Just want to second that, My first was a 02 gsxr 1000, its about self control and maturity, As i mentioned before, anyone here who thinks they are superman, please go jump off of a cliff in the middle of no where and save the rest of us the trouble of seeing you plastered to the back of a semi-truck on the news.

 

Well, as for me, I have been riding for about 15 years, off and on. My first bike owned is my 954, since Oct 06. I havent been down, or dropped it yet. You know they say its not if you fall, but when you fall. I always try to ride within my limits, and be as safe as I can. I always think of the life my wife and 2 girls would be forced to live without me. I would hate to put them through that. I always wear my gear, and have a fear of my bike to a certain extent. I realize who has the muscle, and I respect it. I think that helps me be safe.

 

Ok so, busy busy busy... Yesterday I managed to get the stator cover off and found that whoever had worked on it did a decent job of repairing the bolt mount on the stator that was ground or broken off. they must have used liquid aluminum and aluminum weld to put it back together. it's not the prettiest job ever, but it's flush with the surrounding area and they did grind it down to make it flat and not leak. the oil leak from the stator was coming from an extra bolt hole in the stator cover that they didn't weld back onto the stator. they just jb welded over it and must have missed a spot. unfortunately they jb welded the gasket on, which was a pain to get off. i managed to pull it apart and remove all of the old gasket and jb weld. now i need to replace gasket with proper sealant and i'm going to jb weld back over that spot again (better than what they did) to make sure there is no leakage this time.

i got new spark plugs for it (iridium ones pre gapped and all) and am going to put those in today. problem is i can't figure out how to get the damn things out easily... the manual doesn't help for crap in this area. it says pull off the radiator and go from there. i took another approaching coming from under the gas tank / air cleaner. i pulled out the ignition coils, but can't get to the plugs there either. what's the easiest way to do this? I'm going to have the neighbor lend a hand for this as he's super mech guy. i'm still looking around for fairings and everything, but i'll most likely order them from ebay in the next week or so. i picked up some oil and more coolant which i'll put in today.

i've been looking at some tires but i'm still not sure which ones I want to get. any ideas on which tires would be good? also i'm looking for a kit of spare nuts / bolts - where can i find one for a decent price? i found one at a bike shop the other day but they wanted something like $60 for it.

you can check out some pictures here

 

use an socket extension and a universal(swivel) adaptor and and deep well socket to get the spark plugs out, you have to play with some different combos to get it down in there and loosen them, after you loosen them all the way us a extending manget thing to pull the plugs out, when putting in the new ones be very careful and dont drop them in there, gotta use the magnet and lower them in and either get one thread in and pull the magnet out or use a long screw driver or something to hold the plug while you remove the magnet. The first one is tricky, once you got it down its easy. Sorry if something didnt make sense let me know and ill explain better.

 

hey thanks for the the info on pulling the plugs. right after i wrote that post i went back out and found out how to do it fairly quickly. since i had the gas tank and air cleaner off already i just went through the top instead of removing anything else. it was a little bit of a pain getting the extension bits connected and the ratchet on, but with a little bit of maneuvering and fidgeting it wasn't that bad. the neighbor guy had the proper socket with the rubber inside of it to pull the plug easily so i didn't need a magnet. just drop the socket down the hole, drop an extension and connect the ratchet and loosen. disconnect the ratchet and unscrew by hand, then pull out. fairly easy with the right stuff, but i wish they wouldn't have put that little reinforcement bar on the frame directly over the plugs... that was just bad designing... they could have dropped everything down even a 1/4 inch and it would make things way easier. oh well. i think i could do it in about 30-45 minutes next time from under the tank, but i'll probably try from the front next time and see how that works... looks like there is a bit more room there. + i wouldn't have to hold up the tank while I work.

oh yes, and those damn plugs are expensive... Laser Iridium IMR9C-9H (4 plugs = $77) [:@]

by the way, i still have the gas tank connected because there is a bit of fuel in it and i don't want to have to worry about fuel spilling anywhere... is there an easy way to disconnect the fuel tank and take it off and NOT have fuel spill all over your bike? do the hoses have some kind of valve shut off somewhere to stop the fuel? or is it an automatic shut off and there is no fuel in the lines when the bike is off? anybody know anything about this part? it's annoying to work under the fuel tank and have to hold the damn thing up too. not to mention the mounting brackets right next to the battery prevent it from being lifted further than 45 degrees. i undid the 4 bolts there so i could lift if further, but it floats around now and i'm afraid i might drop it off the bike or scrape up the frame with it. i would just prefer to remove it if it isn't to hard.

as far as the stator goes, everything should be good to go on that next weekend. i found out how everything works down there and i put the cover back on (without a gasket) just to make sure not dust or anything gets in there over this week while i can't work on it. i put a rag over it too to protect it a bit. thats one powerful magnet in there too.... damn near took one of my fingers off putting the cover back on. careful

so for now i've found some gear i think i want, but it all seems a bit expensive and i'm not sure if it's worth the price or not... i'll be doing a little checking on that. here is a short list of things i'm still trying to find for my bike and some gear i am looking at.

Bike:

Stator Gasket + proper sealant + jb weld or equivalent (to cover over small bolt hole)
All cosmetic plastics, including tail/undertail + front end + windshield, no headlights
Front brake handle
Brake pads
New tires (front and back)
Frame sliders (hard plastic ones)
some kind of bike stand + theft prevention equipment (going to get a Lo Jack put in later)
Air cleaner

I would prefer all original honda parts, but am willing to go after market if not available

Gear:

So far i've found this gear that I like but want to price check it and possibly find some other stuff

Dainese Dai Horizon D-Stone Jacket (black - but want black + red size 38) - $399 at the shop I went to
Alpinestar SMX4 Boots - $200
Alpinestar wrist fit red/black carbon fiber gloves medium size - $60
For a helmet they have a bunch of Arai and Shoui ones, but nothing is under $300 and I still don't know which one I like or want to get. I'll find something eventually I suppose

The shop I went to also has the tires I think I want, but I can't recall the name of em right now. they go about $160 for the back, forgot the price on the front one. probably not to much difference.
Also, the dude there said if I go into the dmv and get the riders manual there is a 20% off coupon in the back of it for my whole purchase at the store. so that might help a bit.

I posted up some more pictures in my last post, so check em out if you have some time. I'll take a few snaps tonight/tomorrow for the air cleaner/plugs to show you what kind of shape they are in.

 

I have some rear tires that i need to sell, the were used on the track once for 27 laps if i recal properly, they have about 85-90% tread left on them, one is michelin i cant remember what the other one is, both medium compound, could get some picture for ya if your interested. either one $50 plus shipping. I have three and i only need one but it was cheaper to buy three at a time so i did and planned on selling or keeping the extras, and now i need to sell them. let me know if your interested, $160 for a tire is insane.

 

I might be interested in any extra parts you have... I saw you post about parting out your bike then not. I don't want you to sell your bike bro, so if you have any extra parts laying around that are in good working order let me know and i'll probably buy em from you. depends on the part (refer to my earlier post on what i'm looking for) what kind of tires do you have up for grabs and is it just the rubber or whole set up?

I found an interesting website for parts and I was just wondering what everything thinks.... it's at http://www.discounthondaparts.com/

they seem to have pretty much everything, but i was wondering on pricing, is it that much discounted or would i find a better deal on the forums/ebay or a local shop?

I haven't bought anything as of yet, I'm waiting until I head up to work on my bike this weekend, after that I'll post a full lost of all parts I need and hopefully a few people out there have some. Otherwise it's back to looking on ebay, discount honda parts and the local shop (which doesn't seem to have a lot of stuff and isn't very cheap)

 

I looked through a few things on that site that i have priced at the honda dealer and they are pretty much the same, some a few buck cheaper, some a few bucks more.

Your right, im not parting the bike out anymore, just going to be broke instead.

The tires i have are 180s, they are smaller than the stock tires but are supposed to be better for handling, im not real big into twisties yet so i cant really say if its true or not. They are both Bridgestone battlax BT-002.

 

Too late for you now, but auto parts stores have our plugs, about $9.50 each (waaaay better than $20). I've got the part number written down in my manual, I wanna say it's NGK part# 3222...but I'll double check later when I get out of work.

 

oh thats a bummer, which part store did you find them at? I went to a pep brothers place and they didn't have em. i would like to know that for next time! The plugs I picked up are in the bike now, but i haven't started it up or anything yet so i might possibly be able to take em back to the shop if i clean em up nicely... i could save about $30-$40 right there

they are NGK CR9EHIX-9 Iridium plugs also labeled as NGK IMR9C-9H VUH27D .044 inch gap if i remember correctly... or .8-.9 mm