It’s been a while, work, holidays then a serious dose of flu have kept me out of the garage until recently. Top part of the engine has been painted with POR15 (I’ll do the bottom once the stands are out of the way), once that dried I re-fitted the newly painted swing arm and the rear wheel with its new bearings. The swing arm bearings were fine, so I repacked with grease. This allowed me to use the rear wheel to turn the engine to line things up and change the belts and tensioner bearings, then check the valve clearances. Relitively simple once I got my head around the process, clearances were all in tolerance thankfully! Then last night I put the engine back into the frame, it would have been simpler with two people but I got there in the end. The worst part was reattaching the rear suspension linkage as its pretty tight and didn’t want to go, I ended up unscrewing the adjuster and tapping it into the swing arm, then screwing the adjuster back in. Next step is painting the rest of the engine, and making a decision about the fairings I’d like.
Looking good. A question. Did you just brush the oxidation off the engine finning, rocker covers etc and then apply POR15 or where they vapour blasted? They’ve come up really well.
The POR15 is brush on, I used the small sanding drum on the dremel for most of the corrosion removal as well as a vareity of small files and a wire brush to get into the fins. It is time consuming, but I just worked my way along doing a small area at a time then moving to the next bit. I'd have liked to get the cases vapour blasted but that's realistically a total strip down and the engine was running well, so this is a cosmetic tidy up. I went for POR15 as it's got a good rep, and is properly tough once hardened. Once the bare metal is sanded it needs some etch prime metal prep to be applied then washed off. If you don't do the etch prime bit the paint doesn't stick to the aluminium for long (some bitter experience here). It's brush on so there are some marks that I'll do a light sand to remove once the paint is cured with something like 1200 grit. Just enough to tidy it up without removing anything. The swingarm is spray painted using U-POL paints, they come in high pressure cans with a decent spray pattern. It's actually wheel paint so is pretty tough and you can get a good finish so I've been using it on everything for a couple of years now.
With the engine back in I've got access to the sump and bottom of the front cylinder for paint, but it's currently -5 (which is just too cold for painting, even with the fan heater) so I've prepped the area and had a look at other things. I'll need to move the battery under the seat, so I've stripped the loom at the battery end. The only wires I'll need to adjust are the ones running to the Rectifier. Anyone know what amperage cables I'll need to extend these? I did look at putting it under the seat beside the shock but I don't think it would have enough airflow there. I had also intended to replace all the engine hoses, but a good clean up and heavy dose of looking at shows that they're actually in decent condition with no weak spots, so I've bought new stainless clips and I'll re-use. The new braided brake and clutch lines have also arrived so I'l get the brakes off and cleaned up at some point too.
This was after jetwashing off all of the loose crap and paint, but before really going for it with the dremel and files. As you can see it was pretty crusty!
Yeah, it's a little brighter than the Ducati silver, but as the whole thing is getting done it won't make any difference. It's also loads better than it was!
Now working my way through the wiring, as my battery will live under the seat rather than in the usual location I’ve extended the cables to the positive battery terminal, main fuse and starter solenoid. Now doing the negative side, I’m going to connect the 5 existing earths to one battery cable under the tank and run it back, rather than run all 5 cables back to one clamp. I did have a moment of doubt about going this way but if they’re all connected to the one crimp on the battery it’ll make no difference having them connected to a single wire further down.
On the upside I ordered all the new fairings and supports last night. They’re the penultimate big bill before paint. I’ll cut out the big wiring connector at the front fairing support and solder the wires once the new brackets arrive and I know the lengths. It’s pretty green underneath and looks like it’ll cause issues later on.
Well that’s the battery wiring modified to go under the seat and the loom re-wrapped. I decided to refit the throttle bodies and air box now that they’re not in the way for wiring. If I ever meet the designer of the air box I’d like to shake them warmly by the throat! There’s no reason for it to be that awkward to get back in. Eventually took off the lower air box rubber, wiggled it into place between the air box and throttle body then used thin wire wrapped around the end of it pulled through the hole in the air box to seat the seal. Think I’ll be fitting pods next time! It’s still pretty cold (-7 at night) so painting the lower engine will have to wait, and the paint shop still have my other side case and mudguard. I’ll chase them up this week so I can fit the coolant hoses etc. I’ve either forgotten to order the air and oil filters, or put them somewhere safe so I’ll get more of them sorted out too. Next job is probably the brakes. I’ve got braided hoses to fit all round so will clean out the callipers as I go.
Irritatingly work keeps getting in the way! Lower engine now painted, finally got the engine case and front mudguard back from the painters so the engine is back together. Exhaust is back on too. Changing the oil filter was a pain because it was quite corroded and the filter tool wouldn’t grip, I managed to solve this by wrapping it in tape then hammering the tool on, brute force wins against again! The seat unit I bought from ebay hasn’t arrived (but did get refunded) and I’m still waiting for bodywork to arrive. Once the new brackets etc get here I’ll be able to see how high the bars need to be (so I can order the right clip ons) and make more adjustments to the wiring.
One thing I did notice was the clutch now won’t pull in, as I’m changing the line to braided hose (to match the brakes) I’ve swapped it all over then left it dry for just now until I get the new bars and see what angle is required, rather than setting it all up now then having to take it apart to change the angle or routing of the hose.
Some more progress, the fairings and supports have arrived! The seat support won’t work as is because I don’t want to cut the frame and will be using a 998R (copy) unit. Bars are a bit lower! Very rough idea of where things are going, the front fairing needs some more work as it’s not what you’d call high quality. My fiberglassing skills will be getting woken up after about 25 years. Brackets to fabricate for the seat, I’ve ordered a single seat pad and will see how it all sits before making up the bracket to suit. The lower fairing parts (go back to the tank) need attaching too, I’ll do that once I’ve drilled and modified the hole for the screen as it’s not right.
That’s the other parts of the fairing attached securely using fibreglass on the inside and epoxied blocks into small pockets on the outside. I’ll need to build up pads for the supports to attach to as they’re a bit far away just now, laminated ply will do for this. Once they're shaped to suit the fairing I’ll epoxy them in place (inside the fairing, beside the front of the tank) as they’re spacers rather than supports. Drilling the screen holes was a bit stressful, not sure I’ve measured anything that much ever! No straight edges wasn’t helpful. Seat support to do once the fairing is complete. The one I’ve got won’t work as it’s miles too high, think I’ve got a plan though.
