Topic: 750 F2 Cafer Racer Project 2011

[UK Pete]

I am copying my thread from the UK site so i can share my progess across the globe

Hi all, i have decided to start another one of my projects , again it will be a 750f2 sohc but this one is a parts bin special cafe racer project
I have 99% of the bits i need for this, many of them aquired while searching for bits for my 77 f2 restoration i bought job lots of bits just to get certain bits i needed and so ended up with some very usefull parts
This has given me a great excuse to build a cafe, and this one is going to be a stunner with lots of period mods, and goodies, i have seen some real good cafes recently and so have saved a few pictures as inspiration for my own
This will have to be a quick project as i have so many other bike projects in the que and it will take me a life time to complete them all unless i get my finger out and build them a bit faster , so here goes post 1 of the new project
Pete

I have decided to start with the brakes here is my progress


Dirty calipers, and master cylinders stripped and ready for blasting



Nice clean blasted  calipers and mastercylinders



All brake parts de dusted de greased and sprayed up, the caliper brakets also got blasted then painted silver and lacquered
the foot peg brackets were degreased , blasted de dusted, satin polished and clear lacquered

[UK Pete]

Ok i am pushing on with the build, i had a good think on what i wanted to do and have decided if i get a rolling chassis then it kind of pushes the rest of the build on, so where better than to get the wheels ready.
I was quite lucky with the wheels as they were quite good, the front had been polished by the PO , and the disks were already drilled, i had left these outside under a roofed area for a year so the aluminium had started to furr up a bit, i spent a day giving them a good clean and got the polishing wheel on them
While i had the polishing wheel out i took the forks apart and done the fork lowers, again i was well lucky that they had already been done and just needed a whizz over with the wheel



Next i had to get myself some tyres, not wanting to spend any money i decided to rob the tyres off one of my  other projects an F1 750, these tyres are new and totally unused and seeing as the bike wont realistically get retored for at least a year it was worth the agro of taking them of the F1 wheels and fitting them to the F2




After several hours of blood sweat and tears the tyres are fitted



Pete

[UK Pete]

I made some more progress on the cafe project, first of all i have got the frame out from storage
The Frame is unusual as it has been modified with welded on grab handles, steering damper mount, and an oil cooler mounting, as well as that it has the swing arm pivot up graded with phospher bronze bushes, taper roller steering bearings, and new swingarm shock mounts, and even better it has already been painted










The top yolk has also been polished at some time so i got the polishing wheel back out and went over it to liven it up a bit

[voxonda]

Looking real neat and tidy, Pete. Keep up the good work.

Cheers, Rob

[BruceDeuce]

Nice! Subscribed!!!

[tweakin]

I love your attention to detail Pete.  Keep it up.

[brandEn]

Nice, another F to watch. Subscribed!

[UK Pete]

Done a few more bits to the bike, it makes sense to pick off lots of little bits as they all need to be done and if you only have a few hours spare then thats the best time to do them

I stripped the battery box blasted it , sprayed it and reassembled it








Also i thought i would have ago at polishing the handlebar switches, they are hard work and i only managed to get one done

[wohali]

Subscribed! Very nice work. Good inspiration for me - you're right, it doesn't feel like a huge chore when you blast/polish up a few things at a time. Did my fuel tank cap today and the regulator...

[UK Pete]

More progress on some smaller parts


I polished up the other handlebar switch and clutch lever, i can see a few spots that need re-doing, but as it is all reassembled so i think i will leave it alone now






Another bit that was bugging me was how i was going to get some rearsets to fit, then i came up with the idea of adapting the existing peg hangers
although it all looks real simple it took me ages to come up with this, especially as i was using bits from my parts bin to do it
The other side with the gear change is almost done , i just have to get a long piece of ally bar to extend the linkage






Another bit of fabrication was needed on the frame where the rear mastercylinder reservoir mounts, the original bracket was rusted away so i made up another and bolted it on,
job done now my  reservoir is mounted,

[Bankerdanny]

Cool.

Are you going to fill in the words on your switches? I'm thinking some red enamel to match the calipers.

[UK Pete]

Yes i will do the lettering in red, i will leave all the fine details to the end of build, the only problem is every time you give the switches a polish the lettering gets all dirty
Pete

[UK Pete]

Some more pictures and progress


I got a rolling chassis a few days ago and was running through a few options, i think my PRR tank looks fantastic on this so i am going to use it on this project




My trusty helpers are really moving this project on for me, i dont know what i would do with out them






Bottom end of engine in



Note the lovely HD studs, i was lucky as they came with the bottom end when i bought it as a job lot, half of them were fitted the others were not, so i had a go at removing the original ones that were left in, F--K me they were stubborn to say the least it took me the best part of a day just to remove the old studs, anyway i succeeded without any breaking off           FEW!!




Also i made up the gearchange rearset so thats another task out the way





And finally i made the frame conversion, enabling me to build the engine in the frame



You may also notice the front light is now on it is the chrome version of the original i am just playing with ideas at the moment

[brandEn]

WOW, looking good!

[kap384@telus.net]

Dammit Pete!  2nd F2 and I'm still not done mine!

Just kidding, looks awesome.  Keep it up!

[UK Pete]

Today i thought i would have a go at making a front mudguard (fender), as this is a parts bin special, and i do not have any money to spend i thought i would make something from old bits i have hanging around the workshop
I found a dohc f2 front guard hidden away so i dug it out and set to work removing the very badly rusted fixing mount



Next i cut it up a bit as it was looking far to bog standard and bulky



Ok so i lied the rabbit done all the hard work and brought it over to me on his back when he was finished trimming it



Next i needed a new mount, something that is strong like what was on there before, as i suspect it also acts as a bit of a fork brace
So in true bodge it up out of what you can find fashion i found a piece of strong galvanised metal, only problem was that this bit of metal was currently in the shape of a heavy duty timber joist hanger, so out with the hammers , grinder and wooden blocks i set about  beating it flat then beating it into some sort of shape that would fit under the guard









With that done i can now proceed to prepare the whole lot for paint, but first of all i am not sure which way to have the air deflector ridge either at the front or at the back where it should go, i suspect to deflect ait on to the oil cooler, which incidently i will be putting one on this bike









Also i might trim the back a bit more , kind of tappering it off to thin it out a bit

Pete

[UK Pete]

Hi to all those who are watching and enjoying my cafe racer build, the project has really been going flat out , everyday i am doing bits, and am progressing real fast, this has been due to lack of work, hence i am doing everything i can on a budget, this being built almost totally out out of parts i have ammassed over the past year and a half, anyway the pace will slacken off as i have picked up a few jobs so i will only get limited time to do things to it
Anyway in true tradition of using whatever i can i decided to make a seat base ,using sand cement plasterers scrim tape, cling film and fibreglass
all the above cost me nothing so watch in amazment as i build a seat base for nothing

First make a mould out of sand cement and the scrim tape







Mould now made , so i smooth it out using neat white cement





Next i mix up some resin, and fiber glass over the mould while the white cement is still damp






Go to next post to see more

[UK Pete]

Following on from the last post


i use a hot air gun and quickly cure the glass resin and break out the sand from the newly made base



Then i clean off all the cement and decide it needs a coating of resin to fill any voids and seal it all up, then i had a brainwave why not tip in a bit of my 2K black gloss to the resin, so thats what i did , and painted both sides




Forgot to mention i built in the mounting studs so i can utilize the original seat hinge and lock






so here it is trimmed up and ready to fit



Wow it fits like a glove








So there you have it a perfect seat base, when i get my tail piece i will have a final  fit & trim of the base, the next thing will be to make up the cover, the only thing i am still researching is where or how to get the perfect shaped foam, i dont want to get flat foam from a furniture shop, i have tried that before and it looked #$%*
Anyone have any suggestions on the foam?

Pete

[Really?]

Subscribed!

[UK Pete]

Well i had a go at covering my seat, firstly i found an old tatty F2  seat foam which i tried to cut to shape with an electric knife ,
Then i used a new seat cover i had bought on ebay last year, this cover was totally the wrong pattern to use on my F2 , so it came in handy using it on this bike
I had all sorts of problems with covering the seat, problem 1 was that the foam was really ragged on the edges, usually it tapers off as it rides down the sides but on this seat foam it had broken up a bit, although i did try and pack it out with thin strips of foam,
Next the shape of the cover was not the same, but in yesterdays sun, the warmth allowed the cover to stretch quite well
The biggest problem was that my staple gun would not fire in to the glass fiber , i had underestimated just how hard thIs goes, so i had to stretch and stick it down, which is a very hard thing to do
All in all i am sort of happy with the out come considering how i went about making this seat, although in the back of my mind i was hoping for better
The seat is a copy of the Phil Read 750 replica seat, but i opted for slightly thicker foam for comfort and if you google search images for the phil read rep you will see the seats are pretty awfull anyway
I have only seen one good Phil read seat and i think it was another forum members bike , and it had a custom made seat cover with different colours and piping on the cover
The good thing is i can easily dismantle the seat and start again if i keep looking at it and am  not happy, but at the moment it is staying as is

[Really?]

That came out perty good.  You can sand the foam with a big grit to smooth that out.  I have read 100grit and even coarser than that.

[Mandic]

Wow that is coming along very nicely.  I really like your use of the foot peg mounts for a rearset.  Too bad I cut mine up for a cleaner look.

[jaguar]

love the way that front fender looks

[kap384@telus.net]

What's the latest Pete?  BTW - Make sure you go accept your BOTM nomination this time!

[hapakev]

Subscribed!! That seat turned out great, a reallt cool build.