[The_castle]

I have found a rather sad looking F4.
It is now in New Zealand (ex Japan) and I inspected it yesterday.
I am maybe getting a little ahead of myself by sharing this with our forum but I think I will buy it and restore it.

I want to get it back to its former factory condition. I am sure I will need your help along the way as I try and get her back to close as I can to a factory condition.
Thankfully I have, over many years, managed to purchase the vast majority of the parts this particular bike needs.

My first "thanks" goes to Melanie for once again allowing me to take this project on.
Secondly, I need to again thank Ed Eskew for assisting with the shipping of some of these parts to New Zealand over many years.
Thanks also to this thread for some of the inspiration....

Rebuilt from a puzzle - F4 1000R - 1st Gen. from 2007

Hello guys like written in my other post https://www.mvagusta.net/threads/new-member-introduction-21-11-2022.255852/#post-2697220 i bought a F4 1000R from 2007 which was a 3d puzzle for grown ups. In this tread i will keep you updatet how it goes on. My starting point with the bike looked...

www.mvagusta.net

... which is a fascinating read.

Starting point (pictures taken while bike was in Japan):

Parts in stock:

The fairings and mirrors above were purchased from forum member Brandon Harris back in 2008.

There are dozens of smaller parts that this bike will need. I think I have most of them but I have no doubt that I will be calling on the forum to help source additional components over the coming weeks and months.

I have never taken on such a restoration / rebuild before but I know that we have the expertise on this site to recover this MV Agusta.
Thanks also for your help in advance.

Ciao,
Dave.

 

[silentservice703]

Cool Dave! Quite the mish-mash of parts there!

 

[esq'z me]

Tally-ho Dave !!!! Looks to be reasonable condition. Here to assist where possible. (did the box arrive yet??)

 

[The_castle]

Hi Ed.
Looking at the tracking info, it seems it should be here on Wednesday of next week.
That's a bit faster than I expected.
As always, I appreciate the offer of help.

 

[The_castle]

Cool Dave! Quite the mish-mash of parts there!

Hi Chuck!
You're not wrong there.
I suspect that the bike has has had at least one tip over but there is no evidence of that on the trellis frame or frame sideplates.
There are multiple signs of a ham fisted attempt to get the bike roadworthy again.
Some really interesting cosmetic repairs have been done that I will post up as well.
I have committed to purchase the bike.
The bike was delivered by a fellow MV enthusiast (Tanguy and his partner Julia) yesterday afternoon. This was all organised at very short notice. I am very appreciative of their efforts to do so.

 

[silentservice703]

I'm stoked for you! Looking forward to following the project and helping where I can.

 

[Pablotv]

Call that a 2023 project

 

[slowpoke]

Nice find. I enjoy watching restoration projects.

@The_castle you should fly @esq'z me over to your place to help you with the project. He's always wanted to visit NZ. 😆

 

[silentservice703]

Nice find. I enjoy watching restoration projects.

@The_castle you should fly @esq'z me over to your place to help you with the project. He's always wanted to visit NZ. 😆

Ha! He and I spent several weeks in NZ at The Castle of The_castle....epic times!

 

[The_castle]

Yes indeed.
Here's the big fella down in the South Island.

 

[EBBO]

Ha zoom in on the read.

 

[slowpoke]

Beautiful view. 😍

 

[The_castle]

I have started working on the bike but before that, I had a chance to view the bike while it was still at the importers premises. I snapped some pictures trying to show some of the issues that will require addressing.

Toll road tracking system to be removed from the loom:

I would put a highlighting box around this horrible interpretation of a racing stripe but I think you see the issue. Thankfully this is tape.

Both the upper and lower radiators have dents in them.

Wobbly Italian themed rim tape. I mean come on mate - don't apply rim tape after the annual office party.
In fact, don't apply rim tape - even when you're sober. In case you're asking, and you're probably not asking, my opinion on rim tape is that the only acceptable rim tape is applied at the factory where trained rim tape specialists know what a bloody circle is.

Incredibly well made rearsets that will be coming off. The mantra here is she's going back to factory spec. Please also note the beginnings of the largest rear hugger on the bloody planet.

Interesting brake and clutch levers.
Very well made but they will be be replaced.
It has Motocorse bar end weights but these are lightly scratched and my obsessive compulsive disorder (which is barely held in check by my attention deficit disorder) will not allow them to stay on the bike like that. The blue tape is a misguided attempt to seal a very large hole or crack in the RHS air intake.

Aluminium coolant line is slightly misshapen.

No comment.

This bike has a Japanese market ECU with the part number 8F00A9389. I am sure as I can be that there are two countries that had somewhat restricted mapping to allow for something like 100 HP. That was France and Japan. As you can see this particular ECU has 1078 JAP printed to the right of the part number. I have looked up that part number and this is the Japanese domestic market ECU for a 1078 F4 1000RR. Interestingly, the bike also comes with a Motocorse 312R ECU.

As for the fairings - the only undamaged one is the LHS panel. The front cowling is missing. The red front cowling that came with the bike is a fibreglass replica. The screen was in pretty good shape. Other than that, the rest of the fairings are not recoverable.

Yesterday's progress was slow and steady. I will take some pics this morning and post them up so you can see how she is coming along.

Ciao,
Dave.

 

[The_castle]

Nice find. I enjoy watching restoration projects.

@The_castle you should fly @esq'z me over to your place to help you with the project. He's always wanted to visit NZ. 😆

He had a good time.

 

[The_castle]

Exciting progress!
Maybe I am overstating that a bit.

The very convoluted toll road system has been removed!

I mean, come on Japan - call me old fashioned but, if you have to have a toll road, what was wrong with these things?

 

[The_castle]

Day two progress.

Let's do it like a click bait YouTube clip.

Home Mechanic DESTROYS WIFE'S BEST TEA TOWEL & USES INDUCTION COOK TOP TO REMOVE HUB BEARING. INSANE!

Thumbnail:

Today was all about the rear hub / rear brakes / sprocket.

Removed the items below and put them on Melanie's best tea towel.
A few points of interest.
The hub pinch bolts were tightened to approximately 80 Nm. It took an extension to my trusty Koken strong bar to loosen them.
The hub bearing felt a little rough. This is not surprising as the hub was almost certainly out of round at those extremely high bolt torque loads.

Parts disassembled and cleaned.

The old "Heat the MV Agusta hub up on the induction cooktop to allow for easy removal of the bearing" trick.

Old and new hub bearing. That's the new one on the right. I am too old to put up a smiley faced emoji.

Not much to see from the days labours but it is good to know that the hub is serviced and everything back there is as clean as I can get it.
Pinch bolts are not yet installed. The sprocket side 55 mm nut clip was installed after that picture was taken.

 

[EBBO]

Looking good. How does the sprocket look? Those Cush rubbers gotta go. Too old. How about the chain? The grease/rubber must be done by now. While it’s all apart now is the time to change out if need be. How about the disk?

 

[ericfreeman]

I have a new, unused belly pan in Anthracite Grey that I bought as a spare in case I couldn't repair the silver one on my 2007 F4R in red/silver. I imagine shipping to New Zealand would be very expensive but if you can't find an alternative, it's for sale.

Eric

 

[The_castle]

Hi Eric.
Turns out I have the belly pan but didn't add it to the picture at the top of the thread. I just noticed that now. The belly pan that came with the damaged bike could, and probably will, be repainted as it has a few minor scratches.
I appreciate the offer to help - it is what makes this forum a good place to be. Sorry for any confusion.
You are correct that shipping, especially to a remote location like New Zealand, is very expensive. Out of interest I looked up the 2008 price I paid to ship the complete set of fairings from California to NZ.
$447 USD.
I would think it would be easily double that now.

My best guess for a well packaged F4 belly pan would be $250 with USPS.

 

[The_castle]

Looking good. How does the sprocket look? Those Cush rubbers gotta go. Too old. How about the chain? The grease/rubber must be done by now. While it’s all apart now is the time to change out if need be. How about the disk?

Good questions.
Upon inspection, everything looks as good as could be expected, including the cush drives (silent blocks).

You will be aware that the OEM 525 pitch chain and sprocket set is built pretty tough. I will give it a thorough clean and lube then decide how it is looking. I have a DID ERV3 520 pitch chain & sprocket set if required.
The rear brake pads are nearing their wear limit. I have a set of those too.
The rear disc came in at 5.95 mm in width. The manual has the minimum width as 5.7 mm.

Ciao my friend.