Cameron's [insert cliche motorcycle blog title]

[roscowgo]

Sorry to hear about your friend cam.

And yes, go find some twisty bit of something that cages don't run up and down like main street.

[camthepyro]

fireguzzi Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:53 am Post subject:

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Quote:
Maybe I should try to go ride some places where there isn't much traffic.



That is very true. There is NOTHING fun about riding in traffic to me.
Go find a long stretch of country road and just cruise. It may be an excellent way to allow yourself to relax. And that may be the key to improvement. I imagine that anxiety will limit physical as well as mental progression. So take a day off, leave the old lady behind, and find a long road to nowhere to clear the mind.

Yeah, I'd like to, the problem is I live in metro Atlanta, and I don't know where any county roads, without intersections every half mile, are.

roscowgo Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:16 am Post subject:

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Sorry to hear about your friend cam.

Thanks, to tell the truth, I have no idea how he's doing. A friend at my last job was keeping me updated on his condition, but I quit that job, so I haven't heard anything about him in a while, I hope he's doing well.

[BlueBomber]

I'm 17, I live in Acworth, Georgia (close to Atlanta), and I've always liked motorcycles, but fell in love with them when I started researching them after I dropped out of school (because I was under the impression [damn lying dmv] that you could get a motorcycle license without being in school, but more about that later).

Hey, I remember you mentioning this on a bike review (prorably for a 'hawk I suppose) Glad to see somebody I almost sort of kind of know in a weird internet stalker type of way...

\/\/

[camthepyro]

Lol, yeah, that gets weird.

I was reading a review for a monitor a couple months ago, and the language sounded familiar, then I realized one of my good friends had posted the review, lol.

[camthepyro]

I went to the dealership today and put a down payment on a 2000 ZR7, with 13k miles. I'll be picking it up Saturday, so pictures then.

The bike is gorgeous. No damage anywhere. It doesn't look like it's ever been layed down, or in any accidents. The shop I'm buying it from is putting new tires, a new battery, oil and other fluids in the bike, as well as doing any repairs it might need after it's inspection (they evidently just got it in).

Here is a picture of the actual bike from their website:



I can't wait for saturday!



Some updates from the past year and half:

I'm currently in college, going for my Associates in Drafting, then hopefully my bachelors in some engineering field.

My girlfriend and I just got a very nice house, and we'll be moving in in two weeks.

I've gone through many jobs and hard times. I had to sell my Nighthawk around February of '07, and this weekend will be the first time I've ridden since.

Guns are a new hobby of mine, and I now own two: a Springfield XD-9 and a CMMG M4.

That's it.

[camthepyro]

More updates:

Sold the ZR-7 in September '08. I needed a car and had to sell the bike and put the money towards that.

Then, yesterday, I bought an '80 Suzuki GS450. It's a lot like my old Nighthawk.

Buuuut, I plan on completely rebuilding and restoring the bike. I plan on doing it cafe racer style (a lot of inspiration came from mysta2), but with some modern touches (dual headlight and LED mini turn signals for example).

Right now I'm in the disassembly and cleaning phase. Right now everything is removed from the bike except the engine itself. So it's just the engine sitting on the frame. That took about 5 hours of working. My original intention was to take pictures of everything, and post them here. But I was so excited to get started that I forgot to take a "before" picture. So, I figured I'd save the pictures for the reassembly.

I was surprised by the amount of useless dead weight on the bike. I've probably taken at least 50 pounds worth of parts off that won't be going back on. Of course, some of the parts are just being replaced, like the seat and exhaust pipes. But, for those parts I'm going to try and go with a light weight solution. I'm hoping that the bike will have dropped 40 pounds in all.



So, what I have left to do:

-Remove engine from frame.

-Cut necessary frame parts off.

-Grind frame seams and sand everything smooth.

-Have frame sand blasted (I'm still trying to find out where I can do that).

-Paint frame (I'm still deciding if I'm going to go the professional route, or the spray paint route).

-Disassemble, clean, and rebuild the engine (that's going to be a major task).

-Disassemble, clean, and rebuild the carbs.

-Completely rebuild the wiring harness (again, a chore, but the current one is full of spliced wires, old nasty wires, and electrical tape, that I couldn't bear to put it back on a pretty rebuilt bike).

-Fabricate new exhaust pipes (dual pipes along the right side), I haven't decided if I'm going to use mufflers or not. I can't stand really loud bikes. But, mufflers aren't cheap, and I like how straight pipes look.

-Fabricate new seat/rear cowl piece and figure out a solution for the seat itself (how to upholster, how to mold, what foam to use, etc.).

-Fabricate various brackets and other miscellaneous pieces.

-Paint everything. Rear cowl and tank are going to be a midnight blue. Everything else will be either black, matte black, or chrome/polished steel (again, I don't know if I'm going to do this myself, or have it done professionally).

-Reassemble the bike.

-Spend a month diagnosing and repairing the various issues that are sure to occur.



So, if anyone has any tips for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. What I need help with:

-Fabrication: Where can I find people who will fabricate parts for me? (preferably from AutoCAD drawings)

-Engine Rebuild: How do I go about buying replacement gaskets, and other spare parts? Is there any particular wear I should be looking for? Any thing else I should be aware of?

-Transmission: How difficult/expensive is it to re-gear the transmission? I'd like to sacrifice some top-end in favor of acceleration. It's a six-speed, so if I can have it top out at ~100mph, then that should improve acceleration somewhat. I don't think I'd want to go over 100mph on a 30 year old bike anyway.

-Electrical: How should I go about replacing switches and such? Is there some where I can order handlebar switches?

By the way, if you guys are curious why I'm choosing to rebuild the entire engine, it's because:

a) It's got app. 35k miles on it. My guess (judging by the rest of the bike) is that it was never properly maintained, and probably has a fair amount of wear. The gaskets are most likely old, dry, and cracked.

b) The crankcase is leaking oil. Not a terrible amount, but the top of the crankcase is coated in oil, and when it's warm, it drips about once per 30 minutes. I definitely don't want my rear tire getting coated in oil.

c) I want it to look pretty. The rest of the bike will be all shiny and new(ish) looking, so why not the engine?

d) I'm already pulling the engine from the frame, so it seems like an opportune time to rebuild.


So yep, that's it. Hopefully I'll have some pictures and/or updates soon. I'm hoping to have this thing rideable in time for summer.

[camthepyro]

So, I've run into two complications:

A) the steering tree thing won't come off completely. Why? Because I need a c spanner, which I don't have. And apparently neither does anyone else in the state of Georgia. The only place I can find that carries them around here is Sears. So, I've got to find time to get over there at some point.

B) I still have been able to get the engine off the frame. There is a cover for where the chain connects to the forward sprocket, and that needs to be taken off in order to pull out the engine. However, that cover is secured with philips head screws, 3 out of 5 of which are now stripped. I attempted to use one of those screw extractor bits, but that didn't work at all. So right now I'm at a loss on how I'm going to get those off.

Luckily, I think I may have found a sandblaster. My dad works for Honda, and they've got a sandblaster there. The only problem is that it may not be big enough for the frame. So hopefully today we'll get some measurements, and if all goes well I should be sandblasting the frame on Sunday.

[fireguzzi]

For the stripped screws you might try an impact driver. That is if you haven't boogered up the the head of the screw too much. A little PB blaster before you try to remove it wouldn't hurt either.

[Big B]

if the heads are too far shot to get them off with an impact driver, drill the screw heads off, use one of the bolts you've pulled off as a template for how big of a drill bit to use (start a couple of sizes smaller to get a good starting hole), and be careful. the head will start spinning on the drill bit as soon as its off. once you get the cover off, unscrew the rest of the bolt with a vise-grips - although sometimes by that point they'll come off by hand.

[camthepyro]

Thanks for the tips guys!

I was able to get them off using a method similar to what Big B described. I just took a drill bit that was just a tad more narrow than the screw, and drilled out the head. As soon as I started drilling past the head, and into the screw itself, I was able to tap off the head with a hammer and screwdriver. Then, the cover just pulled off and I was able to get the screws out by hand.

Now, I was also able to get that nut off the steering head. I didn't end up needing a c spanner, a pipe wrench actually worked pretty well.

However The steering head on lower fork clamps still won't come over. I'm not really sure why. There is some sort of dust cover thing over the bearings that doesn't want to come off. It seems to be threaded (it can't be pried off), but it's circular, and almost flush with the bearings, so I can't figure out how to get it off. If anyone knows what I mean, and knows what to do, please let me know.

Once I get that off, I'll be able to get the frame sandblasted, then I'll be able to paint it. Of course, I've run into another complication: Honda's sandblaster isn't big enough for the frame. So, I've got to find another (larger) sandblaster. If anyone has any ideas of where I could find one (what kind of businesses would have them, and let me use them), I'd appreciate that as well.

Aside from those things, everything else has been going fairly well. I've been cleaning up a lot of the parts, getting them ready to put be put back on the bike or to be painted. So far this project has been going relatively smoothly, at least a lot more so than I was expecting.