Had a 2001 R6 come into the shop as a 'get running' job plus fork seals. I was eager to get into it, but I had an 08 GSXR1000 to fix that was totally kicking my arse. Spent most of the week on it. The fuel pump was cactus and strainer was toast, it's a fiddly unit to assemble and I made some mistakes that I had to go back and correct. With the pump and tank sorted, it would not rev above 8-9k so the secondary injectors were not happy. Plugged the secondaries into the the main injector harness plugs to trick the bike into making them do all the work for fuel from startup to 8-9k. Unblocked them. Reassemble and ride, all good til I have it a big rev in neutral (because doing max rpm in 1st is still stupid fast) and it started missing. Pulled and serviced + back flushed all the injectors with motion pro tool to no avail. Fuel pump starts letting fuel out the outlet with the line disconnected. Big mess. It's all sorted now, problem was a dud spark plug on #2, verified after swapping ignition coils and injectors with no success. Ridden and running alright but a bit jittery at high rpm - needs a proper injector service done by the right people. Finally got onto the R6 - rebuilt the carbs with a service kit so all new brass bits float needles etc as per the manual/autodata. Leak tested on the bench (sticky floats get me all the time) and all good. Fitted to bike and remote fuel going, spin her up and no go... bit of aero start, some choke and throttle and it fired up and idled nicely. Sounds better than my R6 did mechanically. Blows a bit of smoke, need to get it up to temp to soften up the valve stem seals. Job for Monday along with the forks. Just ran the bike 20 minutes ago. Big effort at work from me this week. 16 active jobs in the shop at the moment. Also got some bits for my MT09 in the mail and fitted them during lunch. Rubberised foot pegs and handlebar risers to bring the bars up and back. About to ride it home.
We dream of only having 16 active jobs. And we are only a 2-man show. My Christmas wish is to clear the backlog. I feel your pain on the gixxer, too - I've suffered those run around not-quite-right time-consumers. Boss had a gixxer that played up at high revs: found the fuel line kinked when you put the tank down...
I got the CBR 400 running (again), and got the brakes working, so I took it for a test ride (neighbour has a sealed driveway). They are a nice engine: good power without fear of being overcome. But I must sell it! I could sell the VFR 750 and keep the CBR, but the VFR is only worth half as much, if that. Finish the servicing and bodywork Monday, then let the bidding begin!
Tried to order parts that are not available here for the weebr, shop is being moved so won't even be able to get a quote for a few weeks (unless I resort to impex/cmsnl.) Bit of a bummer but it is what it is! I should have ordered parts a month ago so I'd have something to keep me busy over the holidays.
Been working on my friend Sean's tank off his 1991 XJ600. Usual rust in bottom and the cap drain tube was also rusted off. I knocked off the bog that was pretending to hold fuel and was not pretty. See how thick it was and the black silicone trying to seal the edges. I got the plasma and cut the bottom of the tank out and then was able to paint strip the old bodgy tank liner. Cleaned up with wire brushes on Dremel and knocked the one dent out of the side. I cut the drain tube shorter and silver brazed a piece of copper tube long enough to poke out bottom of tank. I made a plate to replace rusted bottom piece and welded in. When all clean I tacked the bottom back into place before welding all the way round and brazing the copper tube to the base. Should be good for another 30 years now.
Always impressive work and effort, @Murdo. But I wouldn't post it on the web, you'll get so told off for cutting and welding a FUEL tank: "don't you know that they can explode?!!" Yes, I do know, and I also know how to avoid it because I'm not a moron. But thanks for checking. Wow, I have gotten old! Look how grumpy and bitter I get on interwebs...
hey shane, last time i saw you[ texas] you looked young- how much a few years difference makes.[ lol]
Got a couple of people interested in buying the CBR 400, but they're in the southeast. So why not take the bike to them? And book another track day since I'm going! Morgan Park in Warwick on Dec 11 booked - now I have to decide what I'm riding. Be nice to take the CBR for a few laps, but don't want to drop it before a sale. Taking the VFR 750 for a thrash would help become more familiar with the bike. Or I just put together some hybrid racer project (made of 2 different bikes, not petrol-electric hybrid) that is little more than an idea, in just 2 weeks! Nothing like a deadline for motivation. I had a couple of KTM 250 smoker motors and 2 chassis choices, so let's start with a motor. Last night after work and today after 3: stripped both engines, cleaned up a few things, swapped one of the main bearings, found clutch was shot, but assembled one engine (less a clutch) out of the 2. The only new parts I used was 2 O-rings - a little worrying, I guess. The silicon shot was for @Murdo (CBR 250 you did, from memory). A clutch kit is available for about $135, so not too bad. But you see why I was changing cases. Monday: motor into chassis. Somewhere along the way I'll need to do an intake, exhaust, cooling system, brakes, tyres, running.... A little ambitious.
Managed to find enough energy to fit up the Mirror extenders that arrived this week. Easy enough to fit... at first I wasnt too sure they were going to make a lot of difference but now I can actually adjust the LH mirror so I can just see the LH indicator in the bottom corner of the mirror...another week or 2 before I am supposed to ride the bike so I will need to wait till then to see how it is on the road. I might even try to do a bit on the SL125 today... plenty of small items have arrived... but I am mostly waiting on my Chroming and I still have to sort the paint. RHS Original Extender fitted... some fine tuning is needed still in terms of position. LHS fitted... that is about as far back as it will go and still use the High beam flash lever..
Before I can work on any more bikes, need to tidy up a bit, starting on tools. Gunna need a bigger toolbox! Or put 3on one trolley.. The big box is spanners, the black box is sockets, the red box is everything else... 3 generations of collecting workshop tools adds up!
Took the SRX down to the Storage shed and brought the 1975 CB400 and all the bits for it back home to make it ready to head to its new home in Adelaide sometime next week... Here it is side by side with the younger CB400SF... sad to see it go but at least it is going to someone who has the time and desire to bring it back to life and not molest it.
Finally legal! After nearly six weeks of paper work with repair certifiacation, VTNZ certification and plate arriving, which I've just finished fitting. Ready for maiden voyage.
Well, it was a bit ambitious. I decided sleep was going to be important, so the build has been postponed. Still needs a lot of work, but I will put it away for now and get the Christmas presents sorted. Oh, and tidy the shed up some more.
I ordered an ST2 turn system tonight... it will be interesting to see how well it works when it gets here.
Not so much as the bikes but finally getting around to finishing off the work benches in the Garage... Put backing boards on all 4 metres of bench space (it disappears fast though) and todays job is to run the electrics in conduit and some LED lighting... you can never have enough lighting. Pics when it is finished... maybe