Remember those horrible, manky looking brake calipers from a few weeks back? Well, they're now transformed. Having ordered 5 replacement pistons and some seal kits, I spent around an hour last night in the garage putting them back together. Given the state of them when I took them off the bike, compared to what they look like now, I'm pleased with the result.
I've recently picked up a replacement fuel plate which arrived yesterday as the original was scrap and the first replacement was a 14 hole, not 10, so the 14 hole is going to be sold on. It does mean I now also have a spare fuel pump as I bought one in June, but the one that came with the fuel plate works fine.
Front sprocket nut
Remembering the mistake I made when bringing Tabitha back to life, where I cut the chain off before undoing the front sprocket nut, I've not done so this time and while I've also left the rear wheel on, I've finally loosened off the rear wheel nut, using a combination of an old electric rattle gun and brute force. Sadly, the front sprocket nut remains firmly in place and no amount of force has so far budged it. I sprayed it with Plusgas over a week, have used my trusty electric torque wrench and more brute force with a breaker bar but still it won't budge. I even bought myself a rattle gun to go with my air compressor, thinking that that might do the job. Sadly that hasn't worked either.
I'm going to have yet another go at it later when I've got
most of the bike back together. I'll put Daysie back on her wheels, nose the
front wheel against the wall while Mrs L sits on her and activates the back
brake. Then I'll jump up & down on the breaker bar. If that doesn't work,
the sprocket is in good enough condition to replace the chain & rear
sprocket, before I take her off to my tame Triumph mechanic to sort out (I
suspect it may need cutting off).
As you can see from the photo (above) I've removed both the alternator and water pump. Both are currently sitting on the bench having been cleaned up.
Not certain if it all works so will have to look into that
but the casing was pretty mucky. A combination of Machine Mart Parts cleaner
fluid, clutch/brake cleaner and some electrical contact cleaner & it's come
up ok. I also had the air compressor fired up & have everything a good blow
over too.
The hoses are shot, so will need replacing. Might as well replace all of them
& have found a place on-line where I can get a replacement set for around
£70 (AS3 Performance).
The hoses I've removed so far are pretty clean inside,
although well past their best, which I'm hoping is good news for the coolant
galleries inside the engine. My concern is that the water galleries inside the
engine are furred up. Of course, I'll need to flush them through but where the
radiator leaked, it mostly drained the coolant. There was some coolant in the
bottom hose and water pump but not much anywhere else. So, while there was a
lot of evidence of dried coolant on the outside of the radiator and on a couple
of hose joints, the water galleries may not be that bad. Fingers crossed.
Suspension & wheels
I took a look at the forks this week as well to see if a
good polish would be all that's needed. The area where the forks compress,
they're pretty clean with very little signs of pitting, but above that, they're
pitted quite badly. Not as bad as Tabitha's were but bad enough. So, the
question now is, do I strip them down and get them rechromed or just replace
the oil & seals? I'm edging towards a complete strip down &
rechrome. The rear shock is a different
matter. I have no idea what condition it's in other than the powder coating on
the spring is peeling off, but the place where I bought the rear shock for
Tabitha, also refurbishes shocks & will powder coat the spring for a
reasonable £190, approximately £150 less than a new YSS shock.
I've also had a good look at the wheels. From a distance,
they look fine, but close up, you can see the finish beginning to bubble in a
few places. The front is fine, but if I'm going to have the rear powder coated
(& I haven't made my mind up yet) I'll have to have the front wheel done
too so they match. That would add another £220 to my project cost, bringing it
ever closer to my estimate of £2000.
Oil cooler, rear hub and a Tax rebate
FFinally, for this blog, I've not been too busy in the garagefor the past week, but seem to have spent a lot of money. What prompted my cash splurge was a nice little tax rebate.
So, in the past few days, I've paid out for:
- sub frame, mirror brackets and instrument pod powder coating
- rear brake light switch
- oil lines
- air filter
- front brake reservoir
- clutch lever (the original one is slightly bent)
- brake lines
- coolant hoses
and a few other small bits & pieces.
I've now removed the rear wheel so I can assess the state of the rear hub. From what I can see, it all needs stripping down & rebuilding, as does all the suspension linkages.
I've removed the oil cooler & pipes and as suspected the pipes are pretty corroded, so much so that they're likely to fail, so they'll get replaced.
In removing them, I've drained the oil from the engine & when doing so, ran a magnet through the oil to pick up any metal bits that may be there. It was clean & the oil didn't feel gritty when I rubbed it with my fingers. It didn't smell of anything but oil, so I don't think Daysie’s 10-year rest has done any harm. Once I've put the water pump back on, I'll change the oil filter & refill it. I don't think leaving it with no oil in for long periods is a good idea.
Tabitha & Tallulah
One last thing I did with my new found cash injection is treat Tallulah with a dashcam. After much research I went with a Viofo MT1 2 channel one. It's not easily transferrable between bikes as once it's fitted to Tallulah, it's almost 'fit & forget'.
Yes, I could have gone for one that fits to your helmet, so I could use it with both bikes, but decided against it. I was never too keen on attaching anything to a helmet as it's just one more thing to stop it sliding smoothly down the road if the unthinkable does happen. The last thing I'd want is it catching on the road surface, no matter how quick & twisting my neck.
Unfortunately, there's just a small thing called a 'Postal Workers strike' so according to the tracker, it's sitting in a sorting office 12 miles away.
I don't begrudge the postal workers striking or the reasons for it, so am happy to wait a few extra days
Currently I'v got a lot of stuff caught up in the postal system - it's gonna feel like christmas when it all arrives.
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