Well did I get the new engine fitted to the car? Did I ‘eck as like. I spent most of the day
clearing out an entire seasons worth of junk from the garage including the remaing bits of my previously killed ZX12r which the bloke at the dump was somewhat surprised to see arriving in his skip. I also transferred my tools back into into their winter storage in the garage where they are much more accessible than the paddock toolboxes and generally getting ready for the fettling ahead.
However I did manage to make a little progress on getting the engine ready to fit to the chassis. first job was to remove the OEM sump and dry fit the new one, this was primarily to give the engine a nice flat bottom so that it will sit up nicely while I’m positioning it in the car, and it allows it to sit nicely on my work bench. So I undid the bolts and was presented with my first view of a CBRs internals. You can also see in this picture that the new sump will save about an inch ll on the engine’s overall height.
Incidentally the CBR oil pump is clearly visible as the large hole in the center of the engine.
Next I set about identifying and mark the wiring and connectors on the engine, when it arrived it was pretty much as it came of the bike, and I find it is important to go around it, removing every part\connection individually and then label it appropriately. It’s really important to know where the sensors are, how the wires should be routed and so on. It’s all part of the important process of educating myself about this new engine.
So if you’ve never seen an undressed CRB1000 RR. I’ve added a few shots
These are simply incredibly compact units. Considering that that lump of Ali produces some 170 bhp, and includes the gearbox, it really is an incredible piece of engineering, with an all up weight of 65kg, actually I ought to sit it in the scales to check this.
When I’d finished stripping the ancilleries and unnecessary cables away it became apparent how incredibly clean this engine is, I was hard pushed to find any grot anywhere. No oil except where I’d spilled it, no discolouration and indeed none of that gritty road grime that normally coats any engine. It maybe that this lump has really done 1000 miles 
On this view you can clearly see the light alloy covers that cover the emission control air inlet sytem for the exhaust. This is going in a race car so I’ll not be using these, so the covers and the reed valves they contain will be removed just as soon as I work out how I’m going to block the holes to the exhausts.
On the side views you can see the two moounting holes either side of the bank of cylinders. These are tapped m12x1.25 which is a standard metric fine thread.
Accepted RGB wisdom is to tap these out to m12*1.75 which is the standard metric coarse thread, and much more easily available. In fact some guys just drill them 12mm and put a nut on the other side. So I tapped them to the larger M12 thread and wound in some long M12 bolts and a short section of box tubing on each side to that I could use my engine crane to hoist the engine and keep it in the correct orientation. Up until know I had been lifting it using the gearbox mounts and the engine only wants to lie on its back
During the initial inspection I noticed a few things.
- Mr Honda not only uses unique physical configuration connectors all over the wiring loom , but he helpfully colour codes them too, plus the colour codes are alse referenced in my workshop manual making identification a cinch the red one in the pic is crank angle sensor. Mr Kwak didn’t make life so easy.
- I can find no damage anywhere except for the merest scuff on the clutch cover.
- The engine really is incredibly clean, and this was further borne out by a squint in the sump and into the thermostrat housing. My old Kwaka lump had deposits in the water system and it was a 5 thousand mile engine
So five things to do a a result of today.
- Stick it on some scales
- Remove the termostat, I replaced it after taking this shot as it’s rubber edge acts as the mating seal for the thermo housing.
- Do a gearbox strip of the “cassette gearbox”, this is one of the major advantages of this engine, and it should allow a gearbox change in the paddock. I just don’t want the first time I do it to be in the paddock.
- Make some hoisting eyes for the side engine mounts for keeping in the paddock tool boxes
- Remove and block the exhaust air system holes.
Then once the engine bay is cleaned up, I can start the process of fitting it to the car.