Hi all. My conversion is due to a prang and not being able to source fairings. I had a really nice bike and had the fairings repainted:


After talking to some mates I decided to forget about looking for fairings and to convert it to a naked. At the moment It looks pretty much like this:

Then I found this fantastic forum and now I'm completely demoralized when I look at the quality of the restorations and rebuilds! There's some great stuff going on out there. I'm thinking now that there's a lot more I should be doing so I'm going to slow down and have a good read of what you guys have been doing. Looking forward to it.

welcome aboard marty .....

nice bike ...looks like it has all the good bits ...including a staintune ....sweet !!

Go naked. I am doing the same on my 86 RT. Converting it from ex-police single seat. My only saving grace is if it all goes to the crapper I still have the fairing, but I hope that will stay in the garage.

ross

G'day Marty , that's a super clean looking machine , how badly was the fairing minced ? , good repairers can do wonders these days , come on do the right thing by her , we need more RS's out there , is that a fat body KONI out back ? , I had one of em on my thing ages ago .

Good Luck with it !

JR

Melbourne Australia

Thanks Charlie99, polishing up the Staintune at the moment. Looking forward to seeing some pics and progress of your conversion rossco. JR I'm afraid the fairing was ruined beyond repair together with seat, tailpiece, tank, handlebars (and my leg)....aaargh getting angry just thinking about it! You're right, it's a Koni but it needs rebuilding, another job to add to the list.

Thanks guys.

There must be a farm somewhere in Australia breeding these things! She's a fine looking bike Marty. I guess you guys have the weather for naked bikes. I love the RS look myself tho. So "onya" as they say keep updating the pics so we can admire the progress.

88KE

very nice bike, even without the fairing in place, looks very tidy and doesnt appear to have a lot of the cosmetic problems that i had...

I think the only thing i would be tempted to replace would be the oil sight glass....!

Ello again Marty , for your Koni rebuild go to www.toperformance.com.au , they are the importer for Koni , they are located in Melbourne , this is where I bought mine long ago ( plus a set of shocks for my Kombi ) , when I read your thread last night I got to thinking and had a look at bikesales.com.au , if you need so many bits to get yours together it would be worthwhile to buy a high K's donor bike take & restore what you need then flog the rest , was she insured when you crashed ? , from the pic's of what you had & what you have left it looks pristine & worth bringing back .

IMHO

Ciao

JR

Melbourne Australia

I guess I should upload some pics. Not very interesting at the moment. Just a dirty bike.

ross

Thanks 88KE, will do. Hi twincarb, the oil sight glass is a good suggestion. I saw another thread which showed a new glass and it looks great. Thanks for the Koni link JR. A donor bike was in my thoughts for a while and still is but at the moment pennies are tight so maybe later. I'd like to get it back to original one day so I'll keep it in mind.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Marty.

This is how it will look with a new site glass.... all be it with oil up to the half way point and not sitting on a kitchen worktop!

Thanks twincarb, that looks better than new! I'm on the interwebthingy looking for one now. Here's a pic of my old and replacement crank covers and gasket. I've cleaned up the one I found on ebay ($29 US) with the sunlight soap and steel wool tip I found on the forum, works a treat. Also, can I re-use the old gasket? It's in good condition and do I have to use a gasket goo of some sort or just plonk it in. You may be able to tell that mechanic-ing is not my trade.

as long as they are in good condition they are able to be reused.... I have a spare here that now i have it i think i am going to use it....

If you get the clymer manual from the download section and have a read of the back half of the engine section it tells you where to use a gasket sealant. on the engine covers.... If i remember rightly on the side panels there is only one or two areas....


page 107/108 is where you need to read....

Download section! I'm gone.

I've been fiddling in the shed in between jobs. Dismantled and cleaned up the seat hinge with a wire brush in the drill press. Originally thought of spraying it black but wear marks would soon show after lifting the seat a few times. A small problem I know but with all the knowledge out there I thought someone might have a clever suggestion?

This is what I'd do...pull it apart, paint all the bits (two or three light coats) and shove it in a oven after each coat to "bake" the paint on.
Put it on the bike and put a tiny bit of grease on where you think it will rub.
That may do it.

But really, I think if you paint it with anything, there will be a wear mark...or open the seat when there's no-one around.

Thanks Neil. Good idea.

Hi MartyB,
Many model engineers use chemical blacking solutions on steel items, something like this:-

http://www.black-it.co.uk/?gclid=CJ_OocPHlLACFYpjfAod9TrIsg

Without buying anything you could try getting the brackets hot and rubbing linseed oil on them, (I learnt this method of coating at school when forging a poker.. it's still black after 50 odd years) I've subsequently used it on model items.


My 1/4 scale extension ladder detail with linseed oil blacked links.

Cheers,
Paul.

Hi Paul, that's really impressive and I love the ladder. When I was out of action after my prang I spent months working on a wooden model of HM Bark Endeavour which kept my hands and brain busy. While I was doing that I was introduced to forums when I found the Model Ship World website. The reason I say that is that the guys on the forum were always looking for ways to blacken bits and pieces to make them look authentic. I heard of black-it there but I had no idea about the linseed oil trick. I think the ship modellers would be interested to know your handy hint. As far as I know black-it is not available in Australia so I will have a go at the linseed oil method today and let you know the result. Thanks a lot mate.

Marty.

Marty,
I started a thread in 'off topic' under the heading 'model engineering', hoping that other modellers might add some pictures. Perhaps you could post some pictures there of your ship?
Cheers,
Paul.

Hello all, it's been a while since I posted anything, had plenty of other stuff on the go to keep me occupied but I have managed to do a little bit here and there on the bike. I've repaired the air intake and replaced the rocker cover and hose, brake pedal and side plates. I bought a tail piece on e-bay from Germany which arrived broken thanks to a crap packaging job so I had to have it repaired. I've bought a few items on e-bay and they were all well packaged except for the tail. Got a mate with similar stories about stuff from Germany. Next job is to have a crack at re-covering the seat. Any upholsterers out there? Happy to be back.

getting back together marty ...a little paint and stuff should have her looking great again . thanks for the update !

It's comming along well Marty. How's your leg comming on.

Well done Marty
stick with it mate, they are good therapy
RT

G'day Marty , if you want to try it yourself take a look at Old Goat's reno , he just posted a couple of video's on how he did it , failing that if it all gets too much I've just had my seat redone by a local professional , ACM seats located in the Melbourne northern suburbs , great job , mine looks exactly like the example photo for a K100 on his website

JR

Melbourne Australia

Thanks for the encouragement fellers. Leg's fine Rick thanks, been a few years now and I can go walking with the missus but look like a dill if I try to run. Running's for the young ones anyhow. Disappointed that I don't set off the alarms at the airport though! It is good therapy RT, I can lose myself for hours in the shed, love it. JR - I found OG's post on recovering the seat just after I posted. I'll be tracking down all the stuff to have a go myself. Thanks OG.

The flip side:

These bits are the only salvageable things I have. Don't need em now so if anyone out there would like them they are welcome (free). Pick up preferred but I will post if need be. Good condition, just dusty.

rossco wrote:Go naked. I am doing the same on my 86 RT. Converting it from ex-police single seat. My only saving grace is if it all goes to the crapper I still have the fairing, but I hope that will stay in the garage.

ross

and it weighs a ton...never put it back on....

Started work on the fuel tank which has a couple of dents and a gash that needs to be repaired. Dumb question - is the fuel tank pure aluminium or something exotic? Need to know before I ask around to see who can fix it.

hi Marty The tank is just ordinary aluminium nothin fancy about it.
If you do weld it check out the areas under the fuel pump and the corresponding place on the oposite side for holes that have penetrated and dont leak yet and possible very thin spots. They are prone to trouble there and its a good oportunity to repair them.
Have a think about a different tank it could be a whole lot cheaper than repairs like you describe.

Thanks Rick, appreciate your advice. I did have a bit of a look at tanks on ebay and still do but nothing in Australlia so I'm going ahead with my own tank which I know apart from my own abuse of it is in good condition. I'll track down a good aluminium welder now who won't blow a hole and chase it round the tank. Thanks mate.