The Wong Un CBR engine saga
Engine removed taking great care to photo each major step on the way, compared to a TZR engine (which I could remove blindfolded) there seemed to be a hell of a lot of tubes and wires.
The easiest way to get the engine out seemed to be lower the engine on a jack to the floor and then lift the bike over engine, this was done after a late night call to my mate Rab who turned up just in the nick of time as I was about to be squashed by a 70Kg engine.
With the engine out I had an hour (ish) drive to Colchester to deliver it to Mr Phil Seton for a full engine rebuild. December 7th and the engine is delivered but Phil says he won’t get around to it until after Christmas.
Beginning of Jan and I get the phone call from Phil to tell me the engine has had a very colourful live, basically everything to do with the bottom end is looking very, very second hand, to start with it will need 4 new con rods, new gearbox shafts, new top end and bottom end bearings, new rings all round, new clutch basket and plates and so on and so on………………. Basically the spares list required would far exceed the value of the engine when getting the parts from Honda.
However Phil knows of a road going engine I can have for £150 and he is prepared to strip that and salvage most of the spares needed. It’s a no brainer for me and I tell him to go for it.
A few weeks pass and Phil rings to tell me that the road engine has good con rods and a few other bits we can use so should save me a fortune. One con rod from Honda costs £111 + VAT!!!
A few more weeks pass and Phil tries to rebuild my engine only to find the con rods are a slightly different size and will not fit!!!!!!!!! I wont go into detail but sourcing engine parts from Honda engine numbers is not easy…… I manage to find a third engine on ebay and send it to direct to Phil to try and get the spares of this engine……Now this engine will be correct as I know for a fact that it is a CBR600FN engine……..
Eventually the new old (ehh) engine is delivered, stripped and guess what it doesn’t have matching internals…………Turns out what I thought was a CBR600FN was not at all but in fact a latter CBR bottom end……..So my race engine that I believed to be all legal for the thunderbikes championship would not have been.
So to cut a very long story short, after loads of phone calls and ebaying Phil finally managed to build a legal CBR 1992 race engine.
The engine has been put back in the bike and warmed up once. It’s now going back to Phil for running in and final set up on the Dyno. So fingers crossed it will be making good power and be ready for my first outing at Snetterton in April.
I must say a massive thanks to Phil Seton for all the hard work in getting the engine ready as it has been a major head ache at times. Lets hope all the effort is worth it!!!!!
Silverstone – 26/02/08 Track Day
Rider – Craig aka Fatboy
Last Track day before start of season, so decided would go to Silverstone to experience a new track and test my new forks and check my clutch which seems to be slipping some what at the top end.
Journey over was bit of a long one so left Early Sunday morning to miss the traffic, was going swimmingly until I reached the Midlands where everybody felt they had to crash on my roads, Yes my roads. 4 hours later and an extra 50 miles the gates of Silverstone loomed.
After the usual safety briefs etc I found I was in group two, which believe it or not was the second group out. So off I went to prepare the bike and get myself ready for the day.
First session was very tentative and one to get my eye into where I had to go (Also noticing all the white lines across the track if it rained), and came away unscathed and ready for the day. The next two sessions saw me gain more and more confidence with the bike and the track, but never forgetting the little Angel (Called Becca) in my head telling me not to fast, you’re on your own, be careful.
So believe it or not for once I did, I went out again in the last session before lunch and was able to go at full berries and found that clutch slipping was still there and needed sorting. So the little Angel still talking in my head, I decided to go out after lunch for one more session at full berries to confirm clutch situation and then call it a day, which is what I did.
Enjoyed the day completely and look forward to our YPM visit in May, and keep my fingers crossed for no rain.
Bye for now and back again on track the 8th & 9th March Brands Indi..
Snetterton - 02/02/08 Track Day & End of 2007 Track Days
Rider - Craig aka Fatboy, Paul aka Sqwelch and Dan aka Wrong Un
As is usually the case, winter disappears with deceptive speed.
Since the season finished last year, we've all bought new bikes which have needed varying degrees of work to ready them for this year.
Craig had all the components of a good bike, but they were in no way assembled. He put together the available parts in his significant collection so that the engine could be run in at a wintry test day at Snetterton early February. Fortunately he used an old set of bodywork, as he decided to take his traditional pre-season tumble going into the icey Esses. Now with engine run in, he's busy sorting his suspension and fitting a shiny new set of body work.
Dan's CBR at first didn't seem as if much would be needed. The bike was fitted with uprated suspension and had already been tuned to within the class regulation, so Dan was hoping a simple refresh would see him ready. He managed to fit in a trackday at Snetterton at the end of November and was very happy with the way the bike performed. Since then the refresh has become a bit of a saga, with engine after engine being delivered to Phil Seton's door to try and salvage the parts needed. Hopefully now the necessary parts have been found and the extensive time has been spent on the troublesome lump so that Dan can get about refitting it into the chassis and testing the bike before his season starts.
Paul's main priority upon purchasing his R6 was to get some of the bodywork sprayed double quick. Having been raced by the Fiesty Racing all girl team, the bike was entirely cloaked in horrendous bubble gum pink. When the yamaha was decked out in more acceptable Ram It red, Paul went about getting in some track time to get used to the very different machine. Days at Brands, Cadwell and Donington were spent adjusting to the large power differance, slipper clutch, engine braking and different riding style needed. After three cold greasy days at the three circuits, the bike was dropped off at Phil Seton's workshop for a full refresh, ready for 2008. Since then, the uprated engine has been tested at the same icey day at Snetterton in february, where some valuable if cold laps were used to check the bike out.
