weimieman Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 These are the "forbidden" pictures that were removed for some reason. Was it because I left my number plate in the pic??? Oh well, second time lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEV Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Well this was at the top of this weekend's job list. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Yer doin the bike proud mate, nice one. 2 things mind, have you laquered over the chrome spray? and you say you used the grinder on it, not wanting to teach granny, the art of sucking eggs, so to speak, but personnally I'd avoid grinding, as that also thins metal, a wire cup or wheel, on a 4" grinder only takes the paint/rust off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 Morning egg sucker! It was my terminology at fault here not the technique fortunately I only used a wire cup brush but for some reason I have always referred to this as grinding being the weirdo that I am. Like you said, I learnt the hard way about using a proper grinder on a Morris Traveller I restored many years ago. Thinning the metal didn't come into it, I obliterated it. Mind you, I quickly learnt some new welding techniques after it I got some nice laquer from an independant shop at the weekend and the chrome has had a good few layers on there so that should buy me enough time until I buy the new exhaust. However, I'm tempted not to laquer the tank as the gloss shine that has come up on it is pretty darn good for a numpty like me but I'm torn as I want to protect the decals. I might have a look at say Halford's laquer to see if that is more glossy than the stuff I used on the mudguard and exhaust guard. I have noticed a very tiny run on the tank but I'm hoping a bit of 2000 wet and dry should cure that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEV Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Morning egg sucker! It was my terminology at fault here not the technique fortunately I only used a wire cup brush but for some reason I have always referred to this as grinding being the weirdo that I am. Like you said, I learnt the hard way about using a proper grinder on a Morris Traveller I restored many years ago. Thinning the metal didn't come into it, I obliterated it. Mind you, I quickly learnt some new welding techniques after it I got some nice laquer from an independant shop at the weekend and the chrome has had a good few layers on there so that should buy me enough time until I buy the new exhaust. However, I'm tempted not to laquer the tank as the gloss shine that has come up on it is pretty darn good for a numpty like me but I'm torn as I want to protect the decals. I might have a look at say Halford's laquer to see if that is more glossy than the stuff I used on the mudguard and exhaust guard. I have noticed a very tiny run on the tank but I'm hoping a bit of 2000 wet and dry should cure that. Your call on the lacquer on the tank, funnily enough I'm on my tank at the min,and I'll be giving mine a couple of coats of Halfords Hycote lacquer just for good measure, another thing I do to get a good gloss finish, is to mix T-Cut and Maguires Scratch X into a paste then with 1200 lightly go over the paint, just takes away any of that 'orange peel' down nicely, clean down with flash wet wipes,dry & buff up, and all's ready for top coats of lacquer, coming right back at almost a foot away from tank, so it goes on lightly, as I've found if I spray it too closely to it can cloud up on you. As for the polishing of the tank I'll use Bilt Hamber Autobalm, cracking stuff,I always use it for detailing my Lexus, although you need to use a dampened microfibre covered sponge, to apply it mind, hope this helps some Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 Your call on the lacquer on the tank, funnily enough I'm on my tank at the min,and I'll be giving mine a couple of coats of Halfords Hycote lacquer just for good measure, another thing I do to get a good gloss finish, is to mix T-Cut and Maguires Scratch X into a paste then with 1200 lightly go over the paint, just takes away any of that 'orange peel' down nicely, clean down with flash wet wipes,dry & buff up, and all's ready for top coats of lacquer, coming right back at almost a foot away from tank, so it goes on lightly, as I've found if I spray it too closely to it can cloud up on you. As for the polishing of the tank I'll use Bilt Hamber Autobalm, cracking stuff,I always use it for detailing my Lexus, although you need to use a dampened microfibre covered sponge, to apply it mind, hope this helps some Always helps, you've just sorted this weekend for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 I wasn't really planning on doing anything else until the weekend but as I couldn't take anymore Emmerdale last night, I decided to have a bit of a play in the garden with a mock up of how it's going to look. Sadly I neglected the fast that the LC tank has an indentation on the right hand side to accommodate the radiator so placing the transfer on the left hand side first was a bit of a dumb move. After scratching my head for what seemed in excess of 45 mins, I accepted the fact that the decals were not going to be symmetrical and placed the RHS the best I could. the end result wasn't what I wanted but it's not a million miles away from the LHS and the T of the DT folds slightly around the tank which I actually thought looked quite cute in the end. I'm not going for concours so I really didn't want to peel off the label and buy another so this is how I'll justify it in my head! This was supposed to be a bit of light cleaning up for a beach bike but i'm becoming strangely obsessive with the old girl. I really should have realised what was going to happen when in week two my "paint and materials" budget had already gone over by two and half times Uploaded with ImageShack.us The plan to finish this off now is to duplicate the off side rear MX decal on the lower of the rad cover to provide a bit of symmetry on the right hand side and then lacquer the whole thing off. I was pondering the whole thing yesterday and after the usual conflab with Nev about what he'd do, I've decided that lacquer is the best approach as it appears that the decals would be very easy to remove even with my stubby well chewed nails. Also, a grubby off road session with salt water and the power wash would probably eat them alive. This is the zoomed out shot Uploaded with ImageShack.us I don't know whether or not you can see on the rear panel but I attempted to replicate the transfer by doing a triple 6mm pinstriping and removing the centre piece and spraying that (see one one my earlier waffles about that theory). Long story short, disaster. The masking tape bled, the pin stripe tape pulled off paint (prob my fault for not giving it a good enough key but hey ho, I'm learning) and the whole thing looks cack. Granted on a small photo it does look like I've pulled it off. Anyway, thats all coming off tomorrow and I'm now going for the less is more approach, the white and red combo simply with a 125 and MX decal on it. Repeat on the other side. Speaking of the other side, here it is Uploaded with ImageShack.us I've got to admit I had a helluva grin on my face last night seeing her come back together again and the shine on the tank etc. The only disappointment was when I held up my aftermarket headlight and thought that it looked too small and out of place but durrrrr, the front mudguard isn't on so it looked like it was plonked there. One mudguard balanced on an old tin on the front wheel to give the rough appearance of a gap and I held the light in place and that grin went from ear to ear. Sadly I couldn't take a picture as I'd run out of hands by this point. So this weekend will be re-painting that dodgy panel, decal up everything else, lacquering like I've never lacquered before and I'm going to start playing with the electrics as Cynic's suggestion of looking for pattern parts of other Yams worked a treat and I have a box of electrical goodies arriving today. Oh and I've just picked up the new shiny red seat cover from the post office this morning along with my flexible silicon indicators for the rear. That grin just keeps on getting bigger and bigger .... More next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator YamaHead Posted August 5, 2011 Moderator Share Posted August 5, 2011 DT's coming along nicely mate ...... I like the colour scheme.......just like my XT6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 DT's coming along nicely mate ...... I like the colour scheme.......just like my XT6 Ah bless, my bike looks like your bike's baby brother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Another update following a bout of very cacky weather. I've not had much chance to get out and do much but what I have managed to do is finally get around to applying the decals to the left and right hand side panels and applying a few coats of laquer. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us As I mentioned earlier, I gave up on the idea of tracing around the original stripe on the right hand side panel and going in favour of the earlier MX decal to try and add something different to the bike. I'm currently toying with idea of a digital speedo so it's nice to have something from each era either side of the 80's on the bike. (Plus it saved me a few quid on buying the correct stripe decal ) I'm not 100% happy with the laquering on the tank yet so I dare say it will be seeing a few more rubs of 1200 with a few more coats before the tank get screwed back down. One job I was really happy with at the weekend was the tail tidy. Despite my best efforts, I have not been able to track down an LC under mudguard to tidy up the rear end as sadly a lot of LCs became field bikes and either an over zealous wheelie or simply being removed saw an end to that part. Fed up of this defeat I decided to take a gamble and get a rear off a 92 DTR which, whilst it clearly would not fit, didn't look a million miles away. A little bit of drilling to match up the existing holes for the mudguard to the frame, a dremel attack to the sides to make it look a bit more aesthetically pleasing and I was pretty much there. Oh, disaster. When screwing the two pieces together the original mudguard was pulled in to the DTR part as the gap between the two was huge. No amount of dremeling was going to cure this. I hunted high and low for some copper pipe-esque tubing to cut into spacers but not a single scrap was found anywhere. I got desperate and started thinking about the tops off toothpaste tubes but common sense prevailed and I thought about my actions. All this money and you're putting toothpaste tubes on your bike???? After a fair while of stomping around the house and garage (and a few choice words and strops), I stumbled across what I thought was quite a good idea. I found an old fashioned biro with a metal barrel. None of this modern day plastic nonsense. A bit of a trim later, rub down and repsray and you can't tell the difference. Uploaded with ImageShack.us You can't tell can you??? The more eagle eyed amongst you will spot a nice shimmering of plastic covering on the white mudguard. That is good old traditional shrink wrap. No matter how clean and tidy my garage is (along with how careful I am) my freshly sprayed parts seem to be getting mucked up all the time and I seem to be knocking them!!!! How????? I've seen all this fancy blue tape they use on Biker Build Off and the like and I scoffed and thought I don't need that! Anyway, it does the job great. Everything is wrapped up nicely in the garage now. Well with the weather holding out I managed to swap the left hand switch gear and get rid of that Godawful engine stop/horn but now comes the dreaded electrics. It's about 1230 in the afternoon now and I thought I'd have a quick dabble to see how shot the indicators are. Fantastic. First two colours I need to find in the loom are dark brown and dark green. Oh well, only six hours until my wife comes home to show me The next dilemma is that I need to get the tank finished to get the petcock back on so I can start the bike up again as I was kindly advised at the weekend that you need the bike running to power the headlight and possibly the indicators so it's no good looking for a live wire with just the key turned on. I tried making a header tank out of an old cider bottle and running it straight to the carb whilst it was wedged onto my handlebars. Needless to say that it didn't work and no, I won't be uploading a picture of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEV Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Coming along nicely Weimie, reckon about two more weeks and you'll be rinky-dink-dinging around mate,that tail piece you were on about, the metal one, are same on the old xt's too, but if you're happy with the DT one, and it certainly looks o.k, then alls good in da hood, you say you're not happy with the lacquering, is that because of orange peel? because it will come out eventually, 1200 used with T-cut will sort that out for you, and you can never have too many layers of lacquer, as it gives the paintwork more depth to it. A tip on the auxillary petrol tank, I use an old plastic lawnmower one, its about 1.5 litres capacity,enough to start the bike for a bit any way, and safer than a cider bottle plus an inline tap on the piping to the carb helps somewhat too, either borrowed off your old Atco, or nip down to your local recycling centre is your best bet, couple of quid should sort it. Hope this helps, Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Coming along nicely Weimie, reckon about two more weeks and you'll be rinky-dink-dinging around mate,that tail piece you were on about, the metal one, are same on the old xt's too, but if you're happy with the DT one, and it certainly looks o.k, then alls good in da hood, you say you're not happy with the lacquering, is that because of orange peel? because it will come out eventually, 1200 used with T-cut will sort that out for you, and you can never have too many layers of lacquer, as it gives the paintwork more depth to it. A tip on the auxillary petrol tank, I use an old plastic lawnmower one, its about 1.5 litres capacity,enough to start the bike for a bit any way, and safer than a cider bottle plus an inline tap on the piping to the carb helps somewhat too, either borrowed off your old Atco, or nip down to your local recycling centre is your best bet, couple of quid should sort it. Hope this helps, Nev As always, any advice is greatly appreciated. It's okay to use a lawnmower tank but c'mon, where's the excuse to drink a bottle of Tesco's finest driveway cleaner! The theory worked well as I used a tube off a compressed air duster which was a good tight fit into the bottle top and the other end's nozzle fit perfectly into the carb tube. After 40 or so kicks, I don't think I had enought petrol in it though! D'oh As for the tank, I was a bit heavy handed and it ran a little as it had been years since I'd laquered and whilst my spraying technique is pretty damn good (if I do say so myself), I'd forgetten how much more runny laquer was. I was almost at the stage of saying bugger it and leaving a couple of runs on there as I was getting terrified of taking even 1200 near the decals. I know they're only £16 but my money tree is in the same sad state of growth as yours Do you reckon T cut would remove a couple of dribbly runs as it's only a couple of coats on there at the mo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Oh and by the way, as for the rinky dinking, that depends on the damned rinky piggin electrics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEV Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 As always, any advice is greatly appreciated. It's okay to use a lawnmower tank but c'mon, where's the excuse to drink a bottle of Tesco's finest driveway cleaner! The theory worked well as I used a tube off a compressed air duster which was a good tight fit into the bottle top and the other end's nozzle fit perfectly into the carb tube. After 40 or so kicks, I don't think I had enought petrol in it though! D'oh As for the tank, I was a bit heavy handed and it ran a little as it had been years since I'd laquered and whilst my spraying technique is pretty damn good (if I do say so myself), I'd forgetten how much more runny laquer was. I was almost at the stage of saying bugger it and leaving a couple of runs on there as I was getting terrified of taking even 1200 near the decals. I know they're only £16 but my money tree is in the same sad state of growth as yours Do you reckon T cut would remove a couple of dribbly runs as it's only a couple of coats on there at the mo? Aye, deffo, T-cut and 1200 will sort the runs out,or just T-cut, microfibre cloth and loads of elbow grease, btw are you spraying flat or spraying the sides of the tank when upright, I only ask this, as when I sprayed mine I tried to spray each surface as flat/horizontal as posible, try and position your tank so that each side is not upright, whilst spraying it, if you see what I mean, it eliminates runs, what I did was put a broomhandle in a vice, and sat the tank on that, the foam padding underneath the tank pretty much clamped onto the broom handle, enabling it to be 'turned' so each side lay flat, for spraying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Aye, deffo, T-cut and 1200 will sort the runs out,or just T-cut, microfibre cloth and loads of elbow grease, btw are you spraying flat or spraying the sides of the tank when upright, I only ask this, as when I sprayed mine I tried to spray each surface as flat/horizontal as posible, try and position your tank so that each side is not upright, whilst spraying it, if you see what I mean, it eliminates runs, what I did was put a broomhandle in a vice, and sat the tank on that, the foam padding underneath the tank pretty much clamped onto the broom handle, enabling it to be 'turned' so each side lay flat, for spraying. [scratches chin] Hmmm, clever .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Not a lot to report this week I'm afraid. Couldn't touch the indicators as the relay was missing and that only arrived yesterday. Only thing I actually got done was the swing arm. After much debating, I didn't go down Nev's route of removing and powder coating (I was tempted but this whole bike is supposed to be about a bit of light green laning and beach fun) so a good scrub with a wire cup and it was de crudded in less than an hour. Last months birthday cards came in handy for masking up around the swing arm and, to a certain extent, did a good job and stopped paint going everywhere. Two primers and three top coats and it came up great. Not perfect but just good enough for me. Apologies as I've forgot to bring the pictures in of them but I'll update those next week when I've hopefully got some good news about the indicators. A few hours drying time and I managed to get the "Mono Cross" decals on and it took another step towards looking like it should. No more dodgy Renthal stickers on there for you!! Be back online next week when I've got some more news and pics as I'm covering holidays at work for the next 11 days now so online time will be very limited. Take care all and talk soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Well I'm back and I've been tinkering quite a bit. Not as much as I'd have liked due to the weather and the ongoing garden build but I managed a good six hours on Sunday and it was even quite sunny. Must have been sunny as my thinning scalp felt a little burned in the shower later on! Firstly, apologies again as I haven't brough the photos in to upload but I will get them done before the end of the week. The first job on Sunday was to remove and swap the fork legs. There was absolutely nothing wrong with them as they have had very little use (11K over 25 years) but the lugs for the disc cover had been snapped off. AndyDTR kindly supplied me with a disc cover at a great price and imagine my dismay when the postie brought it and I rushed out into the garden to find there was nowhere to attach it to! A bit of hunting on evil-bay and a good set of forks arrived with no pitting whatsoever. A quick swap over and on with the disc cover. I took advantage of cleaning up the wheel spindle and regreasing it while it was out. A quick visual check on the brake caliper and it looks tip top and the pads look like new. Now onto the wiring. Dark green and dark brown for the indicator wires. Cheers for that Yamaha. The loom is chopped and butchered so I think it will be best to start again for the indicators. I'm going to use the rule that I have used all my life when it comes to colours. Blue for the left (theres and L in blue so thats left) and red for the right (Yep you've guessed why). They are two friendly colours that don't confuse me too much. I carefully trim all the wires to length, tape together, bullet connectors and spade connectors everywhere. It was great fun then bang, I hear a noise from around the rear of the garden. My beautifully sprayed tank has blown off the wall and dropped about three feet. Fortunately there are about three or four layers of shrink wrap still on it so the grit from the garden hasn't got to the paint. No wait, whats that - A FRIKKIN DENT!!!! I spent ages rubbing down the tank to get to bare metal so I could fill the existing two dents and then due to my own stupidity (or cheapness) I put one in it myself. Was I cheap because if I'd have put more fuel in it it wouldn't have been able to blow over or just stupid for putting it on the wall in the first place. Let the voting commence. Anyway I figure after this I'm due a break. Bending over to fix up the indicator relay and, what felt like the worlds largest bee, smacked into the top of my head! I casually went to rub my head where I'd been hit and the awful realisation of what had happened hit me. I'd been shat on. By what appeared to be one of the lesser spotted albatrosses that flies over these parts. I took this as positive good luck to come and all that. After about two hours of wiring and connecting, ignition on and ....... nothing. Not a peep from the left indicators. Turning on the right only gave me a solid light on the instrument panel. I scratched my chin for many minutes whilst allowing the albatrosse's last meal to dry more in the mid day sun. It was like a poor man's hair gel consisting of berries and nuts. I checked and re checked all the wiring and couldn't see a fault with it so thats where I'm at at the mo. I've got a day off tomorrow and I'm planning on a good few hours out in the garden, weather and aerial assualts permitting. One great bit of news though that after all these weeks of being in bits, it only took half a dozen kicks to fire into life so I could ride up and down the drive. God that smell took me back 20 years. It also took away the smell of bird crap in my hair ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 After a break in the weather (of sorts) and remembering to bring the photos in with me, here are some updates. I finally accepted on Saturday that English weather wasn't going to allow me to continue working on the Yam in the back garden so I'm afraid the Wing got kicked out of the garage and in went the good ole' DT. This is the pic of the new forks on. Very clean with no pitting but they will require a good polish before the master unveil in a couple of weeks. Uploaded with ImageShack.us As you can see theres nothing fancy here that you haven't seen a million times before but the fact that the fork lugs had been snapped off so I couldn't put the disc cover on really bugged me. £50 for some lugs seemed a bit excessive but things really annoy me when I know they should have been there in the first place. Next, the bloody wiring ... Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us It does look far worse than it is but it does the job. After disecting the wiring from the Haynes book and drawing a much more simple plan in a notepad, I had the basics of what to do and then the hero that is NEV came along with his idiot proof wiring diagram and within a couple of hours I had some nice blinking lights at all four corners. In the mood for a little bragging, I shouted my wife into the garage to proudly show off my hours of work aaannnnndddd you've guessed it, only one side worked. I wiggled wires here, there and everywhere but to no avail. Maybe the battery's gone a little flat with all this messing around I thought. Booster pack connected and the working side was a little brighter but still nothing from the left. Bugger. When I switched the left side on it made the lights flash on the booster which couldn't have been good. Long story short (and much head scratching later) one of my new spade connectors was touching the frame and shorting out that side. Simple. A nice bit of insulation tape and some heat shrink tubing and I was back to bragging again. Next job was trying to fabricate a new headlamp bracket for the non standard set up. As the website where I got the unit from had some very handy links to buy their brackets starting at £9.99 I was kinda determined to make my own. After several varied attempts failed miserably, I hit upon the idea of smacking the existing bracket into some kind of shape for the new lamp. The sides were easily manipulated into the new sockets but the bottom hole was something else as neither hole lined up with the other and were about an inch apart. I found an old shelving bracket that the previous owner had screwed the number plate to (I knew it would come in handy) and I elongated a hole so I could bolt one side to the bracket and slip another bolt though the opposite side and bolt to the headlight. Crude I know but it worked. Using two bolts even gave me full control over the headlight adjustment, it wasn't planned that way, I just got lucky. I think fate was paying me back for the bird dung incident from last week. Here it is, it's not it's final resting place but it'll give you some idea of the finished thing. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Heres the little dinky indicators on the back. They are cutely called "Wibbly Wobblys" (No I didn't make that up) Uploaded with ImageShack.us So I reckon a good ten hours should see an end to all this. A bit of tidying on the wiring, insulate a few more wires and heat shrink them, connect the new indicator wiring to instrument panel (self cancelling indicators on a Goldwing make you soft after a while so I need a blinky light to remind me!), and reassemble all the body panels, fit the new performance air filter then, okay, maybe a bit more than ten hours but certainly within a week. Finally this is the cleaned up swing arm. I didn't remove it and it was really just surface crud but a quick lick of primer and paint brought it up a treat. Finally the Mono Cross decal and it's taken years off the old girl. It's not a perfect job but I'm quite chuffed with it. I should have spent a little more time masking up but it's done now. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Hopefully the next post will be some nice shiny complete pics ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEV Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Tell ya what Weimi, you've done a cracking job mate, you've certainly done more with the bike than you first thought able, Your bikes a shining example of the more you put into something, the more you get back out of it, a well deserved pat on the back, mate, just wish you'd sort out those diddy pics, so we can all see it proper loik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks for praise, it really does make it worthwhile. And coming from the man who is bringing us a brand new 92 DTR is really praise indeed!!! Yeah I have done more to it than I intended but the scary thing is how much more I could do. When does it end??? Maybe on the next one eh? I've even got permission of wifey to do another so I might go beserk on that one!!! I'll resize all the pics tomorrow so you can see what's gone on in more detail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Oops, pressed the wrong button and now it's making me type something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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