Yamaha FZ600 Coming back to life, with piccies!

[Radar]

Back at the tail end of 2006 after selling my CB250RS I got myself a little FZ600 and rode it home the 216 freezing miles from Durham.

http://bikerchat.brinkster.net/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4618

Anyway after a few months the MOT and tax ran out and the little FZ got pushed into the shadows. Time passed and a failed attempt at an MOT at my rather picky local test centre. Leaky fork seals, leaky zorst and stiff rear shock. Well 16 months later it was time to dig her out of hibernation and return to her rightful plcae; on the road. As I am notriously hard to motivate I roped Katana in to help me and so he turned up this Sunday and we got on with it.


After moving the Thundercat, 4 mountain bikes and a collection of empty boxes big enough for The Sweeney to chase some slags in an old Jag through the FZ begins to emerge!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lqr4COXKO90&feature=related


Even the spider had died of boredom awiting the return to the road!


Katana kept trying to get me to cut my fairing off and 'fighter' the old girl.


I was dreading taking off the exhaust; I had visions of siezed studs and hours battling with the headers. In the end the odd mix of bolts, cap heads come straight off. Result! Hopefully stainless will be going on in their place


As you can see the exhaust isn't stainless!! A couple of pin holes explained the blowing exhaust note. This lot will be cleaned up and welded by another mate of mine. Should look a  bit better then!


Off with the Scorpion end can, probably worth more than than the bike!


With the fairing, down pipes and zorst off we could stick the bike on Katanas rather wonderful lift. Great piece of kit, must get one for myself.


Off with the front wheel, calipers and front mudguard


Having already removed the clip ons ad released the fork pinch bolts we could drop the forks out. Kat stars again. I did do a few bits and bobs - honest!


We were coming up to a complicated bit, so its out with the Haynes 'Book of lies'




The manual wittered on about special tools to take out the inards of the forks, but we improvised!


The fork oil had seen better days...


Getting there now!


More improvisation! Yes, that is a paint roller!


The circlip put up a bit of fight, but came out in the end. In the absence of the correct type of circlip pliers we used a couple of thin punches in each of the eye holes and a small flat blded scewdriver.

Tip, remember to keep things sided.

We fitted the one seal without problem, refittted the original dust cap, but then hit a problem. Our improvised tool (!) wasn't suitable for the re-assembly task. So Kat has taken the forks away as he reckons he has someting lurking in his garage that could do the job.

So progress is halted for a little while.

I will sort the rusty downpipes this week, while Kat sorts the fork assemblies.


The FZ is pushed bike to the side of the garage, to await the next stage.

A BIG thanks to Katana for all the help![/font=Arial][/size=4]

Part 2 will follow soon

[terry]

brilliant pics and words radar thanks a lot, keep me posted, am v interested,cheers m8

[Radar]

Cheers Terry I will keep you posted! Pop into tbf and say hello, we miss you in there!

[Radar]

Bit of an update;


Well my exhaust has been blasted and now has more holes than one of these...







Anybody know a REALLY good welder!??

On a more positive note, Katana (of TBF) returned with my forks on Sunday and they looked mighty shiney!



Some brisk spanner and socket set work saw the first fork fitted promptly



Followed by some nice fresh fork oil...


Thanks to Mrs.Radar for the loan of the jug! If you ever have gravy at our house, this will be why it tastes slightly odd...


Use of a syringe allowed the last few cc to be done accurately

The Haynes 'book of lies' often says "re-assembly is the opposite of the above", and that was pretty much the case today. The other fork swiftly went on, as did the 'fork brace', mudguard, front wheel and brake calipers etc.



We checked over all the bolts, ensuring everything was nice and tight and even treated the old girl to a quick oil and filter change.

The FZ was then tucked away in the corner of the garage again while I figure out what to do about the exhaust...my brilliant paln to use XJ600 items came to naught when I realised that bike has a 4 into 2 system and the FZ is  4 into 1; all the routing will be wrong for the downpipes. Shame there was a lovely set on ebay too.

A big thank you to Katana again, and the search goes on for some decent down-pipes

[Radar]

Update: The down-pipes are back from the sheet metal shop and looking very welded...







Pretty impressed!!

I have sprayed with VHT paint...








I have now re-fitted the the exhausst to the bike:





I had to buy a new battery and fit that too, but she has fired up and seems ok.



All back together. MOT tomorrow...

[Radar]

Well there is bad news...and good news!!!

Hacked over to the MOT station and while the examiner poured over the bike I paced up and down outside like a nervous expectant father. When I was eventually called in the news wasn't good...the FZ had failed. But if I could fix the fault in the next couple of hours he could retest the bike! So I headed home and and set to...


The rear brake lever and footrest had become seized together and whenever the brake is operated the whole lot was rotating: Hence failure


So off with the whole assembly and I stripped it all down


Once apart it was obvious why it was seized!


I cleaned and regreased everything, put it back on the FZ. After a bit of a fight with the spring that actuates the rear brake light switch all was well once more.

Back on the bike and back to the garage with 10 mins to spare. He checked over my work and gave it the the thums up! So the FZ now boasts 12 months MOT!!

Cheers to Katana and the lads who blasted and welded my zorst.

[terry]

nice one radar and team, have you been out on it yet, !!!!''

[Radar]

nice one radar and team, have you been out on it yet, !!!!''

Only to the MOT station and back (twice!), 40km in total. Tax it from the 1st of next month, then it goes into use!

My old Lotus passed the MOT on Saturday too!