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Post Info TOPIC: Budget resto/rebuild


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Budget resto/rebuild
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I started writing this some time ago but have been far too involved to get back to updating! So even though i start off with the stripdown in actual fact is coming together now with the engine back in....

 Not sure why some of the photos have turned themselves around?  Sorted for you winkCubber

I picked up the bike for a bargain price from our bike club, we used to run off road events and offer a ‘have a go’ option with a couple of hire bikes, due to increasing costs of land use it became unfeasible to continue, so the club moved toward green laning and got rid of our two hire bikes, so that’s how I became the owner of a slightly battered but reasonably cares for TTR.

 

01.jpeg

 

After a fair bit of loitering and part purchasing I have finally managed to get underway.

 

Its already gone rather a lot further than I had initially envisaged, the original plan was to sort the oil leak on the head, get it good enough to pass an MOT and get out on some green laning, however, I now have a bike in a lot of pieces!

The frame is pretty bare now, just a couple of bits to remove, has a few bits of corrosion that have been temporarily treated:

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They will need a rub down and finish properly then for ease I think the whole frame may get a coat of smoothrite (as much as I would love to get it powdercoated I don’t think I can stretch to that/get it past the wife!).

So the corrosion got taken back using a couple of wire brushes in the drill and the frame got a light rubbing down ready for a spray can paint job. I went for the blue smooth hammerite, actually came out a lot better than I thought.

3C64B773-78FE-4E50-85B5-BA938419CDB8.jpeg

Cleaned up the air box and rear shock, also replaced all the linkage bearings, and that went back in to make it feel like I was getting some progress toward a rideable bike lol

06.jpeg

07.jpeg

The bike came without any clocks or headlight so I have an aftermarket headlight to fit and got some clocks from Steve at Totally TTRs, I had to make a bracket as they appear to be like hens teeth to source.

08.jpeg

 The engine came out and had the top end off, there was an oil leak which I thought was the head gasket, turned out to be the decompressor plug! Took the time to check and adjust the valve clearances, check the barrel and piston rings, replace the gaskets and give it a quick spray of silver to freshen it up. (Turned out the silver was a little brighter than I wanted...) somehow I have no photos of any of this process?

I whipped the speedo drive out of the front wheel and followed Brian’s Guide, after it being particularly solid it now works like a dream :)

The one thing I did learn was to make sure you bag and label everything you take off, I took a few photos of the electrical clips, but not the actual loom routing or bolt positions etc. Makes it quite hard when you are rebuilding, still have a box of bolts that I have no idea where they came from!

The swingarm wasn’t too bad but looked a bit battered, after a good clean up, spray, new bearings and decals it’s looking pretty good. The worst bit was getting the bearings out from the shock linkage point. I tried using the bearing press at work but it didn’t work as its not square where the bearings fit. Resorted to a lump hammer! All rebuilt and refitted:

BC815E27-6E4A-464B-A6D8-FB15DF1C7864.jpeg

 

The rear calliper got treated to a good clean, new seals and pins greased.

Continuing with the budget rebuild I sprayed the rear grab handles, footpegs, stand, gear and rear brake lever using more hammerite smooth black and refitted.

The engine went back in, despite my efforts at protecting the frame there are a couple of scuffs that will need a touch up, if only I had read Brian’s rebuild thread about the clutch lever arm, it would have saved the extra effort!

10.jpeg

It’s getting there now, final push with a tail tidy to knock up at work, rear tyre to change and new chain and sprockets (they are pretty badly hooked) to replace, forgot to take the front sprocket off prior to taking the chain off so will need to do that once the new one is fitted.

On a good note I did find a box with my number plate, all four indicators (like new) and the fitting brackets plus reflectors in the club lockup :)

 

more to follow....

 

 



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Excellent refurb post Dale biggrinbiggrin



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Thanks for the posts. I find it really useful seeing peoples experiences doing stuff like this. I want to powdercoat my frame at some point so seeing people do stuff like this is a great help and is confidence inspiring.



-- Edited by robs on Monday 23rd of July 2018 09:06:35 PM

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Update time...

Got all the electrics booked up and routed, front mudguard on, footpegs etc fitted, clutch cable routed ready for the clutch perch fitment, fitted the front brake master cylinder and braided line, plus new hand guards on too.

So the old back tyre was in a bad state with loads of splits showing so needed to replace it, got my hands on a part worn Bridgestone TW302 but had to fit it...

as you can see the old tyre was well past its best:

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29E52EA7-E4CE-4A3C-B590-8A1F6AD22DD4.jpeg

Well the new (part worn) tyre is now fitted the back wheel, oh my god, never again

Definitely need one of those proper little tyre change cage/support things to make things easier, suspect if it was a new tyre it would have been a bit more manipulative, putting a very stiff used tyre on was terrible, but it’s done and that’s another job ticked off with some learning in the process smile

 

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Rear wheel refitted means that the bike can finally roll around again so dragged it out the garage and into the sunshine

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Popped the tank, seat and side panel in place just to remind myself what it actually looked like in one piece!

8C0446D8-2CDD-4B65-B0C7-C3BB42D9533B.jpeg

 Lots more to do, need to purchase a new throttle cable as mine is badly frayed, only one strand left, then I can get the carb fitted. 

Drained the oil out, new filter fitted, just need to refill and it will be nearly ready to fire up, can’t wait.

Just figures out the horn I had in the garage needs tweaking, will get in the way of the fuel tank fitment.

more updates to come....



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She lives!! 

Got a new throttle cable from Totally TTRs last week (thank you Steve), so finally got round to fitting it today.

After trying to refit the carb without joy, then realising I had fitted the inlet stub the wrong way round, a quick switch had the carb slotted into position.

Remembered to fill it up with oil, few cranks with the kicker and then some spins on the starter motor and it was time to go for a start, if I could find the key....

....key found, tank on and fuel connected, bit of choke, touch of the start button and she was running!

With other little jobs progressing I have fitted a new seat cover to replace my torn one, came from AliExpress, for £8 it was worth a gamble and will certainly do the job for now (I did say it was on a budget).

Next job is to wait for my eBay purchase of an original clutch perch to arrive, mine wasn’t from a TTR and the clutch lever was wobbly as hell. Then it’s to refit the old chain to get the front sprocket undone and save for a new set. Final firment of the fuel tank and try and tidy the plastics a bit, heat gun at the ready!



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Looking good.
Martyn

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Fired up again today to make sure yesterday wasn’t a fluke, and got it off the choke so I could set the idle properly. No puffs of smoke or anything untoward, and no rattles. 

So got round to temporarily refitting the chain, could I get the sprocket nut undone, nope! Soaked in WD40 overnight ready for a re-attack.

Tried again today, still no joy, had to get the wife to stand on the brake so I could get a better purchase than trying to do it all myself whilst sat on the bike, wood jammed in the rear wheel and hey presto, nut undone and sprocket removed. Just need to buy a new set, as you can see the front sprocket had seen better days...

 

0.jpg 

This is the seat cover I fitted the other day, (why does it always flip the image lol) okay for a first effort, and not too bad for £8....

1.jpg

Sorted for you. Cbber



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Once you've got the engine running it really gives you a boost doesn't it? Feels like you're getting somewhere.
Bike's looking good, how's the budget?? The seat cover looks nice too - bargain.

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That is progressing very well. Where did you get that cover for £8? Got a link?

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Ridaz wrote:

That is progressing very well. Where did you get that cover for £8? Got a link?


 Here you go the black cover shows as black and green but it is black, I put in the comment about the picture not being correct but I definitely wanted the black one.

 



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Cheers. Ordered a blue one. Got to be worth a punt at that price.

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Ridaz wrote:

Cheers. Ordered a blue one. Got to be worth a punt at that price.


 Has it arrived yet? Thoughts if so?

 

Updates:

Well things have slowed somewhat frustratingly, having major issues with bleeding the front brake, bought a master cylinder rebuild kit just in case, didn’t help! Took everything off the bike so I could invert it and hang it from the caliper to try and get the air to the bleed nipple, I can hear the air inside the caliper moving around so it’s back to the drawing board.

 

Whilst this was ongoing I gave the plastics a going over, tried the heat gun trick in the white marks, worked really well, certainly dont stand out like they used to. I rubbed down the side panels and polished them up, definite improvement and don’t look anywhere near as ratty. Just waiting on some vinyl decals to arrive.

 

Still haven’t made my number plate holder despite it taking regular journeys to work lol maybe next week whe I’m on nights,

need to make some front indicator but brackets too.



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Sponger wrote:
Well things have slowed somewhat frustratingly, having major issues with bleeding the front brake, bought a master cylinder rebuild kit just in case, didn’t help! Took everything off the bike so I could invert it and hang it from the caliper to try and get the air to the bleed nipple, I can hear the air inside the caliper moving around so it’s back to the drawing board.

I have had similar issues in the past and got so frustrated that I ended up buying a brake bleeding suction tool - vacuum pump. Works a treat and worth every penny!

My guide here  says:

"If you are able to get hold of a vacuum pump then the job is made a whole lot easier, especially if you are doing it on your own. Basically the pump sucks fluid out of the bleed nipple on the caliper until no more air comes out and the job is done!

Another method is to use a syringe to force clean fluid up through the system from the bleed nipple. I haven't tried this but know that some owners find this method effective.

Sometimes the system can be very obstinate and it seems impossible to get a firm lever. In this case, remove the caliper (two bolts) from the disc and the hose from the fork (clamp with 2 Allen bolts) and drop it down until you get rid of the loop of hose up by the handlebars. This is so that no air can stay trapped in that loop. Then cable tie the brake lever back against the handlebars overnight. Hopefully any residual air can work its way up and out of the system and leave you with a nice firm lever!"

Brian



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I have always used the syringe method on other bikes, tried it three times now on the TTR, still no joy. May have to invest in a vacumn pump kit if next time I get the chance to have a play it still isn’t playing ball.

Did a search on the forum and found a thread about bleeding the front brake, cleaned out the ports as it mentioned but didn’t make any difference.



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Bikes looking good, on the home stretch!

I've been frustrated with bleeding brakes too and recently replaced the front brake cable on my TTR and went through the process again. On my last bike I ended up buying a vacuum pump but had no luck with it and eventually ended up running around chemists late in the evening to find syringes.

For me the syringe method seems to be the most effective and easiest method.

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robs wrote:

On my last bike I ended up buying a vacuum pump but had no luck with it and eventually ended up running around chemists late in the evening to find syringes.


Maybe Sponger will be interested in taking it off your hands robs biggrinbiggrinbiggrin 



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TTRfan wrote:
robs wrote:

On my last bike I ended up buying a vacuum pump but had no luck with it and eventually ended up running around chemists late in the evening to find syringes.


Maybe Sponger will be interested in taking it off your hands robs biggrinbiggrinbiggrin 


 I ended up giving it away!



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robs wrote:

Bikes looking good, on the home stretch!

I've been frustrated with bleeding brakes too and recently replaced the front brake cable on my TTR and went through the process again. On my last bike I ended up buying a vacuum pump but had no luck with it and eventually ended up running around chemists late in the evening to find syringes.

For me the syringe method seems to be the most effective and easiest method.


 easy.... but you have to remove the master cylinder from the handle bars....

clamp it to a old set of bars put them on the ground BELOW the caliper...

6 /7 pumps and its done..... air bubbles travel UP not down..so the bleed

nipple has to be the highest part of of the system...

works eveytime with out fail...

 

something to try first is push the brake hose down so NO part of it is

above the master cylinder... any hose higher than the master cylinder 

air can sit there...

 

 

..



-- Edited by petenz on Friday 14th of September 2018 09:03:47 AM

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