Semi faithful, ground up restoration project!
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 2:28 am
Well recently, i bought a "Basketcase" TRX850 from a friend who lunched the motor for the 3rd time in his 12 year ownership of the bike....Yes, 3 times! The whole bike was never well looked after, and the final engine failure was the final straw for my buddy....he could'nt afford to fix the motor again, as well as the multitude of other problems that the bike has/had! Oh his engine crapped itself, cause it ran out of oil....when i got the bike i dumped the oil, to find that the bike only had 200 Ml's of oil in it!!!
So i offered to take the thing off his hands and fix the bike properly!!! I have a pretty decent workshop at home, and i like to tinker!
The bike has done 133,000Km's, and is/was in a sorry state....
Engine....big end failure!, Front brake calipers....one caliper seized!, Front brake disc's - 3.8 mm thick & warped, rear brake disc badly rutted, and 4.1mm thick!, both clip-on's bent!, left rearset held on by one bolt...footpegs bent!, Frame cracked near pillion footpeg mounts!, the rear shock...remote damper seized!, Seat unit....bad re-spray job from a previous spill, broken mounts under pillion seat pad!, Front fairing, cheap aftermarket replacement....cracked, mounted crooked!, lots of mismatched, burred bolts, and incredibly dirty....
So to fast forward, i pulled the whole bike apart! And am now well into a complete re-build.
What i have done so far.....
Had the frame sand blasted, had the crack welded, had the frame checked for straightness, and then had it re-powdercoated pearl white.
Removed Tyres, Wheel bearing's, valves, etc from both wheels, had them blasted, and powdercoated same pearl white as the frame!
Binned front brake calipers....have a set of later model Yamaha Monoblock 4 pot calipers, from an R6 that will replace old calipers.Binned all brake disc's....have got Asashi Wave disc's to replace. Cleaned up Goodridge braided lines that were already on the bike, including a polish of banjo bolts, and stainless fitting's.
Got myself a brand new set of OEM clip-on's to replace bent clip-on's. Polished both triple clamps to mirror finish. Removed sterring head bearing's, to be replaced with tapered roller bearing's.
Bought as new oem front fairing unit, including OEM headlight, indicators, mirrors, and all stickers in right places. Bought an as new OEM seat unit, with tail light, both seat pads, indicators, and all stickers in right place.
Polished the stainless headers back to as new condition.
Binned OEM rearsets, replaced with a set of Coerce rearsets....nice!
The rear shock & Carbies are off at the shop, being sonic cleaned, and re-built, re-conditioned, including re-powdercoating rear shock spring.
Took very badly stone chipped front forks, removed crappy racetech stickers, rubbed back, filled up, and gave them a paint in gloss black....the fork internals are about only thing on bike that are good....recently had a set of racetech springs, etc put in them. Straightened a lot of bent radiator fins....pulled fan off the back, cleaned both fan & radiator, and gave both some desperately needed new paint.
Swingarm bearings, and rear shock pivot bearing's screwed...so have bought replacement bearing's for both, as i did for head bearing's, and all wheel bearing's!
Lots of bolts on the bike were in a very poor state, and in some cases, were just stuffed, so i have replaced what needs to be replaced, and re-furbished what i can, including cleaning, and polishing every bolt that will go back onto the bike...
Re-painted clutch & brake lever mounting blocks, polished both brake and cluch lever.
Have sourced a secondhand motor, which i will put in the bike when i put it back together, while i re-build the binned motor, with lots of the "good stuff"....
Am in the process of re-building the rear brake caliper right now. Have new sintered pads waiting to go in, when the caliper is back up to scratch...
i would attach some photo's, but i cat work out how to....
So i offered to take the thing off his hands and fix the bike properly!!! I have a pretty decent workshop at home, and i like to tinker!
The bike has done 133,000Km's, and is/was in a sorry state....
Engine....big end failure!, Front brake calipers....one caliper seized!, Front brake disc's - 3.8 mm thick & warped, rear brake disc badly rutted, and 4.1mm thick!, both clip-on's bent!, left rearset held on by one bolt...footpegs bent!, Frame cracked near pillion footpeg mounts!, the rear shock...remote damper seized!, Seat unit....bad re-spray job from a previous spill, broken mounts under pillion seat pad!, Front fairing, cheap aftermarket replacement....cracked, mounted crooked!, lots of mismatched, burred bolts, and incredibly dirty....
So to fast forward, i pulled the whole bike apart! And am now well into a complete re-build.
What i have done so far.....
Had the frame sand blasted, had the crack welded, had the frame checked for straightness, and then had it re-powdercoated pearl white.
Removed Tyres, Wheel bearing's, valves, etc from both wheels, had them blasted, and powdercoated same pearl white as the frame!
Binned front brake calipers....have a set of later model Yamaha Monoblock 4 pot calipers, from an R6 that will replace old calipers.Binned all brake disc's....have got Asashi Wave disc's to replace. Cleaned up Goodridge braided lines that were already on the bike, including a polish of banjo bolts, and stainless fitting's.
Got myself a brand new set of OEM clip-on's to replace bent clip-on's. Polished both triple clamps to mirror finish. Removed sterring head bearing's, to be replaced with tapered roller bearing's.
Bought as new oem front fairing unit, including OEM headlight, indicators, mirrors, and all stickers in right places. Bought an as new OEM seat unit, with tail light, both seat pads, indicators, and all stickers in right place.
Polished the stainless headers back to as new condition.
Binned OEM rearsets, replaced with a set of Coerce rearsets....nice!
The rear shock & Carbies are off at the shop, being sonic cleaned, and re-built, re-conditioned, including re-powdercoating rear shock spring.
Took very badly stone chipped front forks, removed crappy racetech stickers, rubbed back, filled up, and gave them a paint in gloss black....the fork internals are about only thing on bike that are good....recently had a set of racetech springs, etc put in them. Straightened a lot of bent radiator fins....pulled fan off the back, cleaned both fan & radiator, and gave both some desperately needed new paint.
Swingarm bearings, and rear shock pivot bearing's screwed...so have bought replacement bearing's for both, as i did for head bearing's, and all wheel bearing's!
Lots of bolts on the bike were in a very poor state, and in some cases, were just stuffed, so i have replaced what needs to be replaced, and re-furbished what i can, including cleaning, and polishing every bolt that will go back onto the bike...
Re-painted clutch & brake lever mounting blocks, polished both brake and cluch lever.
Have sourced a secondhand motor, which i will put in the bike when i put it back together, while i re-build the binned motor, with lots of the "good stuff"....
Am in the process of re-building the rear brake caliper right now. Have new sintered pads waiting to go in, when the caliper is back up to scratch...
i would attach some photo's, but i cat work out how to....
