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I bought this in June or July 2020, and all I've managed to do to it is an oil and filter change and the fork seals..
It's a one owner 20,000 mile bike on a 2003 plate. Looks ok doesn't it......All panniered up, runs and rides and is MOT'd for a few months.
BUT..................it has a few cosmetic issues, which I saw in the photos before I bought it, so thought nothing more of it until I got a closer look at things, then it was a case of oookay.........
Well it is now 19th December 2020 and I've finally started to deal with the cosmetic issues. Initially it was just have the engine cases off for a rub down and re-paint, do the wheels, new tyres, new brake pads, paint the swing arm and linkages and give it a fresh respray. You know, just bring it up to scratch for a one owner 20K mile bike.
But it hasn't quite gone like that............
It has become necessary to involve the services of the angle grinder
Exhaust hanger bolt. The nut had rounded on the inside of the frame, so off comes the head.....
Can't remember where this was but it'll get sorted when I come across it again. Strangely enough it's the only wiring horror that I came across......
This I think WAS the tilt sensor????? No idea why it's been cut
Pannier rack, rear sub-frame and end cans all off now. Bit of a mission, plenty of angle grinding work going on......
Underside of the fuel tank......that'll get addressed on the respray
Lovely air filter, plenty of protein left in those bugs
Time to get the back end out..........
WOOHOO
Half a bike :)
So, at this stage I stopped and had a think.
I'm halfway through the bike already, literally, half way through it, it's not going to take much more to ...........
The engine does need some cosmetic work all over in all reality, and the easiest way to do it is to have it out completely.
It's no good having a lovely looking top side if the underside is as ropey as hell.
So, decision made, it's all coming apart now, every last piece. I've decided on the full restoration.
That's dirty. More grease and oil than road dirt i think
The front is just as bad
This is getting worse
AND WORSE!!!
ooh, not good, not good at all
Ah well, the engine is out and on the bench, I can now start to deal with it's considerably badly corroded cosmetic looks.
I think the previous owner must have used some form of acidic cleaner on it and not washed it off properly.........
That looks suspiciously new.........
Well, that's it. Nothing left on it. Just need to cover the vin plate and it can go for powder coating.
Pile of parts all ready to be thrown into the car and taken for coating.
I'll keep the frame and swing arm in bright silver, all the rest will be satin black.
I'll have the tyres taken off on the way down there.
Time to have a go at this corrosion then. Once all the crap was cleaned off, it was apparent that the corrosion had gone too far for recovery.
It wasn't just a simple case of top up with chemical metal, it had seriously eaten away the metal, time for a replacement part then.
I did manage to find a good one, in Texas good 'ol USA.
That one sorted, time to move on to cleaning that lump of an engine.
Stuff the vital holes to keep the crap out, could be catastrophic otherwise, and get stuck in.
It's starting to clean up nicely methinks........
The engine took a good couple of days to get into all the little nooks and cranny's but it eventually came up nice and clean.
On to the next lot of parts then...................
Got some powdercoating back, frame and rear subframe. The rest has to be done again, not good enough.
And that's not me saying it, that's the powder coating bloke. Good man.......
Popped down to the paint shop, got MORE etch primer, and had him mix me up some VHT basecoat and satin lacquer
Got stuck in to painting the engine and covers. I really like the colour combination between the main block and the covers.
Well......the frame's back........so why not stick an engine in it.........
The good thing about this frame is that you can leave the engine on the ramp and offer the frame onto the engine and bolt it in place; then lift the complete assembly to a height of your choosing to carry on. Good innit............
Had a notion with the bolt heads to blue them the same as the body colour, but they looked too chavvy so I stuck with nickle instead.
More powder coating back, starting to look like a bike again.
Swingarm in with new bearings, rear subframe, rear shock and linkages, forks, yokes, new head bearings
Had a couple of days whilst waiting for parts for other jobs so cracked on with this.
Got the wheels in with new bearings and tyres (Bridgestone A40's), rear undertray, foot hangers, pedals, throttle bodies with the secondary butterflies removed, few other bits.
I put the front mudguard on to see the effect against the wheels and engine.
Tank turned out nice
Up to date now (12/04/2021)
Had another couple of days waiting for parts for other jobs.
Moved on a bit more. Loom in but not routed fully or secured yet. Exhaust blacked and fitted. Headlight unit and bars fitted.
Radiator and hoses in; This has been so long in the doing that I'd forgottoen how the hoses routed and where the thermostat housing even fitted. I had to look at the PDF for information.
Turns out the thermostat housing goes in between the engine V
It's getting there..................slowly......................
With the tank all looking nice now, it was prudent to have the fuel pump out and give it a clean and check over. Glad I did as the in tank filter was a bit dirty and there was some crud in the bottom of the pump housing. Cleared all that out so it'll be good for a while yet. And after testing the pump output and finding it was as specified in the pdf, back in it went.
And then the problems started..........
I'm glad in a way that the loom was only loosely in place because now I had a NO STARTING PROBLEM!!!!!!
At first I thought it was an earth that I hadn't connected properly, but no, I had sparks but no fire.........
Now bear in mind that this was a running and riding bike with only cosmetic problems, nothing mechanical or electrical wrong with it before I stripped it.
So I start to dig into it.
Injectors out........no spray pattern, not even a dribble. The test says they are getting power but they're not opening. Check the pick-up coils, great, readings are as they should be.
Test back to the ECU, all good, continuity is great. Test the Tip Over Sensor.........NOTHING! What the frell?
New TO sensor fitted (£68), grrr, STILL NO START!
Went through the tests again, and I'm getting readings that shouldn't be there. Now my head is fried like bacon..........
I'm finding open circuits, no continuity where there should be continuity and no earth's where there should be earths. So I have a major problem on my hands.
Decision made, I'll re-wire the signal circuits.
Proper colour coded wiring ordered
Right, so lets get stuck in...........
It took me the best part of 3 weeks on and off to trace and rewire all the signal cables and replace the pins in the multiplugs. And guess what........NO FIRE!!!!!!
So now my last guess was that the ECU itself had gone cattywampus.
I found one on that well known auction site with a seller that accepted returns if it didn't work
(then I would know I had a different problem altogether)
And lo and behold, WE HAVE FIRE........Oh joy and happiness abounds
Now I'm sitting there listening to that lovely thump of my V-Twin with remus end cans.........
After wrapping the loom up again and routing it properly I can continue to put the bodywork back on
So that's another job done and finished. It looks a little dirty in this photo, that's because I just got back from a Welsh weekend away with the lads.
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