BannedCR500Riders.com

Hey Guy's,

Well it's time to bite the bullet and tear my baby apart! Ive just picked up 03 CRF 450 frame and its on now!!

My first question starts here, and yes I have read every page on here untill im confused!!! Most of the 450s i have seen use a filler in between the "Y" on this year. Has anyone cut the "Y" out and bent new down tubes? I have a local here that say's he can match up the bends, even after I rase the "Y". So should I trust him and go ahead and cut my "Y" completly out and the down tubes or should I just go with the cutting it out and filling back in the removed,raised section?

Damn, Am I really getting ready to do this!!!!

Starting out with this. 2000...

do it aussie style replace the whole craddle and have no joins in the tube its easier in the long run and looks the part and there are heaps of builds on here with full cradle builds shaggys 2 builds for a start were 450s mine were crf 250 and a 01 cr 250 and countless more good luck

good luck finding rectangular tubing. It is .75" X 1.2" to be exact.

I just finished mine the other day- just regular bar stock.

Don't put the Y too far up- just far enough to kiss the weld on the radiator brakcet.
Forget about making a head stay using the 450 stay mounts, it doesn't work.
Just weld a block on the back and use 125 or 250 brackets.

nmdesertrider wrote: Forget about making a head stay using the 450 stay mounts, it doesn't work.

Works just fine on my build!

How many hours do you have on the bike?
My bracket fell apart after 100 hours and was nothing but trouble after that.

It was about 30 minutes to shape a template out of a piece of cardboard and cut out a block- bracket was much more fabrication and vibrated more.

2 years, 5 days a week, 3 + hours a day and 4 races each year! Holding up NICE

Does this look right? Does the Y need to be moved up higher?

Throw the motor in, and find out....

AlisoBob wrote:Throw the motor in, and find out....

ya what he said . the key is to put it where ever you want, not necesarilly where everyone elses is

Cut the weld on the bottom of that left radiator mount and raise the top of the Y just over where that weld was. About 3/8-1/2" more looking at your pic. That will give you just enough room to get the top exhaust springs on, otherwise you'll have to carve out a good chunk of the right bottom frame rail to clock the motor down in the front.

Mine was a short rod you need to go a c-hair higher.
The reason to go low as possible is that you start hitting the angle on the top piece and you will have to grind the piss out of it. It is hard getting a nice square fit.

I don't make suggestions without a reason.

KE 336 wrote:Cut the weld on the bottom of that left radiator mount and raise the top of the Y just over where that weld was. About 3/8-1/2" more looking at your pic. That will give you just enough room to get the top exhaust springs on, otherwise you'll have to carve out a good chunk of the right bottom frame rail to clock the motor down in the front.

Yep sounds about right.... But before you go to high, hack that mount off the back of the Y and put the motor in to verify you exhaust manifold position and engine angle!

nmdesertrider wrote:Mine was a short rod you need to go a c-hair higher.
The reason to go low as possible is that you start hitting the angle on the top piece and you will have to grind the piss out of it. It is hard getting a nice square fit.

I don't make suggestions without a reason.

Indeed. Getting the Y to fit just right probably took me the longest time of anything using a hand file. Problem is the inside of Y tapers inward and the downtube starts tapering out(fatter) in the back.

Got a little bit done over the weekend..Motors out of the 500..



Test Fitting


More to come...Waiting on some parts now...