Replaced the barrels in my engine as the last one was cracked in cylinder 3, but couldn't afford to replace the piston rings at the time. Well the obvious happened and the old piston rings aren't bedding in to the new barrels so I'm getting combustion pressure going into the crankcase and forcing oil into the airbox. It's not a huge problem, but...should I replace the piston rings and hope that solves it (ca. £200) or buy a "new" engine for £250-300? I'm confident in changing the piston rings, but I've never replaced a whole engine and it sounds a pain in the arse considering the tight fit, opinions?

has the member map crashed nothing coming up when i click the link ?

Looking through me scrapbook I remembered how you used to be able to buy eighties stuff cheap before it all got a bit mental like it is now..seventies and eighties bikes fetch ridiculous money nowadays. This was about ten years back I think. I came across this Eddie Lawson rep rusting in a back garden having not run for six months. Whilst it was tatty it had an 1170 wiseco block, fzr1000 front end and fzr600 rear wheel in a nice alloy swinger. Hardly anything needed doing, it was all bits and bobs. Got it running( coils and knackered stator plate)built up some weld on the header pipe faceb and filed them flat so the blowing exhaust was sorted, painted the wheels white etc etc...all simple stuff, mostly just cleaning up.
Gave a grand for the non running bike, the first time I went out on ot to see me mates at the music shop in Peterborough a couple blokes followed me home from the city and offered me £2500 on the spot..which I took. In truth the rear sets were unfkblvbly uncmfy on me knees...

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
       

Was going to put this in the 1000 section but I guess it could be a general thing...  I then thought of putting it in the "what have you done" thread but I think this would suit its own.


As some may remember I previously mentioned making some carbon fibre parts for a gen 1 fazer 1000.  I made a bit of a start yesterday, making a mould of the left hand airbox cover.  The moulds are made from chop strand mat glass fibre so not really that eye catching but thought some might be interested (given it had a fair bit of interest).


Also I had offers of lending peoples parts to take moulds off so this might serve as a bit of an eye opener to what happens and how the original part is affected by the process.  (I need the fairing infills for my bike as I bought it as a cat c write off and they were smashed).  My plan would be to make a mould to make CF versions from...


Anyway, as its been a few moons since I last did anything with composites I made a mould and here is the progress.


This is the part.  At this stage it has been lavished with attention, washed, dried, waxed (with carnuba release wax) 3 times and buffed after curing each coat then coated with PVA release and left to dry.  This is to ensure the part comes out of the mould as easily as possible and without damaging the mould surface.





Next up I put some clear coat gel on with 3% hardner.  I added a pinch of black dye to make finishing the mould easier (you can see light reflections much clearer).  There is no real finesse to this really, slap it on, push it about as best as you can.  Due to the release making it so slippery its a bit like painting on glass!  Here it is, dyed black.  You can see its black?  Me too...





This was left to go tacky.  I have an extremely specialist bit of equipment for curing.  Many knowledgeable people are now nodding, "autoclave?, oven?" no, a double lined cardboard box with a hole in it.  Through the hole I poke a hair-dryer, 30 seconds of "Turbo Heat" warms it nicely even in a garage at this time of year.  I came to the 30 second mark after consulting Nicky Clark. He is alright that lad...  This can be left for 15 mins between adding more hot air (from the hairdryer not Nicky).


Once tacky Its the fun part, putting the fibreglass on (yaay).  Poly resin, hardner, brush, acetone at the ready, Surgeons gloves.  The heady smells...


Anywho, as I said, its been a very long time since doing this stuff and although I prepared the fibreglass to lay up I failed to remember how tight you can lay it up over curves (and probably lots inbetween).  This part has an almost 90 degree bend for the sides, one side also has a very short skirt, 4mm or so which made it tricky to get the glass to lay on nicely - it wanted to remain parelell to the top.  With the resin curing fast and me faffing with the bold recesses making sure they are done it all got away from me.  I decided to scrap this as a working mould layup and carried on purely in the interests of regaining familiarity.  I had also made a bit of a faux pas with handling it, I had pulled a thumb sized piece of clearcoat off when I needed to move it when laying up one of the skirts.


So I did the best I could, got rid of the air bubbles etc and didn't concern myself with the short skirt problem.  By now the resin was curing enough to make it non-viable to correct.  I only put 2 layers on anyway.


This is the mould exterior.





I have trimmed some of the excess from it already.  So you can see, its got the shape etc.  At this stage its unfinished (obviously)  and if it was a working mould it would be finished with nice trimming and knocking off any stray strands etc to make handling less dangerous.


Popping the part out of the mould made me a bit sad.  It was nigh on perfect!!  I was a little rough pulling it out as I was not trying to maintain any nice surfaces on it due to the prefix that I was scrapping it but yeah, this yielded a very useable mould.


Here it is





There are a couple of dry strands fallen in after cleaning it, these can literally be blown out, the part is hard and very accurate, you can even see the markings around the bolt holes left by the bolts.  This has the textured surface of the standard part, I was toying with the idea of having two sets of moulds, one with the texture and the other with the glassy smooth surface of contemporary CF parts.  This mould would have been sanded glassy smooth with 1200 grit paper and G3 rubbing compound.  Still, all is not lost, it was a good refresher exercise and I now recall enough to make the next mould a workable and accurate one. 


As a matter of interest, this is the part after pulling out of the mould, its as is, I have not cleaned anything off it.  You can see that it is unmarked and can be refitted in perfect condition (well, as perfect as it was before).  The mould making doesn't affect it in any way.  The shiney bits on it are simply bits of release/resin left behind.





So yeah, all in all although it didn't result in a working mould it was a brilliant and useful thing to get through.  Not sure when I will get to making the next mould, I will probably do both sides at the same time now I am confident with the materials again.  I have to pick my time to work as my garage is attached to the house and the chemicals are a bit pongy...

hello chaps
im after one of the bolts that holds the front mud guard/ fender on. The M6 bolt with the big cheese head/posidrive on it ?
anyone got a spare? I can pay cash or beer :-)
cheers
Matt

Eight yrs ago my Fazer was written off and I replaced it with a thundercat. Until recently I have had no issues with the Thundercat and have only had to use the old Hayes Manual infrequently. :z


Over the last twelve months the Thundercat has been stalling while idling. Maybe someone can assist pls. :'( 

There are no power issues at all and the engine only cuts out while the bike is idling at lights. I have previously increased the idle but this does not address the problem. I have to increase the idle so much to prevent the engine from stalling that I'm at the point where the throttle takes too long to shut, and this has lead to dangerous emergency braking (throttle shutting too late when heavy braking - before being able to apply the clutch).I've ruled out fuel and air issues as the bike runs as good as it even has (v.smooth). Getting up to speed and holding speed is never an issue. It runs perfectly but just can't maintain an idle. Any useful suggestions would be more than welcome. Sorry for only returning to this forum for advice!  :o

If you were going to buy a winter hack or general local runaround bike , not needing to be powerful or too smart , what would you come up with for around £500.00 ?

Hello, having had my Fazer for a few years I considered chopping her in for something else, for no reason other than I fancied a change. 
BUT reality set in.  My Fazer is clean and tidy, running well, has new tyres and does everything I ask of her, its also and not worth a light!  I like the way it handles, the riding position and its plenty quick enough really. 
As I struggled to find something that I want/ can afford/won’t regret changing to.  I have decided I’m going to keep her...... where is this going ??? I hear you ask......
Well, I was thinking - Maybe a set of Fairing Lowers would make her look like a different bike, but with all the perks of Keeping the Devil you know..... I prefer the look of the SV650 with Fairing Lowers rather than without but I have never actually seen a FZS600 with them fitted.
Has anyone ever fitted these to their bike and did they work or were they rubbish?  What’s your thoughts on these?
http://www.mandp.co.uk/productinfo/51791...s/Skidmarx
I am struggling to find any pictures of a 2000 plate gold and black one with them on and can’t find any reviews on line at all.

Just wanted to share my experience of fitting Oxford heated grips. I'm not particularly mechanically minded, so if I can do it, anyone can!


I spent quite a while on forums and watching Youtube videos about fitting the grips and then I spent some time figuring out how I wanted them orientated and where to run the wires. If you use superglue as Oxford recommend, then you want to get the grips in the right position first time and rather quickly (in a few seconds)!


Getting the old grips off was a doddle. I used a screw driver inserted from the bar end of the handlebars to loosen the grips from the existing glue. The left came off in tact. I had to cut the right off as it moved with the throttle slider when I was trying to twist it off. Whatever glue had been used previously came off cleanly and no cleanup or sanding of the handlebars was required.


I spent a while dry-fitting and experimenting with the throttle-side grip which slid on with little effort. The lefthand grip would not go on. The diameter looked too damn small so I gave up after an hour of trying and tried again the next morning. I'm sure I'd read somewhere about heating the grips up making them expand which allows them to slide on easier, so I wired them up and turned them on 100% for 10 minutes. The lefthand grip slid on hot fairly easily with a little help from some WD40 to lubricate. Didn't use glue on the left as I cant get the bugger back off (!) but did use superglue on the right as I didn't want it sliding around whilst riding.


Wiring was straight forward, it just takes a little thought and some cable ties. I went straight onto the battery terminals but I'll change that when I get it clear in my head how to wire on an ignition circuit. I wrapped the molex plugs with insulation tape to protect from rain.


Hope that helps someone. I'd highly recommend heating them up before fitting (you need to test them anyway, right?) and some careful thought about positioning. Have used them around town and they feel great -- 100% is too much after a while. Hopefully they'll cure my numb fingertips!


David.

Running a bit late and just looked outside. This is going to test the wet weather gear. Catch ya laters?


Mickey