Project Status Update Winter 2024

It's been a while, but in my defense a lot got done and I promise in the coming weeks, I plan to do quite a bit of catching up on the blog as the Suzuki is getting close to the finish line. So here's a bit of an overview, what's planned for the Winter season/the coming weeks. 

Everyday TR1:

Only a bit of maintenance is due really.

• Oil- and filter change at (1)35,000km
• clean and grease the starter motor
  
• a good cleaning and greasing
  
• throttle cable incl. splitter needs to be changed, because this will create problems rather sooner than later
  
• the sub-frame mount of the rear mudguard needs to be addressed as the bolt touches the tire ever so slightly when the rear shock bottoms out (and I already have a solution with a P-clamp that basically only needs to be installed and then that'll solve the issue)
  

 XT600 - Dre-XT-Stück:

I got a lot more use out of the old girl this year than several of the last few years combined, still to call the old girl "trouble free" is a bit of a stretch.

• Headbolt threads in the cylinder need to be upgraded with M12-to-M8 adapters like I did it on the pretty one as the left front one is starting to fail and thus leaking oil
• a road-legal pannier rack is due
• I still have this KTM Adventure 790 rearshock, which needs an adapter to get it to the right length
• oil the throttle and clutch cables
  
• other than that, a good clean and a bit of TLC should do the trick

SR500 sidecar:

As this one will be used the most, the main thing will be to get it ready for Winter-use.

• Spray it down with wax to protect the metal parts from the omni-present salt
• install hand muffs
• Check which bolts have come loose lately
• modify the summer wheel to work with the modified sprocket carrier and get a bigger rear sprocket
  

Suzuki SJ410 - the Pickle:

Not sure, if I'll have this ready at the start of Winter, but we're getting there as the little cube is already painted and mostly there to get inspected. The big things still missing to get it on the road are:

• fix up the front and rear bumpers
• repair the wiring and remove most of the rather dodgy fixes
• make the heater work
• replace the rear brake drums for the later model ones I have already overhauled (they are self-adjusting and more common, so e.g. the drums are still available as aftermarket parts)
• get the handbrake working
• change the various oils and check for leaks and fix those
• fit the winter tyres (which can mean either fit the tyres with the Winter tyres on them or fit the second set of NEW Winter tyres to the wheels which are currently on there - might in the end by a matter of the available time)

Other vehicles that need fixing:

VX800:

This was probably the let down of the season, because it got new tyres and the started to not run right, which resulted in pulling the fuel petcock (because we assumed it was blocked by rust and also leaking slightly) and that was perfectly alright...

• convert to electric fuel pump out of a VS750 (chopper version of the same bike) as the diaphragm pump is as dead as nails
• Repair the petcock threads in the tank because one of the metal-look-a-like bolts stripped part of its threads

Goldwing GL1200 - Volkskrad:

This really "just" needs finishing. We got stuck at the point, when I had to get a repair-kit for the rear brakepump. This has to be installed and then the rest needs to be assembled etc. The future on this one might be rather open really. 

Aprilia Moto 6.5:

Somewhat as predicted the broken regulator/rectifier fried another battery, so this has to be addressed and in an ideal world, I am not going to do that with a stock Ducati-elettronica unit, but something out of Japan. I just have to dig out the necessary specs to find a suitable replacement.

Bandit 1200:

Unless I am mistaken, this one might want (again) a replacement of the clutch slave seal and a good cleanup of the rear brake caliper.

As the avid reader might have noticed, there's quite a few vehicles missing from this list - that's intentional, because this is the stuff that HAS to be done. Everything beyond that is probably a case of how cold (or not) it will be during the Winter and the amount of extra time available for tinkering.

 

Dre-XT-Stück - self-retracting sidestand

 Let's assume you have a (pretty) extensively modified motobike in a country with relatively strict laws on the matter and it's time for the annual inspection (TÜV/MOT/call it what you will, you get the idea - overhere it's colloquially simply called "the sticker"). Now the logical assumption would be that the bike failed on one of the more or less obvious modifications and not one of the few bits that were still stock. 

So now we're turning the sidestand into one of the self-retracting variety. (Not that something like this ever existed on an XT600 before 1987 and this one is a mid 1984 model.)

 After looking at how it is done on other Yamahas of the era, I dug out a German model XV750 or XV1000 sidestand and realized the only thing I really needed was a pin to act as an over center pivot.

As that weld has to take ALL of the force of the spring and is under pressure all the time while it is parked on the sidestand, I decided to make a proper weld with the amps cranked up to eleven-and-a-half.

 

 Looks pretty unassuming and very stock. 

... and that was all it took to pass the inspection.

Everyday TR1 - risers and a broken clutch cable

You know how sometimes small changes can make a huge difference? Handlebars or in this case handlebar risers can make the difference between a sore shoulder or nah, let's do another de-tour. 

So I swapped my 25mm risers for 15mm ones.

So all was well and the old girl put to a lot of use (someone might have been without a working car at the time) and on my way to the workshop, minding my own things, all of a sudden the clutch lever pulled all the way to the handlebar.

I suspected the nipple on the lever or the actual cable being broken, but no: the lower nipple had broken apart. As a matter of fact you can even see the broken bit sitting at the bottom of the housing right next to the spring.

Now with the cable still being GOOD, this meant a bit of lathe activities in order to make a decent nipple from brass and solder it on.

To be fair the repaired cable has been relegated to spare-part duty, not because I don't trust it, but because it's the last of my "long" cables and I have multiple new ones, which all are the same (free) length, meaning, I don't have to adjust the clutch when swapping cables. So plenty of oil was due...

Project Pickle - finishing off the body work on the outside: rust (part 7.4)

 One probably unexpected similarity of traversing the Atlantic ocean and welding in the rear wheel arches after someone else has already "attempted" to fix them before you is that you have to traverse a featureless void filled with disappointment... No seriously though there wasn't much left that could give guidance aside from a bit of a reinforcement rib on the B-pillar and a rough idea where the arse-end of the car is. 

As I don't have a sheetmetal nibbler, I had to break down the outline down into straight lines.

Also as I am only blessed with two appendages for holding stuff in place AND welding, I resorted to using sheet metal screws to pin the repair panel in place...

... cut out a section ...

... and then weld it in.

Whilst the sheetmetal distorted quite a bit (it would have helped to have some structure on the inside), the result is rather acceptable, if I may say so.

Same story, other side.

With the wheel arches sorted the front wells were next and let's just say, I learned that you shouldn't cut them before the floorpans are securely in place. 

Or you end up with a lot of extra work on your hands.

Luckily on the passenger side I had refrained from "fitting" them up previous to everything being in place, which made it a lot easier - aside from going back and forth about fifteen times to make it fit nicely. (Which is sort of a theme here - the actual welding takes some time (fair enough), but making the panels line up decently easily eats up the whole morning compared to what feels like twenty minutes of actual welding.)

And then there was this last patch-piece to complete the welding on the outside of the body. 

So it took me from February 28th to August 1st roughly using one to one and a half days per week to finish the tin work (without rework/cleanup), which equates to around 200 to 300hrs for this part of the repair work alone. Let's just call this a financial desaster and move on to the inner wheel houses, boot floor and the other misc. stuff that still needs to be addressed. 😉 Might be a while though.

Project Pickle - more almost sadistic sill surgery: rust (part 7.3)

 Let's face it the front floor pans weren't the only bit that was rusted to buggery, it was *just* patched up more. The rear - oh the last guy got slightly less creative overe there, still it was well and truly f*****.

In order to get the boot floor out, I had to remove the towing hitch and the fuel tank. (Another one of those items, I had not planned to replace, but once I had it out...)

With the floor out, it became apparent that I got a bit more than I bargained for. I was well aware that the wheel arches were completely rotten, but the whole lower door frame as well... 

At about this time a slightly fatalistic: nothing to it, but to do it attitude had sneaked in, so a bit of 30x3mm flatbar was procured at my local steel supplier and now there's one bit of bodywork that's hopefully not rust out as quickly. 

And because all the mounting bolts had snapped off in the captive nuts inside the frame, this little beauty was fabricated.

At this point the body was light enough to lift it with one hand, sneak a wooden block in between the frame and clean up all the welds and bits with the grinder.

With the boot floor removed, the body had lost a lot of its rigidity, but not to worry - a ratchet strap and a few well placed spot welds took care of that (mostly!)

Turns out (duh), mine's not the only rusty Suzuki in the world yet most people probably don't quite go to the lengths to fix up theirs. Regardless of which, there's a few very smart repair panels available to fix the area around the rear door. 

With that in mind I felt a lot more comfortable chopping out a lot around the rear door pillar to fix some other rotten bits. 

If you don't look too close, the whole sheet-metal origami isn't too hard really and just takes quite a bit of time, a vise, a hammer and a ruler to get the dimensions right.

I am definitely not call it "invisible repair", but good enough and with a nice thick coat of paint you have to be actively looking for the patch-piece.

One of the "purely for vanity" fixes: I wanted to have the reinforcement rib underneath the seatbelt rollers in the B-pillar... 

Change of background scenery - moved to my dad's garage - and back to the sills. As should be evident by the second picture, the fitment wasn't terrible, but not exactly great either. 

Primer inside and out... 

Fitting the sills themselves isn't so much the time consuming bit... if you want to make the work last, quite a few bits in the periphery need to be touched as well.

I never thought I'd say this, but a good spot weld can be extremely satisfying. 

Butt-welding the seam was one of my more stupid ideas though. 

... and it took ages. Actually my gas-regulator froze over in the process. 

After a ton of grinding and quite a bit of primer, the result is rather stunning though.

If you take the photo from a slightly less flattering angle, you can see the weld, still that's well within "good enough" range for me. 

Rear wheel arches and front foot wells next.