Daysie's Diary

[Sin_Tiger]

   AS3 prices are decent and good to deal with.

Word of warning about the alternator, the Drive End bearing is a non standard OEM specific size and I haven't been able to source a replacement or alternative 

[Lee337]

Not been too busy in the garage this week, but seem to have spent a lot of money. What prompted my cash splurge was a nice little tax rebate. Long story short, since starting my new job in May, my tax code was wrong, so the Taxman has been taking too much from each payday. (For our non UK readers, our employer is responsible for deducting tax from our wages then handing it over, before giving what's left to us. The Taxman tells our employer how much to deduct using a tax code).

So in the past few days, I've paid out for:

• sub frame, mirror brackets and instrument pod powder coating
• rear brake light switch
• iol 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 haven't been completely inactive in teh garage though. I've had another crack at undoing the front sprocket nut, using my air torque wrench and a borrowed 2 foot breaker bar without success. I tried the method Sin_Tiger suggested, using an extension bar, supported by a strategically placed axle stand, but stillk no joy. 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).

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. The rear shock itself needs either replacing or rebuilding. My initial thought is to have it rebuilt. Brook Suspension can rebuild it & powder coat the spring for around £190, compared to a new YSS shock at £330.

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 metyal 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 Daysies 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.

It's a 3 day weekend now, so I may get more done, or I might take Tabitha out. Sadly I still have shopping to do (can't get out of it this week), have my Mother's dog to wealk Sunday, so only have Monday free at the moment anyway...

We'll see.

[Sin_Tiger]

   My breaker bar is bigger than yours  3/4" drive and about 1 metre long. I'm not sure your other half will like that implication    Heat might be your last resort, you're going to change the sprocket shaft seal anyway I'd guess. The technique is to get the sprocket hot fast, don't try it with a MAP Gas blowtorch, you need Ox/Ac to get focused heat quickly. Too much time with a blowtorch could damage the inner bearing seals by heat transfer up the shaft, they're usually 2RS bearings. A 3x2 in the wheel rim isn't going to work with the SSWA.

Shiney bits look good, that didn't take long 

[ghulst]

Wow, that's a load of progress! Well done getting this back towards being roadworthy. I feel very much inadequate now, as the KTM has only been sitting.

[Lee337]

This week, physical progress in the garage has been a little slow, something I can't say about the postman. There's been a few deliveries to the shed of Triumph.

I've not been completely inactive though, I successfully fitted that little knob thing that sits on the side of the instrument pod, you know the one that resets the trip counter. It was missing when I bought Daysie and knowing how super reliable old Triumph fuel senders are, thought it essential to have a working trip counter.

In addition to all the bits I bought last month, I've just bought some Dzus fasteners for the fairing, the ones on Daysie's fairings were somewhat corroded, a big bag of copper washers so I can refit the oil cooler and sump plug and a cam cover gasket, complete with those little rubber seals for the cam cover bolts.

Sometimes, I love the taxman without whom the savings pot would have been raided last month (and having worked for them & met my current partner there, I have to admit to loving the odd Taxwoman too  )

Anyway, I digress. Not only did I successfully fit the Trip counter reset knob, I also replaced the air filter. The old one was not the worst I've seen but I didn't see the point in replacing oil & fuel filters, plugs, fuel lines and vac lines and not replacing the air filter as well. Admittedly it was an easy & quick job as the airbox was sitting on a shelf, not in the bike,but as a well known UK supermarket says, 'Every little helps'.

I know there's still a long way to go but an unexpected health issue means I have to slow down for a little while. I'll keep things ticking over in the garage but probably not do as much as I'd like this month.

Nothing serious but enough to have to pay a visit to the local hospital for a day later this month to make sure it doesn't get serious. 

[Lee337]

Been plugging away at little jobs this week. A few more deliveries from Mr Postie has seen a box of Dzus fasteners for the fairings, not that I'm anywhere near that stage, but at least I have them sitting on a shelf ready. The Cam cover gasket also arrived this week as did a big bag of copper washers for the oil lines & sump plug. I'm still awaiting some silicone vacuum hose to replace the 'way past it' IACV hoses.
As mentioned last week, I've been taking things relatively easy with just a little bit more cleaning (why is it that every time I look I find something else to clean), I've reassembled the dash pod, re-attaching all those little brackets & rubber gromets and fitted the instrument pod to it, so that's all now back on the shelf & ready to fit back to the bike when I get that far.

I've stripped out all of the remaining coolant hoses and with my new silicone ones on the shelf waiting to go, along with the replacement radiator, all that remains is to flush out all the coolant galleries. A job for next week maybe.

I've also replaced the spark plugs and checked the valves. The Exhaust valves should have been in the range 0.15 - 0.20mm and all but one was pretty much bang on 0.15mm, the one that wasn't was a little over but nowhere near 0.20mm.

The inlet valves were a similar story. The range is 0.10 – 0.15mm and again all but one was 0.10mm. the odd one was again a little more than 0.10mm but less than 0.15mm. I consider that a result as I didn't need to change anything, so just cleaned up the mating faces between the head and cam cover, a little high temp silicone sealer, new gasket & bolt seals and all is back together again. While I was at it, I also dug out a can of electrical contact cleaner & cleaned up all the plugs going to the coils and a few other connectors I could easily see.

Next up, since removing the brake lines I hadn't removed the brake fluid reservoir, so every so often, it'd squirt brake fluid over the bench. Because Tabitha is parked next to the bench and I kept knocking Daysie's front brake lever, I've now drained and replaced the front brake reservoir. As the screw & clip that stops the cap unscrewing on the original reservoir, broken, I bought a replacement reservoir from Sprint Manufacturing & now seemed the ideal opportunity to remove the old & fit the new. I still need to remove the master cylinder to see if it needs new seals but at least now there's no more possibility of spraying brake fluid anywhere.

I've also replaced the clutch lever (the original was bent) but have still to replace the clutch cable. Again, with Daysie standing so long, the original is a little stiff and they're not that expensive.
Finally, I've cleaned up and checked, as much as I can without fixing up a battery, all the electrical connectors. The majority of them were ok with just a few looking corroded. The application of some fine grade wet n dry, lashings of Electrical Contact Cleaner and a little time did the job.
There's an elephant in the room I've been avoiding every time I do a little more work, namely the rear end. You see, I've never had a bike with a single sided swing arm before so don't have any experience of them. Taking the wheel off was easy, I've done that, but anything else is new territory for me.
For starters, I need to put something under the engine to hold Daysie up so I can remove the paddock stand. Ordinarily, I would have tied up the back of the bike and hung it to the roof beams with ratchet straps, but with the sub frame removed, that's not an option. Besides, with no sub frame, the swing arm & suspension is far easier to get to.

Then I need to strip down the hub, check the bearings and sort out the eccentric adjuster, which appears seized. Then I need to check/replace all the swing arm bearings before I tackle the suspension.
I've been having a look at the rear shock and am still undecided whether to replace it or get it refurbished. I think it's going to depend on how well it cleans up and if all the various adjustments still work. I know that the spring will need powder coating at the least. My head says replace it; my wallet says get it refurbished.

 I think the whole elephant can wait another week or two and I'll concentrate on getting the engine & cooling system sorted first

[Sin_Tiger]

Definitely won a watch with the valve clearances 

From what I've read about clutch cables, they seem to be a common failure point due to the angled runner at the lever, a good quality PTFE lined replacement is probably a wise decision.

Was your silicone hose set available off the shelf? I've had a look at a couple of suppliers but wasn't sure what was being offered would fit.

I'm not looking forward to doing the hub either 

[Lee337]

I'd  guess the hoses were off the shelf. Took less than a week to get here.

I put them side by side with the originals & they're a good match. Oddly I seem to have one more than necessary 

[Lee337]

It's Friday already, this week seems to have gone fast. Being busy at work probably helps, but I still managed to get out to the garage and do a few more little jobs this week.

Sunday was the day stiff started going back on Daysie. The plan was to change the oil filter, refit the water pump and alternator, put the shiny new oil lines on and the oil cooler and put the air box back on.

I achieved most of this, refitting the water pump, alternator, air box and oil filter, but that's about it. The oil cooler & lines are still on the bench.

There was a real manky looking cover attached to the left side of the engine, part of the cooling system, I think it's called the coolant outlet/inlet cover and even before I touched it, it wasn't looking pretty, with all the paint having flaked off and the remains of dried coolant all over it. I dug out my endoscope & had a good look inside the water jacket and any other waterchannels I could find and all looks good. Once I've flushed everything through, I don't see the cooling will be a problem.

Undoing the bolts and carefully prising the cover off, I could see pink gunk everywhere and the remains of a gasket, but only a very small piece. it had been removed at some point in the past and in the absence of a replacement gasket, silicone sealer had been used. Unfortunately, the gasket is no longer available so I have two choices, use silicone sealer or do it the old fashioned way, buy a gasket sheet and make my own.

It's now cleaned up and has been resprayed, 1 coat of etching primer & 3 coats of HT black paint I had left over from Tabitha's build.

I refitted the IACV and all the vac hoses have also been replaced with some 7mm silicone vac hose. I ordered 2m although I didn't need that much. It's left me with enough to change Tallulah's vac hoses next time I have the tank off - she's still running on the original corrugated hoses, even after 67000 miles.
I've refitted the airbox, which surprisingly wasn't too problematic. The application of some silicone spray around the rubbers helped to slide it on to the air intakes and seat the box correctly.

Finally (I think) I've now got Daysie tied down, jacked up, strapped to a beam and sitting on a wooden block so I could remove the paddock stand. I've also loosened off all the swing arm bolts and rear shock bolts. In fact, the only thing to undo is the retaining nut for the final drive. There's a collar on the nut which has been peened to hold it in place & stop it undoing. the nut itself, a 46mm one, should be torqued to 146Nm. So, I suspect the air torque gun will come out again for that.

One final point, I took a good look at the shock when I loosened off the bolts holding it to the rear end and I don't think I'll even embarrass myself by sending it off to get refurbished. By the time the unit has been refurbed and a new spring attached, the overall cost won't be much less than a new YSS unit, so I'll just go for that instead. I have a YSS shock on Tabitha & I'm happy with it.

[Lee337]

Bit of a change to my usual format. This time I took my video out to the garage and videoed stripping down the rear hub and removing he rear suspension and swing arm.

Part 1 was the hub, done over the weekend it all went mostly to plan and was easier than I suspected. It's not completely done as the eccentric adjuster that is used for chain adjustment is seized. To strip it down further, I need a set of manly circlip pliers, and the ones I have aren't up to the job. I have a set on order which should be with me by the end of this week.

Part two was also done over the weekend, but I haven't processed the video yet. I'll write up another post when I've uploaded the video to YouTube. Again this was easier than expected, with no seized bolts.

None of this was in my plan for this weekend, I was gong to clean up the fuel tank, install the new fuel pump & filter and then do a little painting where the engine paint had flaked off. I cleaned the flaky paint off & prepped the surface last week, and ordered some engine enamel that Sin suggested. Maybe I'll do that during the week if I have time.

For now, enjoy video part 1.

[Lee337]

Part two of this weekends work has now been posted. No real surprises, except most of the bearings look shot & need replacing and one of the bolts holding the drag link to the swingarm was finger tight. That's scary.

I've also had another good look at the shock and I think it's rebuildable with a new spring. I'm going to talk with Brook Suspension & see what they can do. I'd rather the original shock than a YSS replacement but that decision has still to be made.

A couple of the bearings are stuck fast & one of them will need something like a slide hammer, so I've decided to take the whole thing to my tame Triumph mechanic & let him replace the bearings - I know, a bit of a cop out on my part, but I could spend days trying to do it when my tame mechanic could probably do it in a couple of hours. At least it's been all cleaned up now so he won't get his hands too dirty. 

[Lee337]

Not done anything this week really, aside from cleaning up the swingarm and back of the engine, so this week's report will be rather short.

That's not to say I've done nothing; I pulled the tank down from the top of the cupboard & started to clean out the inside. You may recall the state of the fuel pump & filter, all covered in a rust covered gunk, well the inside of the tank was the same up to a line where the stale fuel was. So, I've been scrubbing away with various stuff trying to clean it. So far, I've used Gunk (engine degreaser), Muck-off engine degreaser, brake & clutch cleaner and parts washer cleaner, all combined with an old toothbrush and to be fair, not much has shifted the stain inside the tank. Then I hit upon the idea that if petrol made the stain, maybe it will remove it too. I have a can of petrol I use for the lawnmower so tipped a little in the tank and with the toothbrush, began to scrub.

Well, it sort of worked, I think it more bleached the stain than removed it, but at least it looks a little better. Toothbrush is fu%&$d. I might go & buy a nail brush later & try again. I also still have the option of steam cleaning it. I have a steam cleaner usually used for the kitchen floor, but it has a hose & nozzle attachment so I might give that a go as well.

Other than that, I've removed the rear sprocket from its carrier. I planned on replacing it anyway even though it doesn't look worn, at least not until I hung it up on the wall next to Tabitha's old rear sprocket. They now hang against a white wall and if you look carefully, you can see that Daysie's sprocket is beginning to wear.

I'll order a new chain & sprocket kit next month after I've been paid.

I've attached the front forks with some Autosol (when did that become so expensive? nearly £7.00 from my local hardware shop) and it looks like I might not have to get them re-chromed. There is some pitting but all of it seems to be well above the range of the fork dust seal travel. It's an extra £180 I could do without spending.

That could keep the house warm for a week 

While the Autosol was out, I part cleaned a few other bits of the front too. a little bit of the fork tube, they clean up nice but the lower part, including the brake caliper brackets will need respraying, the top yoke cleans up well too. However, its looking more likely I'll need to have the wheels powder coated. Last time it cost me over £200 for both wheels to be done, and the place I took them did a good job of Tabitha's wheels and a few bits from Daysie that I've had done. But there's been a lot of chat on Farcebook recently with someone asking for recommendations for the very same thing and there's another place not too far from me that gets a good review.

When I was looking for somewhere for Tabitha's wheels, I did email them but got no reply. I was discussing this with Ben, my tame Triumph mechanic at the time and it seems that there was a fatal accident at the premises - that would explain why I got no reply from my query. I might see what they can do as they're still in business.

So, as I said, I've not done anything this week...

Apart from having to move all my project photos to a new external hard drive as the existing drive in my PC is getting very low on space. 

[Sin_Tiger]

You might try using another metal polish that I've had good results with. It's called "Peek", it's not much cheaper, though I feel it leaves a better finish FTW.

[ghulst]

Just the other week I saw someone clean their tank with cleaning vinegar. It was a steel Ducati tank and I was impressed with the results. Perhaps that might be a suggestion.

[Lee337]

 I have some white vinegar in the garage I used to clean an aquarium, so might try that.

In other news, I've not really done anything to Daysie this week. I had another delivery today of a DID chain & sprockets kit, have ordered a new circlip for the rear hub having bent the original trying to get it off and that's about it.

Currently, I'm not allowed to drive or ride for a few days. Had day surgery on Thursday so I can't even lift anything.

As I've just been paid, I suspect more buying stuff coming up.