ups, and this is a great improvement.  

No, I just use the chain tightening bolts / lock nuts and carefully measure the amount showing on both sides and make sure that they are exactly the same length.  This should make it balance for sure, right?  

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1 minute ago, Tpadden said:

I would think so, I don’t think the marks on the swing arm are that accurate anyway.

True.  It may be worth getting the Motion Pro tool, anyway.  It's only $15...

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Exhaust[ed].  

Had a hell of a time keeping an exhaust functional and aesthetic all year.  I'm not sure if it's how mine was set up, but it sure seemed particularly vulnerable in low-side crashes.  The set up was a Yoshimura FZ header and a Yoshimura R6 Alpha muffler.  This is a common set up on this bike, I think largely in part because of its lightweight.  In addition to crashes, it would also scape around off-cambered, tight right-handers.

In October, I decided to replace the entire system with an Akraprovic full titanium; which I thought looked the coolest and would be more protected from damage because of its "underslung" type positioning.  So I ordered it, and when we mock-fitted it up, we realized that it wasn't going to fit.  The [AP] bodywork lower would not fit over it (there's an entire thread on this on which I've commented), it nearly rubbed the rear tire, and was tight in other spots.  I've read in that thread of other people making it work, but I sure couldn't.  So I had to take it off and sell it for a loss.

(That said, I weighed the Akra, and it's actually over eight pounds heavier than the Yoshi combo.  So, I ended up glad that it didn't fit, as that's too much of a weight gain for me to bear on a race bike.)

In a hurry, I rush shipped a new Alpha ran from Ebay (they stopped making these Alphas; there's a new version now...), and had it installed right before the season closer at Barber -- only to crash and screw it up that weekend!  There's pics attached here of it installed fresh before the wreck.  

So as part of this rebuild, I'm, yet again, rebuilding the Alpha set up.  Yoshimura is great and does an excellent job stocking and selling rebuild parts.  The Yoshi set up is the lightest and least expensive, so I'm not sure why a racer would use anything else.  (Compared to the Graves, for example, which takes up twice the space and costs 1.5x's as much.)  They sell the carbon end cap as well as the label plate and rivets to go with them.  I think $100 for the cap, and $17 for the metal label. 

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Edited by jb.junior
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Suspension stuff.

As the forks had a rebuild not too long ago (mid 2021 season), we just changed the oil, cleaned the forks up and put some new AK-20 stickers on them.  They are ~2015 R6 forks.  Traxxion Dynamics is another place that I can't say enough about.  I've had AK-20s on many of my race [and street] bikes, and they are my favorite.  It's an American made and run company, and their customer service is just amazing.  Dan is the man.  In addition to the fork kit, I have their fork caps.

For install, rebuild and tuning, I go through On-Road-Off-Road, with Roger Albert, out of Austin, Texas.  He's been super helpful with everything, and I really like working with him.  He does a super fast turnaround on hardware work, and makes himself available for remote tuning when I'm racing out of the region.  I've sent the shock and steering stabilizer (Ohlins) off to Roger for a rebuild and refresh and hope to have those back soon.  The shock is a Penske 8987, and I love it.  Can't say enough about Penske also.  

For the forks, we used Maxima 125-150 7W fork oil (per Roger and per Traxxion) and set the air gap to 135mm.  We had 125mm before, but Roger suggested 135mm this time because I'm not using the full stroke of the fork on some/most tracks, and preload is set pretty darn good for the sag numbers and feel that I want, so this is another way of "softening" up the front.  I've got .95 springs in both, and my weight this season ranged from 170-175 lbs. "nu."  I'm on my down to the 160-165 range for 2022, so this rate should still work, but I'll keep my eye on it in testing.

Not too many interesting photos here.  I only decided to make this thread recently and missed some chances to take good pictures.

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Picked up a lightweight subframe from Robem Engineering.  My existing subframe was bent, so let's do it.

It's a 4.7 lbs weight savings from stock.  I think I saw that other people thought that it was closer to 6.6 lbs savings, but that must not be including the mounting hardware, which is like 1.5 lbs.  Still, 4.7 lbs savings up top -- I'll take it.  (The old subframe was 7.6 lbs.; the new one, with hardware, was 2.9 lbs.  See pics; but note, scale is in pounds and ounces...)

Paul and I (let's be honest, mostly Paul from Motospace) followed the instructions from Robem, and things turned out great.  Excellent product, and excellent instructions.  I think that we're going to blast off the black anodizing and clearcoat the natural aluminum. 

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Edited by jb.junior
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4 hours ago, jb.junior said:

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Very nice. I do like the foil, I was getting nervous scrolling through the other pictures thinking damn that  wooden motor Jig gonna catch soon. Then it's going to be fun.

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Great thread! Where did you get your Alpha T muffler? I have an Alpha T that came on my bike, and I bought a spare R6 alpha T from TST industries, because I thought the R6 muffler was the thing, but what I got looks exactly the same as what I have on the bike except with a smaller pipe connection. Did I miss something dumb?

https://tstindustries.com/yoshimura-street-alpha-t-works-finish-slip-on-exhaust-yamaha-yzf-r6-2006-2019.html

 

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14 hours ago, fzar said:

Very nice. I do like the foil, I was getting nervous scrolling through the other pictures thinking damn that  wooden motor Jig gonna catch soon. Then it's going to be fun.

Haha.  The foil keeps the bad vibes out, too.

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10 hours ago, Gravisman said:

Great thread! Where did you get your Alpha T muffler? I have an Alpha T that came on my bike, and I bought a spare R6 alpha T from TST industries, because I thought the R6 muffler was the thing, but what I got looks exactly the same as what I have on the bike except with a smaller pipe connection. Did I miss something dumb?

https://tstindustries.com/yoshimura-street-alpha-t-works-finish-slip-on-exhaust-yamaha-yzf-r6-2006-2019.html

 

Hi.  I found the Alpha on Ebay.  There's a new version available from Yoshi that looks cool.  This:

https://www.yoshimura-rd.com/products/yzf-r6v-race-at2-stainless-full-exhaust-w-stainless-muffler-13630ap521?variant=32920680333415

Yeah, you have to make a special fitting to fit the Alpha muffler on to the FZ header.  I'll take pics when I can.  My header is actually misaligned, so I'm goin to replace it.  I will document all of that.  

For now, here is the partial rebuild of the muffler.  Waiting on the label / decal.

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Edited by jb.junior
Yer mom
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