Now New owner of a 1400

[paulr5604]

Your bike is coming along nicely. Can't believe the amount of rubbish in your tank

[VladTepes]

great thread! Thanks for sharing this ongoing work.  I'd like to see more threads like this.

[BlueDragon]

great thread! Thanks for sharing this ongoing work.  I'd like to see more threads like this.

Thanks..  I'll post up more pics later.  no bodywork left on the bike now except for the front fender that I bought of Teufel..

Looking at taking the front end apart this weekend to check out the steering head bearings.

No TLC had been given to the bike for so long that the drain holes in the battery carrier and where the  ECU sit were blocked up with dirt and other rubbish and spider webs.  I should have taken a photo of the underside of the chain guard.. which had about a 1 inch thick layer of crud sticking to it..  needless to say I've been using a lot of degreaser but even then that hasn't been enough and I have had to scrape the crud off parts of the engine and frame.

I'm hoping to find a local welding place who can re-weld the base back into the tank this week.  The new one is going to be around a month or 2 ex-Japan. Along with some decals for the ducktail which I will be re-painting..

The OEM front guard had 2 cracks in it that I didn't see in direct sunlight.  Until I got home and under the neon lights of the the garage I saw them..  Plus I found that the side covers were also cracked where the screws are. Thankfully I have a plastic welder and can plastic weld it all back up again.

[BlueDragon]

Well,

Got the swing arm out this morning.  Great info on this forum on what to expect before tackling the job.

Even more grease/oil/dirt crud removed from everywhere.

The bearings were OK, with reasonably good grease, but cleaned it all out and re-greased it all, nice and clean.

A jar of vinegar is also getting a work out as I drop all the nuts and bolts into it to remove any surface rust. 

All nice and clean after a few hours of soaking - ready to be put back in tomorrow morning.

Being that my wife and I took the VFR800 out for a spin this afternoon to Walcha and back home to Tamworth, to test the new stator and rectifier I had to install in it.

Will be attacking the front end on the GSX tomorrow morning.

Plus prepping the rear duck-tail for a re-spray and also spray painting the side covers at the same time.  Then plastic welding the original front fender and a re-spray for it as well, to keep it as a spare as I like the white one I bought from Teufel better.

[BlueDragon]

A pic of the VFR.. 

Yep, I am a fan of the Rothmans Race Team that Wayne Gardner and Mick Doohan rode for back in the day..

[grog]

Great work on 14 mate. Nice Honda also, wash my mouth out, did i say that. Really i did, dont often praise Hondas except cb750. I was at Surfers raceway the first time they had onboard camera, Gardner. He fell off. Worth a search for that clip.

[ARH]

That's a very nice vfr!   I was looking for one when I got the offer of the 14.... no looking back after that!   

[BbigMmac]

Welcome, seems like you got your work cut out for you for a while. Always sucks to think you bought a good bike and then find hidden problems. Good luck with the fix!

[BlueDragon]

Pics of the drilled out original exhaust stud that acted as a guide so that I could drill out the centre of the other broken exhaust studs

[BlueDragon]

Finally after a lot of patience and 2 full weekends in the workshop, buying longer drill bits and and a new M8 Tap as well as new exhaust studs and nuts, I got all the broken exhaust studs drilled out, threads tapped and the replacement Delkevic headers and collector installed.

I went with Delkevic as I had a big discount voucher on ebay that I used and saved quite a lot of dollars.  Plus the dual rear mufflers that were already on the bike when I bought it, were also Delkevic.  So thought I would just keep it all the same.

Next job is to get the rest of the tank done.  I had the bottom section soldered back in again by a radiator place..  But that opened up a can of worms as due to the heat, a lot of pin hole leaks opened up when I did a leak test.  So - even though I said I would never do it, I went out and bought a tank sealer kit and will reseal the tank over the next weekend.  Then lightly sand the clear coat on the tank and re-clear coat it as well.

I did end up buying another tank - second hand as you can no longer buy new tanks from Suzuki.  But have a plan for it - I have to respray it, as it is silver.

[KiwiCol]

Cracker mate. You & Snapey are ripping into it flat out.

[Snapey]

I'm not understanding your drill jig from those photo's. From what I see your drilled out socket screw is the drill jig but how does it screw in to a thread that is taken up by a broken bolt?

[BlueDragon]

I'm not understanding your drill jig from those photo's. From what I see your drilled out socket screw is the drill jig but how does it screw in to a thread that is taken up by a broken bolt?

Broken stud - yes, is the drill guide as I put it in a drill press and drilled out the centre with a 4mm drill. 

Which then the same 4mm drill is used to drill the pilot hole into the broken stud still in the head.

The black nut screws onto part of the broken stud as it was still protruding outside the head.  The drilled out stud (guide) is the screwed into the black nut and tightened up so that it won't move around.

Now just start drilling. 

[KiwiCol]

He's using the 4mm hole as a pilot hole to drill into the centre of the broken stud, once stud has the pilot hole, nut & bolt assembly off & the 6mm drill goes in easy & straight.  Works if there's a few threads sticking out to thread the nut onto.

[Snapey]

I've never seen a stud break with enough thread sticking out to start a nut. I'm thinking it's broken off flush & how the hell have you got your jig attached?

What I am intrigued with is how the hell did you get the m4 hole concentric on a bloody drill press when I'd be happy to get it right with all my special toolmaking equipment.