Down under, an idiot and a 400F

[neevo]

mounts will fit. 900 shocks are 365mm long. Any help?

Is that the whole shock body? If so exactly the same as the stock 400 shocks.

Not going to help with raising the rear but sounds like a straight swap.

[bikeboy]

Is that the whole shock body? If so exactly the same as the stock 400 shocks.

Not going to help with raising the rear but sounds like a straight swap.

that's centre-to-centre mounting holes :-)

[neevo]

that's centre-to-centre mounting holes :-)

30mm extension then

[eyhonda]

I once mounted 900f shocks to my 400f too.  The 900f shocks are longer but it was what I needed for that bike.   Also, the 900f sport shocks have a reservoir (piggyback) on the bottom and have a adjustments for either rebound or compression.   Did it awhile back so just going by slight memory.

[neevo]

Sounds good, might be the lift I am after aesthetics wise. A lot less drastic than cutting the fork tubes too.

Test fit my rear frame section this evening along with the rear hoop. Fits really well although some tweaking is required.

The frame past the shock mount on the left hand side is tweaked (too high), obviously occurred when the forklift damaged the rear frame upright. Cannot for the life of me bend it back as the simply isn't enough leverage

Need to jimmy up some sort of rig to get it back down.

[neevo]

So jig wasn't exactly jimmied but I did take my frame over to the father in laws to bend it into submission (he's got a great workbench and a huge bastard vice). In the end got it pretty damn sweet and really pleased.

Removed the tweak in the rear frame after the upper shock mount, got the frame straight with enough clearance for the new rear frame upright and ensured the frame ends were parallel for the new rear hoop.

Just need to get the sidestand section replaced and I will be ready for the welder

[neevo]

This evenings endeavors, bought myself a valve spring compressor and decided to pull the valves, springs etc as I am going to properly clean the head plus I need to have a valve guide fixed up:



Secondly thought I would install my replacement frame sections with sleeves. Here's the parts:



Here's the cut sections:



It was a struggle getting the sleeves centrally located on the gap but the effort paid off as they have got stuck now in the middle, really locking the joint solid ready for welding. I don't think there are any issues with joint strength, especially pleased with my 7 degree bent upright :







Installed the rear hoop too:











Sorry about the fuzzy pics, iPhone doesn't like low light.

[neevo]

Looking for a few things to do today and I thought I would revisit the header collars. Couldn't work out how they got on there if they wouldn't come off, something must have got gunked up over the years.

Method 1: big bloody hammer, chock of wood and a few good swings. Got the collars half way off the end of the header but that was about it

Method 2: angle grinder!

That one worked a treat, however the enevitable consequence is my collars are now ready for the bin. I am not convinced the stock collars will fit my aftermarket headers so I will be looking at getting something fabricated like these:



Looks like the header has taken a whack at some stage, the lower section is crushed and there is a crappy repair where the 4 pipes go into 1. Looking to have a custom muffler bent from the same mob that did my frame piping, so will probably get them to bend a replacement section for the header too.

Anyone know how to identify the material the headers are made from, its got a brown slight tinge and doesn't get rusty, I am guessing stainless.

Also had a crack at cleaning the valves, they have some serious caked on crap on the each side of the face, how is it best to clean these up?

[neevo]

Mr Claus was good to me this year and bought me one of these:



Only a small one at 120lpm but enough for some small jobs. Here's what else he put in my stocking:



I was especially excited about the sandblaster kit for the compressor and went out and got some media for it to run it through its paces:



Got some small bits to sandblast and it worked a treat. The compressor doesn't keep up but I can get a good bit done before it looses power and it doesn't take too long to charge back up. Cleaned up the upper triple clamp, brake arm and throttle body. These will be sanded back and polished except for the triples which are going to be powdercoated with the frame:



Lastly had a crack at the head and barrel, used the soda on the valve and gasket faces and the sand on the fins. There was some serious baked on crap in between the fins, took some effort to get it out:





Fins are getting black paint with the cases and valve cover silver.

Doing some general cleaning up and found the cause of my damaged cam journal:



About 1/3 of the top ring is missing and this is clearly visible buried in the cam journal. Anyone know why these things let go so hard?

[bikeboy]

wow. I've never seen a failure like that before. Very interesting 


Oh. and the sandblaster will be your new best friend 
ian

[neevo]

wow. I've never seen a failure like that before. Very interesting 


Oh. and the sandblaster will be your new best friend 
ian

Me either, I've seen fragments come off a ring but never one punch it's way through the piston and weld itself to the ring groove. Maybe a fault in the piston as the barrel was completely untouched, pity I can't say the same for the cam and journal

The blaster is an awesome bit of kit, got to get a better setup as I am currently spraying media all over the back garden. Any DIY solutions for a cabinet?

[bikeboy]

Any DIY solutions for a cabinet?

well, there are a couple in the $50 mod thread from memory, but if you're going to be doing a lot of this, one of these is essential:



but then. You'd need a bigger compressor 

where does it stop 

cheers
ian

[neevo]

where does it stop 

Indeed!

Think I might get some timber from the father in law and have a crack at putting a medium sized one together. The lawn and my lungs are not coping with the blasting and I still have the engine cases to do.

[bikeboy]

The lawn and my lungs are not coping with the blasting and I still have the engine cases to do.

At the very least, you should have a good respirator/mask?

[neevo]

At the very least, you should have a good respirator/mask?

Hear you loud and clear Ian, I think DIY cabinet is the way forward, saves on abrasive, saves the lawn, saves my breathing bags