Joycie's 7/11

[Joycie]

Got a 2nd hand fender last week that I hit with the Dremel. Had an old Motard tyre in the garage so got that fitted up as well.

Have a new wave headlight fitted up but undecided if it will stay on there.

Need to figure out brake line routing and measure up. Want some those dry break fittings as well anyone had any have any experience with them?

The biggest thing holding me up is the head bearings. Caution Whinge ahead. Ordered and paid a deposit for an 'AllBallz' conversion top and bottom bearings to use the K5 stem from the local shop in December. Went in 4 weeks later to find out where they were only to be told that they hadn't actually been ordered. F@ck me. Gave them a 2nd chance and stood there while they actually placed the order over the phone. Got a call last thursday from the shop and yep you guessed it, won't be in for another 3 weeks. F@ck F@ck F@ck. If they actually turn up then that'll be 4 months F@ck. End of whinge

[BOBBY]

Local shop? Wouldn't be near a maccas by any chance? I understand your frustration if it was.

Those brake lines. Go see brake smart on montague st north woolongong and ask for Pete. He'll look after and he knows his shit.

[Joycie]

Yeah Bob. I keep giving them second chances hoping that they'll come good but it's happened a few times now. Anything other than OEM parts and your definitly asking for trouble. Will have to try Nowra, not exactly convenient But good excuse for a ride south though. Will stop whinging now, promise.

Brake Smart eh? Am trying Helperformance at the moment. Rang the guy today but he's run off his feet. Have you had lines made by Pete?

[BOBBY]

My good mechanic mate uses him all the time. Another mate has had braided lines made up for his cars without issue. I'll be going in soon for lines for my xy when funds build up again too. If I had standard lines on my cbr I'd probably already have been there. Actually the rear brake is still rubber.... Hmmm
I believe they can resleeve cylinders on site, maybe they can do lines too.

That particular shop is not high on my list of places to buy stuff from. Bikes especially. He boss man is trying to sell his place out on tongarra rd at the moment. I think he's asking too much.

[Nudie]

I've had brake lines made for my bike at Brakemart in Montague St. No problems and not a bad price from memory.

I didn't think tj had been in that place on Tongarra Rd long enough to be selling up. Must need the $$

[Joycie]

WOOHOOO, finally got my bearings in and the Postie had a package for me last Friday morning.

So got busy yesterday arvo turning this


into this

(Basically a mess in the garage)

Found it had no dust seal between the bottom fork clamp and bottom bearing. Plan on trying to knock the bearing shells out this arvo but there doesn't look like there is much of a lip to get a purchase on with a drift (read through tang flat head).

Any tips or tricks any one could share on getting them out?

Disregard my last. Turns out that while there aren't any notches in the head stock up behind the top bearing shell but there is on the bottom. I'd just had a "Girl" look and there were notches hiding under some grease. Oddly enough the top shell without notches was easier to get out than the bottom.

[Joycie]

So after waiting on steering head bearings then finding I had fucked the top dust seal taking the old front end off and then waiting for a new one to come in. This new front end install has had so many false starts it’s really wearing thin.

Finally with all the bearings and seals I was keen to get cracking. So with new bearing shells into headstock, new bottom bearing seal and bearing on the stem I offered up the bottom clamp to the frame. This is what I found.

So top of the bottom clamp is just fouling the frame. loosened the top stem nut and dropped the clamp through the headstock 5mm and it clears the frame, but now fouls the oil cooler. Also won’t be able to use the fork mount indicators I got from Extreme Creations. Yep cue plenty of swearing and drowning of sorrows with rum.

Next problem was using the K5 stem and stem nuts I can’t just whack on the slingshot top dust seal on.

I think there is enough room that I can get around this with some spacers. But with all this shenanagans, the budget for the purchase of the long awaited lathe has been reduced to $0. The list of jobs is growing rather than getting smaller godammit.

Anyone want to share suggestions or able to knock out some spacers for me?

[Joycie]

So had a chat to Ben at Extreme about the issues with the bottom triple and sent it back to him. He had it sorted and back to me within the week. Bloody Legend. He pushed the stem 6mm further up through the bottom triple, made up a 6mm spacer for on top of the bottom triple, made up a 6mm longer lock stop striker, had all that anodized black and also made up a spacer so I can use another slingshot top headstock dust seal.
Refitted reworked triple clamp and it now works a treat clearing the frame and the striker hits the lock stops before the forks touch the frame. Sweet.

However the sweetness is short lived when I fit the fork mount indicators above the triple clamp. There is no way they are going to live there. So refit indicators under the bottom clamp and they may be happy there after I remake a new bracket to hang the oil cooler off. Annoying but no biggy at first, vey annoying after making the bracket for the 4^th time. Even then had to take out some material for the indicators to clear bracket. Not entirely happy with it, but I think it got the better of me for now.
Moving the oil cooler down to clear the fork mount indicators has had a knock on effect with the oil cooler lines now sitting on the headers. So back to making more f@cking oil cooler brackets.

Might take a break from the hacksaw and file and set up the accelerator cable kit.
I naively thought that as I had all the parts required to swap the front end out I would have been back riding this thing weeks ago.

[slingy88]

Damn, I feel your pain. Having similar issues with replacing my 1052cc engine with a bandit 12.
Even though they are similar, there are enough differences to fuck me in the arse, every single step of the bastard way.
I am collecting parts to do a usd front end on my gsxr as well. I have purposely found myself some L/M tripples so I know they will just bolt in to the frame. Not bling but a guaranteed fit. Then hopefully have some zx10r fork legs, which are the right length and diameters to fit the tripples so should be an easy fit hopefully. Famous last words lol

[Joycie]

Right so after 6 weeks of dicking around with oil cooler brackets I've finally manage to make one that clears the the forks, fork mounted indicators, frame and exhaust after five five attempts.




But in my defense, lately I get exactly as much time as it takes my eldest to watch Disney's Cars/Planes to work on the bike. I guess I should be thankful I've a Telly in the garage.

I've also been distracted by this


As the new bars are now much higher I've have sorted a new/longer accelerator cable but need to do something about switch blocks wiring. Was just going to cut, solder and heat shrink wiring extentions. Any suggestions on a tidy solution?

[wackyrider]

Before you go through all the headache of cutting and soldering, remove your tank & airbox and check if you can re-route the cables. I have never had to extend these before, there's usually a better way of routing them to get the added length that you need.

[Watto]

Hey mate

with the issue with the top stem nut, cant remember if it was Deano or someone else but when I put a K4 front end on the slingy, the solution was to machine a step into the K4 nut to make it work - will see if I can find the info

[Joycie]

Watto, there didn't look like there was enough meat on the original stem nut to machine a step deep enough into it and still put tension on it/tighten it. So Ben made up a thin/light kinda top hat spacer to sit inside the Slingshot dust seal. Using this set up however meant that I could only use one of the original stem nuts rather than the 2 nuts (tension nut and lock nut) as the new spacer had taken the space of the original tension nut, if that makes sense.
Ended up drilling the one original stem nut and lock wiring it to the drilled aftermarket top clamp nut I've got.

You can just see the top of the new spacer between the dust seal and the 1 original stem nut.


Wacky, I wish I could just reroute. It seems too short a switch block wiring is the least of my electrical troubles, I've this to contend with as well.

It would seem just ignoring the problem of a 25yr old bodged wiring loom has not fixed itself as I had hoped some time ago.
Further investigation under the rolls of electrical tape revealed someone else had the same idea with the switch block wiring some time ago.

Anyone know of a bike electrician or anyone who's handy at making custom looms/wiring in the Sydney area? That really needs to be sorted.

[BOBBY]

How good is wiring? I'm in the same boat with mine. Half a keg of spaghetti under my tank. Now I've got a short somewhere.
You're nearly there bud.

[Joycie]

Thought I had this front end sorted this week end. Rego notice received last week so must get cracking.

Have been chipping away at the wiring for the last couple of weeks and although it's far from perfect it's much better than it was. I've a much better understanding of what's going on with the wiring loom and how it is wired (it differs quite a bit from the Haynes manual schematic) but this only highlights the many more improvements to be made in the future. The 6 core trailer cable will definitely be replaced soon.

So went over the front brakes last night and started bleeding. Took forever to get any feel in the lever. To be fair though the whole system was completely dry, i.e. new master cyl., lines and rebuilt calipers. Had to push a heap back though bleed nipples to really get started. Still not happy with it though, other than a pressure bleeder any tips? I've gone through 2 $20 cans of fluid so far and haven't touched the clutch yet.

Went to plumb the new clutch master up and found the 3 single banjos I have are 1.5 pitch thread (Japanese?) and the only 1.0 pitch thread banjo (Italian?) I have that I needed was a double banjo. Hmmm. So if it were not for that I imagine I would of been on the road this afternoon.

In reality though I would of been dealing with the effects of standing a bike for an extended period (stale fuel, carb issues, flat battery, blah, blah).

Pushed it out in the sun to clean off the brake fluid I missed in the Rum induced haze from last night. Couldn't resist a few pics.

Bounced up and down on the forks before tightening axle and pinch bolts. Was expecting to have to trim the back of the front guard back for clearance at the oil cooler but it looks like it'll be ok. Won't really know till I hit the first sodded bump.

Wanted to 'Clean the bars up' a bit but have retained the old Slingy Left switch block as time is running out. Looks a bit scummy compared to the right side, have a small dirt bike switch block to replace it with when time allows. Not happy with the look, placement or function of the speedo but again it will do for now/rego till I can afford a motogadget unit and all the bits need to make it work.

So close to being back on the road. I was thinking about paint, new tails/seats, swing arms just last week before rego notice arrived. All that has since gone now I just want to go for a ride.

[Gix11]

Good to see it outside the shed!

[geesexar]

well done mate lookin sweet

[ozzy1100]

looking very nice, good build

[Bob]

Looks cool mate

[BillyBob]

Just read from start to finish, should be proud dude you've done an awesome job.
You have just made me want to find a gix 11!