Nath- I just smoothed it the old fashioned way, started with 180 grit sandpaper and moved on up to 1500 and then polishing compound. I then wiped it with headlight protector that you find at most automotive stores...

Portal 2- don't play that game for too long in one setting or you have some funky dreams, or try to jump into walls...

 

oh thanx! I screwed around with steel wool and several polishes incl, brass, chrome, soft scrub. It was all dull from circular scrubbing. Then I cleaned it off and wiped it down with DOT 3 Brake fluid. The brake fluid cleaned up the scratches amazingly well. (I learned about the brake fluid accidentally upon dripping a little on a plastic headlite cover and seeing that the streak was clear after wiping.) After it sat for a while, I wiped the brake fluid off with a soft cloth and sprayed it with silicone.

Thanks for the get back.

PS. the reason it was all pitted to hell on the underside is because I cut the rear fender and removed the license plate light, and don't have a rear hugger. Never noticed it til i had to replace a tail light bulb today.

 

That sounds interesting- I wonder if the dot 3 just sort of "melted" the plastic to cause it to become glossy?

When you clean with abrasives, it's best to go in lateral/horizontal motions (as you noticed that from the steel wool)... In pretty much any sanding situation you're supposed switch directions as you up the weight (go with 180 in a vertical, then 220 in a horizontal, 320 in a vertical, etc.) This allows the finer grades of sandpaper to more easily remove the scratches left from the previous grade. Same goes for polishing compound, as it's a very light abrasive.

It's actually a fairly common misconception that you're supposed to sand/polish in a circle. (maybe from Mr. Miyagi's wax on/wax off? I dunno). With circular motions, there is always an edge, 360 degrees around, that light can catch and you'll see swirls. If you have horizontal motions, there is only one spot where this can occur, and you rarely are standing still making minor adjustments to try to find this edge. When polishing a bike, if you ever have the need to, the rule of thumb is to polish in the direction that wind flows over it.

This all is very applicable when hand sanding/polishing (as you usually are with finer grits anyway) but using a drill/polishing pad it is somewhat unavoidable, although very effective because, hey, power tool!

With wax this isn't an issue because you're not using any abrasives, just covering with a protective coat (and this is by far the more necessary thing to do to painted vehicles). Wax on, wax off...

Little tangent there, but thought I'd share some tips I've picked up over the years.

 

haha. I did do two ball bustin years of Pai Lum Kung Fu and definitely mastered the wisdom of the circle including "wax on, wax off".

good info! I guess I should use this method for sanding valve shims then. I used the circle and reverse method and according to the micrometer, I did pretty well, but the back and forth directional sanding makes sense.

Try the DOT 3brake Fluid on an old fogged up/scratched lens and see for yourself. Put a thick coating on and leave it sit for 10 minutes and wash it off. Like I said, accidental discovery that works.

Thanks for the sanding lesson.

 

Dual fans, wired in, installed a freakin' relay when yesterday I didn't even know what one was; Thanks a bunch CrankenFine and Scooter72- you guys are just adding to the collective knowledge that's getting this thing done. And the A123 cell DeWalt battery is ready for business (I hadn't put it in yet b/c I didn't want to drain it from all the starting/stopping I was planning on doing...). Everything here works.



Don't worry, I sealed it all up, just wanted to show that it was there.

I'm still trouble shooting why the fans won't turn on- I think I may have a bad temperature switch in the radiator, TBD on that one...

Here's a process pic. of things to come:

 

Aaaand, side angle prog pic

 

Well, most of the pieces are on, albeit if they're on correctly only time will tell (or a pro mechanic, but those are icky). I'm still working on a few critical pieces before I can ride it. It won't fully be done for a while as I dial in all the pieces. The tail is pretty raised, and I can already feel the turn-in is way snappier. Maybe too much, heh.

Biggest problem is cooling system related... been getting very high readings. Like, WAY too high- I get the flashing 255F after about 10 min of riding. Here is the key: I'm running F41 gauges. What I forgot to even consider is that when I turn the bike on, the gauges read at like 190 or 220. Waaaaaait. So it may just be electrical issues from the conversion- they are obviously not reading correctly. I may just stick a turkey thermometer in the oil after riding to see what I'm really at. The fans are sucking air like mad and the coolant seems to be flowing through when I take the cap off and look. It burps when I blip the throttle, the rads warm up, etc...

I'll go weed through some old threads of gauge conversion. May need to replace the temp sensor or something, but other than that, pretty soon I should be riding the snot out of this thing again.

 

You probably need a F4i temperature sensor then. (the small one on the thermostat housing with a single plug, not the larger one that goes to the ECU)

I hope you can just swap that.. Tweety did a CBR1000 cluster swap, so he might know.. I think it had a similar issue.

 

You wouldn't think that those colors would go well together, but your bike sure pulls it off! Looks freakin' awesome man! More pictures please

 

Glad I was able to help you out with the fans, Your bike is looking fantastic buddy, Great job!

 

Crux- it need a couple of things still before I want to take pics (tail light, for instance)... but I'll get a few angles here when I'm done.

Lazn, from what I can tell, both bikes use the same temperature sensor. At least on Ron Ayers. It has to be electrical. I went out for about 15 min yesterday, and the fans were blowing hot air from the rads, which I would think that would indicate that not only is coolant flowing, but rads are working as well. I'm gettting no real indication that it's running too hot, but don't really know what that would feel like anyway

 

Don't trust Ron Ayers, when swapping Yruyur's cluster we found that that sensor got changed from pre 01 to post 01 even though Ron Ayers said it was the same:
https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...40/#post213134

So you may just need a post 01 VTR sensor..

 

Great! I was looking at all the bikes it was compatible with and it started with like a 1985 VFR500, which was kind of strange. So, should I start with a post 01 VTR or a F4I? Both may work as they are sending to digital gauges. I may just go with which one Bob's salvage has on hand...

 

F4i of the same year as the cluster would be best if it will fit the thread on the VTR.

 

Thermosensor doesn't seem to be it. I am leaning toward bad or incorrectly installed thermostat. Gonna pee coolant all over the driveway again... then boil motorcycle parts. I'll probably make sure my water pump is working while I'm at it.