Steven, keep it up! You'll learn a lot as you go, especially if you're not afraid to tackle items that a lot of guys and gals are afraid to touch!

You asked some things about the chain and sprockets... the teeth on each sprocket look pretty good, so if after cleaning/lubing the chain, you find that it's plenty "limber", meaning each link can freely pivot without "catching", then you're probably good to go for plenty of miles, pending how hard you ride and how often you clean and lube it from here on.
As far as the chain sitting on that plastic guide, you probably just need to get the proper chain tension set - you don't want it too tight, but not to loose either... in the middle of the chain length, I look for 3/4 inch to 1 1/4 inch play.

Now, let's talk about snapping off bolts!! Do you have a service manual for the bike, so that you have torque specifications for the bolts? For example, the valve cover bolts are only to be tightened to 7 ft. lb., so if you don't have a torque wrench rated for accuracy in lower torque ranges, and/or don't know what the bolts are supposed to be torqued to, you can snap bolts very easy, especially ones that call for such low torque values. I recommend a signal-beam style torque wrench rated for 25 - 250 ft. lb., and one rated for 5 - 80 ft. lb. - if you can't afford two, than the 5 - 80 variation will cover about anything you'll need anyway, as the highest value I can think of here at work, is the steering head top, which is 76 ft. lb. I WOULD NOT get a Harbor Freight torque wrench!! You have to be selective on what tools you get from them, and the torque wrench I bought from them a couple of years ago, is basically just a paper weight...USELESS!

If you don't have a manual, I recommend springing for a Haynes maunual - you'll be glad you did!

Anyway, good luck with everything, and the bike looks good, it looks like you're starting with a pretty good specimen.

 

Hi and thanks for your reply!

After taking the rear sprocket out and cleaning it etc it seems to be in good condition. There are one or two teeth which have a little bit of metal sticking outwards which looks like it could catch, could I file them off? I'll post a picture tomorrow to show you what I'm talking about. As for the front sprocket, would you recommend taking that out and cleaning it, or cleaning it whilst fitted?

Snapping bolts... don't get me started So far (from what I can remember) I've snapped a couple exhaust manifold studs, brake caliper bolt, valve cover bolt and probably a few others I've forgotten about. After the caliper bolt I invested in a 10-80NM torque wrench (valve covers should be 10Nm according to the manual), but I think I just missed the "clicking off" of the wrench. It would make sense if the wrench didn't allow the user to tighten past the specified torque, but I guess they don't expect people to be that stupid

As you say, the bike is already in good condition for its age, I just hope to clean everything up and get her running again.

I'm wondering if I should tackle the carbs; possibly clean them out etc, but I think that might just be asking for trouble.

 

Mine looks much different than it did when I got it, my first one that is - check out my Phase 1 thread, to see what it looked like when I got it... I swear, it looked like it had just rolled out of the factory doors!

 

You cited NM, in regards to torque, and not ft. lb., and earlier in your thread, you mentioned MOT - I take it you're from the U.K.?

 

Love seeing these old girls getting some attention, looking great.

 

I'm half way through your phase 1 thread but there's a lot of reading and I'll finish it later The bike was a lovely example when you first bought it! It's a shame about the accident and the damage to the original fairing, but I do love the way it turned out.

I had just finished reading the section where you installed new jets in your carbs. As my bike had been sitting in the garage for slightly over 12 months, do you think it's worth giving them a clean? There is also nearly a full tank of fuel in the fuel, but I was planning on draining that out and filling it with fresh fuel.

Oh and yes, I'm from the UK

 

Yeah, 12 months is a considerable time, though, if fuel stabilizer was put in, it might not be too bad, but, what was the state of the carbs before it was stored for the 12 months? Was it your bike before that? Or did you buy it, and store it soon thereafter, so that the carbs could have been already dirty and gummed up from the previous owner's care?

For me, 99.9% of the time, when I buy a carbureted bike from anyone, the first thing I do is yank and clean the carbs, just to get it out of the way - the key is what condition they were in before storage, and whether or not fuel stabilizer was run in the last tank, so that fuel with stabilizer, could have made its way into the bowls and fuel circuits.

I figured as such, but I wasn't certain whether or not any European countries, or countries that had/have origin ties to England, also used the same terminology, as in Ministry Of Transportation.

 

No the bike was mine before that, I've owned the bike for around three years but unfortunately never had it on the road at all last year. I haven't used any sort of fuel stabiliser at all, just standard petrol (or gas) with the fuel tap positioned off.

Form what I can remember the bike ran ok except from a noisy CCT. I'm at a stage where it wold (or should) be easy enough to remove the carbs as I have almost removed everything from the bike. I just wouldn't want to bite off more than I could chew and begin messing with the jets and fuelling etc.

I am from the UK but not England, I'm Scottish

 

Great job and Pics!!!!

 

Thank you!

I still have a rather long list of things to do before I send her for an MOT; rebuild and possibly paint Calipers, bleed system, clean plugs, fit new instrument bulbs, further cleaning of rear shock + engine , check torque of all major bolts, charge battery, new oil + filter, flush and replace radiator coolant, install new manual CCT, install USB charger, purchase double bubble screen, new licence plate, lubricate throttle and clutch cables... And I'm sure there will be a few others jobs to do. In the meantime, here are some pictures to keep me motivated: