TRX Restoration Project

[Con Rod]

Edit: Video summary added



Hi all, new member here and new TRX owner as of 1 week

As per my introduction thread, I have started a restoration

Pic below is the bike as it was when it arrived home

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The day after I got the bike I started to strip it down and was pleased to find pretty much everything there and not broken.

I set about prepping the tank and body. The inside of the tank was in pretty good condition but the tank liner is good preventative maintenance and given the bike is getting a respray I figured better to do it now with the paint off the tank than later.

I have stripped the tank back to metal and found it in good condition. There were two repaired dents on it which I will needed to be re-filedl but no rust or leaks. The tank was not the original tank on the bike and was previously painted black, metallic green, red and blue (in that order at different stages).

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First job was to put a tank liner in. Very little rust in the tank but decided to line it with POR15. I have used POR15 before on my 250. It is a lot of work to get it right but a very good product.

Below is the inside of the tank before I started work on it:

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[Con Rod]

Preparing the tank for the liner is a bit of a production.

First off you have to clean the inside of the tank with a cleaning solution that comes with the kit. You put the solution in, seal up the tank and then rotate the tank to get the solution everywhere. Then every 5 minutes you roll the tank around again. After about 30 minutes you empty out the solution and rinse the heck out of it. rinse the tank with water to get. Then you pour in the rest of the solution and repeat the process.

Once the tank is clean inside it looks like this. Clean but still has rust in there:

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After you have rinsed the tank out the second time you need to give is a goo dry with a hair dryer. It has to be bone dry, so that takes about 30minutes.

After you have dried the tank you need to acid etch it straight away. So in goes a litre of the etching stuff that comes with the kit and then once again you seal up the tank and roll it around every few minutes for another 45 minutes.

This is the etching stuff in the tank:

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Then you drain and rinse the tank thoroughly, Once the tank it rinsed out you again dry it completely with a hair dryer. This takes another 30 minutes.

With the tank now etched ready for the liner and dry you can leave it over night if you like before you put the liner in. The tank has to be bone dry before you put your liner in or it wont work properly so there is no harm leaving it over night and the giving it another 30 minute blast with the hair dryer before pouring in the liner

This is the tank etched and ready for the liner:

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[Con Rod]

once you have done your prep work properly putting the liner in is fairly easy.

You stir it up (it comes in a can) and pour it in. Then you roll the tank around and upside down until you have made sure you have coated the whole tank with a nice layer of the liner. Takes about 15 minutes.

Then, once you are happy you have coated everywhere you pour out as much of the excess liner as you can. This takes a good while as you really need to get rid of as much of the excess as possible.

That done you roll the tank around again for another few minutes to distribute any excess left in the evenly and the leave the tank to cure filler cap down. (Very important you leave it cure filler cap down so any excess that does gather, gathers at the top of the tank. Not at the bottom by the fuel tap where rust typically forms)

Now you need to leave it for a week (at very least 5 days) to cure properly. Once done it forms a hard coating like ceramic and you will never have to worry about a rusty tank again.

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[Con Rod]

Ok so next step was to get onto the body work so stripped the rest of it off the bike The frame is in great shape, Only a little rust around the brackets and stuff and no evidence of damage.

Body work was pretty good, few cracks here and there but nothing major

The fairing didn't need any fiber glass work or filler just a sand.

The mudguard, tail section, tank and seat cowl kept me busy all day Thursday and most of Friday.

Filling the tank was fairly tricky as one of the dents was in the curved prt at the front where your right hand is at when the bars are turned full lock to the right. It was just a case of fill, sand, check, fill again etc. I am happy with how I got it in the end though. The other 2 small dings where much more straightforward.

The front mudguard needed to be reinforced with fiberglass at the brackets on both sides. Nasty job but worked a treat. There was some filling at the bolts holes too.

Tailpiece was a lot of work. The brackets under the seat where bocken and there were a few cracks. Three spots needed to be reinforced with fiberglass and the broken brackets / bolt holes had to be repaired. For one of the brackets I had the broken piece so I melted the plastic with the soldering iron and stuck it back together and then used fibre glass to make it permanent.

For the other missing bracket I made a new one from a piece of metal and melted that into the plastic and then wrapped it in fibre glass so it is solid and strong.

The seat cowl needed filling on all four corners.

With all the prep work on the parts was finished I set about making a bit of a spray booth in the garage.

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[Con Rod]

Saturday was a buying day of spraying.

First off primer

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Then colour (mazda winning blue)

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Then a clear coat

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[Con Rod]

And as I had to gun all set up I decided to do an old lid and the bar fridge in my garage

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[Con Rod]

The clear coat will get a bit of a sand and buff in a week or so once it has hardened properly, but today (Sunday), with the paint done I turned my attention to the rest of the bike

First I took the wiring loom out. It is filthy and in good shape. The bike has an alarm and an immobiliser so I was worried that the person who installed it might have butchered to loom. Fortunately, despite his wiring being messy as hell (he used duct tape!) he has only cut into the original loom in 2 spots.

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Next I stripped on the cooling system, piped, brakes, rear seats, etc (the Elmo bags have any of the little bits in them sorted

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So now the frame is mostly stripped. Next I will be dropping out the engine, taking off the steering head and swing arm and then getting everything ready for a coat of paint.

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Everything that was painted black on the bike will be getting sanded back, primed and painted

[andyaber]

Top work and pics - very interesting.

More please.

[jjmoto]

Nice colour. Have had bad experience with that tankliner stuff though, rebuilt an old Zephyr750 before my TRX, followed all instructions to the letter, including leaving the tank in the airing cupboard for at least 2 weeks to cure it. Damn stuff bubbled up as soon as i put juice in (wrecking the lovely lime green paintjob), had to get another tank in the end.

[Con Rod]

Nice colour. Have had bad experience with that tankliner stuff though, rebuilt an old Zephyr750 before my TRX, followed all instructions to the letter, including leaving the tank in the airing cupboard for at least 2 weeks to cure it. Damn stuff bubbled up as soon as i put juice in (wrecking the lovely lime green paintjob), had to get another tank in the end.

It is tricky stuff, if you don't get the prep absolutely prefect (including the drying) it will come off and that is more hassle than a rusty tank.

Would also add that POR15 is the only one I would use. I have seen others and they just don't cut it in my opinion. Kreem for example is one which has a bit of a reputation for not lasting the distance.

[Con Rod]

ok so the engine came out of the frame tonight:

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and is now on the bench

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[Con Rod]

Ok, so the swingarm and forks are now off the frame. The frame is being prepared for paint and the swingarm will be polished.

I have ordered all new bearings for the chasis and the bush / collar in the swingarm has to be replaced (new one ordered)

I set about doing the valve clearances last night:

Head.JPG

Cams.JPG

A few of the clearances where out, but I got some shims today. On one of the inlets the clearance was pretty mush zero, so if I cant get it back in spec with a shim I will have to replace that valve. I will find out once I get the shims in.

Fortunately my friendly mechanic was happy enough to give me the shims for free on the proviso that I give him the ones I take out, so free shim exchange.

Valve cleararances below for anyone who might be interested. (Essential shims in red and non-essential in yellow, but yellow will be done anyway):

Valve Clearances.jpg

[phuk72]

Good effort - keep it coming

[Con Rod]

Ok, so got the valve clearances done tonight, all now pretty much bang in the middle of spec give or take 0.05mm

I have moved onto getting the rest of the stuff to be painted black prepared for paint. Radiator is ready as are all the brackets and fixings and the front wheel.

About 70% done on the frame so hope to get that done and the back wheel and get them spayed tomorrow or Sunday.

Then in go the new bearings and I can get the rolling chassis done.

[Dav]

Awesome..you have given that bike the love it deserved