Well, if you do indeed put a wider tire on it, anyway!

 

Today I got the exhaust removed - it was a real pain, and took quite some time, simply due to typical rust and corrosion between the mid-pipe and muffler.
Then I hung the bike from one of the main cross-beams in the garage, so I could remove the swingarm - I wanted to go ahead and weld on some coupling nuts for swingarm spools, like I did with my other F2.



I got the swingarm off and scrubbed it up, along with all the nuts, bolts, and various components in the rear.



With the swingarm cleaned, I got the coupling nuts clamped in position for welding.



And... welded them on.



I'll get the muffler cut down tomorrow.

 

I experienced something similar when I went over my F2 after I bought it. I took the carbs off and discovered that one of the screws for the boots was missing. I actually found it when I took the starter motor off, it had been resting between the starter motor and the engine block. It made me wonder how long it had been there with the PO riding around and it had never fallen out. The PO must have been forgetful when it came to that kind of stuff because there were screws missing from the airbox and only one bolt holding the front brake lever on the clip-on!

Those red rims look ok with your fairings. Definitely good for a track bike look so putting the wet set up on them would be a good idea I think.

 

The thing is, the red I painted on the race fairings, is even darker than those street fairings, so then it will match even worse! But, for rain races, who cares, right? And as you know, often times, things being wet is kind of a color "equalizer", if that makes any sense.

 

Looking good, I too like the red wheels on the bike

 

Are you going to paint the swing arm JNS?? would look pretty sweet in Black

 

I haven't decided yet about that...

I've got some thoughts, which I'll mention in my next update.

 

So on Saturday, I yanked the swingarm, scrubbed it down, and welded the mountings for spools, for lifting the bike, and was going to work on shortening the exhaust on Sunday, but the more I thought about it, I made up my mind to yank the swingarm from the other bike as well, for several reasons:

First, along the way, one of the swingarm spools bolts, on my first bike, somehow managed to get cross-threaded, I assume and I just decided to "run it on in" tight (no need for loc-tite on this one!!), rather than go through the headache of heating the welds with a torch, and taking the cross-threaded coupler off, then welding on another one... it's not been a problem, and it's been that way for over a year, but on the race bike, I don't want to not be able to remove them, if necessary - on the street bike I just don't care.
So I planned to swap the swingarms.

The second reason, is simply that the swingarm on the new bike looks much better, and I would rather the better looking unit be on my race bike.

So I "hung up" both bikes, and pulled the other swingarm also, and gave the full cleaning treatment to that swingarm, and the wheel/brake components, like I did with the new bike.



I mounted the new, "nicer" swingarm to the race bike, with my temporary "makeshift" lift spools. I've got an order I need to make from Sportbiketrackgear.com in the near future, so I'll order the spools I like, from them, at the same time.



While it was easily accessible, I got a lot of cleaning done in the areas of the lower casing, gearbox, etc., on the new bike.





This left me only a little time, to work on cutting down the exhaust, to lighten it up, and remove the part that's damaged... I didn't get very far, and the pics don't show, but all I've done so far, is begin to dismantle the exhaust and see how it's constructed, as it is significantly different than my RS-3, which I shortened before.






After cleaning the other swingarm, I mounted it on the street bike, along with the tire hugger, and since it was going to be warm today, and I still had the mid-pipe that came with the RS-3, for fitting to the OEM exhaust, I went ahead and mounted it on the street bike temporarily, so I could ride today.
In the process, I installed my modified OEM rear peg brackets, with the billet pegs, so that the tail fairings will once again mount properly, and so I could get the exhaust mounted correctly as well.



In the future, I'll be getting another tire hugger for the race bike - a lot of guys leave them off, but I'm gonna run it - I don't like the look of the straight box-steel swingarm, by itself, and, I want to reduce the amount of water being slung upward and forward, during wet races.
At that point, I might have that swingarm powder-coated, either black, or most likely, in the original color, and paint or powder-coat the hugger to match... which brings up something I've never thought of: can plastic parts be powder-coated? I have no idea, but I'll resolve that when the time comes.


Then, this morning happened!

I get geared up, and start on my way to work, and part of the way there, I hear that tell-tale intermittent knockety-clickety sound of one of the rear wheel bearing sets failing .
Are you kidding me?!? I've already ridden back and forth to work several times, with no issue (other than the fueling still needing adjustment), and now, after I just had all that stuff off, and PUT IT ALL BACK TOGETHER, NOW, SOME BEARINGS FAIL?!?

Highly annoyed, bordering on livid...

I ordered a new bearing/seal kit for the rear, as soon as I got to work, and left the bike at home during lunch.
Fortunately, I won't miss any riding time, as the new bearing kit will be here Wednesday, and the rest of this week is supposed to be cold, windy, and snowy/rainy anyway.

 

Your certainly get a lot done on the time you have available! Quick question, when you refit the rear axle, what grease do you tend you use?

Your "little cleaning job" looks excellent! You should see the state of mine. What did you use the clean the engine casing?

Sorry to hear about the bearing, especially as you've just put everything back together. Shouldn't cause a man of your capabilities to much trouble, though

 

I use a multipurpose lithium grease - it's good for just about everything you need grease for.

Thanks... I just use a cheap spray engine degreaser, let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, and spray the stuff that's coming off already, with water in a spray gun, then spray on some more degreaser, and use soft wire brushes and old tooth brushes to get hard to reach spots. After that I use a bio-degradable citrus based degreaser, from Royal Purple, to keep cleaning, while breaking down the more caustic stuff, and lastly, just rinse it all down with water.

Well, without a doubt, installing bearings is a job that's well within my scope, I was just saying, I was Friggin' annoyed!!