Stray

Here you go: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F273649792185 He made this listing especially for me. If it’s no longer live just do a search for his other items using details in the title. Not yet, Gig. Thinking a simple home-made ally bracket will do and maybe I should stick bearings/bushings in the bolt holes? Not sure how I’m going to tackle that yet.

I saw your post on this earlier and will follow your lead. Got new silicone lines ready to go. Still thinking of running TB through dishwasher first to give a deeper clean (but no point if it is going to ruin the sensors). What do you think? Spot on - got a seal/filter kit on order from the USA. Will fit with silicone grease (same stuff as brake calliper seals). Spot on again! Had a coolant leak somewhere in there and will be replacing o-rings/clamps and hoses. Might go silicone... I guess you’re right, BUT, dishwasher has a rinse cycle that removes all soap residues. Soap is only active for a short time during the cleaning cycle. I will also be coating TB with ACF50 anti corrosion oil after. We run lots of aluminium items through the dishwasher without damage. Most modern frying pans are aluminium with raw bases - mine seem OK wash-after-wash. Same for baking trays and lots of other stuff - comes out the washer OK. So I’m not worried about aluminium corroding; more worried about hot water entering the sensors and damaging them. Is this a real concern or not? I know motorcycles can ride in the rain but hot soapy water is a different thing entirely.

Last week I took the plunge and removed the throttle bodies. Was worried about rubber boots being too hard and brittle after 20 years and 70k miles. Anyways, had to buy an extra long extension thingie to reach the rubber boot clamps. Despite some pretty serious corrosion they came undone without stripping (got to push against the screw pretty hard). Ordinarily there’s no place for crowbars in motorcycle wrenching but some gentle application against the rim (working slowly along with some protection for rear cylinder head) popped rear boots right off. A little wiggle and the front boots also gave way. Here they are in all their filth and rust. Note the cardboard box is from a Vtech Christmas toy - I thought that was funny! Closeup of the butterflies shows some black buildup on the opening edge. Sprayed liberally with throttle body cleaner and broke out the toothbrush. Soaked butterflies on both sides a few minutes to break down the kak. My God, the sh!t that came out was biblical! Some of the cr@p on the cardboard “workbench”... One hour later throttle bodies are looking better but certainly not perfect. Some stubborn stains and corrosion remain after two full cans of cleaner and a few toothbrushes being sacrificed to the cause. I cleaned throttle bodies BEFORE removing injectors as didn’t want crud falling into any of the small holes when they were exposed. Allen key/wrench used to undo fuel rails. Ring spanner used to apply leverage. Fuel rails and injectors coming off all at once. Nice and neat! Here they are removed. Looks like some dirt and water ingress getting past seals for the injectors. This is where the business end of the injector fits into the throttle body. Injectors looking dirty but not overly so. Was expecting far worse given age and mileage, to be honest. Crusty buildup on front seal suggests rather a lot of cr@p had got past it. This stuff is HARD like ceramic! Removing some of the crud in the injector seats with “GENTLE” use of a flat screwdriver. You can see the dirt coming off on the tool. Much cleaner bore means new rubber will seal better when re-installed. I didn’t touch the cone shaped bit for fear of scratching. Injectors now removed from rail. Wasn’t sure if I should buy new or rebuild these. On the one hand they are 20 years old and have reasonably hard mileage on them. On the other, we have better fuel in the UK than in the US so they couldn’t be too bad inside. On the horns of s dilemma: 1. get these professionally rebuilt? We don’t have many petrol injector rebuilding businesses in the UK (possibly because our fuel is pretty good) 2. Do I rebuild them myself with some carb/TB cleaner and a 9v battery? Lots of videos on YouTube. Problem is I don’t get a flow chart or ultrasound cleaning this way. Just soak, spray clean, back flush and replace seals. Very DIY and cheapest option 3. Buy new injectors and be confident they are 100%. Most expensive option (around $160 plus shipping/taxes from US - UL prices are insane!) 4. Buy rebuilt injectors with flow chart. Cheaper than 3 above but how do I know if they have actually been cleaned properly? Also, LOTS of knock-off injectors being sold as remanufactured items on eBay so this is a minefield. Anyway, I was leaning towards the DIY option and bought some seals from the US in preparation. Then I stumbled across this listing on eBay: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F302743465882 At that price it was certainly worth a visit so I drove down and met Dave Bennet in the flesh. Lovely bloke! Saw his premises and ASNU injector machine. He talked me through his process: spray clean; then ultrasonic clean whilst activating the submerged injectors; then back flush; final spray clean and flow testing. He had them done the very next day and I dropped by to pick up the flow chart below. They weren’t too bad as it happens, although two had a dodgy spray pattern that was fixed by the cleaning. Also got a nice cash discount over the already low eBay price! Seriously, everyone else quoted me 4-5 times that price which is hard to swallow when new units cost only slightly more. Here they are well packaged and numbered. Looking really good and I’m really happy with them. If anyone wants injectors cleaned I am happy to endorse BobBeck Injector Services in Warminster, CV34 6TH. His number is: zero1926888110 (mods, please feel free to remove if inappropriate. I have no connection to this business other than having injectors cleaned this week). He didn’t have seals/filter for me but was so cheap I can’t complain. Got a seal/filter kit arriving in a few days anyway so it all worked out pukka! New silicone hoses to be installed next week. Tempted to throw throttle bodies in dishwasher before assembly but not sure sensors would survive it. Anyone done this? Grateful for any advice, especially from anyone who has done this. Stray

Rear wheel now on!

Hello All, Spoke to Jeff yesterday and he apologised for the delay. Unfortunately the grandson situation has got quite setious for Keith who has gone to ground since the lad was born. Very ominous. Jeff’s VFR is in Keith’s workshop with the Lextek fitted. They got as far as running it (not under load) and Jeff says it sounded awesome! No more progress since then. Dyno testing will have to wait until the grandson situation resolves. Sorry to be a wet blanket folks. I’m afraid there’s no working around this one. There will be a dyno pull but I can’t say when. Sorry again for the delay! Stray

Wow - 6,000km road trip sounds awesome!

Fitted Ducati 848 hub this week but really had to fight the shim that wraps round it because it kept springing back. Here’s the whole kit ready to fit. Note the rectangular shim and circular spacer at top left. Here is the first stage with a rubber hammer, “persuading” the shim to match the hub’s form... The end pieces were a real PITA so I bust out an Irwin clamp to pinch them down... ...and then a second clamp... Tried rotating the clamps bit by bit to fold down the shin but it just kept springing back. So I decided to clamp it round a smaller diameter to counteract the springback - a plastic water/cola bottle. That sort of worked but I still couldn’t get a nice perfect circle to push into the swingarm. Between the springback and uneven radius it was really hard to force the shim into the hole. Even harder to then force the Ducati hub inside the hole with shim. I thought it best to insert the shim halfway in a sort of cone position so the hub can more easily slide in from the left (as you sit on the bike). There is no way the hub would fit if the shim was all the way in - too tight. Hard to see so screwdriver points to edge of shim still sticking out of the swingarm hole. Hub just starting to enter the shim from the left. Followed by brute force, ignorance and a rubber mallet... In the above pic the hub is almost home but I’ve left it out so you can see the spacer. Hub now now fully installed along with all spacers, circlip, seals and brake calliper hanger. Stock torque arm/dogbone far too long to work with the Ducati parts. Pic showing gap between calliper hanger and torque arm bolt that needs to be bridged somehow - will get to that later. Now to mount rear sprocket and carrier with new cush rubbers. Coloured one nut in black with a sharpie to see if it’s worth buying anodised parts - not sure it’s worth it. Final pic shows calliper sliding pin polished with tin foil and covered in a thin layer of copper grease for rebuild. It was crusty with rust and the tinfoil worked a treat - hard on rust and soft on the steel beneath. Tin also fills any holes/pits caused by the rust so you end up with a nice smooth surface, even if it looks a bit mottled. Rim will be fitted next week. Stray

Been doing some research on this and it turns out 5th gen clutch slave has 35.6mm diameter whereas 6th gen has 33.5mm. Afternarket Oberon clutch slave piston is apparently 38mm but only marketed for 5th gen (possibly not enough clutch disengagement on 6th gen as piston too big?). Stray

I wonder why the 5th and 6th gen clutch baskets differ so much. Can a 6th gen clutch be installed in a 5th gen? Here are some microfiche pics to compare: 5th gen 6th gen

Have been looking at Evans waterless coolant lately but can’t bring myself to pay the premium...

I put a thin coat of copper antiseize on mine. Just a very light sheen. As much as you’d put on the back of brake pads. Honda makes no mention of grease but Ducati and Triumph do! My instinct says grease ‘er up...

Wow Lance and Duc2V4 - you guys are AWESOME! Congratulations on succesding where so many others (including myself!) have failed. You’re a credit to us and I’m very grateful - I know you’ve been beavering away at this for a long, long time. When the 8th gen run begins I’ll put my name down for one (want a front-mount rad on my 5th gen). Once more: WELL DONE AND THANKS! Stray

Hello All, I've stumbled over a very low mileage 8th gen parts bike right when I’m rebuilding my 5th gen. Got me thinking what new stuff I can transfer off the later bike to my poor old 5th gen. I know someone has transplanted 6th gen throttlebodies onto a 5th gen (although the thread doesn’t specify any benefits in doing so). So is the 8th gen compatible? Are there any different sensors or mounting issues? The injectors alone would be a great upgrade (12 holes vs single hole on 5th gen = mpg gains and better atomisation). Also, most 5th gen parts are now well used whereas 6th and 8th gen parts are fresher. Rubber parts are the worst-hit. Prices tend to be the same. Are the rubber intake boots interchangeable between generations? I’m even tempted to have the 8th gen airbox to play with. Don’t want to spend money and find nothing fits. Thanks in advance for for your help. Stray

I use Phillips Extreme Vision on my 5th gen. Nice and bright with shake resistance. Better than stock and no modifications needed.

Welcome aboard! The Blackbird is amazingly powerful but you’ll find the VFR is very rewarding too. It has the perfect balance between power/weight/delivery and it grows on you over time. Less powerful than the Blackbird but lighter and more manoeuvrable, not to mention more comfortable to ride. Give it a chance and you might be surprised!