Another new project!

griz wrote:Here's the forks:-

Ahhh......the beautiful Kayaba 43U's.

FYI they have a .950 K spring Grizzy boy. They are very good forks for a standard application.

Spray the rebound + compression damping adjusters with some loob.

Turn the old forks into pogo sticks for Mega watt - then he can bounce round the country for free.

megawatt wrote:You're obviously not as popular as me mate and people don't rush to help you out or take the piss. They look too nice to sell on?

The pigeons tried to carry it over from the US for me but one broke a beak & the other ended up with a toe strain so they had to hand it over to USPS

No I'll probably keep the new ones & sell on the old ones on the bike as there a bit marked up

fastbikefinder wrote:

griz wrote:Here's the forks:-

Ahhh......the beautiful Kayaba 43U's.

FYI they have a .950 K spring Grizzy boy. They are very good forks for a standard application.

Spray the rebound + compression damping adjusters with some loob.

Turn the old forks into pogo sticks for Mega watt - then he can bounce round the country for free.

Cheers buddy, mate, my friend!

They do look lovely I must say! Thats all good info to know! I'll give the adjusters a little lube up to keep um good

How about it Megatight, do you think your knee will be up to a spot of pogoing??

No!!! and why are you warmin the forks up on the range? You buildin a Hot Rod????

I love that box.....don't bin it, carriers like that are hard to come by, even if you sell the old ones keep the box - it'll come in handy for years to come.


I'm susprised you're not in the garage right now playing with that ignition.

megawatt wrote:No!!! and why are you warmin the forks up on the range? You buildin a Hot Rod????

No they are so so cool that I had to warm them up a tad!

fastbikefinder wrote:I love that box.....don't bin it, carriers like that are hard to come by, even if you sell the old ones keep the box - it'll come in handy for years to come.


I'm susprised you're not in the garage right now playing with that ignition.

Tell me about it, it's a Ohlins box!! it's also got fancy dense foam plates that sit on the ends & middle & hold the forks firmly in place. I've bought a few sets of forks from the USA & these are the best packed ones I've ever received, love it! I'll be holding on to the box for sure!

I'd love to get out in the garage but I've been struggling a bit this week & haven't been able to get off the sofa I'm hoping I won't feel so rough very soon so I can get out & get her started... very annoying but I'm kind of use to it.

griz wrote:I'd love to get out in the garage but I've been struggling a bit this week & haven't been able to get off the sofa I'm hoping I won't feel so rough very soon so I can get out & get her started... .

Fingers crossed you feel like getting out there over the weekend.

Well at long last I got some work done on the gixer & got her started, thank god!!!

I removed the old loom n stuff



+ I had to fit the rectifier back in place



Then fitted the loom, ecu, battery, airbox & tank etc




& here's a quick video of it running, sorry about the shaking, to much adrenaline from the occasion



On the down side the rad has a prety bad leak!

I used k sealit on my rad. Worked a treat. From Frosts

megawatt wrote:I used k sealit on my rad. Worked a treat. From Frosts

Yeah may well be a option.

I don't really like using that kinda stuff but seeming how tight my funds are I may well use somethin like that.

Just tried looking for it mate, have you got a link?

Here ya go babe
http://www.k-seal.co.uk/k-seal.html

If you can't get some , I have about 2/3 of a can left. Worked a treat, but obviously depends how big the hole is.

wild bill wrote:Here ya go babe
http://www.k-seal.co.uk/k-seal.html

BABE ??

Thanks bud!

megawatt wrote:If you can't get some , I have about 2/3 of a can left. Worked a treat, but obviously depends how big the hole is.

How much do you want for it mate?

You can have it mate, PM ya addy n I'll bung it in the post tomorrow

megawatt wrote:You can have it mate, PM ya addy n I'll bung it in the post tomorrow

Thank you very very much mate!! PM on it's way!

Ok so when I started her up last I thought that the temp switch was faulty as the temp was showing a really high reading & the fan wasn't coming on to cool her down so haven't let it run for to long yet as I didn't want to over heat it.

So today I thought I'd go out & suss out what going on with the fan switch, I replaced the fuse & relay, put a live to the fan too & it's working fine I started the bike up again & was watching the temp climb & climb so I switched her off as I thought she might over heat. Went on to drain the cooling system, which was just as well as the quality of the fluid wasn't great. I then went on to take out the fan temp switch & did the soldering iron trick & again watched the temp climb & climb & was thinking to myself the temp switch is faulty I was just about to take the heat off the switch when the fan clicked in!

As it was I made a school boy error! I didn't seen that the temp was reading in Fahrenheit & not Celsius!!

What a arse I felt! But better safe than sorry me thinks! Well that's what I keep tell myself!

Good old alan is sending me some K seal to fix the leaky rad but I've got my doubts it'll do the job as when I had it running earlier & I gave it a harder rev loads of water spewed out of what I can only guess is a fair sized crack in the radiator

That's a bummer mate. All I've got spare isa an RRY radiator? But the gixxer has one of those long tapered ones???

megawatt wrote:That's a bummer mate. All I've got spare isa an RRY radiator? But the gixxer has one of those long tapered ones???

Yep it is a pain but I'll try that stuff none the less & just let it warm up gentley & see if it seals it. The gixer rad is quite long & tapered like you say, I do have a rad off a RRN but the lower fixing bar has rusted away, I could swap it over but my guess is that it's to small

Well the RRY one is there if ya need it mate.

megawatt wrote:Well the RRY one is there if ya need it mate.

Thanks bud! I'll keep it in mind

OK so here it is guys, the head gasket is blown!!!!

I've made a huge mistake in buying this bike & one I'll never repeat.

No more of chasing rainbows for me....

Alan very kindly sent me the K seal for what I thought was a leaking radiator, I went out & bought some coolant to refresh the system before adding the sealant, I filled her up with a fresh mixture of coolant & water & started it up to see as expected more fluid coming out of the rad, before I chucked the K seal in I gave it one last check over to find that a coolant return tube was resting up against the back of the rad! this was the cause of the leak not the rad, so I topped up the coolant & attached the lose tube to the rad, started it back up again & let it get up to temperature & the next thing I know steam is coming from everywhere, so I switched it off & found coolant trickling down from the head, I went on to take the oil filler cap off to find creamy coloured oil on the cap!!

I'm so peed off, I've got 95% of everything needed to get it back on the road but she's no good....

One very big lesson learned & one I won't be repeating. I have put to much trust into the bloke that sold it to me

So now it looks like I'm gonna have to strip her down & sale off the parts to try & recoup what I've spent out on it.

Why don't you just remove the head and see why it's leakin mate. Seems a shame if everythin else is OK?

megawatt wrote:Why don't you just remove the head and see why it's leakin mate. Seems a shame if everythin else is OK?

Yep I hear ya mate, I don't have the tools, energy or know how to be honest. I just feel like breaking it all up, sellin it off & drawing a line under it all & see if I can get a reasonable bike with the proceeds. I also have the zx7r & my far to expensive 4ltr V6 ford explorer to sale. I think I could scrape up enough to buy something nice... I hope...

Griz, you sound defeated by a problem....not the normal.

OK your creaminess may point to a blown head gasket but I think this needs further investigation.

Where exactly is the coolant leaking from?

The creaminess could be left over from the accident if the bike was running a while on it's side etc etc.

Can't you get the engine up to my place(or Mickeys, if he's available) so we can have a look? Shame to give up at the last hurdle. No pressure mate, but wouldn't it be worth more complete?

Re- the conversation last night.
There is no doubting you have skills to transform a bikes appearence, however your choice of bikes seems to have a poor history where through your own admittance you dont have the tools knowhow and energy factor to undertake another major project.
Just keeping a superbike in full battle mode in readiness for a quick blast is always ongoing more suited to your current situation. A second bike project could always be in the background to hone up your skills when time, money and health factors allow you.

No not the norm for me to be so easily defeated & I agree it does really need to be investigated further.

The coolant is leaking (from what I could see) from the head in a few different area's, I also could get the bike to tick over unless I held the revs at 3000 & then it kept going up & down between 2000-3000 rpm, the engine sounded as rough as anything popping etc & sounded like it was coking up & needed a good rev to clear it's throat but each time I gave it a reved it didn't help & would cut out on the downward turn.

I hadn't got the bike up to proper operating temperature before this incident & had been constantly checking the oil & had shown no signs of creaminess until I found the water coming out of the head.

The problem I have right now guys is that my wifes business has collapsed & we've no income & I really can't afford to take on any further costs trying to repair it. I could sale the zx7r to help fund more work on the bike but I don't want to throw the money from that at the bike if she's still no good at the end of it.

Right now were in the process of losing our house as we can't afford to pay the bills & I'm doing my best to limit the damage incurred.

I've also come off all my meds a couple of months ago as I don't like being on them & now I am really starting to struggle as I riddled with pain & seem to be getting weaker. I sat on the suzuki yesterday & had a real job supporting my weight & I think I need to be honest with myself even if I'm up to riding a proper sports bike in my present condition.

What I'd like to do is sale both bikes & my car & buy a bike that I can ride without being in to much pain. I'm gonna need 2 wheels for blade day for sure & thats not to far away & I've got a long ride to get there too. I'd love to buy a early 1000cc blade in a ideal world but I'm not sure if I'm up to riding it from a strength & pain point of view, so I think I may have to consider a sport tourer bike, it's one very large pain in the arse because thats not what I really want but I also need to be practical & honest with myself.

So I think I'm gonna sale it all & buy a bike I can enjoy & maybe a very cheap little project bike to play with.

griz wrote:

.... I need to be honest with myself even if I'm up to riding a proper sports bike in my present condition......

Buy a bike that I can ride without being in to much pain. I'm gonna need 2 wheels for blade day for sure & thats not to far away & I've got a long ride to get there too. I'd love to buy a early 1000cc blade in a ideal world but I'm not sure if I'm up to riding it from a strength & pain point of view, so I think I may have to consider a sport tourer bike, it's one very large pain in the arse because thats not what I really want but I also need to be practical & honest with myself.

So I think I'm gonna sale it all & buy a bike I can enjoy & maybe a very cheap little project bike to play with.

Griz...it may be hard to do but get rid of that gas guzzler explorer....you can't explore anything if you don't have the cash to put in the tank - a mate of mine had one a few years back - lovely motor but 22mpg!!! - no good in a £1.18 per litre world unless your Rothschild.

Now, sports tourer you say???

I was thinking of a bike build the other day.....I've always loved trails bikes, supermoto's and off roaders and in an ideal world I'd like to have a 180mph supermoto - but you'd need 200bhp + to do imo, a 150 mph supermoto is more feasible.

The idea I came up was of building a supermoto RR4.

Get longer fork stanchions (A.B.E. will make them for a couple of hundred quid )

Renthal bars with an LSL top yoke

And some CNC drag strip swinging arm extensions from the States - weld them on if you like.

Move over Multistrada + Tiger 1050

There'd obviously be more involved than just above, longer brake lines, grinding back the steering stops, longer chain etc etc but do you see what I'm getting at???

A super comfy - go anywhere RR thou - and a mega wheelie machine aswell.

fastbikefinder wrote:

griz wrote:

.... I need to be honest with myself even if I'm up to riding a proper sports bike in my present condition......

Buy a bike that I can ride without being in to much pain. I'm gonna need 2 wheels for blade day for sure & thats not to far away & I've got a long ride to get there too. I'd love to buy a early 1000cc blade in a ideal world but I'm not sure if I'm up to riding it from a strength & pain point of view, so I think I may have to consider a sport tourer bike, it's one very large pain in the arse because thats not what I really want but I also need to be practical & honest with myself.

So I think I'm gonna sale it all & buy a bike I can enjoy & maybe a very cheap little project bike to play with.

Griz...it may be hard to do but get rid of that gas guzzler explorer....you can't explore anything if you don't have the cash to put in the tank - a mate of mine had one a few years back - lovely motor but 22mpg!!! - no good in a £1.18 per litre world unless your Rothschild.

Now, sports tourer you say???

I was thinking of a bike build the other day.....I've always loved trails bikes, supermoto's and off roaders and in an ideal world I'd like to have a 180mph supermoto - but you'd need 200bhp + to do imo, a 150 mph supermoto is more feasible.

The idea I came up was of building a supermoto RR4.

Get longer fork stanchions (A.B.E. will make them for a couple of hundred quid )

Renthal bars with an LSL top yoke

And some CNC drag strip swinging arm extensions from the States - weld them on if you like.

Move over Multistrada + Tiger 1050

There'd obviously be more involved than just above, longer brake lines, grinding back the steering stops, longer chain etc etc but do you see what I'm getting at???

A super comfy - go anywhere RR thou - and a mega wheelie machine aswell.

My explorer gives about 15mpg around town & that's mainly where I use it, the tax & mot is out on it too now so I expect I'll only see a couple of hundred pounds for it.

That sure sounds like a hooligan machine!

Just need to find a cheap 04 blade to be able to make that happen!

The other thing is that I think I need something with a fairing as I found the wind blast was making my hands burnout to quick on the punisher.

I'm playing with the idea of a zx12r as that was the most comfy bike I've owned to date & if I got a cheapish one I could spend a bit getting the suspension up to speed as there not the sharpest in the handling department!

I guess I want something that has a fair amount of go but will also provide a bit of comfort too. As the ride from here up to london for the blade day is a 4 hour jaunt!

griz wrote:
My explorer gives about 15mpg around town & that's mainly where I use it, the tax & mot is out on it too now so I expect I'll only see a couple of hundred pounds for it.

It's got to be worth at least £600 surely??


I thought of keeping the fairing on the RR4 sm but mod the bellypan maybe.