Sports tourer is what they called this bike but the suspension is so lazy it its hard to see where the sports part comes in.... im not knocking the oem shock completely, it is a nice standard shock for touring on and mine has lasted 50,000 miles!!! but now it has finally given up and packed its bag ready for the scrapyard!
For my transformation of making a sportsbike, i want a rear shock with a bit more tuning options, the abilty to control the compresion and rebound would be nice!
The choice of shock replacement is a oem shock taken from a honda 929! these shocks are made by showa, they have tunable compression and rebound and fits straight into the vfr, with the exception that the 929 shock is 35mm shorter in length than the standard vfr shock.
To the left, the 50,000 miles on the clock vfr800 stock shock, and on the rite the replacment 929 shock lookin in much better condition!!
Ok so here is the bracket which attaches the the shock at the top to the frame, my idea to make the 929 shock fit exactly how the vfr shock did is to simply make up the difference in length (35mm) by modifying this bracket using a longer bolt and adding a solid washer.
So here is said modified bracket! the old bolt was dilled out and a 35mm longer one replaced it, welded in place. Using a die, new thread was given to the bolt the the right depth as the old one had. And then a 35mm billet high tensile aluminium buffer/washer was added to make up the height difference in the shocks.
New shock in place, and sit nicely and safely out of the way of the exhaust downpipes.
New Stance: Ride height adjusted, compression and rebound set! :)
man that is awesome,thank you so much you just saved me about $450 cause I was gonna have someone build this for me but I thought it was more dificult lol.can u email me and let me know where you got the aluminum billet/washer and how you did the die.I would really appreciate it.Thank you hollenbeck_josh@yahoo.com
ReplyDeletehiya buddy, yea this is really easy to do, no point paying sum1 else to do it! i just purchased the aluminium billet from a metal exchange for the little bit i needed, dirt cheap. then just pillar drilled through it, or alternatively u could put it on a lathe, which ever u have access to. then i just used a grinder and drill to take out the old stud... then welded a new longer unthreaded stud in its place. ive got a die kit and thats how i put the thread on to what i needed but im sure any small engineer company could do this for you cheaply. job done. its worth noting that alteration to the battery position and undertray will need to be modified as the oil cylinder for the 929 shock will hit as standard. hope this helps
Deletewhat size bolt did u use cause I got a 10x90 wich is 35mm longer than bracket bolt and it seems too short,and how did you adjust ride hieght?
ReplyDeleteOff the top of my head i cant remember the bolt size i used. the 10mm sounds rite for the bore. The length of the washer i made was 35mm so the length of the bolt would have to be 35mm longer than the original. like i say i cant remember off the top of my head what this length would be or the length of the original bolt. aslong as you increase the length of the bolt by what ever length u make your washer, it will work. you could make your washer even longer depending on the stance you want to get. i like the original, hence why i tried to match the height to the original. adjusting the ride height: you start with how long you make your washer as the base height. then use the G shaped shock tool to increase or decrease the ride height of the shock. also there's a nifty trick of rotating the rocker in the suspension linkage to give varying heights but i havent tried this out (heres a link to people who have if you wanted to give it a try: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/10853-lower-a-gen-5-for-free/?hl=lower+VFR)
ReplyDeleteOk so I had a guy from work make me a 1 peice bracket like my OEM one and I went to put it on but it wouldn't fit without my swingarm lowered, so I took it out and measured it and re measured it and it's dead on as far as demensions,the only way I could get it in was the oil reservoir facing the front, so do you have any advice, and I'm sorry in advance if I'm bugging you lol, thank you
ReplyDeleteHi mate, hmmm interesting, i dont know why this isnt working for you... is your bike a fuel injection model (pre vtec)? To fit any new shock it makes it so much easier to jack the bike up and lower the swingarm. You dont have any after market suspension linkages on your bike do you? - these might be different dimensions, making it a different fit!? if not that, what is actually restricting the oil reservoir from facing backwards? if the undertray is the problem then all i can suggest it modifying the undertray so the shock can fit... when fitting the shock on my bike, i removed the rear end completely, taking off the rear subframe, making it much easier to get access to fitting the shock. message me back how u get on, its nice to see someone taking on this project :)
DeleteI was just taking off the wheel and exhaust to do it,and I put it in where the oil reservior is over ehaust not under the undertray,she's getting here custom paint job now so the guy said while they finish paint job I can work on it in there garage,so I'm gonna turn it around where it under undertray.only problem is I wish I knew how you did undertray lol,oh and yeah it's pre v-tech its a 01.I rode it the way it was after I got it on and loved it,I just dont like the swingarm being so low cause it's real low now the wheel was bareley touching ground on center stand when i put it back together lol.oh and btw I love that job you did with taking off chain gaurd and showing swingarm off,that's my next poject lol :)
ReplyDeleteOk Andy I got it, I just cut a little off the under tray that was blocking it, but I did have to turn the plates and I'm back to OEM height. :) thanks bro
ReplyDeleteHey josh, sos for the late reply, been pretty busy lately (not on the bike unfortunately). so how did the paint job go? just an idea, how do u feel about taking ur center stand off? i got rid of mine along time ago, its really heavy and ive had it scraping the ground while gettin my knee down under full compression, just a thought, but if u did, make it the last thing u do as it is quite handy for all maintenance stuff. Ah nice work getting the shock to fit, r u just going to fibreglass up what u cut out of the undertray? i did upload how i made my undertray a little while ago. keep me updated with ur project mate.
DeleteHiya Jade,
ReplyDeleteerm i did this mod quite awhile ago now so cant remember the finer details but this mod is really simple.
yes you are right that grade 8 steel was used for the bolt. d=10mm l=cannot remember the total length sorry but i just made the length 35mm longer than the standard length. As for the thread pitch yea i did used a 1.5mm but this doesnt matter along as u chose the caorrect pitch for the nut your going to use with it (as the bolt doesnt tighten into the frame).
if your doing this mod you can always use different length bolts and washers/buffers depending on the standard base ride height u want.
sorry i cant remember to total length of the bolt for ya, but hope this has been of some help to ya.
happy modding, andy
I could do with knowing what you did to undertray as now im stuck
ReplyDelete