Plan B !

[JonW]

Oct 19, 2023 13:29:23 GMT 1 dusty350 said:

Hi Jon,
The M unit does away with a huge amount of wiring. I'm sure I read something like 90% of a standard loom becomes redundant ! Not sure if that's correct, but it's great for a bike where you dont wont/need a full loom.

Yes, it really helps with simplification of the loom, my problem is all the other things i'll add back in after heehee. Damn, I really do love a wiring challenge

[dusty350]

So this afternoon I picked an item for cleaning, and as the seat was by the shed door, that got picked. I had to be really careful getting the 2 seat catches and the front bracket off. The studs that fit on the inside of the seat base had a coating of rust and the last thing I wanted was a rusty nut sheering a stud off, so I soaked them all with Wd40 a couple of days ago, and then gently turned the nuts backwards and forwards, gradually undoing them. I used a small wire wheel in the dremel to clean the exposed threads as much as possible first, and thankfully they all came undone without any studs breaking. Although there is a small tear at the front left edge, the rest of the cover looks good, and I would like to keep it if possible. I started on the underside first;

20231018_105504 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231019_183919 by dusty miller, on Flickr

And then the top;

20231018_105445 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231019_183910 by dusty miller, on Flickr

I will get the corrosion off the brackets and then paint them to protect them, and then a small repair at the front edge, and that's the seat done

[tout]

what a wonderful transformation, a domino 2:4 reveal 😃😃

Many years ago I had a red, a blue and a green 2:4 if my memory is correct.

Keep up the good work. Tout

[donkeychomp]

Engine internals are a surprise! But a very nice surprise...and that seat has come up a real treat.

Alex

[midlifecrisisrd]

Seat turned out well 👌

I wasn't so lucky, not that the studs sheared, the captive plate had rotted so they just spun 😭

Had to make new SS ones

Your a lucky man

Steve

[JonW]

superb work on that seat.

Why not rezinc the tangs? its how they were when new. The Gully front tang was painted tho as you say.

[dusty350]

I'm thinking of getting the brackets Cerakoted - I will clean them up first.
I popped it on the yellow bike last night - looks good now;

20231019_195908 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Hoping to get the frame and side stand to Glenn today for a look. Also went through the box of bits for the Met swingarm. The bearings are good, but you can get replacements from Simply bearings for around a tenner each. I'm missing 1 part, which is a plain bush that sits in the bearing - the part on the extreme left;

20231019_153858 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Bearing places dont stock it, nothing on ebay and Metmachex dont use that design anymore - it's an 80's original I think, so no stock of spares, so I think I will get Steve to make one up. I think the parts were stripped out as the arm was originally gonna be powdercoated, so it's got lost at some point.

Dusty

[JonW]

Seat looks great on the yellow bike... er, it looks like my 421 lol. Same paint, same seat, same black grab rail lol

NK does some bushes for some of the kits he does, worth an ask as he might have one in that size. Bear in mind that if that bush runs inside the roller bearings then it will need to be hardened.

[dusty350]

Steve, the engineer, can get the bushes hardened at another place, so shouldn't be a problem.
Yesterday I took the 4l0 frame and the side stand with the rotten foot over to Glenn the welder. Left it all with him. Picked it up this morning. A new foot welded on and all the rot removed;

20231021_082030 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231021_082000 by dusty miller, on Flickr

He has made the underside of the foot slightly thicker than standard.
The frame had an issue too. Where the side stand bracket has been cut off, for some reason the piece of tube it was originally welded too had been cut back too;

53259675654_d72b78b784_c by dusty miller, on Flickr

Glen cut and welded a piece of steel to follow the shape of the original missing part, then blended it all in, and this morning I popped back with an angle finder so he could weld on the side stand bracket - a repro one that came with the bike - into the correct position. The pic makes it look wonky, but it's in the right place

20231021_082114 by dusty miller, on Flickr

He also welded up some thin sections on the tube where the centre stand brackets have been cut off. I plan to tidy up a lot of the original welds, but apart from that it's done, from an engineering point of view

Dusty

[sidney81]

Hi dusty,great to see you doing some bits again 👍👍

[dusty350]

Hi Chris,
Cheers mate
Have you got anything new planned ?

[sidney81]

Oct 21, 2023 10:47:51 GMT 1 dusty350 said:

Hi Chris,
Cheers mate
Have you got anything new planned ?

,hi ,,not at the moment dusty,I would like to build a power valve hybrid just have to find the right one 🙂

[JonW]

Dusty, I see you mention the angle finder... do you have a fitting guide / tips for fitting one of these? I have one (and OEM) to weld on...

[dusty350]

Hi Jon
It's just a basic double ruler type thing (for want of a better description !!)
I lay it across the frame tubes and angle the second part down so it's touching the face of the stand mounting plate. I lock it in place with the small lock nut and then the new plate gets tacked in place on the next frame, angle checked, and then fully welded. Had a few Lc's now and I dont think any of them are in the same place !!

[JonW]

Oct 21, 2023 16:49:59 GMT 1 dusty350 said:

Hi Jon
It's just a basic double ruler type thing (for want of a better description !!)
I lay it across the frame tubes and angle the second part down so it's touching the face of the stand mounting plate. I lock it in place with the small lock nut and then the new plate gets tacked in place on the next frame, angle checked, and then fully welded. Had a few Lc's now and I dont think any of them are in the same place !!

I have an Aldi device similar to that, its digital but much the same.

Im not surprised they arent all exactly the same, but happy to hear an 'angle of the dangle' if you want to share what you use?

[dusty350]

Will dig it out of the shed and check the angle Jon - having a massive tidy up in there at the mo with stuff everywhere !!
Dropped the Metmachex parts off to Steve (the engineer) today, who will copy the bush and make another .
Spent last night with the 2 plastic tanks;

20231022_104218 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231022_195036 by dusty miller, on Flickr

I use a wire coat hanger with some "scratchy", cable tied to the end for the internal cleaning - bending the wire to get to the difficult bits. A nylon brush and a well worn foam block with fine abrasive on it sorts the outside. Jif (cream cleaner) and washing up liquid were the detergents of choice

[donkeychomp]

Looks spangly!

Alex

[dusty350]

Gathered some parts together for powdercoating;

20231114_155108 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Wasn't sure which of the 2 frames to go with, but have decided on this 4l1 frame that originally had the Kr1 running gear fitted. The yokes are Lc2, and I will use the Lc2 forks I got recently with Lc wheels - I'm trying to use up parts I already have. The swingarm will be coated too. I did start to polish it but I saw a black coated Metmachex on Facebook and thought it would make a change, plus save me hours of work !! Polishing it would be difficult with my set up. I've had the missing bush made by my engineering guy, so the swingarm is now complete. Would be nice to get it up to a rolling chassis before the end of the year

[donkeychomp]

I'm keen to see the black swinger Dusty.

Alex

[dusty350]

13 months after picking up the frame, the project has officially started !!

20231121_083740 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Dropped off with Jamie, the powdercoater today, and hopefully back before Xmas

[dusty350]

Spoke to Jamie today - powdercoating is done

408806614_3613976405558386_2618044377365320122_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

408786405_3613976402225053_5250811416045989759_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

408768595_3613976412225052_761847463563486707_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

407956640_3613976418891718_6778738211672115302_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

408581811_3613976425558384_5367763318312795623_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

408213267_3613976415558385_6238313291837299572_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

408145118_3613976408891719_7440701126071822587_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

393696322_3613976422225051_8667356224729372688_n by dusty miller, on Flickr

Hopefully pick it all up tomorrow

Dusty

[donkeychomp]

Snazzy! I love his blasting area. Looks like a nice stretch of beach, until you see it in the flesh!

Alex

[dusty350]

Powdercoating is all back in the garage now. Today I thought I would sort the swingarm. This is an original Metmachex, and had been lightly rubbed over with some abrasive pads to provide a key for paint. I originally planned to polish it back, but it soon proved to be a nightmare to polish properly. My bench grinder mounted polishing mops just couldn't get into all the areas of the swingarm, so I opted to get it powdercoated along with all the other bits;

20231210_113213 by dusty miller, on Flickr

All the parts for the swingarm came in a tub and there was a missing bush on one side. I took the remaining one to Steve, an engineer I know, and he made another one for me.
The bearings were all greased and the first one pressed in;

20231210_113433 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Then the bush sits inside the bearing;

20231210_113543 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Then fit the spacer tube from the other side;

20231210_113620 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Then the other bearing and bush. The Eccentric adjusters for the wheel spindle were originally satin black coated but were looking very tired so I gave them a polish to clean them up and add some contrast to the black swingarm. I also added 2 Metmachex decals I had from when I bought my last swingarm. It was for a deeper cross section arm so I had to trim the decals down, but again, it's to add some contrast to the arm;

20231210_121323 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Need to source a new Nyloc for the wheel spindle but otherwise ready to go.
I also cleaned up the 3 tank rubbers, The large rear rubber pad had red paint on it - overspray from a previous life, but some gentle cleaning got it looking ok again;

20231210_121406 by dusty miller, on Flickr

[donkeychomp]

Steve's very good...nice to see the swinger back!

Alex

[Mr Kipling]

Looking forward to see how this one pans out , great start.....

[mouse]

Powdercoating looks great, it's nice to see one of those swingarms in black rather than the normal polished finish.

Mouse

[dusty350]

Cheers
Saw a Metmachex that had been powdercoated on a Facebook page and thought it looked good. Polishing would have been my first choice, but I would have to have had a pro job done to get it looking decent, and that would have cost £££ compared to powder. Pretty pleased with it though.
I'm slowly building momentum on this now. Can build the yokes up now as the bottom seal that was missing has been purchased;

20231214_144129 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231214_144230 by dusty miller, on Flickr

I'm going old skool and using ball bearings and the standard Lc races, rather than tapered bearings, cost being the main reason, and I had the BB's and the races as spares so it's cost zero. Plus the standard set up works perfectly well anyway. The seal came from Shambits, as it was 4 quid as opposed to 8 from Yamaha. It looks like a Japanese part to be honest, but considering it's location and use, I was happy to save £4. Also bought side panel rubbers from them as they were perfectly fine on the 400 Hybrid build, so good enough for this.
With the plan to get the yokes in, I thought I would tidy up the Lc2 forks I got off ebay. As with most Lc2's, the fork tops had been butchered in the past;

20231216_104742 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231216_104755 by dusty miller, on Flickr

The ali is soft enough for a hand file to tidy it up, then on to an abrasive pad on the bench grinder to prep for some polishing;

20231216_110120 by dusty miller, on Flickr

I had to reshape each one as best I could due to the metal having been gouged in the past. Each one got polished on the buffing wheel, and the brass Shraeder valves were polished separately;

20231216_112105 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231216_124055 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Then did the fork bottoms. Picks to follow on those.
Whilst I had the bench grinder out, I thought I would clean up the rotor. It was looking pretty bad;

20231216_114923 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231208_083648 by dusty miller, on Flickr

I want to save it as the magnets look fine, plus I dont need the expense of finding another one. When I was at Kempton a couple of weeks back, I bought an abrasive disc that fits to the polishing arbor on the bench grinder. First time I've bought one, but wish I'd bought them years ago !! Brilliant for removing rust, anodising etc;

20231216_114916 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Again, pics to follow of the completed rotor.
Lastly, the cases were dropped off to Jamie for Vapour blasting. I usually clean then as best I can before taking them, but didn't have time, so the "before and after" pics when I get them back will look pretty good !

20231208_083653 by dusty miller, on Flickr

20231208_083603 by dusty miller, on Flickr

Dusty

[donkeychomp]

Looks like chrome Dusty. I do like that!

Alex

[JonW]

Very nice Dusty, I do love real restoration... ie turning the stuff that could be replaced/junked into usable parts that you can be proud of. Lovely work!

[dusty350]

Cheers Jon
There are a lot of parts going into this one that look, cosmetically at least, well past their sell by date ! That abrasive pad is a real time saver. Often seen them for sale by the fella that I get my polishing mops from at Kempton, but never bought one before. I tested a manky anodised Fzr top yoke on the pad and it cleaned it straight off so it would be great for tired anodised parts and general corrosion. Messy job though !