Project: Garage Find

[Sid Squid]

Linseed oil, olive oil, vegetable oil or peanut oil - I've heard all recommended as working well.

[squirrel_hunter]

Originally Posted by stuR

Or possibly boiled linseed oil?

Linseed oil? That brings back memories of when me and my mate were found rubbing it into the school cormorant...

who would do such a thing! :P

[squirrel_hunter]

Should get an update on the powdercoating in a couple of days. So to keep busy I've been cleaning more. I won't bore you all with every bit, but so far I've discovered under layers of gunk, dirt, and oil the side stand switch, rear brake switch and a mudguard.



That is how it was removed. Covered in a strange film layer of grease and dirt which was one of the reasons I thought the seals had blown. I think the oil helped protect it over the years.

So to clean it up I washed it with some Muc-Off spray in the bath. Spray on, wait, wash off. Cleaned most of it up but some of the more stubborn spots needed a little of my favorite cleaner WD40 followed by another round of Muc-Off.



Once that was all dried up the paint work while good was a little flat. So I started on the bracket with some Autosol followed by some of the black bumper polish I had used before on the black unpainted plastic at the rear. To use this I thought it might be a good idea to protect the red so masked the line off.

And once the black was done I masked the line again on the other side and used some red T-Cut polish to bring the shine out on that side. I even gave the inside of the mudguard a quick once over.



Really pleased with the results the mudguard looks almost new. The finally thing to do was to glue the foam protectors back on that fell off in the bath to the mudguard using a hot glue gun. I did notice that there is a small nick in the front edge like someone had started to use a junior hacksaw on it, but I'm not going to do anything with that.



Just got more cleaning to do which should keep me occupied for a while. I'm never going to get some of the bits like how they were when the bike left the factory but just to a nice condition that I don't have to wash my hands after I pick them up, for example I've discovered the oil tank is actually a semi transparent white color and not black...

I too spent today cleaning grotty plastics! Enjoying the thread.

[TamSV]

That's a really satisfying improvement. Normal washing feels like a chore but it's nice to clean up stuff that's really manky like that. As you've said before, it was probably lucky this bike's been laid up with a film of protective grime.

Originally Posted by squirrel_hunter

I did notice that there is a small nick in the front edge like someone had started to use a junior hacksaw on it, but I'm not going to do anything with that.

Just call those bits "patina".

Originally Posted by TamSV

That's a really satisfying improvement. Normal washing feels like a chore but it's nice to clean up stuff that's really manky like that.
)

+1

What a result!

[squirrel_hunter]

More cleaning has been done and more remains to be done. But I got a nice phone call on Friday from the powdercoater. Its all done. Will be picking it up in the next couple of days so my thoughts turn to assembly.

The plan dare I risk it is to start with the front wheel, put the bearings in, bolt the disc on, then fit a tyre. Which leads me to my question...

What tyres do I go for?

Traditionally I pick black and round ones as I hold my own view on pub tyre experts, but would like to hear some advise as I was thinking of something sporty. On my SV for the last X years I have had Conti Road Attacks as they are sold as sport touring which suits me fine. However as I'm building this for fun I'd like to have something fitting on there.

Will also pop into my local tyre fitters to see what they say as I always get excellent service from them and they will be doing the fitting for me. I did consider refitting the mismatched 20 year old tyres but am sure there are some better options out there?

[Ruffy]

The tyres on our TZR when we sold it were Bridgestone BT45.

Not a super sport tyre by any stretch of the imagination but definitely a good real world (i.e. road) tyre, with predictable behaviour for us under acceleration, braking and cornering. Also one of the few still available for the narrower rims on older bikes.

(It's probably what I will fit to my FZ600 when I eventually get it back on the road.)

[yorkie_chris]

I quite like ye olde BT45... think some modern avons are a copy of them... roadrider maybe?