so.

the outcome, no more rust. some harmless black deposits which could be scrubbed away if it were accessible.



didn't realise how awkward tank bolts were, its like an m2 or 3 thread with a 6mm or so allen head. expensive as hell to buy, gladly i don't need to replace.



the new fuel cap fitted. tidy enough thing.



couple of photos with the new tank on.



/



/



i do quite like the yellow although the gun metal grey might make it difficult to decide on a colour for the tail.

and just to show comparison directly beside photos the other tank.



/



/

and the seat cowl turned up today.



sits nice and flush with the tail although the finish is dubious.



gloss black beside matte black is a pretty sweet colour combo, nice and subtle. obviously, still need to paint the tail.

//

 

Looking great!

 

might have hit another delay, amongst other things.

2 weeks ago, high speed high side save followed by low side, slid 141 ft uphill and nailed the back of my head off of the end of a barrier at some hell of a rate.

5 fractured vertebrae, fractured ribs, collapsed lung and a knackered shoulder/arm being the major injuries.

back on my feet within 3 days and walking no problem once the lung drain was removed, just lack all stamina, strain muscles quickly and struggle to get comfy so all in all ive landed as lucky as lucky gets.





sheared subframe





holed rad.



dented rim.





bent forks





& the saving grace.

should make my money back in spares so financially its not a massive issue more a hinderance, perhaps its some incentive to get the show on the road and get this cbt sorted. physically I'm in no state to be leant in about bikes though.

i did have a pile of cbr pics demonstrating dimensions for measuring out the lengths of wire needed. but i seem to have misplaced them.

 

Dammit....


I'm really sorry to hear about your accident, but I'm glad to hear you're already back on your feet. There's going to be a lot of pain to come with the recovery, but remember to focus on the end goal.

Hope you all the best, brother. Get well quick.

 

cheers man, you know yourself its not 'if' it happens its a matter of when. just shows its worthwhile wearing the right gear all the time. not too fussed about the bike, its just an inconvenience more than anything. was completely self inflicted, maximum lean, dragging knee at the top of 4th through my favourite left hander, lucky to be alive.

just been up to see the ace, rewired the icm as the tail coming off ripped loads of wiring apart, crossed the solenoid and got it running so thats a relief, well worth the back ache haha

calculated about £600 - 800 in cost to get the ace back to a tidy state minus cosmetics lolz which i would probably do as she would make a mean looking bobber, got another 2 projects that have priority though, so its going to get split for parts, should see £600 back eventually which is all she cost me.

still in shock with how quick I've recovered so far.

 

Sounds like you're in really high spirits, which is great news. Glad to hear your ACE is rebuildable and you have it running. So which bike is on the front burner then? Are you going to push to get the F3 done and rebuild the rear end of the ACE another way, or are you going to rebuild it how you had it setup before?

 

yeah I'm just not one for moping about feeling sorry for myself really haha that and hey life is awesome... especially when you're alive

the ace' is rebuildable but i just don't have the time, money or space to deal with it unfortunately. so its getting split for parts, as much as it pains me to do it as it was an awesome machine. totally underrated bikes and the old exup motor is a powerhouse of fun.

on the plus side I'm going to pillage the blue spot callipers to use on the f3 front end when it goes on the gs, same size disks, just need to get brackets made up and use the ace master cylinder. those brakes are crazy and are brutal on a 225kg (wet) bike never mind a gs that weighs 182kg (wet)

looking to take the brembo rear master cylinder and use it on the f3. also looking at using the 38mm carbs on the f3 but we shall see. ace carbs are heavy old things but i had been looking at using early blade 38's at some point down the line.

just purchased a 2nd hand EMC race shock, fully adjustable, some obscure and kinda unknown (but reputable) french company, when checking it out I'm fairly sure it had the same specs as the similar ohlins unit, might need to respring it.

was looking at a 2nd hand JMC swingarm made for the f2 but the guy was looking for £250, a wee bit too much for it considering they were £290 new back when they were still in production (and I'm broke after buying that shock) it had a bit of road rash and was scabby looking but had everything included so the brake / braided line / brake brace / axle for the wheel. its a bit of a rare part and to buy todays equivalent you're looking at £600 through Metmachex or the likes. so if he still has it in a month or so time i'll make him an offer. would be cool to get a braced alloy swingers thats actually made for the bike rather than taking a blade, 600rr or what have you and making it fit. on one hand id much rather make things than just bolt them on but if the price is right and it's still there, i'll have it. on the downside it would keep to the same rim and 160 tyre but thats not really a bad thing.

yeah I've had far too much downtime to think about stuff like this and look at expensive parts... haha

anyway.



some stainless and alloy scraps.



speedo bracket time. plotted the holes blind basically and they lined up perfect, when does that ever happen.



had to cut a 'U' shape out for the ignition switch.



test fitting for length



another test fitting for length, figured id start long and cut it shorter until it was suitable rather than guess and have to duplicate the whole bracket when i got it wrong.



rough shape of the bracket, cutting around the sides of the ignition switch.



the finished (in shape) article, later went and cleaned it up a bit with sand paper. the cut out of the side is so that the speedo connector block clears the bracket. its also bent up towards the rider to aid in seeing it.



and fitted to the bike, only issue i had was that i had to elongate one of the holes so that i could change the angle that the speedo mounted to the bracket at but thats not really a big deal.



got my hands on some of the wire i'll need from a friend, just some common colours really. still need to organise all that... put it off far too long. its a massive amount of money to spend on electrical supplies though.



and to finish, the top yoke has finally been polished up. managed to get my hands on a detail sander which is 10x quicker than hand but it still took a good 2 or 3 hours to sand and polish. put a hell of a strain on my back but i got it done haha hellyeah! just got the left hanger to polish then i can get the last to bits masked up and powder coated.

getting a hand to rebuild the forks next weekend as i can't man handle the bike with my back at the moment, brakes are still being put off until I've got the braided lines, fatbars and clamps sitting.

trying to achieve one thing a day with the bike just to keep momentum going. so far so good, also got a deadline as theres a ride on oct 4th i want to be at, wether i get the tail on for that date is a different story but aiming to have the bike rideable.

 

ohhhh a tasty toy turned up!

was going to post up its specs in relation to the similar ohlins unit but i don't seem to be able to find them again. either way its a // H15B Sport Shock 2 // 26 way variable clickers for rebound and compression. not height adjustable as i initially though, might need a rebuild at some point and it will likely need resprung, no biggie.

probably paid slightly over the odds due to me and another eBay bidder having similar sniping tactics. haha still a gain as aftermarket items don't pop up this cheap very often.

 

Its awesome to see you making this much progress! Sweet shock, and that's a great polish job on the triple...

The gauge mount looks great, top notch work.

 

cheers man, was great fun making it, its been ages since i did anything like that. its also been great having so much down time to focus on the cbr and get some of the 'little' jobs out of the way. without having to spend time on the ace.

shock is going to be awesome once its set up right =D annihilated the bank account to an alarming level but it will be worth it. I've got a theoretical understanding of how everything works but in practicality no idea where to start with the adjustments, probably set the height, set the sag and get the rebound and compression both to the half way point and take it from there. it'll need re-sprung for me and possibly a rebuild at some point as its a late 90s shock but it looks like its going to have a more than competent suspension setup front and back, likely re-spring the front when i enter phase 2 of the build. one of the things I'm loving about the shock is that I'm going to be able to compensate for the change of height at the front should i need to, or i can jack it up to hell as I'm going to be running a damper on the front anyway. oh the possibilities haha

admittedly the yoke/triple kinda bugs me, its not perfect but on the other hand i wasn't shooting for perfect, just clean and tidy more than anything else. but to spend so much time and for it to be not quite there is just effing' annoying haha its going to be a bit different with the polish/coating style I'm opting for, usually people go one way or the other. half way through polishing the 2nd hanger which is the last piece =]

sitting organising all the notes i have on electrics at the moment and making them work with what supplies are needed, it really is a hell of a time consuming job, i remember why i put it off for so long now haha. its tedious figuring out all the terminals needed for the connector blocks, the wire gauges you're going to use etc. got some handy info i'll post up in a bit. possibly save someone heinous amounts of research ( to anyone that is benefiting from the wiring info ps. you're welcome, my head hurts. xP )

also been doing a bit of light reading on eliminating voltage drop at the headlights, quite interesting. likely going to incorporate something to this effect once i find suitable relays. - Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

progress progress progress though!
also just realised i probably should have this in the street fighter section of the forum rather than the f3 section haha whoops P=