Before and After

Before

Time for a before and after picture. This is what the bike looked like on the day I picked it up. Doesn't look too bad overall.


After

The wheels definitely make the bike stand out. The gold complements the matt green really well.


So for the full list of work done:

• Engine Replacement (Engine mileage 8000 ish from install)
• Exhaust Upgrade
• New LED rear tail light (From a Kawasaki Versys)
• New smaller number plate fitted (Including GB mark)
• New Indicators all round
• Rear hugger repainted matt black
• Ohlins Shock spring reconditioned and repainted
• Exhaust headers repainted silver
• Thermostat Housing repainted
• Tank, Rear cowling, and Front mudguard repainted army green
• Rear wheels repainted Ford Olympic Gold (Metallic) and laquered
• New wheel bearings all round
• New Tyres (Bridgestone BT023R)
• 8000K HID Headlight Bulb Upgrade
• Oxford Heated Grips
• Carbs fully cleaned and reconditioned
• New Air Filter & Spark Plugs (Iridium)
• New Clutch Cable
• New Throttle Cables (push and pull)
• Reconditioned Front brake master cylinder - new seals and push rod
• Brake fluid replacement Front and Rear
• New speedometer cable
• Handlebar risers installed
• New bar ends installed
• Handlebars filled with weighted sand to reduce vibration
• Seat installed with rubber dampeners to further reduce vibration
• Replaced Ignition coil low voltage cable
• New front brake light switch
• Radiator repainted and reconditioned, fan housing repainted and reconditioned
• Fan fuse replaced

Gold wheels

Now I'm back to doing cosmetics again. I did a photoshop mockup of the bike with gold wheels and I think army green goes really well with gold so I get more rattle cans from Halfords and start preparing my wheels for a colour change. This time the primer I use is an Etch Primer which apparently sticks much better to problem surfaces like aluminium.


The colour I've used is a Ford Olympic gold. It was the one that closely resembled what I wanted and so I've put a couple of coats of the normal metallic paint, waited 24 hours and then a few coats of laquer.


As I'm respraying the wheels I figured it's time to get new tyres too. I've gone for the Bridgestone BT023R tyres. However they are quite a tough tyre to get on - way tougher than the Michelin Pilot 3's - but got them on eventually...


The front is done. I decided that if I'm totally overhauling my wheels I might aswell replace all the wheel bearings all round too. So new wheel bearings, nicely coloured wheels and new tyres...


Just got to swap out my rear tyre for the one I painted now. A much better look with the gold wheels - although that's my opinion :P


I've also decided I'm going to coat the tank in petrol resistant laquer as I've noticed the matt finish stains really easily so it's time to add a protective coat to the tank too.

Inspecting the engine damage

So now time to get curious and see what damage I've done to this engine. I start by first removing the cylinder head which was pretty easy. I wanted to get a look at the top of the pistons and valves and see what damage has been done. After I removed the cams, you can instantly see something is not quite right as that valve bucket was stuck in the up position.


Remove the valve shim bucket, and you can see the cotter pins which secure the valve spring onto the top of the valve has been destroyed, so the piston must have been hitting that valve lots of times during those few seconds of engine destruction...


More cotter pins destroyed. I'll keep the valve shims though as they are useful for doing valve clearances on my new engine later on...


So I noticed all the valves don't move at all - all of them are really hard to push down and I work to try and get one of them free and this is the result. The valve stems are really badly bent. Surprisingly though the pistons don't appear to be damaged - it seemed it was the valves that took the brunt of the impact.

Tail light upgrade

Once I installed the new engine, I decide to upgrade that rear tail light. I wasn't too happy with that old style bulb tail light. The one I found actually comes from a Kawasaki Versys and I really like the look and brightness of the led tail light on the road - really noticeable. Thankfully I was able to fashion some metal brackets so I could mount it in the existing holes on the bike and the rear cowling fits over it nicely. Almost looks stock!


Indicator also get replaced. I didn't like those rear side repeater things. Just have to sort out those massive holes in the cowling.


I was able to move the number plate up about an inch higher so exposing more of the back wheel which is always a bonus!

Time for a nice new engine

So even though the end came for the last engine, I went to go and pick up this new engine, and before doing that I strip down the bike and remove the old engine in preparation for getting a new one installed. I was surprised I managed to strip the bike and remove the engine in a single evening. Only took a couple of hours!


Old engine removed. At a later time I will strip it down completely and get a good look at all the damaged parts.


Nice new engine is here! Looks to be a lot cleaner than my old one and also the engine casings are in fantastic condition. Can't wait to get this installed and start it up!


Just to make a quick note of the mileage when the engine was reinstalled. This engine has 8000 miles on it and thankfully the guy had all the service history from the bike it came from.

Time for a colour change

This post should have been published before 'The End' post as I actually resprayed the bike before the engine went bang.

So I decide to get rid of the yellow colour. Whilst I like yellow, I'm not a huge fan of it generally on cars / bikes and I've always wanted an army green motorbike so let's go for it.

First things first I do a bit of fine sanding on the tank and then primer it up using some rust resistance primer.


The rear cowling comes off, and I hang it from the garage door and do the same. The spray paint I'm using is just the standard stuff that comes from Halfords. Let's see how long this lasts...


Now for the front mudguard. I always find if I don't put enough coats, when the paint is dry and I go to reinstall the part back on the bike and it rubs against something like the forks then the paint will scratch off easily.


Army green bike...





I then order some replacement black Honda logos from eBay and stick those on...


Looking good, now just a few more cosmetics to be sorted before I'm totally happy with it.