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Pbnut's '09 track build

36K views 97 replies 25 participants last post by  pbnut  
#1 ·
Greetings forum! I'm Dan.

I bought my 2009 R6 while deployed to Afghanistan earlier this year. I bought it with the intention of converting it to a full time track bike. Parts buying began well before I got home. I had an '07 CBR 600RR a few years back, but never took the plunge into full time track duty. I sold that bike when I moved to North Dakota...

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Anyway, it was day 4 of being home and I just couldn't resist the urge to take the new bike for a spin to see what I was starting with. At this point I think it's important to note that I hadn't ridden any bikes in 7 months, and hadn't ridden a supersport in about 5 years.

I'm sure you can guess how it ends. I smacked a guardrail at about 35mph and fractured my left foot in 6 places.

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A quick surgery a week later and a month and half of healing and I'm almost good as new.

Temporary pins.

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So now that I'm healed (mostly), mobile, and working on the bike I figured it's time to start my own build thread.

Here's the blank canvas.

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7,940 miles on the clock. The only mods to it were Vortex levers (which I hate). Aside from that it appears to not have been maintained very well. Brake fluid was brown, chain/sprockets show no sign of ever having been cleaned, nothing has ever been taken apart by the looks of things, and oil was over filled.

No matter. I'm going through most of the bike anyway. I'll fix as I go.

Damaged canvas.

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Mostly cosmetic. After hitting the guardrail on the left side it played pinball and ran across the road and hit the right side snapping the clip-on. Radiator end caps are dented and the upper mounts are bent. I'll bend them back.

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The biggest bummer for me was that I couldn't sell the stock bodywork and recoup a few bucks. I threw away almost all of it.

Time to get to work.
Crash protection for when that day inevitably comes (again).

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PCV w/ Autotune purchased from a member here. That was fun to install... I did the speed input for individual gear maps, as well as the coolant temp input just because I could.

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Being that this bike will never ride on the street again (at least so long as I own it) I saw no reason to keep provisions for headlights so I stripped the forward wiring harness down.

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I've been a fan of SS lines since the first time I used some and have had them on every bike since. I picked up a set of Fren Tubo's from a member here who sold his bike before installing.

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Today's work was completing the keyless ignition.

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There's still plenty to do, and I've got more parts on order. Most recent order consisted of:
Motion Pro throttle
Block off plates
Keyless gas cap

Still have Armour bodies in a box ready to be installed.

On the shopping list:
Clip-ons
Rearsets
Windscreen (who makes the race model without the tabs and where can I get it?)
 
#7 ·
Fridays are good days to get work done on the bike. I currently work 11pm to 8am so instead of coming home and going to bed like I do the rest of the week I stay up all day Friday. The lady is at work so I'm free to do as I please, guilt free.
Last Friday I managed to get the radiator off, bent back into shape (mostly) and cleaned it up. I removed all the foam around the edges of it. Does anyone keep the foam? Does it even matter with track bodywork?

Got another batch of parts in this week. Here's most of the resulting work:

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Much better. Driven plates. Now the Autotune will read correct AFR's.

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Motion Pro throttle! It was kind of tricky getting that thing in there and the cables routed...

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Keyless conversion is complete!

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And finally a Cox radiator guard.

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#10 ·
Got a package in the mail Friday.

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Installed it today. It sounds mean! The motor revs so free now. I'm impressed.

It's no Graves or Akropovic, but it's what I could afford at this point. Chain and sprockets, and battery are on the way. With any luck the bike will be operable this weekend.

Still need to finish fitting the lower fairing, and then decide what to do about paint...
 
#12 · (Edited)
While that is a nice scheme I've got other plans. I'm not spending an arm and a leg on the paint job when I'm sure it'll be ruined one day. Nice paint jobs are pavement magnets... :jacked I'm going the spray bomb route.

I started prepping the tail section today. I sanded a bit, dusted with primer, sanded again, and re-dusted. I'll get some paint and tack rags in the coming days so I can paint the tail. It's more or less the guinea pig. :mrgreen:

Chain/sprockets/battery will be in Friday.

Funny video by the way.
 
#13 ·
Progress.

Driven sprockets arrived. Went -1, stock (15/45), with a DID ERV3 chain.
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Got my Ballistic battery installed too. I used the foam from the box it came in to make a nice home for it.
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The original battery strap is nowhere to be found (must have been lost by original owner), but I don't see that little guy going anywhere.

The bike is actually ride-able now. Now that the chain/sprockets are installed I had a chance to get the PCV calibrated for gears/speed and temperature input and set up the individual gear maps.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I forgot about this.

Two weeks ago I took it to our local track, which is actually a kart track. It's tight, and slow, but it gave me a chance to ride so I took it.

Here's how she looked before heading out:

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I was pretty nervous getting back on, but I took it slow and it went well. No crashes. I'm a bit more comfortable on it now too.

Areas identified for improvement:
Brake fade... Got some better fluid to try.
Need some rearsets.
Need some tank grips, but first,
Need some tank armor
And I need the ECU flashed to help with the herky jerky throttle off idle.

As for the paint, meh. Once it was running I quickly lost motivation to continue painting. There's that, and I'm short on moola at the moment.
Heading to Arroyo Seco Raceway next weekend (the 8th) to get some more tracktime, and this time with some extra speed.
 
#15 ·
It's been a while since I've posted an update.

I went to Arroyo Seco Raceway on the 8th. Arroyo is much faster than the little track here in Tucson. I was able to get a knee down with some regularity. The comfort level is coming back.

When I got back I did some more maintenance. Cleaned the brakes real well (pistons, calipers, etc.) since I'm still chasing some brake fade, and changed the fork oil.

Like my graduated cylinders? :flex:
New oil on the left, old oil on the right. I assume it's original oil from the factory.

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Picked up some captured wheel spacers from Fast Frank Racing for both wheels to facilitate easier wheel changes.

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Tank armor is pre-ordered. Once that's in I can get some tank grips. Then its rearsets. Too many parts... not enough $$$.
 
#16 ·
Picked up some captured wheel spacers from Fast Frank Racing for both wheels to facilitate easier wheel changes.

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Tank armor is pre-ordered. Once that's in I can get some tank grips. Then its rearsets. Too many parts... not enough $$$.
Nice, I need to pick up one set for the stock wheels
 
#17 ·
Got some more goods in and got my tank fixed.

Tank was dented when by a fellow racer who borrowed it. I got a free wheel as a quasi payment for it. Got the dent filled at a local body shop and then put my ETI armor on.

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I also got my Woodcraft rearsets in.

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No more busted rearsets for this guy.

I just picked up some plasti-dip. I'm trying to get some red on there since the bodywork has gone untouched since the first round of black and white.
 
#20 ·
Haven't updated in some time. Not a lot happened for a while to be honest.

The last trip to the track ended on lap 3 of the day. My buddy locked the front tire on a cold day, tucked the front, shattered his collar bone, and his bike slammed into the back of mine. It left a pretty gnarly couple of dents in my rear wheel so I've been down for a while, bike wise. I rode away actually, injury free. Him and his bike on the other hand... When it hit my tire it lifted his bike into the air causing it flip. Lots. It was totaled.

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Anyways, I always wanted some colored wheels. I had another set of wheels on standby so off to the powdercoater they went.

Here's the completed front wheel:
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#27 · (Edited)
Thanks! It's going to get a face lift eventually though, once I find the time to paint it properly.

Nice build.

How do you like the MotionPro QT throttle? I just installed mine a few weeks ago and hit the track for the first time with it on recently. I routed mine in the stock position, however. I might switch it up and route the cables so they are up top rather than on the bottom.
The throttle is nice, for sure. Routing really is a pain though. Stock position was not an option for me since the brake connection was completely in the way. I'm going to have to re-asses that setup as I've noticed some chaffing of my cables where they pass by the steering stem.


Following up on my outing at Arroyo Seco this weekend, it went well. The lack of a seat pad was a pain in the ass........ get it?

I'm still not impressed with the brakes. Fade is pretty much eliminated after a thorough cleaning of the pistons and fluid change. I just don't care for all the travel in the lever. Maybe I'd prefer a larger master cylinder bore.

The flash from Ant at Bauce Racing is nice. The bike sounds mean. Lots of burbles and rumbles at lower rpm's while decelerating. I elected for only a slight reduction in engine braking, and it was only apparent to me when I missed a downshift and took a slower corner at too low an rpm. On/off throttle transition is much improved though, and that was my biggest complaint.
 
#31 ·
Cool. CCS doesn't care either, but WERA does. Same reason I still run DOT's instead of slicks. The nice part about running DOT's is that I can always sell the take offs to street riders.

I'll let you be the guinea pig. Let me know if there's a difference. :D