Project Joker's Angry Fizzer 400

Yes it is a rebuilt and ported shock used for racing, it has an aftermarket ohlin's spring on it. So the actual spring rate... no idea. From what I have read yes I'll need new dog bones and possibly some washers as spacers but apart from that it's straightforward apparently.

 

Ok so with the diaphragms, I'm happy to report a good fitment!

Old at the top...



Old to the left. Probably slightly stretched. I can't see how the top ridge will make any difference though, in the slide they fit the same.


New one in the carby. It's probably ever so slightly small, but you can still use it. Once some heat/fuel gets into it should be fine.



Not bad for $7US each... beats paying $80 OEM to Yamaha (each)

 

I finally got around to changing the two dodgey needles in with the two new ones I stumbled across on ebay for a bargain. You can see one of them being compared to a new one. Both were like this, no idea why.





Also started to look a the rear shock. The dog bones are about 147mm centre to centre, the OEM shock (if it is OEM, no idea but it is covered in Japanese writing) is about 300mm centre to centre while the R6 shock is 290mm centre to centre.




Have to pull the battery box out to get the R6 shock in there and fiddle around. Suppose I should order some of these:

http://www.projection-components.co.uk/single-length-jack-up-links-select-model-972-p.asp

 

Hmm I kinda don't know what I'm going to end up with as I've never played with the suspension before. I wonder if there are other options for dog bones, these ones seem expensive for a laser cut piece of steel. I've heard SV650 ones can be used... but to check that does anyone know what the eye to eye length of the new dog bones should be? I've asked Projection to confirm, I wonder if I can find an equivalent locally to avoid the wait and the $$ they want.

 

According to projection components the dog bones I need are 138mm centre to centre to "get the suspension back to where it was". I don't know if that matches what @MashtX has on his bike, but with that information it should allow me to source something locally. I find it a little strange that you are basically removing 9mm from the dog bone length because the shock is 10mm shorter but it's too early in the morning for me to wrap my head around the mathematics of it all...

Going to hunt around a bit to see if I can do better than the proposed price.

 

Yes i have a set of 250 ones. For 2mm longer im sure I can cope without the $$. Will look into it.

 

So the 250 dog bones are definitely smaller. I will put them on and give it a go, see where we get to. They are marked "2KT" while the 400 ones are "1WG".



People talk about cutting the metal battery holder to get the shock in, but without the dog bones I was able to jiggle the swing arm and get the shock in without too much trouble. What I need to do though is round off the base of the shock to ensure it fits, I'll trace/copy the profile from the 400 OEM shock to get the right curvature etc so I only have to do it once.

 

All good now i need to find some spacers for the top.

 

Well, I'm sadly reporting that the fizzer kissed the bitumen today on a club ride and it was sent to the afterlife. I wasn't going hard at all (maybe 60 km/hr entering a long sweeping bend) as I knew the area was risky given the recent weather but the damp mossy road still caught me off guard halfway through and the rest is history. Lost the front and low sided it, sliding about 10 or 15m before a couple of rolls. I didn't hit anything luckily, there were plenty of trees around and a 3m drop into a ditch on the other side. The bike ended up wrapped up against the only pole I could see on the stretch of road. Ironically I had just purchased a one piece race suit last week and I wore it today so I came up totally unscathed apart from a couple of sore muscles.

The bike has extensive fairing damage to the tail, rear subframe is twisted, timing cover sheared off totally and I think it may have bent the crank underneath as it doesn't appear straight to me and won't turn over. Oil is dripping out from somewhere underneath too, with all that combined it's probably another major rebuild. Unfortunately I don't have the time to go through it all again so I think I'll end up taking the insurance payout and move on.

First incident in a long time (over 10 years), really disappointed because I am quite attached to this bike - at least I live on which is the main thing. Really loved this old girl she was a beauty. R.I.P.