CBR600RR shock without airbox clearance issues

[shinyribs 552]

Is it alright for a n00b to post a new thread??  (rofl)
 
After seeing this post by mccawesome : 
https://fz07.org/post/122933
 
... I decided to give this a try myself, but with a twist. 
 
For personal reasons, I wasn't willing to ditch the factory airbox. Been down that road in the past...not going there again. I had a 2005 CBR 600 RR shock on hand for another project bike I'm working on , so I took a look at converting the piggyback external reservoir on that shock to a remote reservoir. The whole point of the project is to make this shock ( quality Showa piece with independent rebound and compression clickers) a bolt-on affair with zero modifications to the bike itself. I just started fiddling with this last night, but I figured I'd post up things as they happen. 
 
Broke down the shock and lopped off the reservoir to see what was what inside. 
 

 
Did NOT expect to find such a large transfer area between the shock body and the reservoir! I was hoping to find a small transfer port that would allow me to simply drill/tap some AN adapters in place, but I'm never that lucky... Plan B, it is then.
 
The orientation of the port location would not have cleared the airbox anyway, so that will simply be capped off. I drilled/tapped another hole on the left hand side of the body for what will be the future attachment point for the reservoir hose instead. It'll be more clear when I'm further along and have more pictures. In the pic below you can just make out the tapped hole on to the left side of the eyelet. 
 
Plan is to weld a plate over the opening on the shock body. There will be another plate welded over the opening on the reservoir that will also get drilled/tapped. The two pieces will be attached via a Teflon lined, braided stainless -4AN high pressure line. 
 

 
Before you think this looks overly involved and not do-able with basic hand tools....it is. The shock is literally held together with two circlips. That's all! The pre-assembled high pressure line and fitting have been ordered from Speedway Motors for $25.96 to my door. I'm working with limited tools since I haven't got my shop set up at my new house, so I am farming out the welding to a bud from another forum. He's charging me $40, which a bargain. Add in a quart of shock fluid ($15 max) and a Nitrogen recharge ( typically $10-25 depending on your local shop) and this is a very low cost project. <-- All that adds up to $90.96. So, $90.96+ whatever a shock off ebay costs you...usually about $25-40. Easily a sub $150 option for a bolt-on, double adjustable shock with ZERO alterations to the bike.  Anyone with a hacksaw and files can cut off the reservoir. Those are the tools I used. Hire the welding done, then bolt her back up. Easy!
 
 
Sorry for the long winded post. Will update as things happen. Ride safe!
 
 
 

[shinyribs 552]

Welding is done, but will have to wait til after the long weekend to be shipped back to me. A shot of paint and some reassembly will hopefully have this ready to fit. 
 
 
Still need to fab up a mount for the reservoir. 
 
 

[blackout 374]

Awesome stuff! We need more of this. Most people are just parts changers.

[jmacas87 116]

Very cool love the ingenuity. Keep us posted

[shinyribs 552]

Thanks, guys! I enjoy building my own parts. And it makes it possible for me to afford insane FZ 07 insurance  ;-|
 
The parts to make the line came in. rather disappointed to see the braided hose does not have a vinyl sheath. That braiding is very abrasive, so I'll run a piece of heat shrink over it to protect the painted areas it will be running around.
 
 

 
Part numbers if anyone is interested. 
 

 
Off to the shop to work on that reservoir bracket...
 
 
 

[shinyribs 552]

It's my thread, so I can derail it, right?
 
Didn't have proper material on hand to build a reservoir mount, so I played with my levers. Never cared for shorty levers. I do like "jeweled" levers, though. Subtle, but I think it makes a difference. I've done this on several bikes and am always surprised by how many comments it gets.


 
 

 
Then turned up some preload spacers. Didn't bore them out very much in order to reduce air gap at the same time. If they're too stiff I'll just bore the centers bigger until it feels good. Easier than mucking around with oil levels. Have had luck with this approach in the past.
 

 
Sag numbers currently look all crazy, but the bike feels good. I'll revisit it when something happens with the shock, but for now brake dive is gone, so I'm calling it job done!
 
 
 

[peteinpa 105]

So how tall are your spacers? I did the same thing with pvc pipe. Cost...zero $$$

[shinyribs 552]

They are 15mm tall. I ended up only dropping a spacer in one leg. It's ok, but it needs a bit more. I think I'll reduce them to 10mm and use one in both legs for the next test. I went looking for PVC first, but didn't have any on hand. I prefer PVC over aluminum as it can't scratch the fork walls or produce any shavings.
 
I'm quite surprised how much the rear settled down with the forks stiffened up.

[firstyammerha 46]

Good to see these kind of posts. I've got a few clevis lower mount shocks from other bikes and I believe this is one of them. I mocked the swap out and it appeared that the air box/reservoir position was going to be a trouble spot. Like you, I don't want to start cutting any plastic to make the shock fit. A remote reservoir shock seems to be the easiest to mount so I will attempt to put a Suzuki `93-95 GSXR 750 shock. It fit my Gladius with no problem. I have a `05-07 YZFR 600 piggyback that may work too as the piggyback reservoir is more in line with the shock body, projecting downwards toward the clevis mount. All have adjustable compression and rebound. Naturally, spring rates may not be close but there are plenty of new/used spring choices out there.

[faffi 921]

If you stray far off with the spring, damping will be off.

[firstyammerha 46]

Probably so Faffi. Depends on your riding style. The GSXR shock fit to my Gladius and the 20 mile test ride I took after the install didn't show any bad damping issues. The GSXR shock spring was much lighter in rate than the Gladius shock spring so the ride was plush. Now if I had been really bending it around the corners or going over successive ripples in the road  the spring rate weakness might really have shown up. I didn't change the damping settings after the ride but dismounted the shock and made the move to an FZ09.There was a lot of shaft and little teeny bumpstop on that shock.My data sheet for the CBR600  shows that the spring rate(600lb.) should be real close to what he needs depending on his riding weight and style. If he needs any help Jamie Daugherty with Daugherty Motorsports is a Honda shock specialist. I discovered him when I was riding a CB500F a couple of years ago. The CBR600f4i was the hot set up for that bike and he provided rebuilt shocks to the CBR500riders.com community. I believe the FZ07 has a lot of options when it comes to oem shock interchanges.

[shinyribs 552]

I've got the shock all back together. Full of oil and bled. 20 psi in the bladder for a 24hr leak test. If this passes, it'll get charged (150 psi of nitrogen) and leak tested again. Then I just have to make time to fit it to the bike ( aka: park it long enough).

 

[rick 835]

That's quite a transformation from your 1st pits.  Nice!

 

 

[shinyribs 552]

On 9/22/2017 at 9:22 AM, rick said:

That's quite a transformation from your 1st pits.  Nice!

 

 

Thanks! It passed the first leak test, but I haven't yet charged it with nitrogen. Decided I would just go ahead and setup a nitrogen charging station at home, so I'm waiting on those parts to show up. In the meantime I did knock the spring back off the shock and installed it in the bike. Wanted to work the shock through the whole range of wheel travel and check for any clearance issues. All clear

 

Reckon maybe I shoulda just made this a thread of tidbits I'm doing to the bike here and there,instead of initially making it a shock thread. Oh well.

 

Turned up a pair of bushings to get rid of those ridiculously floppy things Yamaha put in for bar mounts. Did this earlier in the week, but after a few hundred miles I can say that I see no extra vibration in the bars. Control over the bike in parking lot situations is vastly improved.

 

Requires a little dish on the bottom side to fit properly, but I reckon you could make do with a simple washer, too.

 

 

Tonight, turned up a pair of spools. I just popped a couple holes in the swinger to bolt them on,but I figured a backing plate for the interior of the swinger wouldn't be a bad idea either. Pretty pleased with how these turned out, even if it is a very simple piece.

 

 

 

Few other bits being made up, but nothing finalized yet, so pics will wait til it's done. Sorting out some luggage issues and a clock relocation/windscreen setup.

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by shinyribs

[rick 835]

How much fun was it reaching in to hold those nuts and inner shims for those spools. 😉

 

My only concern for doing that is the sheet metal thickness (or should I say thinness)  that is the swinger. Thinking you should also install axle sliders as a simple tip-over could result in a really ugly dent in the swing arm if your new spool hits the ground. 

 

Some day, before I stop riding, I'm gonna own a machine lathe again.