what did you do with your fazer today ?

[fazersharp]

Nice one

[Grahamm]

I've asked this on Facebook too, but Haynes says that when I'm reassembling the Valve Cover, I should use some gasket sealant.

If anyone has any advice as to what to use and the best way to apply it, I'd be grateful.

[unfazed]

I've asked this on Facebook too, but Haynes says that when I'm reassembling the Valve Cover, I should use some gasket sealant.

If anyone has any advice as to what to use and the best way to apply it, I'd be grateful.

As I said on Facebook use ordinary engine grease

[Grahamm]

As I said on Facebook use ordinary engine grease

Thanks.

For anyone else finding this thread, the recommendation was for NLG2 Lithium Grease.

[Grahamm]

Updating this again:

I eventually got the valve cover back in place today after trying repeatedly to get it through an almost impossibly awkward gap between the crank case and the frame and without using any gasket sealant or grease, the existing gasket stayed well enough in place that I didn't need anything to hold it there. It seems to be secure all round, so fingers crossed it doesn't leak when I get the bike running again...

After that, I had hassles after finding that two of the vacuum pipes (the ones you use for balancing the throttle bodies) had holes in them which probably explains why it tended to have an uneven idle.

Unfortunately whoever installed them when I got the engine replaced a few years back had cable-tied them in place and then cut the end of the tie off flush which meant I couldn't reuse it, but there was also no way to get another tie in there.

Eventually I just cut the ties and, fortunately, the holes were only about 1/2" from the end where they connect to the throttle bodies, so I trimmed them down and tucked them back where, hopefully, they won't bounce around to much and wear through again! (OEM replacements are £24 a pair!!)

After that, I replaced the plugs and then had fun trying to work out the routing of the leads again!

Anyway, I'm getting there, slowly...

[agricola]

Theres not much room there. I was glad to be blessed with small hands, I found that rubber sheet really awkward to fit back in

[aaronhazelwood1010]

ook the Fazer out for a long countryside spin today – no traffic, just smooth roads and that perfect purr from the engine. Always fun seeing how she handles on the open stretch.
On a random note, I was messing around online later and ended up deep-diving into high-speed trains (weird connection, I know ?). If you're ever curious how fast those things actually go in real-time, you can check live train speed here — some of them are insanely fast. Makes you appreciate how stable our bikes feel at speed!

[Grahamm]

The reassembly continues, although much of today involved removing the old paint that was flaking off the radiator and cleaning rust spots off the radiator side covers so I could respray them.

Air filter, throttle and clutch cables, chain tension and sprockets were all checked and found to be fine.

Also I decided to give the header bolts a good spray with Plus Gas and WD40 so I can loosen them off and retighten them, knowing that if i need to remove them in future, they won't be rusted solid!

[Grahamm]

I spent a lot of today cursing whichever Yamaha designer thought it would be a good idea to put the FZ6-SA coolant expansion reservoir behind the downpipes and then cover it with a metal "shield" to protect it, so that was guaranteed to get corroded.

So what it meant was that one of the bolts that secures the cover was rusted and stuck, but because it attaches through a plastic bottle, you can't use a blow torch to free it up without melting the container!

This resulted in multiple repeated applications of Plusgas and WD40 trying to get the damn thing loose without bending the bracket or shearing the whole thing off.

Eventually I got it off, cleaned it up with a wire brush and painted on a load of Kurust before giving it a few coats of Hammerite.

At least on the S2 model they realised what a stupid piece of design this was and moved it up behind the engine, but that didn't help me

Still, the AIS is back on, the radiator is repainted and ready to be refitted, then I can put the coils back in place and get the airbox reinstalled.

Oh, and the header bolts loosened up nice and easily, so I cleaned them up and hopefully they'll come off as easily again if I never need to take the pipes off.

[agricola]

Sounds like you intend to ride it more

[Grahamm]

That's the plan.

Also, a word of advice to anyone reading this: If your insurance is up for renewal, DON'T mention to the agent that your bike is currently in bits as you're checking the valve clearances, because they may turn round and say they can't renew your policy with it in that condition!!

Ok, the policy doesn't actually expire until the start of August, but sheesh...

[Grahamm]

Before and after...

   

   

[Faze2]

Before and after...

Nice , did you copper grease ya nuts 

[Grahamm]

Nice , did you copper grease ya nuts 

Nope, I did a lot of checking and the best advice is to not use copper slip on the header bolts as there's a risk of over-torqueing them.

Given they only need 20Nm, I'll stick to just checking they will undo every now and again.

[Faze2]

Nice , did you copper grease ya nuts 

Nope, I did a lot of checking and the best advice is to not use copper slip on the header bolts as there's a risk of over-torqueing them.

Given they only need 20Nm, I'll stick to just checking they will undo every now and again.

Horses for courses, never had a seized header bolt and they seem fine.
Nice work 

[Grahamm]

So I spent several hours today cursing the Yamaha designers again!

All I wanted to do was to get the coolant reservoir back in place, then put the radiator back on, but they seem to have gone out of their way to make life difficult for people by putting bolt holes in nigh inaccessible places.

For example, one of the coolant reservoir bolts goes directly behind one of the downpipes. WHY the hell couldn't they have mounted it an inch to either side, then you could easily get a ratchet wrench extension onto it, instead of trying to fiddle the damn thing in place and tighten it up in a tiny space??

It didn't help that, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the bolt that goes through the bracket which holds it in place was rusted and I had to use a lot of force to take it off which ended up bending the bracket, meaning I then had to bend it back in shape before I could remount it :-(

Also the top radiator bolt is up behind the fairing, so you either have to take that off too, or deal with another annoyingly small gap. Not only that, but there's also a bracket that holds the ABS pipes in place that the same bolt goes through, and then you need to get another bolt to go through the other end of the bracket *and* through the ABS union mount.

Had I known it would have been such a bloody nuisance, I would have taken the damn fairing off in the first place!

Oh, and when I had the engine replaced, there are two small hoses from the radiator, one that goes to the Fast Idle unit and the other that goes to the water pump breather, but whoever did the engine swapped them over.

Now, ok, they both go into the radiator at virtually the same point and probably there's no difference, however things like that bother me and I spent ages peering at rather poor quality images in the Haynes manual and diagrams in the Yamaha service manual trying to figure out which was which, because, when I took them off, I marked them as "right" and "left" with masking tape, but the images I was looking at appeared to have them the other way.

Eventually I figured out which was which, but why couldn't that damn mechanic have just done it right in the first place...?

Oh well, at least that's all sorted now, just the battery box, air box and fuel tank left to go, plus refill the oil and the coolant, then put the front wheel back on and the front brake calipers, then balance the throttle bodies and then maybe I can actually ride it again!