Bringing sexy back to an ol F3
 

So I was having issues with rust on my F3 frame and so I took it upon myself to get it removed and then repaint the frame. I just got the frame back and ooooooohhhhhh boy is she looking good. It's kinda funny, my entire motorcycle is inside the house. Thus far, I've rebuilt the rear shock and revalved the forks. Here are a few shots.

A few more shots.

+1

that's pretty awesome! how hard was it to re-valve your shocks? I've done a lot of things, but that's something I would like to do next?

To do the shock, I had to invest into some tools. I had to get a spring compressor, vise grip, aluminum soft jaws, and seal head setting tool. With all that, it was easy with exception of seating the shock head and getting the clip ring in. It's kinda messy too.

Sorry for the delay, I've been busy with 60 to 70 hours work weeks. So I split my cases and got a look at the tranny. Looking like I need to replace a couple gears that have damaged dogs on them. My forks still look good, but I still need to take some measurements. Here are a few shots for people wondering how an engine is split open. I've removed the clutch everything with exception of the head since I don't plan on moving the crank at all. I gave different vantage point to show what has been removed. I didn't show the top of the engine, but I have removed the bolts from the top of the tranny.

This is how I keep bolts organized. It's crude, but effective.

Splitting of the engine took only seconds because of the splitter I built. It took longer to bolt the thing up than it did to split the cases. It ensures there is no damage to the mating surfaces because they're pulled apart instead of sticking something between them (which can EASILY cause damage). After the cases are separated, the tranny just pulls out for the most part. The main shaft (closes to the crank) is held in by a plate with two fasteners which are easy to loosen. The counter shaft just pulls out. Watch out for the bearing caps, they like to fall off. If you look closely, you can see why the cases need to be split to replace the counter shaft seal. There is a tiny groove that it keys into.

Man that looks like fun. I really like the cardboard screw/bolt holders. I'm going to be stealing that idea for sure.

Hi Marc/Courtney :confused:
any updates/how your getting along?
im subscribed to this thread:icon_hyper::icon_hyper:
guess that makes me a mech nerd!

all the best,
Ant.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Working three jobs doesn't leave a whole lot of free time for anything. I've got a video showing a motorcycle tranny in action (by hand) which I've been meaning to add. It gives a good visual on what the hell is going on inside when shifting. I'll get some of the latest stuff up here soon.
I've just finished rebuilding the tranny, assembling the case, shifting mechanisms, and installing the clutch. I forgot to order the stator cover gasket (DOH!!), so I'm almost ready to drop the frame on the engine. The weather is suppose to be amazing around DC this week, so I am wanting to take advantage of it.

Here's an update to where things are at. I've finished assembling the engine. I had to replace all the gears in the tranny because they had damage to the dogs. I forgot to take pics of what I'm talking about, but I'll get some up for visuals. I've also replaced all the o-rings in the the bottom end of the engine. All I am waiting for now is to get the engine in the frame and things should fall into place. I've also done some modifications to the harness to fit an RR from a 2008+ Yamaha R1. I'm in the process of fitting the RR to the frame.

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0225.jpg

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0226.jpg

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0227.jpg

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0229.jpg

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0230.jpg

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0231.jpg
So the forks have been completely revalved with Race Tech Compression and Rebound valve kits. It's nice to know that one can make an attempt to dial in the compression via shim stack. The shim stacks can be seen in my first post.

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0233.jpg
The rear shock has been completely refurbished with Race Tech replacement parts. This includes all seals, o-rings, oil bladder, shims, bushing, valve, and shrader valve. Prior to doing this, the shock had never been serviced. I was surprised to find that the shock was not leaking any oil. However, the nitrogen had probably leaked out long ago. When I drilled a hole in the end cap, no gas was released.

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0234.jpg
Here is the Yamaha R1 RR that I am using and I've also modified my harness to connect with the RR. I would have posted pics, but my camera battery died on me. The advantage to using this RR is that it's constructed with mosfet diodes instead of shunt diodes. The result is that the RR doesn't get as hot as the OEM F3 RR and it's MUCH bigger to dispate the heat that is produced.

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0235.jpg
Here are the mods that I've done the to harness. I actually too the time to open up the harness by removing the tape and pulling out the old wires. I actually had to order some wire from England so that I could keep the color codes correct. At this point, I ran all the new wire and crimped all the connectors into place. Once everything was good to go, I taped everything back up.
I replaced the entire stator to RR with 12 gauge and the other two wires were 14 gauge wire. I had to replace a joint crimp on the ground wire which was also picked up from the same supplier for the wire.

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0236.jpg

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0237.jpg

http://nw08.american.edu/~schrader/pict0238.jpg

Good job:icon_headbang:
do you have that video of the transmission spinning?