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5th Gen refurb, powdercoat, electrics and much love :)


Bren

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I´ve learnt a lot from a lot of people on this website over the last...16 years or so. WOW long time! So I thought I´d share some of the things I´ve been doing to my 98 the last few winters, keeps me busy over winter and I enjoy the maintenance part of it too.

 

I checked my valves over the winter of 2019 and happily I didn´t need to change out any shims. Mileage was approx. 40k and the second time I´ve checked them as I wasn´t sure of my measurements 5k mile ago. Measurements below:

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Coming to winter of 2020 I started off getting my wheels and some other bits powder coated as they were looking a bit tired. I had my Givi top box rack, heat shield, sidestand and all pegs/footrests coated in a matte black. For the wheels I went with a neon yellow which I love but keeping them clean is a bit of a pain, I may go back to black some day.

 

Here they are when I dropped them off to a company who removes the existing paint in a chemical bath, suitable for aluminium also, and then media blasts them with glass pearls. My powder coater wouldn´t blast the aluminium as he has a recovery system and there would be small bits of metal in the media (sand) that would embed in the alu and eventually rust and waste all the time and money spent on this.

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At the end of 2020 I decided to get some more parts coated as they also needed attention and some tidying up. 

 

So I pulled off the subframe.....

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I was dreading removing the axle from the rear hub as I´d read about a lot of people whacking it with a sledge to get it out, I did think of those people when mine slid out after a light tap! Don´t hate me 🙂

 

 

Some light rust but not a lot any even some of the factory grease still on it, for the record I never use any kind of hose on such areas when washing.

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The hub was suitably dirty but also not too bad all things considered. Grease still in the bearings too 🙂

 

I decided that as the bearings in the hub were fine I would just clean them out and repack them. I had a bit of a moment as I basically submerged the hub in petrol to wash out the bearings but when I was finished the dust seal to the large bearing was all warped and out of shape!, I thought the worst, that the petrol had deformed it and I would have to replace it but thankfully my Karma was good that day and after drying out it was fine.

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So after removing all these parts I still wasn´t finished, the main stand had to come off. I don´t have a fancy stand so MacGyvered a way to keep it off the floor as I had more jobs to do. Did the job and let me remove the stand and keep the bike relatively stable, I know someone made a nice timber frame but I couldn´t be arsed for the short time required really.

 

Here in all it´s wobbly glory 🙂

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After reading about all the in-depth refurbs some members have done I had a list of jobs to tackle while the bike was in this state. First off, clean that engine and all the places you normally can´t reach.

 

Various methods used for cleaning from wire wool to stiff brushes. WD-40 was used along with various household cleaners. Came up a lot better but there are some areas that have pitting etc but its a bike to use and not keep in showroom condition.

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Off to the bath and blasted then the coaters.

 

I decided to leave the linkage bearings in the swingarm with the view that they were fine. I reasoned that if the chemical bath and the blasting ruined them I could take them out then but if still good then I could leave them in. They weren´t still usable afterwards but no loss and popped them out.

 

I have a stainless header but the rear pipes are still the originals, one day I got to find some rears in stainless that fit. Don´t actually know which exhaust it is though, I bought it on ebay when I was still in South America so I would have it when I returned after 6 months, the original just fell apart right before my departure so I need a replacement and this turned up. Could be a Motad but don´t know, bought used in 2005.

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stainless pipes after a good cleaning with an acid 

 

Also treated the rear pipes to a coat of this paint, it´s a kind of flexible coating for exhausts and seems to be holding up well. Also ground down the welds inside the pipes to smooth the flow from the head.

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I got the hub coated too and deliberated and procrastinated about taping off the part where the sprocket sits - circumference of the hub not the flat surface where it´s bolted down, I measured the hub OD and the sprocket ID and there´s not a lot of difference. After taping it off not once but TWICE and pulling it off again both times I thought leave it. As expected when the hub came back the powder thickness around the circumference wouldn´t allow the sprocket to sit all the way down, it is slighty chamfered to ease alignment. I had expected this, I did procrastinate a lot, and had my solution ready to go. Out came the trusty angle grinder and I chamfered the back edge of the sprocket to allow it to sit properly. Worked perfectly and doesn´t detract from the sprocket strength in any way.

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While the swingarm was off I also decided to block off these openings to stop dirt entering, one of the pictures above you can clearly see how much dirt was in there. I have heard of some filling the arm with expanding foam but I didn´t want something so drastic. I cut small windows from plexiglass and used silicone to fix them in place.

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I had my Ohlins shock serviced for the first time in......forever Difference is night and day as to be expected, I´ll be sure to keep on top of this in future. Another ebay find while I was travelling Australia/Thailand/Asia in 1998.

 

New spring as they had 10% off over winter. Old and new for comparison, seems the same except for the last digits but could just be an updated part number.

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Went all out and ordered a Harris hugger.

 

Wanted one of these for a long time after the crappy Red Fox, which never fit properly anyway, ate itself on the rear tyre. Slightly disappointed with same aspects of it though, namely;

1. I had to drill out some of the hole to the correct size

2. it´s not clear from the website that it doesn´t extend down to cover the linkages like a lot of huggers do, this is my biggest disappointment with it.

3. The aluminium strap is held to the hugger with rivets with the heads on top and the shank below. This leaves sharp edges from the rivet shank - I just powder coated my swing arm - but also pushes the hugger higher up making it more difficult to properly fit the strap and the supplied washer which fits around the linkage bolt and allows the linkage to move with the suspension.

I drilled out the rivets and rivetted from the underside going up and it made fitting easier and no scratches. Look at the 2nd photo and you´ll see what I mean.

4. delivery time was quite long as Harris don´t make them themselves and didn´t have any in stock. I think about 8 weeks until it was in my hands.

 

All in all a very well made piece with well thought out fixing positions. Very sturdy so I´m pleased with my purchase on the whole.

 

Did I say how light it is????

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That's an impressive array of updates/repairs.  I wish I had the time, tools and knowledge to do such a job.  I know my '98 needs it.  Congrats on a great job!

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Thanks for posting this.....it's a good reminder that mine could stand a "round 3" update/refurb....

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4 hours ago, scottbott said:

looking great, well done

 

 

3 hours ago, interceptor69 said:

That's an impressive array of updates/repairs.  I wish I had the time, tools and knowledge to do such a job.  I know my '98 needs it.  Congrats on a great job!

Thank you. I did all these things over a few winters, don't like to do a rush job so I could take my time and do it right. It gave me a hobby in winter when we normally have lots of snow, apart from this year! It's snowed once since end of Nov and we currently have 10 C temps which is far too warm for this time of year! When I first came here 20 years ago we would have had 2 meters snow and -10 to -15 C.

 

You'll also see my work area improved over time too.

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52 minutes ago, mello dude said:

Thanks for posting this.....it's a good reminder that mine could stand a "round 3" update/refurb....

Welcome.

Garage time is therapeutic I find.

 

More to come when I find the time.

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2 hours ago, Bren said:

Welcome.

Garage time is therapeutic I find.

 

More to come when I find the time.

A great write up, many thanks. Now I’m keen to start cleaning up my bike.

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Interesting write up. I've been procrastinating about doing a similar refurb on mine for a couple of years now. Should have done it when we were back in our house in QLD, as we have a nice big shed to do that kind of thing there. Our place here in WA only has a "carport", which doesn't really lend itself to pulling things apart etc. Worse, we're planning to travel long term shortly, so the refurb may be a few years off yet (which means the bike - and the parts for the refurb, which I already have - will be in storage for a while).

 

What struck me about your bike is how much it's been modified similarly to mine. Attached are a couple of pics of mine, one taken shortly after I bought it in 2017 (from the original owner), and another more recent one, showing a few updates (mostly powder-coated rims). Interesting that you've put the preload adjuster for the Ohlins on the other side...

 

I'll remember/refer to this thread when I eventually get 'round to doing mine in however long that is.

 

 

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You´re bike looks nice, I considered gold wheels too (Subaru gold wheel colour) but then thought it wouldn´t match the forks or brakes colour and would be too much. The neon yellow looks great when clean!

 

I really enjoy it, gives me a hobby in the cold dark winter evenings. Plus looking at some of the refreshes done on here and the World really made me sad looking at my bike.

 

I see you´ve done the fork swap too, a great upgrade! Mine had the nitride coating when I bought them so I don´t know if they´ve also been revalved as well. I´ll be finding out on Feb. 4th as I´m bringing my forks to the suspension tuner who did my shock, it´s a 3 hour drive but he´s letting me watch so I decided not to post them and I´ll be able to learn more about such things.

 

The reason I put the adjuster on the inside is because I didn´t want it in the way if I took a passenger or had a crash. I made a bracket out of 4mm stainless sheet and just bent it, drilled some mounting holes and had it powder coated with the other bits. Also as I´ve mounted a Givi panier rack it´s better on the inside. The arm from the rack to the passenger peg was cut off, changed the bend in it to suit, welded back on and then the whole lot spray painted. I also cut off the small mounting arm and made a new one to fit over my high level Remus. Don´t mind my crappy lumpy welding 🙂

 

Givi pannier and top box rack plus a fairly scratched up but hardly used, storage scrapes, 52 liter top box for ......€20...absolute steal!

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Fair enough. The rims were done in gold, because i have a long-term ambition to change the colour of the bike to black (exceedingly rare to see a black 5th gen here in Oz). I just the idea of a "black over gold" theme. Have even had some VFR decals made up to suit, being effectively a gold outline(and thus will show the black underneath).

 

I suspect that by the time I do all that (and the refurb stuff), the bike will end up as a primped and pampered garage queen on club rego, wheeled out for the occasional show and shine...😆

 

The Mrs doesn't know it yet, but I'll likely be buying another bike for general all-round riding duties by then...most likely a CB1300, if I can get hold of one.

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I was also going for the black over gold scheme initially but I didn´t want 3 different shades of gold on the front so close together - forks, brakes and then wheels. I was worried it would look too busy so I thought a bit of colour may also make me more visible when riding, even though you can´t see the wheels from the front but whatever. 

 

I don´t do that many miles in a year anymore due to work, building a house and then kids. I tend to spend more time wrenching on it as riding it, wife always finds more projects for me in the house, but I don´t spend a lot of time washing it either. Right now the wheels are filthy from my last ride in November. My bike is not in showroom condition, the left side fairing is rashed up from a slow speed crash on black ice 20 years ago. I bought the R&G frame sliders after that 😏. Various scratches here and there and a nice glaringly obvious chip on the tank - interesting that the black on the tank is undercoated with a light red colour. I don´t know if all tanks have this base colour and were then sprayed in the various colours, could have been a cost saving measure.

 

Pics of a day ride I did last summer. I am lucky to have lots of great places to ride.

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