NEV

Hi and welcome, it was 77 when I first turned the key, twisted wires together before that

Saw that earlier good innit This was on TV earlier too, <object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;rel=0"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> It's all the various parodies of this advert, that cracked me up mind. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=old+spice+commercial&aq=1&oq=old+s

Well fuff mate, you know what to do, get yourself a frame with a v5, and start from there, maybe this time next year, someone could be saying the same thing about yours, goooo on you know you want to

Hi and welcome

If you try Two Wheels way and get no joy, whilst it's still clamped up get a tea towel or similar loop it around the area you want the heat getting to, and pull backwards and forwards as if polishing it but give it some welly mind, you're giving it "chinese burns" so to speak.

I dare say your next name for your bike will be 'Purple' then?

I reckon you'll be doing a decent rendition of Handels Messiah, with that amount of pipes on it,

Aye, I understand your predicament now, just thought you may have over looked your torque wrench being 1/2", must admit I can't remember when I last saw a 3/8" torque wrench mind, as for the swing arm bolt, mine was exactly the same as yours seized solid, I took the guard off my grinderette, banged in a 1.5mm NEW cutting disk,(so as to get full cutting depth) there was just enough room to cut through the bolt,had to sacrifice the end caps on the bushes mind,in doing it this way. Anyroad, good luck with the project mate. P.S If you decide to go with your hacksaw, you'll probably find you'll need a stainless steel cutting hacksaw blade as I'm sure its a High Tensile bolt, very similar in hardness to stainless, and by just using a normal blade for mild steel, you'll be at it for a week of Sundays, and I dare say get through a few blades.

I take it you've tried a 1/2" drive torque wrench (long handled) plus tubing, or a 1/2" long handled wrench with an extending tube to add a bit more torque? Just a thought Nev.

Cheers Phil for the thumbs up mate, Started to put some stuff on to the frame, to get an idea of the colour scheme, sprayed forks,and yokes, still waiting for the auto electrician to come back to me with a quote for the wiring loom, he rang the other day and told me he reckoned about 40 quid for just the wires, he's trying to source the terminals, and blocks etc, have put him on to a site on ebay that does Yamaha blocks and terminals kits. An update on the frame URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/846/img0124ab.jpg/]

The DEP exhaust was in need of a clean, as it had some rust, and pitting coming through,and a fair bit of road crud, mainly at the manifold end, being chrome it can't be treated too harshly, but with some T-cut and a wire brush wheel attatchment, I managed to get it from this. To this Will probably come up even more shiny, when buffed up with t-cut, but I've sprayed it all over with ACF-50 protective oil, till it's ready to be put back on again. Next job was the Aluminium DEP end box/silencer. Finding that the baffle inside was broken into two pieces, one 4" one about 10" I've decided to shorten it, and make it into a 10" stubby, cleaned the baffle, as it was encrusted with about an 1/8th of solid carbon, baffle came up new after scraping and wirebrushing, fitted it back in, wrapped and packed up with new silencing material, Wirebrushed the end can with wirebrush wheel drill attatchment, mainly to take the scratches and pitting out of it, comes up nice and clean but a matt finish. Buffed up to a mirror finish, using a sheepskin buffer drill attachment, and T-Cut.

A few small jobs to do, clean and petseal the tank, one overall and final polish of the brightwork. Then hopefully find her a new home, What ye think? You've managed to do a cracking job on that restoration, mate, nice one, although I do also like the original 'nekkid' look it had too!!

Get yourself down to your nearest car boot sale, this weekend, you're bound to find a plumbers blowtorch someones kicking out of there garage somewhere, you may even find some other bargain bits and bobs while you're there.

Maybe a silly question, but hell I'm going to ask it anyway, because you'd be surprised at how many people this catches out, are you trying to start it with the sidestand down? because if you are it won't start, because theres a safety cut-off switch there, that won't allow the engine to start with it down. Just a thought.

Hi and welcome Clive, a decent intro there mate!, and good luck on your project.

Another thing I suggest, and I understand budget is tight at the min, is to make a note of all the nuts, bolts, washers, you take off, and go down to your nearest tool shop, and replace them with stainless ones, bit by bit, and over time you'll have accrued enough, so when it comes to rebuild your bike, not only will you in future not have any problems with rusting nuts siezing, it makes your bike look alot nicer. A bag the size of a crisp bag with mixed nuts, bolts, washers, nothing too long boltwise, I'm paying roughly between £7 and £10 depending on who serves me.

Dremel is good but you'll more than likely break a few bits before you've done the job,you need to do with it,you'd be surprised at how cheap 4" grinderettes are nowadays, I picked one up, new, for £13 the other week, came with spare brushes, which I put on my other one,(which needed £8 brushes) making two grinderettes one with a wire cup attachment, other with a cutting disk, The drill in pic, has a large wire brush wheel on it (the wire brushes were off ebay £20 quid for about 20 brushes, cup,wheel, big, small,)Ideal for light stuff like cleaning up carb, a wire cup/wheel brush on grinderette is for more heavy duty stuff i.e swingarm, exhaust, frame. Hope this helps Nev P.S an impact driver is also a decent tool to have, for nuts and screws that are solid, but after twatting my thumbs a few times, I asked Santa for an impact gun, with which he duly obliged,

Theres been a speight of bike thefts recently around the bay, mainly off/on road bikes mind, infact my dog barked at someone trying my sidegate just the other night,at 2.30am, but they ran off,when I got downstairs. I'm in KK btw, mind you I've got a surprise in store for them if they do decide to come back mind, the little b*st*rds. I'll keep my eyes out for Freezes bike, he'll need to keep an eye out on ebay for parts being sold, I dare say!! Doubt plod has been much use? except to supply a crime number for his insurance.

Theres a big chance you'll be stripping everything down,right down to the bare bones, and giving everything a darn good clean, only then when you've chopped off a few seized bolts and found seized bushes will you be making an inventary of stuff you'll actually need to replace. A baby bath(nearest re-cycling centre) and a gallon of parafin or two,(petrol is a bit harsh on anything rubber) a few toothbrushes washing up brushes,wire wool, narrow paint scrapers,etc to get most of the road grime off, I've found these all help to clean the parts you've taken off, you'll probably need a plumbers blow torch, and a freeze spray to help you with those unruly bolts that are seized, or a 4" grinder, with a thin cutting disk, or a hacksaw, for those bolts that just won't unseize. Heres some of my arsenal of cleaning stuff, if it helps you any. Nev

Hi Kyle, Theres a few manufacturers that use the same AM6 unit in their 50cc geared bikes, Peugeot,Derbi,Aprilia, Rieju,Motorhispania, being a few off the top of my head, it's a sturdy engine and plenty of scope to play around with and get a little more poke out of it, but do remember most insurance companies are keen on any modifications done to bikes, basically so they can wriggle out of paying, with regards to claims. Hope this helps Nev

For those that missed Cafe Racer the other week, it's on at the minute, and for pretty much all day on Disc Turbo channel 221 Virgin..not sure what channel number it is on Sky etc

1.5 mm mildtrode, 25 amps if plant goes down to that, bit of a broken arc, shimples.

Hi and welcome Paul, Aye good luck with the bearing too!! theres a few silly old moos in here too,

Am sure that happened to my lads scooter mirror, and if I remember rightly, that top bit unscrews from the mirror and there'll be a nut behind it that you'll need to tighten up.

hmm, rawlbolt? and I mean rawlbolt not rawlplug, 16mm ish? try plenty of release oil, coca cola or what ever your preferance is making for releasing things, gentle heat, freeze spray straight after onto the bearing race, and some sort of thin drift that may go through the washer OG mentioned, hitting the rawlbolt and not the bearing race, my ten penneth anyroad