Ok, real pic-tars of the bike and more news...pictures first!
Here's a shot of the front fairing installed - drilling painted fiberglass is a giant PITA, but it fit up ok.
The bike doesn't look bad from 10 feet away, but stuff starts to get sketchy when you get close...
...like the tail fairings, yuck...
...and the heater hose hand grip and zip tied instrument cluster.
The good news is that I was able to get enough bits duct taped and zip tied onto the beast that I was able to take it for a ride. I noticed that the rear caliper was sticking, so I took it and the rear master off and disassembled and cleaned them. Unlike my other old junk, neither the caliper nor the master needed new parts, they just needed oooollldddd brake fluid crud cleaned out of them. I noted that the relief hole in the master was completely plugged with crud (this is the small hole under where the reservoir feeds the master, normally next to the larger main fluid feed hole), so I cleaned it out with a micro drill bit. I reassembled it and the caliper with brake assembly grease and they work great now.
I then hopped on the bike and went for a short ride. The bike was really acting odd and I started smelling something burning and saw a little smoke, which I first chalked up to oil/PB Blaster burning off the exhaust. After stalling it a couple times taking off from lights, I finally headed home. As I pulled into my driveway and up to the garage door I realized what I was smelling - hot brake pads!
I tried to roll the bike into the garage, but now it was like trying to walk a cat on a leash, yikes. I checked the temperature of the rear rotor, which was cool to the touch. However, both front rotors were equally hot, yikes! I had disassembled and cleaned the front calipers, but not the front master, so my suspicions turned to it. I removed the banjo bolt connecting it to the front brake lines, and instantly the from calipers released their death grip on the rotors. Ah ha!
I tore down the front master, which was, unsurprisingly, full of brown brake fluid and crud. Also, as I had suspected, the relief hole in the master was plugged with the same crud that had plugged up the rear master. I cleaned it out with the micro drill bit, and cleaned all the parts off. After inspection, the master was reassembled with brake grease and reinstalled. I bled the master by holding my finger over the outlet and using that to bleed the air out of the master before I attached the lines to the calipers. I bled both calipers again, and confirmed I had brakes that worked and released.
I hopped on the bike for another test ride and could immediately tell that things were better. However, the bike then stalled out at a light and I couldn't restart it. Uh oh, I must be low on fuel and need to turn the petcock to reserve...oh wait, I never turned the petcock on to start with, derp :
The ride went great, and I avoided lofting the front wheel, which was no small feat given the torque this monster has. I did lose a Dzus fairing fastener going over some washboard pavement, which was surreal, as the fastener outran the bike and glittered in my headlights as I was bucking over the crappy pavement. Apparently it was a superfluous fastener, as the bike failed to fall apart.
I wasn't happy with the fit and finish of the fairings, however. Many of them are still cracked, broken, or heavily scuffed, but replacement fairing packages are $400ish shipped from China, and OEM fairings are ridiculous money. However, luck was on my side, as I found someone selling a replica set of 1993 fairings in Florida which he bought for his 900, but then ended up parting out his 900 before he installed them. I ended up getting the fairings for about $220 shipped, and they should arrive sometime next week. They are all black, which is the base color of the fairings on the bike now, so I will see if I can find OEM decals to install on the fairings.
I also need a left hand mirror and to do something about the nonexistent turn signals. Replica mirrors are inexpensive on Ebay, and I may end up getting a tail light with the integrated turn signals. I will probably get flush mount signals for the front, as the mirrors with signals built in look like garbage, and the mounts on the bike for the front signals are no longer there. More updates as the project continues - man this is a fun bike to ride!