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Modified bar end mirrors and fitted turn signal LED's into the mirror holders. As much as I hate having indicators, having them for daily use on UK roads is advisable.. So many roundabouts and insolent drivers..
Yes the engine worried me for a while and few months back I decided to take a deeper look into it. During the first start I noticed small leaks through the cylinder gaskets and eventually got a set of new gaskets and decided to to a quick swap. However, quick repairs usually turns into complete rebuilds. Luckily this time I got away just with the top end rebuild and didn't touched the crankshaft.
I removed one cylinder and things looked quite promising. Apart from carbonized valves all other parts looked in reasonable condition. The fun started soon as I removed the second cylinder and found stuck and broken piston rings in the piston and big scratches in the bore.
Quick update. Sadly didn't captured lots of useful pictured during the engine top end rebuild but there are a few.
In local bike yard managed to get another same engine for just a few pennys. In some reason, most of the parts for VT500 engines are obsolete or unbelievably expensive or need to ship from another continents, therefore spare engine and parts were really useful. Also some freebies!
Valves were cleaned, polished and reground. Another thing I tend to do is to weight all the parts and build same sets in 0.01 grams accuracy. Its overkill but Im happy knowing powertrain works accurately Same with valve springs.
Machined new cylinder cooling pipes and rethreaded the fittings, because old ones were unusual thread size and pitch. Now snazzy FESTO banjo bolts fits perfectly.
Heads were skimmed, polished and ported. Sadly forgot to take some pics of full assembly. The funny thing, I left my friend with a cheap dremel and went away for a half day. When I came back I found him sitting there since the morning slowly scavenging the ports with the music. I was amazed of his patience and the results.
Heads were skimmed, polished and ported. Sadly forgot to take some pics of full assembly. The funny thing, I left my friend with a cheap dremel and went away for a half day. When I came back I found him sitting there since the morning slowly scavenging the ports with the music. I was amazed of his patience and the results.
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