Hooli's 14 Mk2...

[Hooli]

Well chaps the project to sort out my new purchase and get it how I want it started today. If nothing else it's made me rather glad I hadn't tried to ride the thing first. The plan for the day was to get the swingarm out and the other bits I wanted to send for polishing. That's achieved with a few changes to the list as I went, I've decided the pegs & hangers will go for proper polishing as there's lots of surface marks on them so they'd look tatty compared to the professionally polished bits.

I started by removing the rear brake ready to take the wheel out, first thing off was the chav tat torque arm. Which doesn't even fit properly! The proper one as an S bend about an inch across to line up & this thing is a flat bar so had to be forced into place. Then the rear bolt was too long on the shank so didn't clamp it up as they'd used the original bolt. The next bit of joy was the banjo bolt was barely finger tight & the brake caliper was almost empty of fluid, oh & both pistons had seized in the caliper.

For reference, here's the difference in the torque arms.



The wheel came out ok, except the spindle was half stuck due to very old grease that'd gone solid. Shocks came off & again the pivots were very sticky due to no grease so the suspension won't have worked smoothly.

Before I could drop the swing arm out I had to remove the engine bars as their brackets covered the swing arm pivot. They were coming off anyway so no loss there. I did find the engine mounts were only finger tight, bolts too short (you need longer ones with engine bars) and one of the threads into the frame is damaged so I need to sort that before it goes back together. Oh & they'd lost a washer for the front engine mounts & just not bothered with one on that side. But they had managed to do those ones up.

The swing arm came out fine after that, although they'd cocked up the rubber fittings for the chainguard. Rather than put one each side of the metal, they'd put one behind the bracket & added an extra nut to retain it!. A bit of time was spent draining the rear brake system so it's not dribbling fluid over the bench & such. Then the footpeg carriers and pillion peg brackets came off, revealing that the E-clip retaining the peg pivots was missing on two out of four pegs. Oh & one of the threads for the bolts holding the pillion brackets on has been stripped & forced in at an angle to start it. So that needs a helicoil before it goes back on. As is also traditional now, they'd lost a bit & just left it out, the six bolts that retain the rider's footpeg brackets have rubber washers behind, but only five washers were fitted. Oh yeah & the split pin for the rear master cylinder had been reused even though it'd half snapped off, the rest snapped as I spun the pin to find the end of it.

The rider's RH footpeg as removed, with missing E-clip.



That's everything I'm doing at the backend apart so I moved forwards & the first thing I noticed was the rubbers on the tank brackets are fitted wrong, they're stacked up on top of the tank rather than around what they should retain. I've left that for now, the tank is going to come off for several jobs on another day so I can do it then.

There's an random flasher unit looking thing added to the wiring too, no idea why. I'd suspect the non-standard indicators fitted flashed wrong so rather than buy a LED compatible relay that replaces the original they've bodged this in.



I'll work that out at some point & do things properly. I've actually got a spare LED relay on the shelf anyway.

Then just so it looked like I'd done something useful I've removed two more bits of chav tat, the awful fake carbon fibre around the petrol cap & edges of the tank.

Before





After




The petrol cap doesn't look amazing as the stick on polished top leaves a lip of normal alloy showing & stands slightly proud of the tank. I might take the extra off & just clean & paint the original cap in black so it fits in. I'll think about it.

Finally the oil cooler guard came off, I'll see if it can be polished as the matt black finish looks crap. As is typical of what I'm finding on this bike, it had washers on one side of the bike but not the other & three rusty bolts & one stainless one. I'll sort that out when it goes back on too.

But anyway, all the bits that came off went on the lawn to keep them out the way, except the back wheel as I found a place for that. So here's the pile of junk before spreading around back under the bike.



The bike has been left like this, but covered up again as the roof leaks when windy and stops me scratching it when walking past.



Not a bad three hours really. I've got everything off I need to send for polishing and found a load of issues to sort as I go.

[Phill P]

Lots of work by the sounds of it, looking positive though.
So here's a general question on the hangers and footpegs, what is the standard finish. Is it painted alloy then clear coat or is it anodised, or what is it. 

[Hooli]

I think it's anodised from what I've been told about them needing grit grinding to remove it prior to polishing.

As an aside on that, I need to get another torque arm as the one I got off ebay has got damage too deep to polish out & it'll show, but was hidden in the one pic they provided. Which is annoying.

[Phill P]

Cheers for that, just wasn't sure as it's too hard for powdercoat

[Dwain Dibley]

Good work Hooli, I look forward to the next instalment.

D.D.

[Hooli]

Good work Hooli, I look forward to the next instalment.

D.D.

Don't hold your breath. I'll get the all the bits polished, order the extra parts I now know I need & put the back end together. Then I'll rip the front half apart & do the rest.

I might do small bits like strip & clean the clutch slave while waiting, but it's now mostly a waiting game again. The aim is to get it on the road for April to match when a mate gets her bike out.

[Mr Gee]

Interesting read Hooli but you could have saved yourself a lot, of typing if you had just, told us what was right.   

[Hooli]

Interesting read Hooli but you could have saved yourself a lot, of typing if you had just, told us what was right.   

I'll get back to you on that, when I find something 

[Pommeroy]

Interesting read Hooli but you could have saved yourself a lot, of typing if you had just, told us what was right.   

I'll get back to you on that, when I find something 

Don't give up hope...Suzuki is spelt right on the tank.

[GSXKING]

@Hooli how are/were the swingarm bearings ?
I'm fairly sure mine are still original. It looks like quite the job to remove and replace.

[grog]

Chris, fairly straightforward job, just no good for old backs☹️.  Doubt new bearings required just clean and repack.Waterproof trailer grease.IMO.

[Hooli]

@Hooli how are/were the swingarm bearings ?
I'm fairly sure mine are still original. It looks like quite the job to remove and replace.

Absolutely fine, I'd suggest a regrease one day if they've never been done though. Just like the steering bearings Suzuki forgot to grease them properly. I've found that even on dry weather bikes the LH bearing gets a tiny bit of surface rust discolourisation on the cage as any condensation on the pivot area dribbles left when the bike is parked on the side stand.

TBH to most difficult part of the job is getting the rear brake disconnected without pouring brake fluid everywhere, as the hose goes through a loop on the inside of the swing arm you need to do this before removal.

The swing arm is light being alloy & I find it easy to hold in place with one hand as I slide the spindle out. The whole job really is as easy as -

Rear brake hose off, I disconnect it at the caliper & pump the fluid out with the pedal. Then crack the drain screws loose & remove the caliper. It drains out nicely then when tipped on it's side.
Wheel out.
Check the tank/airbox drain hoses are clear (if tucked into their original places they need moving as they go behind the swingarm's pivot tube.
Take the bottom bolts of out of the shocks remembering the swing arm will drop when you do so. it's a good time to remove the shocks & grease the pivots at both ends so the suspension moves smoother too.
Undo the swingarm pivot, it's about 27mm both ends but I forget exactly.
Support the swing arm and withdraw the pivot. They normally need a gentle tap to start moving as they've been in so long.
Then lower the swingarm out, it sides backwards, pointing down a bit & avoids everything in the way.

As the Haynes book of lies says, refitting is a reversal of removal.

[grog]

Rear shocks just move on rubber bushes, dont pivot on metal bushes/bolts??? I grease to make sure they come out when needed.Thats always been my thinking🤷Always tighten with bike weight on them, puts bushes in mid range.

[Hooli]

Rear shocks just move on rubber bushes, dont pivot on metal bushes/bolts??? I grease to make sure they come out when needed.Thats always been my thinking🤷Always tighten with bike weight on them, puts bushes in mid range.

The bushes have a little metal sleeve in the middle though, you want that to slide around the bolt rather than seize & wear the rubber. So I just smear the bolt lightly with grease, also makes them much easier to take apart in the future as it's a bugger to drive the bolt out if it seizes to the bolt.

[Hooli]

I'm glad someone went though & liked a load of these posts, it's reminded me I need to contact the polishing guy & drop the bits off with him!

Although I'm replacing the chavvy axle nut so I might wait for the new one to arrive with my list of bits & send that with it so everything matches.