Sprocket shaft... we started with this Midway - after a lot of scrubbing and soaking in rust converter and ended up with this: New OEM bolt and washer ordered from Honda, but until they arrive, a generic high strength bolt shall suffice. Cut to length And assembled
A little sneak peak folks. The previous owner had planned to repair the bike himself and had acquired a set of fiberglass fairings from a local fabricator, which I ended up getting. I have very few photos of actually fitting the race fairings and TBH I was too frustrated and in a rush to stop, clean my hands and take pictures. I will follow up with what I have, but wanted to give you a preview of the final result. Since the locally made fairings are fairly cheap, you cannot expect the highest quality fitment, so they do require some work to drill and fit properly. After fitting them, they were all taken off and the bike loaded on the trailer to get it washed. It was all covered in dust from cutting and drilling fiberglass, which is probably the messiest job of the whole build so I had to clean it. Spent last weekend on a local race track and the bike runs absolutely perfectly. Aside from a couple loose fairing bolts, nothing major fell off which I consider a success I can now slowly sort out all the cosmetic bits, like painting the fairings, properly cleaning the headers, painting the slip-on, etc. I also plan on fitting nicer rear-sets, levers, protective engine casings. Performance wise I need to have the suspension set-up for my weight (probably will need a new rear spring, as this one is too stiff for my weight) and a bazzaz unit on the way. So this thread will remain active for sure.
That's a real credit to you, Martin. Interesting belly pan fitment; much deeper than our OEMs. Have you tallied up the hours you've spent on it? In other words, was it a cost-effective project? One glaring omission is the lack of 'HRC' decals. I know you'll get around to it when doing the final details!
Hat off to you for doing a great job on the rebuild and then detailing it all on the forum. Hope you have lots of fun on that!
Thanks Nigel. The belly pan is a bit deeper, but it is due to being the race (bucket type) pan, able to hold oil / coolant fluid leaks. Regarding hours put in, I haven't really kept track, but its been going since beginning of April so roughly ~3.5 months - evenings after work, Saturdays etc. Obviously not every day, but quite often. If I have to calculate my time put into it, it will be very far from cost-effective, but it was never meant to be. It was a project and its a hobby getting my hands dirty, so in the end I am happy. Had I bought a running bike, I would have still stripped it down at least halfway to service all bearings, forks, grease bushings, clean injectors, etc. Now I have a fully serviced bike, running great, with practically brand new ignition and fuel system, on which I know every little detail and can practically service blind-folded. Not to mention I took the effort to put together everything as OEM as possible down to the last bracket. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have a feeling you fancy the HRC scheme and decals a little bit I am holding off on the HRC bits until I get used to the bike and reach decline in pace development. Will then slap an HRC decal and get an instant boost in performance. May even get the coolant bottles if I am brave enough
It's only a temporary affliction. I'm actually undergoing stem cell treatment - transferring some ailing brain cells of a Repsol owner with the hope that I can realistically curtail my bias.
Wow that was incredible. Now the question is What are you going to do with all that free time? Another project I hope.
Well, I do have an older streetfightered 97 blade which developed a strange ticking noise in the engine. Never done engine work, but have been toying with the idea of tearing it down
Have just caught up on this thread and must say Martin your diligence is highly commendable. The logical approach, taking of the photos, open troubleshooting and recording everything. Wish you’d had a crew from the bbc with you as it would have been a dambsite more watchable documentary than a lot of the trash they churn out as alleged entertainment. So a big thanks from me and well done you
Hi folks, Long time since I last posted here. Long story short, the bike has been flawless up until October last year when the notorious 3rd gear let go and a piece of it punched a hole in the upper crankcase. I did know about the potential problem, but you know the "it won't happen to me" mindset... Well, full throttle in 3rd gear on the straightaway, just about to shift into 4th and I literally heard it go BANG and started making repetitive grinding noises. Instantly knew what happened. Luckily was able to pull of the track safely and was later brought back into the pits. Upon inspection - everything is covered in oil and there is a nice hole above the front sprocket. Checking it over - the gearbox clicked smoothly through the gears and I briefly started the engine in Neutral. It was running perfectly fine, no strange noises, so I figured the damage was only to the gearbox, which will be replaced and the engine case, which I hoped could be welded. Boy was I wrong.
Come spring, it was time to sort the engine. Here it comes apart yet again And a nice penny-sized hole above the gearbox countershaft: Sadly I don't have the conditions, the tools or the experience for in-depth engine work, so it had to be brought in to a local repair shop. The guy builds race bikes for local racers and used to be one himself for years, so I trust him completely.
A couple of weeks later, the engine was torn down and the damage was more than expected. Mainly, the crankcase hole was right next to the countershaft bearing, meaning the heat from welding it could potentially distort the bearing seat and destroy the bearing in no time. No guarantees so engine cases would have to be replaced. Furthermore a piston was also hit from the bottom by a piece of the 3rd gear and an oil pipe was crushed as well. Good condition cases, gearbox and all the rest of the damaged parts were sourced. We decided since the engine is torn down to pieces and new crank bearings will be needed it was best to do a complete rebuild with all new bearings, piston rings, head rebuild, valve seals, timing chain, etc. The engine is being built at the moment and hopefully will be ready in a few days. In the meantime I have been working on the rest of the bike - servicing the forks with new oil and seals, putting HRC expansion bottles in place of the OEM coolant tank and some other small things, which I think will be interesting to see and will show you in a bit.
Finally I have a small favor to ask. I have put together a short video for the DHL Backyard Mechanic contest and will be happy to get a vote from you folks. https://inmotion.dhl/en/motogp/backyardmechanic/entry/de6dcc0b22c642b8c9e5b31a29885a91c511d4b3 It is a tiny bit more tedious than just clicking the Like button, as it requires email verification, but for anyone willing to spend a minute of their time, I will surely appreciate it.
Good luck mate, you've done a lot getting the engine out!!! Stripping out the engine further isn't that much more really. Its all mechanical and methodical really (not that I've done a blade but they are all the same principal)
