So with all the smaller jobs out of the way, I had to tackle the engine's apparent dermatitis.


As you can see, the bike had a pretty bad case, lots of white powdery sea with islands of loosely clinging black paint.

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I also noticed that the carb rubbers were pretty badly cracked. But given my good fuel economy and performance coupled with the solid advice I've found from the FOC community I'm not worried just yet. Might get some self emalgamating tape or black silicon to cover over the cracks. Just to make them look nicer if nothing else.

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I attacked the flaky paint and corroded aluminium with a combination of small wire brush attachments on a dremel tool and cordless drill. Plus the short edge of a steel rule for scraping duties without gouging the alu.


As you might expect, this was long, arduous and boring work. So i got distracted by the dull and scratched engine covers. I rubbed off some of the paint and in doing so pulled a thread that just kept unravelling. Before I knew it, I'd polished up all the engine covers. Nothing like a polishing wheel on a high speed drill to aid procrastination from the monotony of wire brushing. It just looked nicer so much quicker! 


Anyway, all stripped back with shiny covers. (kind of disguises the scratches from when the bike has clearly been laid down at some point before my tenure. Other symptoms are steadily becoming apparent)

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As the wire brushes smouldered and the drill cooled, I raided the magazine rack and set about masking off the bike as I intended to use aerosol paint to ensure a good finish. No brush marks for me thank you very much.


Looks like a badly wrapped, but still quite fantastic gift. I'd be happy with it on Christmas morning!

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Other side

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I completely removed the generator/alternator/stator cover and stuffed paper into the cavity. easier than carefully taping.




B&Q's Matt black Barbecue paint stepped in for the covering duties on account of it's high temp resistance and no need for a primer.


I wiped the whole engine down with Isopropyl Alcohol to ensure good paint adhesion and got on with it. Lots of very thinly misted coats with 5-10 mins in between and I'm really very happy with the result.

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I think the shiny silver covers really set off the black and vice versa. It's all about contrast darrrrling!


Now I may set a cat among the pigeons here, but I like the semi fake cooling fins on the Fazer and I like them to be silver. BUT, I firmly believe that one of the reasons that the paint seems to just fall off the engine is that the silver fin effect is created by rubbing the paint back to the metal, thus creating an incursion point for moisture, air and all the corrosion related woe that their marriage creates. SO, I painted the edges silver using chrome effect enamel paint. i dipped a firm, flat, cube shaped sponge in the paint and wiped it across the fins in order to only get the vertical face.

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Really happy with the results so far.


Here it is once again, looking much cleaner, with the Rear end of the enigmatic Zephyr and in front of one the most ridiculous bikes ever made! A Triumph Rocket III.

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I completed a few small jobs after the forks.

Balanced the carbs. Now have a smooth tickover and quicker pickup/ throttle response.

The mirrors were all rusty and the glass looked like it came from the hall of mirrors so I bought some replacements on ebay. Sadly it was a case of "buy cheap, buy twice" and the replacements, although better looking, were just as crap. Vibrating more than a teenagers phone and just as bendy as the originals. So I'm waiting for a set of Thou mirrors to replace them with. (I complained to the ebay seller and got a 50% refund without need to return the mirrors. So a partial win!)

Completed the headlight Mod (thanks to John Sliva and Moffmeister http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,181.msg92567.html#msg92567 )
I also replaced the candles in my headlights with Osram Nightbreaker plus bulbs, which are incredible for halogens. Furthermore, I removed the reflector in front of the left H1 bulb (snip the tabs so it drops into the headlight, use a magnetic rod thingy to fish it out through the large H4 hole) So now I can see. sort of.
The bike passed MOT with both of these modifications. Though I did trim the H4 bulbs tabs so I could rotate it slightly clockwise (from behind) to make the beam cut-off cleaner.

Changed the oil.

Changed the grips (which appear to have been covered in UHU glue) for some funky red ones. Top tip, Hairspray. spray it in to the grip, it's slippery enough to slide it on, leave it overnight and it'll be stuck harder than solid effluent to a woven warming device.

With all this done, there was nothing left to put off the engine respray any longer...

Next Up, due to the impending MOT and the oil dripping down the stanchions and sliders, was the fork seals.


A technical error with my phone (I 'dropped' it), means not many pics of this, but it's not too exciting so thats ok! 


The forks were painted black, but it looked like what paint hadn't already corroded off, was put on with a broom.


You can also see the led DRL I've mounted under the fairing. Very unobtrusive, but traffic definitely sees me better when I'm filtering than they ever did on dip beam. Queues part like the sea! Could be the slight bluish tinge though?...

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So I took them off, stripped them down using a guide on here, thanks John Silva


http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,42.msg120.html#msg120


and replaced the oil (15w for a firmer damping, I'm almost 15st) and the seals.


While I had the sliders off, I stripped the paint off and polished them up with a buffing wheel and some Autosol.

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They now look the business, passed MOT and don't bounce like pogo sticks!

The first job on my list was to change the chain and sprockets. The set on the machine when I bought it had a truly ridiculous tight spot.


But this was offset by the fact that the back wheel was wonky as I rode away and upon trying to straighten it in the first garage forecourt I discovered that the chain tensioners were seized solid.


So a careful and slow ride home was followed by a complete dismantling of the tensioners and generous smearing with aluminium grease (like copper grease, but silver, due to the aluminium. clever that). Also replaced the nuts with non-rounded shiny stainless ones and attacked the tensioner plate with Autosol.


removed plate, rusty threads!

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Clean and shiny tensioner! (and straight wheel!)

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So with that done, it was time for the chain and sprockets.


Dirty horrible gears with the worst tight/loose spot I've seen.

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I ordered a D.I.D gold chain and JT Sprockets set from Busters for £79.99 but specced it for 2 teeth bigger on the front and 2 teeth smaller on the back. (I drive an old diesel car as well, so it'll still feel PLENTY fast enough, I tell myself!)


While waiting for the chain and sprockets I picked up this bad boy:

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So while I had the back wheel off, I also had a Metzeler Z6 fitted (from M&P) at http://www.ultimatebikegear.co.uk/ in Papworth. for just £12.50 balanced.


Here was the first clanger. The previous owner told me the chain and sprockets were relatively new (i was VERY sceptical due to the aforementioned tight spot) but on replacing the whole set I KNEW he was lying.


No photo (sorry) but the front sprocket had shark fin shaped teeth. And it STILL had the original 9mm thick front retaining nut. So another couple of days wait and the new nut and retaining washer arrived from wemoto (just over a fiver) and I cracked on.

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I took the opportunity to remove the swingarm and give it a proper clean, check and re-grease the bearings. Which also allowed me to rivet the new chain off the bike. Much easier on a bench!


All Done!

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All shiny and fresh looking!


I gave the wheel a good clean and polish while it was off. Luckily, almost no scratches and absolutely no corrosion or blistering. Looks like a new wheel now!


As for the new gearing, due to the closeness of the gears, I haven't really noticed any large drop in acceleration. And when I get above 8,000 rpm it still feels like someone lit a rocket under my @rse!


The first bonus is that in top gear, the revs have dropped by about 1,000 rpm for any given speed. Im doing about 4k rpm at 60 mph. So the bike is much smoother, which I like (I'm getting old before my time).


But the real win is that I now get at least 200 miles before the light comes on. And I've bravely ridden as much as 50 miles after that. Current highest range is 265 miles. And this is with the 20 litre tank.

Hi All!


Thought I'd share my ongoing project for a little criticism, hopefully a little praise and generally a touch of banter.


Bought in October this year.

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From the off, it needed:


new chain and sprockets,
Fork Seals,
Back Tyre,
Oil Change,
Headlight Mod,
Engine repaint,
New Mirrors,
Downpipe replacement/repaint,
Carb Balance,
And a general deep clean and polish!!


But for £500 with 48k miles, and a couple of months MOT, I think it was a deal and a half.


And so the project (and the fun!) begins....

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Hey all. First post!

Loving my Fazer and loving this forum even more!

 Unfazed, how are the reflectors actually attached to thr headlight unit? I'm thinking of upgrading to projector style lenses andwas hoping it might be easy to take out the old reflectors and manufacture a mounting plate to attach the new lenses and maintain aim adjustment . Think it'll be easy enough?

Thanks in advance!