Monster rustoration

[rodbargee]

Looking for a stainless downpipe set and collector 06 ZZR1400 If anyones got some....

[crust]

A mixed couple of days on the Monster.
Some good progress on the exhaust flanges, started out rusty and caked in oil. After a quick scrub with a wire brush and some brake cleaner.



Then into a Deox mix and left to bubble.



After a few hours and the occasional scrub with a wire brush, that’s better.



A couple of coats for VHT silver, looking good.

[crust]

Swinging arm in, oh, whats that on the floor – that’ll be one of the shims that go between the arm and the frame, so out, then back in again. Linkage in and out a couple of times as I worked out which order to assemble things in.



Next, the exhaust, complete with new shiny stainless clamp and nuts.

[crust]

Now for the not so good bits.
Gave the rear wheel a wipe down with brake cleaner to get rid of the last of the grease residue, clean off the glue residue from balance weights, quick spray with some pledge.
Something didn’t look right about the rear disk, ok it needed a good clean and repainting but it didn’t look right. A quick check with a steel rule and oh. Took it off and yup, it’s well dished. That'll be my exhuberant right foot.





Time for a new disk.

And some shiny Ti disk bolts

[Skub]

Swinging arm in, oh, whats that on the floor – that’ll be one of the shims that go between the arm and the frame, so out, then back in again.

I think I'm at my most paranoid when a job goes really smoothly,because sure as shit I've bits left over!

[crust]

Swinging arm in, oh, whats that on the floor – that’ll be one of the shims that go between the arm and the frame, so out, then back in again.

I think I'm at my most paranoid when a job goes really smoothly,because sure as shit I've bits left over!

Ha ha, I've been putting all the bits in a tin foil pie dish, picking some bolts out Sunday I noticed a couple of steel tubular spacers like the ones you see in engine cases. I knew I'd not taken any of the cases off and couldn't remember where these had come from, racked my brain for a while then spent some time looking at the parts fiches for the bits I'd taken off.
Ah ha, there they were, they go inside the rose joints of the suspension hoop. Yay, worry over.

Familiarity has bred a bit of contempt here, normally I'd bag bits by assembly, however as I've had this bike apart a number of times over the years I didn't bother - hence the taking arm in out and a few times, and the linkage, and the exhaust

[crust]

While waiting for the new disk I looked at the silencers, yup, they didn’t look good against the headers



So back out with the polishing gear. Halfway there.



Sorted.



That’s better.

[weeksy]

And somehow you thought putting nice exhausts onto a bloody paving flag was the right thing to do

[crust]

Avoided the temptations of jaggedy death star Chinese disks on ebay and went for a straight replacement disk from the nice people at Bike Torque racing.



Couldn’t resist the temptations of shiny loveliness from Race Ti though. Well, shiny new disk, be wrong to put the rusty originals back in.



Sorted

[crust]

When I took the rear caliper bolts out one of the helicoils came out with it, examining the bolt hole in the rear brake bracket, not good
Timesert or ebay bracket? £25 for bracket from ebay, result. Arrived quickly, bolt hole threads – all good. New pads in and bolted up, yup, happy with that.

[weeksy]

You should be very happy, you've done a great job here !

[Supermofo]

Top work there matey

[crust]

Wow, how time flies, nearly six years ago.

One of the joys of retirement is having the time to do stuff. Done a bit of clearing stuff out the garage and gained enough space to uncover the monster. Hmmm, not good.

Not long after finishing the work the garage roof developed a leak above the bike necessitating a complete new roof, that had to wait until after the winter, then the garage got broken into, my trail bikes and mountain bikes got nicked but the monster got left, however they climbed over it and dropped the mtbs on the monster chipping the tank paint.

The damp/wet months have taken their toll on the frame and engine paint work, not that it was good to start. I can live with/touch up that but the fork legs have developed quite nasty rust pits, oh dear.

Started looking into solutions last night - getting the legs re-plated, alternative forks finding decent replacements. There's a few pairs of forks on ebay but close inspection of the photos showed rust pits like mine, hardly surprising the ones I need will be thirty years old.

There was one set that looked alright and at a decent price, where are they - Reading, I live in Reading look at the seller - I vaguely know him

Send him a message - is the chrome ok? yes not bad, do you want to come round and check them out? Sure, tomorrow at 12.00? Sure.

So, today off I toddle, yup, same forks as mine, chrome's good - purchased.

Had a good catch up, then home and an hour later they're on. Serendipitous or what!

[crust]

Got a bit ahead of myself there, still stoked at finding forks on my doorstep.

So on sunday I dragged the bike out, literally, the tyres were flat. Stuck it in garden and surveyed the situation. First belts, needed it on stands, the everso kind Mr Weeks had sorted me with a bundle of stands when he gave up motorbikes. Only problem the rear wouldn't fit my swinging arm, needed wider bobbins so back to the wobbly oxford one.

Fitted new belts and checked the bike over. Made a mental list of jobs to be tackled - forks (see above), grips, swinging arm bobbins. Charge battery.

To be continued....

[weeksy]

I thought i gave you the Abba?

[crust]

I thought i gave you the Abba?

You did, it's a bit of a pain on the monster because of the rear sets.

I went round to the motorcycle parts centre and bought some Kawasaki steel bobbins, only issue was they have an M10 x 1.25 thread and I only had 10 x 1.5 taps. Amazon delivered the 10 x 1.25 tap and 8.75 drill bit < correct drill bit for tap. I've drilled out the standard welded in ally bobbins, tapped the holes so the kawasaki ones fit nicely.

Now the beefy black stand fits

I bought some new grips when I was in the parts centre, forgot to buy glue so went back next day for some, doh!

Battery is on charge, will book an MOT, then test ride

After that, ride it around for a while with a view to doing some more resto stuff over the winter, maybe.

[weeksy]

Awesome stuff, you know a few decent back roads when you're bored

[crust]

Passed MOT this morning, no advisories

Went for ride, hmmm, not good, feels like tyre is flat except I know it's not as I pumped it up yesterday. Once up to speed it's ok but at low speeds not good.
Pop in to see Mr Weeks for coffee and catch up. While I'm there tighten up a couple of screws and remove steering damper, yup it's not just damping it's stiff as hell. Resume ride and it's back to how I remember it, light steering and flickable.
Really nice ride home the long way and it's great, revisiting an old friend, gradually getting back into the groove.

What's next? Take it places, visit sister in Dorset. Ponder improvements, more to come.

[weeksy]

Passed MOT this morning, no advisories

Went for ride, hmmm, not good, feels like tyre is flat except I know it's not as I pumped it up yesterday. Once up to speed it's ok but at low speeds not good.
Pop in to see Mr Weeks for coffee and catch up. While I'm there tighten up a couple of screws and remove steering damper, yup it's not just damping it's stiff as hell. Resume ride and it's back to how I remember it, light steering and flickable.
Really nice ride home the long way and it's great, revisiting an old friend, gradually getting back into the groove.

What's next? Take it places, visit sister in Dorset. Ponder improvements, more to come.

It sounds like a cross between a bag of bolts and the coming of the 4 horsemen. I like it lots.
It a well used example that shows its lived a life.