The following was recently received from Andy McNight who purchased a
body kit for his 2000 Fireblade.
It is an unsolicited (honest!) account of his experiences fitting his
new kit. If you would like to contact Andy, click
here....
How does the old saying go...…"it does exactly what it says
on the tin" Bugger me, they were right.
Fitting the ARD Racing plastics to my 2000 blade was a piece
of cake. From start to finish I had the job done in 3 hours.
This is because the inherent rigidity in the plastics means they don't
flop about and they retain the marks of the original mount points as a
guide. They are also accurate replicas which means you don't get any of
the crap you usually associate with race plastics.
 |
Andy enjoying the fruits of his labours |
Tools 
You will need a drill and the usual assortment of Allen keys and spanners
to remove the existing kit.
My faring is a race one so the light, mirrors and everything road associated
were stripped off.
Belly Pan
I fitted the belly pan first so I had some reference points for the upper.
The belly pan comes pre drilled to line up
with the existing mount points. I widened the holes slightly with a countersink
bit to enable the stock fasteners to be used.
Total time to fit about 10 minutes.
Front Fender/Mudguard
Next I fitted the front mudguard. The holes in the moulding are apparent
and I drilled through to make use of the stock mount
points. Next I drilled through the top surface to bolt through
the brake line retaining p clips. I cut an M10 bolt, pushed it through
the hole and araldited the bolt head to the underside of the fender.
Time to fit 20 minutes allowing a little
time for the araldite to go off.
Upper Fairing
Top fairing next. This takes slightly longer as the fairing is not drilled
out anywhere. This is because you can use a number of different ways to
mount the plastics, how're ARD supposed to know your chosen method?
You can see the impressions of the mount point for the fairing brace/mirrors
and the screen. I drilled and counter bored these out. Fitting the screen
is a piece of cake. You need shorter bolts
to fit the fairing to the top brace, as the spigots on the brace pass
through the holes in the plastics. Your fixings pull the fairing flush
so use some washers to avoid splitting the resin and gel coat. I used
big cross head bolts and washers, easy to strip out and gives four good
mount points for the weight.
| Heading into the Mountain at Cadwell Park |
 |
Lower Fairing
The only bit that took the time was mounting the rear most fairing points,
by your knees. There are no visible marks as to where the holes should
be.
Get a lump of blue tack and push it to the inside of the fairing, where
the bracket will touch the inner fairing. Press on the outside and peel
away carefully. You now know where the centre point of the mounting bracket
is.
Put some tape over the outside of the fairing to avoid splitting and
drill through the blue tack. Repeat for the other side. I then used a
counter sink bit to open out the holes for the standard
fasteners.
Seat/Tail
The seat unit requires strength as it is so well
built!!
Pull the jaws apart and slide over the sub frame. You use the original
seat so no weight is applied directly to the single seat unit. I have
an under tray fitted so this ensures a snug fit.
I simply put two bolts through into the pre-drilled
holes in the seat unit and voila.
| Job done. |
 |
I can now change the bike from road to track day mode in under
Well, there it is folks, straight from the horse's mouth!
After 25 years of aiming for perfection, we really can't make it much
easier than this!
Not only does your bike look stunning, but an ARD body kit has got to be one of the easiest bodywork conversions your money
can buy!
