Winter Rehab on my 2002 blackbird

[shortbus]

Hey, bought this bike in July of 2011, had been dropped in a driveway. It had power commander 2, two bros slipon, a mystery 4 -2 - 1 exhaust system (please look at pictures and see if you can help me identify), chrome wheels, polished frame, cut undertail, and a couple other mods.




This winter is my first opportunity to really clean up the bird and do all the maintenance I've wanted to do since I bought it. It is my first bike and I've put about 6k on her. I want her to look pretty much pristine. All I did when I bought it was Michelin Pilot Powers and GN4





So far I have done:
Oil (GN4)

Oil Filter (K&N because of the nut on the end)

Spark Plugs (NGK IMR9A9H)

Air Filter (Stock Honda):


Coolant (Honda HP)

Sand clear coat and polish carbon fiber 2bros slipon as it was scratched and marked from the bike being dropped, it got three coats, gonna sand in a few days


Detail bike with plastics off

Removed rear wheel degreased entire rear swingarm, rear sprocket, and polished the chrome wheel.


polished my frame up to remove oxidation
polished the swingarm to remove oxidation

before:


after:


cleaned my chain with kerosene and lube it (little rust)



Painted stator and clutch cover as when the bike was dropped these got scratched. Went 2 coats high temp, 3 coats clear




New bar weights


HIDs





I also plan on doing:

Previous owner put on cheap ebay turn signals and cut the undertail, so I will be making his cut cleaner, filling in the turn signal holes,



and installing this:



New Plastics, I plan on going with ebay plastics:


Pyramid Seat cowl:

It came with the decals slightly bubbled, and a small paint imperfection, but it's a pain to send it back so whatever.


New Windscreen (Mine was imperfect):


Questions:

What Kind of exhaust is installed on the bike (I know the slipon is a 2bros but the actual headers to exhaust)?



How the hell should I go about fixing my undertail? I want to add a 1/4 inch to the bottom of where the last owner cut, fill in all the holes (including the turn signal holes) and make it look flat... ideas?



Anything else I should do or check or do differently? Any other ideas?

[mell0]

Pictures aren't working?

[shortbus]

images fixed (i think)

[mell0]

Yup! Thanks

[maxim_X]

Welcome to the forum. That's a hell of a first bike to pick up.

The headers are probably stock. Have you compared them to stock?

As far as the under tail you can probably find an OE piece on EBAY. But I don't know many ways to fix the plastic.

[shortbus]

Welcome to the forum. That's a hell of a first bike to pick up.

The headers are probably stock. Have you compared them to stock?

Stock is a dual exhaust, and looks way different... I'm hoping a blackbird expert will be able to help me figure out the brand.

as far as a first bike, I just had to understand what I was capable of, and not put myself in a position to do more than that. Others would say I got lucky.

[bstnsboy]

I dont know if you've tried here but these guys might have more answer's for you...good luck, nice ride. http://www.cbrxx.com/

[shortbus]

I dont know if you've tried here but these guys might have more answer's for you...good luck, nice ride. http://www.cbrxx.com/

thanks, yeah... I'm on there as tomfraser

hopefully it looks good when I'm done, I'm putting the work in lol

[hondarider102]

I think i met you one day in Lunenburg, i was on the Black and Maroon CBR600RR fighter!

[shortbus]

I think i met you one day in Lunenburg, i was on the Black and Maroon CBR600RR fighter!

yeah... that was a fun short ride lol

Once it's all together we'll have to go riding sometime, I got a couple friends I go to school with that ride, a 2007 zx6r, cbr600rr, an f4, etc.

You do anything new to your bike?

[hondarider102]

yeah... that was a fun short ride lol

Once it's all together we'll have to go riding sometime, I got a couple friends I go to school with that ride, a 2007 zx6r, cbr600rr, an f4, etc.

You do anything new to your bike?

not yet, i have some ideas for the winter but we shall see if i get around to it or not. ya def in the spring well have to get out and ride

[Rossco]

Sweet! Can't wait to see how this turns out!

[9secondsflat]

Nice job on the XX, they are fantastic machine. Honda started the wars back in 97 and while it no longer is the raging beast compared to the busa or 14r, it still is a terrific bike. I had a 97 xx,yosh rs3 4-2-1 carbon pipe, jetted by ACS racing and the bike made 143 rwhp. Back then it was fast compared to the other bikes, the one thing I still remember is how refined the bike was, smooooooth as glass on the highway.
The design and looks of the XX still make it look new by todays standards.

Good luck with your XX...your going to grow to love the bike.

[shortbus]

Already love it lol, I can't wait to get her back together, and then I'll be just as anxious for some warm weather

[scubasteveRR]

You will need to let me know how this holds up. Did you use a high heat clear coat? I have a similar two bro's exhaut and the carbon fiber has lost it's luster.

I was going to buy a can of High heat clear coat because I figured it still got too hot for regular clear coat paint?

Sand clear coat and polish carbon fiber 2bros slipon as it was scratched and marked from the bike being dropped, it got three coats, gonna sand in a few days

[shortbus]

Finally got motivated to get her back together



Some things I figured might help others out to know that I learned along the way...

Ebay plastics are great for the race bikes, do not buy them for bikes like this with lots of plastic... I ended up drilling my own holes, gluing nuts to the plastics as they were not threaded for fairing bolts, doing some plastic work to move brackets around, and just in general doing a lot of work to coax it into position. Some pieces did not fit so I was forced to use old ones.

The integrated turn signal was not a direct hookup, I had to wire it in a funny way that I've forgotten since I did it, but If anyone needs a howto just ask and I'll take her apart and look.

The ebay HID headlights are one of the best purchases I could have made... I can see EVERYTHING and the high beam lights up the entire highway.

So far the painting of the stator and clutch covers has held up nicely to heat, the two brothers exhaust carbon section looks good, but I sprayed the metal part which gets hot and this is turing a copper looking color... doesn't look bad but just a note.

After refreshing her coolant the bike runs 5 to 6 degrees colder, but I really want to test in the summer as the blackbird was running up to 230 then, which everyone said was normal.

I did notice that she was more happy (than I remember) to pick the front end up just from twisting the throttle after doing the plugs and air filter, I guess the old plugs were old and bad quality and putting in new expensive ones is the only reason I can fathom this

I will post more pictures when I get a chance, but I took a few below at some nice twisty, closed roads.

[SteveM]

Nice pic, Myles Standish, right?

[SRTie4k]

Looks good except for those HIDs. Please do oncoming traffic a favor and take them out, or paint the shroud and retro a projector. Using HIDs in halogen reflectors scatters the light everywhere and blinds oncoming traffic.

[shortbus]

Nice pic, Myles Standish, right?

yep, one of my favorite places to be (have a cottage in there).

as far as HIDs I'll have to look into what others have done see what my options are

[ZX11D]

Very nice. I have a 97 ZX 11 in silver but always wanted a blackbird so I`m a bit jealous. They were the "speed kings" that year and I think the Blackbird edged out the Ninja by a MPH or two back then. I`m up for a dyno drag if they have one this year at MN. Ha ha Good luck with her

[shortbus]

Very nice. I have a 97 ZX 11 in silver but always wanted a blackbird so I`m a bit jealous. They were the "speed kings" that year and I think the Blackbird edged out the Ninja by a MPH or two back then. I`m up for a dyno drag if they have one this year at MN. Ha ha Good luck with her

I'd love to see what the bird is putting down for power, hopefully I'll get her on some type of dyno this summer.

[CBR929RE]

threaded plastics don't they screw into brackets and well nuts?

[shortbus]

threaded plastics don't they screw into brackets and well nuts?

About half of them do... the bolts that connect the lower fairings to the front nose cone do not, they had a clip on the back that the bolt would thread into, the ebay plastics have no way of holding any clips

[CBR929RE]

About half of them do... the bolts that connect the lower fairings to the front nose cone do not, they had a clip on the back that the bolt would thread into, the ebay plastics have no way of holding any clips

gotcha. figured that's what the stock ones were like but didn't know about the ebay stuff.

[me109g4]

Nice looking bike. Looks very similar to my ZZR. My last bike purchase was a toss up between a blackbird and a ZZR1200 i got the ZZR, at the time i couldnt find a Blackbird to look at. Hope to see at MN sometime, I bring the ZZR or the KZ1000 most tuesdays. JT