Topic: 2013 honda concept. 76 550 with cbr600 f4

[Mercuno]

Haha yes, I humbly admit that I use what is handy and that is actually a piece of a sign my mom had in her yard for halloween. I have the chain lined up but it was just laying there all crooked because I am still trying to beef the mounts up. 
my old army clothes are the perfect play clothes
good eye

[Tews19]

Army Vet here and I use all my summer BDU bottoms for yard and house work. Plus you can't buy a better pair of cut off shorts if your life depended on it. Been out since 2005 and still have my green duffle bag full of gear.

[WhyNot2]

Me too.....I'm retarded.....uuuuhhh....retire military.

Retired 1995, and still have a full combat war footlocker with complete LBE, protective mask, and a duffle bag full of gear.

'cept all the BDU's are way too small so the all been pretty much used as rags.

Nice build btw, I also am looking at conbining a cb and a cbr.

[Mercuno]

for the money it is soooo worth it-- for the bald spot is is soooooo not
you choose
Im already thinnin out so what the heck lol

[Syscrush]

Might you be better off switching to pods and/or fabricating a custom airbox than making further cuts/mods to the frame?

[Emokid]

Epoxy resin , fiberglass , styrofoam , and a few nights work will give you any tank shape or size you want 
Just did my cafe tank , really not that hard at all .

Supercool build btw. Definently will follow this

SOOOO, that leaves me with this--

I can cut a portion of the tank and weld in a new portion to sit over the new airbox, and split it to add 2 inches of width
or just hollow it out (which would be easier) and then learn how to weld plastic and make me an abs fuel cell to fit in the triangle. all of the electronics could then go under the faux tank.

I roughly calculated a 2 gallon capacity leaving room for tire/chain/swingarm travel and I may be able to add more if I reach out onto the top of the engine. Wiring and space provided of course.

Ooor? give me a suggestion for a fuel tank that will resemble a cafe racer and do what I need.


this is a one gallon gas can. I just barely couldnt fit the two gallon one in there because of its shape.

[Tews19]

Might you be better off switching to pods and/or fabricating a custom airbox than making further cuts/mods to the frame?

There is an anti pod air filter that a member sells on here... I know a guy with it and loves it. No jetting needed. Take a look at EMOKIDs build, he did make a great tank..

[Mercuno]

I did mod the huuuge cbr airbox and plan to fiberglass one that will hold the smallest flat filter that will work.
I absolutely must mod the backbone for fear of death. the stock one is so much more flimsy than I thought before I cut into it.

I think I will do just that. Raise the backbone just enough and try my hand at glassing a new tank.

What type of resin and then how do you seal it for gas?

[Emokid]

Im in no way any kind of expert , but from what i picked up , avoid polyester resin , i use west system epoxy .
And i will use a tank liner from caswell , to double up on the goo incurance

[Retro Rocket]

Look into fuel resistant epoxy's guys, you could either use it to make the tank or use it to line it....

[Mercuno]

I ordered some of that caswells liner. looks really good.
gotta find a deal on some glass mat and resin now.

[Emokid]

Note that you cannot use the chopped strand type glassmat togheter with epoxy as it wont dissolve the binding material in the mat , you need the weaved type , and make shure to document and post pictures

[FrankenFrankenstuff]

Frigging love it.

[Mercuno]

I find the chopped mat is sooo much easier to work with but I agree with you so I plan on doing the first couple of layers as weave and finish with the chopped stuff. I am scared to death of plugging the petcock hole and crossover lines with that caswells but we will see, should be easy enough to get around.

Gonna finish the mounts tommorrow and then start on the backbone and front mounts.
Then I guess on monday or tuesday I will put the welder to it.

[Retro Rocket]

I wouldn't bother with chopped strand at all, its only benefit is that it's cheaper. The woven is so much stronger that you can make your parts twice as strong with half as much materials, chopped strand is messy and makes you itch like a b1tch...

[Syscrush]

I don't know what it's called, but you can get fiberglass cloth where the fibers are twisted, which gives it a kind of elasticity.  It makes it much easier to shape around curves.  I've used it for the fiberglass projects I've done in the past and I like it a lot.

[Retro Rocket]

I don't know what it's called, but you can get fiberglass cloth where the fibers are twisted, which gives it a kind of elasticity.  It makes it much easier to shape around curves.  I've used it for the fiberglass projects I've done in the past and I like it a lot.

Yep, thats chop strand mat...

[Mercuno]

finished up fabbing of mounts. Now I need to get a whole new set of grade 8 bolts and some spacers that will bring up all of the slack. Will start on the backbone early and then start welding everything in place.

YAY! it isnt sitting on a jack anymore





the factory did not make the pipe splice even from the factory, one side was a little lower than the other huh?

[Mercuno]

spacers are the key







and then I am gonna double the backbone and put a little more arch into it.

[754]

 How is your chain going to miss the swingarm pivot on the lower run of the chain..?

[Mercuno]

I am actually more worried about the top run of chain. I only have about 1-1/2 inches of room before hitting the top of the swingarm.

I have gobs of room underneath.

The way I luckily got around it was based on factory geometries. The cbr swingarm actually mounts directly to the engine and by me mounting the engine 3-1/2 inches forward of the cb550 swingarm pivot I have actually put the pivot in a larger area of chain.

I cant draw it with typing but I will use a pic editor later

[Mercuno]

uh hope this makes any sense at all

[Syscrush]

I don't know what it's called, but you can get fiberglass cloth where the fibers are twisted, which gives it a kind of elasticity.  It makes it much easier to shape around curves.  I've used it for the fiberglass projects I've done in the past and I like it a lot.

Yep, thats chop strand mat...

No, the stuff I used is a woven cloth, but it conforms to curves much more readily than a normal twill cloth.  I'm going to call my old supplier on Monday and ask about the name.

[Retro Rocket]

I don't know what it's called, but you can get fiberglass cloth where the fibers are twisted, which gives it a kind of elasticity.  It makes it much easier to shape around curves.  I've used it for the fiberglass projects I've done in the past and I like it a lot.

Yep, thats chop strand mat...

No, the stuff I used is a woven cloth, but it conforms to curves much more readily than a normal twill cloth.  I'm going to call my old supplier on Monday and ask about the name.

Interested...

[Syscrush]

Interested...

I just got off the phone with my supplier. I'll admit that I'm a bit proud of remembering this, since it's been almost 10 years since I bought & used the stuff.  I'm even more impressed when I think back on the amount of time and care the sales guys at that supplier spent explaining to me how to do fiberglass fabrication.

The cloth in question is called "tooling cloth", or "twisted tooling cloth".  Unlike regular fiberglass cloth or matt, it's kind of elastic, so you can drape it more readily over curved surfaces, even compound curves.  I used it to make some pretty curvaceous parts, the tire-hugging rear fender with integrated chainguard, and the undertail panel shown here:

You can see that those pieces have plenty of compound curves, and I had no problems laying up the cloth over those shapes.

If you're interested, these guys can sell it to you, or fill you in on supplier & product code if you want/need to buy locally:

Composites Canada

I can't speak highly enough about the patience, helpfulness, and customer service of these guys.