TRX Restoration Project

[Con Rod]

Ok so wheels, frame, forks, engine casing, radiator, fan, brackets and anything else black has now been sprayed.

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[Con Rod]

With the frame, wheels, engine casing etc finished I moved onto the swingarm and shock pivot last night. The swingarm will be getting polished but the first job was to get the old baerings out of it and the shock pivot.

I was able to pop 2 ofthe needle bearings out of the shock bracket thingy very easily with a home made bearing removal tool which consisted of 2 bolts, a threaded rod, a socket with a larger inner diametre than the bearing and a washer a little smaller than the outer diametre of the bearing (see picture below)

The 2 remaining bearings in the shock pivot thing may be a challenge because I cant use the tool I made because of the shape of the shaft in which the bearings sit.

The swing arm bearings are proving a big problem. I tried to use a drift but being needle bearings they just fell to bits when I gave them a whack. (They were in very bad shape)

Again, I cant use my bearing removal tool beacuse of the shape of the shaft where the bearings sit.

So I have been thinking about it and I may be able to make a tool to remove those remaining bearings, which will invole getting something behind the bearings so I can pull them out. We shall see, tips welcome.

I have to pop into the bike shop on the way home to drop off the shims I took out when I did the valve clearances, so I will ask their advice on the swingarm bearings and may be able to borrow the approriate tool.

Anyway, no photos but I did a couple of drawings to illustrate what I am doing with the swing arm and sock pivot bearings:

Swingarm and shock pivot bearings.jpg

[Con Rod]

Well fortunately my friendly motorcycle mechanic was happy to lend me his bearing pullers so after a lot of work I finally managed to get the swing arm bearings out last night:

bearingsout.jpg

There was a bit of damage to the bores where the bearings sat but not too much that it couldn't be sorted.

Unfortunatley at some point some genuis had decided to drill some holes in the singarm, which looked pretty bad and I figured I was going to have to fill them and probably put a sticker over them as they would look pretty shabbly on the polished swingarm.

Anyway, this morning I took a few photos before I went to work and then transferred the pictures from my phone to the computer to have a look, and discovered a crack in the swingarm.

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So that swingarm is now going in the bin and I have ordered a replacement from a wreckers in South Australia which should get here next week. Suffice the say all the work in getting the bearings out was a waste of time

[Dav]

Wow, that sucks the big one...glad you sourced a replacement

[Con Rod]

Wow, that sucks the big one...glad you sourced a replacement

Yep the replacement is only costing me $125 so not too bad

[Con Rod]

While I am waiting for the replacement swing arm I decided to paint the engine block.

It was pretty grubby to start with so there was a fair bit is sandings it back and then cleaning years of oil and grease off:

motorbefore.jpg

With the engine clean I gave it a coat of primer with the airbrush:

motorprimered.JPG

And then sprayed it with Pot Belly Black using the airbrush:

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Unfortunately "Pot Belly Black" is in fact "Pot Belly Very Dark Brown" so I will have to give at a bit of a key and spray it again with jet black. I picked up a can of jet black from the paint shop this morning so should get that down tonight.

Then I will be cutting new gaskets and I expect all of the stainless steel bolts I ordered to arrive tomorrow so should be balc to get the engine finished tomorrow night.

[Con Rod]

Also got a bit of sanding ready for polish done at the weekend

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[Con Rod]

Engine is now black and I cut the gaskets I need last night. Stainless bolts arrived today so ready to put the motor back together.

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[Con Rod]

Got the rigth hand side of the engine done last night. So new gaskets, stainless bolts all round as I filed down the fins the same as Wolfman did on his restoration.

motorafter.JPG

[Con Rod]

The replacement swing arm last week it is in top notch condition. No cracks or holes.

Bearings came out and it and I set to work polishing

new swingarm.JPG

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[Con Rod]

then on Christmas Eve, in went the new bearings and I set about getting the rolling chassis together. Read tyre was still good but the front got new rubber. All the bearings, wheels, swing arm, shock linkage and head stem were replaced:

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So for Christmas I got a rolling chassis.

[Con Rod]

Boxing day was spent sanding........hours and hours of sanding:

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But today I got a break from that as 2 mate came over to help me get the motor back in the frame:

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[fung]

keep up the good work

ogri! ogri! ogri!
oi! oi! oi!

cheers
fung

[Mayhem]

Very cool re-build. Makes me tired just watching the photo's roll through.

You will have a new bike for the new year.

[Con Rod]

I wont have it by the new year unfortunately as I have the order a throttle cable which will take a few days but shouldnt be too far off, glad you are enjoying the thread though. The more I do the more I like the TRX though, awesome machine.

Anyway, with the engine I set to work on the carbs today. Pretty happy with the results but I did have a questions about the needles which I have posted here:

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=7476

So here is a before picture of the carbs:

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So I stripped them, cleaned them, replaced hoses and o-rings and set everything to factory (except maybe the needles) and they are now back on the bike:

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I also managed the get the cooling system back in today so moving on to the wiring next

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