Project: Garage Find

[squirrel_hunter]

Now the engine is out, its a simple task of just unbolting a couple of other little bits. Or is it? Well actually yes. Wasn't to bad, one screw on the chain guard decided it wasn't going to play ball so I cut that off but then couldn't get any grip on the remaining shaft so that remains.

The only other bolts that protested movement were the 4 that held the pillion peg brackets on. All 4 were rusted so much the heads just rounded at the suggestion of a tool. I even tried turning the lights out so they couldn't see me approaching but to no avail. All were cut off and then the studs were easily turned out. The only down side is I now need 2 new pillion peg brackets. Eventually the bike looked like this:



Coming back to the alarm and the loom. It appears to be some sort of home wiring attempt, not the prettiest and has left a spaghetti mess at the rear. I think that to activate it you needed to flick a switch under the seat, thats about it really as an additional bit of security, an extra kill switch.



But looking at how it attached to the loom I think I could unwire it quite easily as it appears only to connect to one wire that goes to the CDI. But it looks that there are some additional signs of repair. The indicator fuse has been bypassed from the fuse box to a separate in-line fuse.



But there was worse at the front. The headlight connector may have been removed somewhat aggressively in the past.



And there were some other problems with wires that went nowhere and others that were missing.



So if anyone knows where I can get a replacement loom from do let me know as it would appear that Yamaha can no longer supply me with one.

[Jayneflakes]

We got a replacement loom for our 1981 XJ550 by doing a parts search on line. What came through was a good condition used item that has not been modified. The cost was about £20 including postage. That was a year ago, it remains sat on the bike and not yet wired in!

[Doinitmyway]

There is an ebay seller in Greece selling a*lot* of NOS Yamaha parts. It might be worth emailing them to see if they can have a look. They came up trumps with my rear light panel on my FZR400RR. The datestamp on the part was 1989!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Motomatakos

Chris

[squirrel_hunter]

I'm one of his best customers... But unfortunately no wiring loom.

[squirrel_hunter]

There might be a problem.



My heart sank when I noticed the metal tab over the lockstop. It sank further when I spotted the lump of weld on the lower yoke.



I've seen this once before. The tab and weld is a quick fix to a broken lockstop. I've mulled this over for a couple of days then decided the only way to progress is to see whats under it...



Well the damage matches with the little history I have of it and the other signs on the bike. It appears that in a crash the bottom yoke made somewhat of an impact on the frames lockstop. And to repair the damage a quick fix of a metal tab and a lump of weld was used. The wear to the tab indicates that it was successful as I can only assume from that the bike was continued to be used after. I stuck a tank back on it and did a quick side to side with the bars and I don't see there being a problem getting an MOT.

So I took the tab off.



And this is what I'm left with.



It looks like the bottom of the lockstop is dented in and up. I don't think its as bad as it might first appear due to the angle of the photograph, but that needs fixing as does the bottom yoke.

[Sid Squid]

It's not a big problem. Flatten off the stop on the frame and add weld to the yoke - easier to weld that. It doesn't matter which side of the meeting face has extra material on it, but make sure the faces meet square and flat - with as much area as possible - and dress them off until it stops in the right place.
At the moment the lug on the yoke has a pronounced point on it, that will make a dent in the frame very easily, as it is much softer material, which is why that steel plate has been added I suspect.

[squirrel_hunter]

While I decide how to fix the lockstop, which has been suggested via the TZR forum may have been fitted at the factory, I can carry on with other jobs. The first is to ready the frame for Powder Coat.

To do that I need to remove the Deltabox frame cover. After seeking some advise I warmed the cover with a heat gun and carefully slipped a Stanley knife blade under one of the edges.



Then keeping some heat on it I worked the knife around the plate until finally it came off. I was careful to keep the heat on and would stop trying to lift the plate when it felt as if it was hardening again. When that happened I would stop with the knife and get the heat back on it. And I did this without twisting the knife or lifting it to much in one go and in the end...



It came off leaving just some sticky back plastic on the frame. After that I swapped to the other side and removed that one to. All I need to do now is clean the plate up.

[yorkie_chris]

Pretty common to swap fuses to spade connectors and blade fuses rather than the round fuses. The terminals for the round fuses snap off.

Probably worth doing that, hide an aftermarket fusebox under there easy enough I reckon.

[squirrel_hunter]

That may explain it then. Looking in more detail the indicator fuse holder appears to be snapped on one side. However I would have tried a more elegant solution that what is there.

[squirrel_hunter]

I've also taken the forks off.



And apart.



The lowers are going for powder coating and while the seals were intact which surprised me the stanchions are a little pitted. I think they are more or less clear on the area of travel but they don't look pretty elsewhere so thats the main reason for splitting them.

The oil was pretty nasty as expected. The dust seals are scrap, one had rusted apart. One of the damper rods was missing a circlip so that goes on the list, but what confused me the most was the white damper rod seat or oil lock that was on one of the stanchions and not the other.



Eventually I discovered the missing one buried in sludge stuck in its fork lower. So to get that out I transfered it to the stanchion by reinserting and apply a little percussive force so the damper rod seat was more firmly stuck in the stanchion before separating the forks again.

Then to relieve the damper rod seat from the stanchion I reinserted the damper rod and a broom handle into the stanchion. Giving this set up a little gravity assisted tap the broom handle hit the damper rod that is to big to fit though the damper rod seat and so released the seat from the stanchion.



The stanchions have been wrapped up and sent off to Pitted Forks for re-chroming. The only downside to that is there is a 6 week lead time so if things progress then I may have to resort to Plan B to temporarily suspend the bike...