Must be the weather or something(stuffed engine pics added!)

[mike-s]

Latest episode in the saga of the bike that was a total f*#&$(ing bastard.

The bikes 99% done for registering, just need a new front hoop and we're there. The fuel tap issue is totally sorted (there was a part mising inside the tap, i had to buy a entire tap assembly from a wreckers to get the specific part i needed) and the only other "personal" mod aside from a kreemed tank and a respray for it and the plastic is i want to put in a relay via the ignition to let me get a slightly better draw of current (also allows me to disable the headlight with a hidden trigger switch if she's being a prick to start so i have more juice to crank her with ).

Also discovered that this is a fussy prick of a bike to get started, it HATES having the choke used in any way shape or form. 2mm of throttle, crank her for 4 seconds and off she goes. I've tried all the different things i could think of (full choke, touch of choke, half choke, various twists of the throttle, and this seems to be the only one that *WILL* regularly start the bugger up.

Might take her for a spin around the block sometime shortly to see how it goes with the cobwebs blown out.

[Gosling1]

well its been a hell of a saga, but I think the hard work is about to pay off..........hope the ride is an enjoyable one !!

[mike-s]

agreed,also even though i knew a fair bit about bikes i still managed to learn a bloody lot about them anyway. Thanks for the help guys.

[aggerz]

must be a relief..

updated pics??

[mike-s]

will pull her outta the garage in the morning and take some pics and take her for a spin around the block to make sure she's behaving herself.

[mike-s]

Took the gsx for a spin today, but the camera stayed indoors due to the rain.

took about 30 seconds of cranking to get her going today, she almost caught without choke, but instant any throttle or choke was on, she stopped her chances of catching. I think she's being a bit of a pig to start due to stail fuel in the tank, registering her and running a couple tankfuls through her ought to sort that right out.

Also adjusted the handlebars (and everything on it after the adjustment) as the past owner put then in far too much of a pulled back position, clutch and chain are all set up correctly now. Also established i need to swap out a new front tyre as the current one, albeit with full tread, has got some vicious cracking on the sidewalls from being moved about with deadflat rubber.

Was raining so no "she is working" pictures, but i did take her up & down the street without incident/worry.

[mike-s]

Here we go, here's the spare tank on the beastie out in the sunlight. The Original (and slightly rusty inside & out) tank will be cleaned up in due course and resprayed along with the bodywork, perhaps i'll get all the cherry red spares redone to the OEM colours.

Clutch, chain and bars adjusted, still need a couple of tweaks done, perhaps move the bars a bit further forward again to move the mirrors further forward and make the reach a bit further out. One thing i totally admit is i forgot how you need to roll the throttle over twice as much to get 1/4 the power of a litre bike. There'll be some getting used to, but all in all she felt pretty solid to ride.

[aggerz]

looks alright mate, will look better with the paint done.. and those ebay indicators seem to suit the bike nicely..

plus as far as we can tell you're still walking, talking, breathing .. so you must have done well avoiding the missus.

[mike-s]

Would you believe bike progress continues. After much time doing other things non bike related, track readying the 900 and avoiding taking the GSX apart that "last" bit (i.e. head and extras off) i finally pulled the finger out, got a set of rings and and the right sized valve spring compression tool and could be arsed taking the head off the bike. What do i find? well a nice 3x3mm chunk missing from one of the exhaust valve , which would certainly explain the poor engine compression & performance (actually it's amazing that the bloody thing started at ALL!). A new valve has been ordered (would you believe the one cost me $54!) and will be fitted asap.

In the meantime i think i'll take the barrels off shortly, re-hone them, replace the rings (hey i bought them, why not use 'em?) and get the current valve seats reground and see if i need to replace any other valves, which im hoping i won't need to, but nothing would surprise me at this stage.

Progress continues.........


Might take a pic of the lunched valve for posterity's sake sometime shortly.

[mike-s]

For posterity's sake, here's the pics of the shot valve i managed to extract and take pics of tonight!!

Lordy me this thing seriously is a mess. Fortunately the valve seats seem relatively unscathed, just covered in a lot of carbon, and some of the oil from the tray i've been keeping the head in. Bores actually do look like they're in very good nick, so i may just replace the rings without redoing a hone, or i might, depends if i can be arsed or not (and if i find out how to do a good hone correctly)

[mike-s]

The pistons & barrels are almost done, Barrels need a good scrubdown which i'll give them tomorrow morning before they get a light hone and i start on lapping the valve seats.

[mike-s]

Well my slow-arsed project is drawing to a close. The rebuild of the engine has seen me buy numerous parts, from rings to valves, to gasket kits to easy-out kits to get rid of f&*#^#*$ing cheese bolts & their HT steel replacements. Last night i put the cams in, did the valve gaps, put the rocker cover on, used muffler tape kits to tidy up the exhaust crossover box and fucked about for 2 hours trying to get the bastard to fit around the non removable p.o.s. sidestand. From this point on its just a matter of refitting everything and making sure everything is still in good nick and hoping to hell that she fires up first go.

Then there'll be the tidying up of the original fuel tank, a repaint of various plastic bits, adding in a headlight relay or two and if i can find it, a H4 headlight.

But at the very least im hoping i can start using this bike AS a bike from next week or so.

n.b. Aside from waiting for parts to be posted from overseas sellers, one significant reason it's taken so long is that it's been so goddamned depressing to work on this thing that i was procrastinating doing ANYTHING on the bike. Now all that nasty shit is over and done with, onward & upward! Now where's my f*#&ing drink?

[Gosling1]

Great stuff Mike, I hope it all works OK on the first run.......expect nothing to work........and if it does, well thats a bonus !!

[mike-s]

Good news, she's all back together and almost working perfectly, that is aside from the l/h compression still being a bit low. and there seeming to be a minor glitch with that side. I suspect that i forgot to tighten the spark plug when i refitted them plus i know the idle fueling would be a bit out, considering how shot the valve was and i got her to work smoothly abeit underpowered. Tomorrow the carbon is recleaned off the sparkplug (im sure theres more i missed), idle needles fiddled with and we'll see if were still getting that problem. If we are then i suspect the valve clearances shifted when i adjusted them, which means tank off, rocker cover off & screw around some more.

Aside from that (really, its a small thing) im 100% happy with how she's behaving and am looking forward to being able to tidy her up a bit more cosmetically and get the (original) tank repainted.

Right

Left

Left AGAIN

Right (hey why not?)

Shiny engine guards

Front

Fun View

I REALLY like those indicators on this bike

The tape-n-glass job i had to give the crossover just so she worked (and wouldnt rust the hell out of herself later on).

[dave#3]

Onya Mike. It's probably worth at least $300 now .... you could sell it any pay somebody to take the rest of the chequered flag shit off the RF900 . Just kidding, I reckon it's great to see you fiddling with an old bike for nothing more than shits and giggles - I've got to get myself another old bike to do the same thing.

Have you thought about a set of clipons, a single seat cowl and a shortened front guard (body coloured rather than chromed)? I reckon it would look pretty neat.