04 450 First time build

[Duzy]

Bought an 01 500 a while ago and instantly fell in love with the power but hated the handling. Found this site and did a bunch of reading and this is the result. An 04 450 I picked up for 700$ with the intent of building an AFC.
Quickly grabbed some 6061 stock from a local metal shop and got started.

.







Cut some triangle plates and drilled them for front and lower mounts then bent the lower ones to fit.
Used my table saw to cut 1.5 by 1.5" stock. made slugs to fill gaps. Cut down 1/2" on each end to slide into the existing tubes and rounded edges with a die grinder.
Used straight grinder to hog out the inside of the Y section and slightly grinded the front of the down tube till Y slid on about 1/2"



Cut a chunk of 3/4 plate and shaped it to form the shock tower. Then cut and bent two plates for the head stay. I only drilled the motor side of the plates and drilled the chunk that was to be welded.
once welded I bolted on side and shot spray paint through the mount onto the plate, then drilled out where painted. Then did the other. Only way I could think so everything would line up.




Once my buddy BABLE got everything was welded up I polished the whole thing with some mothers and a turbo ball. Might have been cheating but I don't have the patience for that! I'm a 27 year old poor guy... I just wanted to ride the damn thing!




Mounted the coil on head stay with notched and drilled towers.


Formed the tank with heat. Thanks Bob. Used 98 250 air boot. Thanks Danny.




Greased linkage, made exhaust mounts reassembled and pounded it till I was so gassed out I couldn't hang on any more. Handles incredible and first day out it was predictable and easy to ride. FAST is what you could call it.




Five tanks in and no cracks no vibes and nothing but smiles! Sorry about the long post but had to show people who would appreciate it. My friends are all Bitches and don't really care. I'm proud of it and glad I learned so much from this site.
Anybody see anything you would have done different?
Any questions? Glad to help anyone, least I can do for all the help I got from you guys.

[eyesky2002]

Looks good!!

[Rue]

Looks good!!

x2 build!!!

Sorry about the long post but had to show people who would appreciate it. My friends are all Bitches and don't really care. I'm proud of it and glad I learned so much from this site.

I know exactly what you mean, I catch myself talking about my build at work or to someone I know and how I want to do this or that to My 500AFC... and they could F'n care less but hey It's somthing we are all passionate about here and you should be proud of you build came out great!!!

[AlisoBob]

Lookin' Good!!!!

[nmdesertrider]

I get a kick out of seeing all the fabrication stuff people do.
Nice build!

[Duzy]

So probably ten tanks in of sort of hard riding zero crash's and no jumps to awful big I noticed two small cracks at the welds of the inserts. outside of lower ignition side and inside of upper pipe side. Zero tension on mounts when inserting motor. It fits snug but needs no prying or convincing to get motor in. The frame sprung a little bit when I cut it like it was maybe crashed pretty good. I don't know any history about the bike. When welding it all up I had to spread the cradle just about half to 3/4". Maybe the welds holding it there is what contributed to the cracks. IDK. I have read that welding aluminum makes it weak so if I just dig it out and re-weld and it happens again am I starting to chance it? I don't want to plate it at all so if my welder just hogs a good bead on them think will be ok or is this a bigger issue than I'm thinking. Maybe less let me know what you guys think.

[gregrobo]

every frame i have cut has popped about 3mm or 1/8th post some photos of the cracks did your welder have it hot were there any weld preps

[100hp honda]

every frame i have cut has popped about 3mm or 1/8th

im thinking they all do. mine did alittle

[gregrobo]

thats what i was getting at

[Duzy]

pipe is still on and camera is not great sorry. welder prob did get it hot IDK. My buddy welded it and is a fabricator for a large local company and I thought he did ok. We both knew he is no pro but couldn't beat the price. That is the larger one on ignition side. other is so small cant photo. Maybe just a weak bead? It is kinda small

[100hp honda]

im no welder but whats all the splatter ?

[AlisoBob]

Placing all the forces of the motor mount right on the butt weld is a bad design, right from the start.

[87CR500Rider]

im no welder but whats all the splatter ?

I was thinking the same thing. Did he Mig or Tig it?

[Duzy]

Its just dirt! I did ride it! Bob what r u saying cut it off or what? All the other welds are holding great. He used a tig and for prep work IDK. Just left him alone.... The mount extends below the weld and it zapped on the other side toward the motor the whole way.

[100hp honda]

i see the mud. but some looks like weld splatter but maybe not. at any rate you would be best off to have professional alloy welder examine it for proper way to fix it. or chase cracks every week

[Duzy]

Just upsets me all that work coming apart. Such a fun bike. Better to catch now than to blow into pieces right? Bob you were saying bad design. What should I have done? Not being smart just curious to alternative routes. Full cradle replacement, wider mounts (spread the load), ?????

[gregrobo]

full cradle on that model is a pain in the arse i just finished one the y piece is all wrong

[AlisoBob]

It should have 1 piece from the cradle to the "Y", not two.

[100hp honda]

think bob meant the mount is on the cradle insert weld ? and ya that makes sense, got a total of 3 pieces in the cradle. probly better to only have 2 maybe

[Duzy]

So pretty much what your saying is chop it all out? Anybody sell bent sections? Gregbo my Y section is all wrong? I'm willing to chop I guess, winter is almost here. Hunting season is at least.

[gregrobo]

1 piece is better

[Duzy]

Deep breath..... Ok does anybody know where to get the tube so I can bend them. I have a spare frame so I guess I can retry. I cut my inserts from solid 1.5 x 1.5. gregrobo what is the pain trying to get the tubes to twist right into the Y section? any advise is great. I want a reliable bike. Thought I was on to something there.

[gregrobo]

the pain is the size of the rhs to start with which is a odd size i changed ours to 1"x1" the next is the y piece 1 side of the y is bent tighter than the other and is a root to get right i spent a whole day and nearly a lenght of tube to get it right personly i would strip your frame make a jig to hold it sweet and prep you welds out from the photo your welder made some fundamental mistakes that arnt that hard to fix, time and patience mate because other than that you have a decent build

[Duzy]

thanks buddy. I was gonna take it to a welding shop but he talked the talk and I had faith. created a bunch more work for myself as a result. So take all the insert welds back down to a fresh start ur sayin? Not a big deal. Time to go talk to a pro welder I guess. At least I got to enjoy it for a while. Needs a rebuild anyway. Do it all right up this winter. Suspension motor, plastic, wheels, and other lil stuff. really was a lot of fun. Post some pictures of your rail replacement will ya? Like I said got a spare frame. It will give me a project for the snow.

[gregrobo]

take your mate to supervise the welding next time he looks mean ill have to take some photos of them for you we didnt take many of that build but it belongs to my cousin anyway