Springtime Makeover Thread

With another day spent in the garage I made more progress in my quest to get the bike done. Before doing anything today I took care of one important issue in the garage.............

No, the Sun wasn't out this morning....
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I picked up a new T-12 Dual Florescent Utility Fixture and man is it bright now!
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I now see stuff that I haven't seen in 3 years! Just working on the bike is a real pleasure now as you can see. No more drop lights for me!
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With plenty of light on hand I got to the HEL Rear Brake Line. After evacuating the old fluid it mounted up pretty quickly.
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Yes, I know my rear caliper needs some new paint.
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I used my new brake pad spacer and it worked perfectly. I even bled the brakes with the caliper off the bike. It was much easier to use the wrench to open and close the bleeder screw with it off.
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With the rear brake bled I remounted the rear wheel on the bike.
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I just need to adjust the chain and tighten everything up.
I brought a bunch of hardware home from work. I now have some metric cap screws for the horn mount which are shorter which brings the horns even closer to the triple, giving me added clearance. I am confident now that I won't have any issues once the upper fairing is mounted.
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I used some hard flat sink washers for spacers, followed by a lock washer.
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Now you can see how close they are to the lower triple. I just need to make a set of jumpers tomorrow in order to wire them up so you can hear how they sound together.
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After that was done I got to removing the forks for the breakdown and rebuild.
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So this is how shes stands at the end of today. I know it looks like there's a ton more to do but there really isn't. Once the forks are done, on will go the upper fairing, headlights, front wheel, and everything else. By that time the tank and tail section should be back from paint and I'll be ready to start her up!
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More to come tomorrow!
 
Holy cow is that bike clean now!!! Fantastic job Billy! :tup: I will have to use your idea for the brakes and bleeding now. I hope to get two sets of lines for next winter and do both the FZ1s when we're done for the season (I hate the sound of even saying that!)
I used the two ground leads they put in the horn package and spliced into the existing horn wires. The Gen II had the two native leads and no ground so it was an easy splice and jump to the next horn. :D

It DOES look like you have a TON to do but it isn't that bad at all... just looks so bare naked!

Awesome build!!! Thanks!
 
Well the rain is really putting a damper on my project today. It is currently coming down in buckets right now and I need to empty the fork oil downstairs. I have the container from Walmart but it looks as if this will be happening Wednesday and not today. I am however going to at least get the switch for the Halo's mounted in the fairing insert and I'm going to make the "jumpers" for the PIAA Horn set. I'll snap some photos as I go along.
 
After speaking with Eric about the headlight housing, I opted to get some black silicone and give the seams the "once over" just to make sure. It's 5 bucks worth of cheap insurance that there won't be any moisture entering the housing.

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It may look as though I missed some areas but after snapping the photos I went around with my finger working the bead into the seams.

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After the silicone dries it should definitely be moisture proof.

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I'm probably about 95% sure that the OEM glue had made a sufficient seal but now I can be 100% so I feel better now. I'd hate to get the bike all back together only to find out a month from now that moisture is forming in the housing. Thanks Eric!
 
That should seal it good. I would have thought that some clear silicone used in conjunction with the OEM glue would have done the trick as well.
 
The headlight enclosure is super dry and sealed up tight. I also got both forks done this evening without a hitch. I have the video but will edit it tomorrow as it's late now. I do have one shot of the forks finished. Tomorrow I should have most everything zipped up on the bike. I also heard today that the tank and tail section should be back by Friday! I may have her out this weekend!!!

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I came upstairs because aside from it being too flippin' cold in the garage, my legs are killing me. I have to get one of those lift tables from H.F. to do stuff like this so that the bike is waist high.

Anyway, I had some real progress and some setbacks today. The setback was minor and had to do with the PIAA Horns. I connected them in series, parallel, and every which way and I can't get them to sound together! I can't for the life of me figure out why. If I hook them up individually they each sound great. As soon as I wire them together only the 500hz. horn sounds. The 600hz. just sits there and does nothing. Maybe I just don't hear it when they sound together or something. I couldn't worry too much about that so for now I hooked up the 500hz. horn for the time being.

I removed the cushion washers and went with a lock washer on both sides. They don't move at all now.
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Next on went the shiny rebuilt forks. I have the video editing right now and will be up soon.
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Next I installed the front fender after cleaning it inside and out.
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Moving along I mounted the front wheel after greasing the axle and bearings. The brakes went on as well.
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I mounted the instrument cluster and headlight enclosure getting ready to start soldering connections for the Halo's.
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I had to find a good mounting spot for the ballast so I used a strip of Radio Shack super strength mounting tape and a couple of electrician ties.
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While I had the tape out I used some on the rear light's rubber gasket. The old glue had let go so I cleaned it with alcohol and remounted it in place.
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Back to wiring. I fed into the low beams to run the Halo's.
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I then wired the switch for the Halo's and bundled everything nice.
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They work nice although with my crappy camera it's hard to tell.
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All thats left is to mount the upper fairing, flush the cooling system, and the lower fairings. I am happy that I have a "roller" now and have the bike locked down to the floor again!
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Stay tuned as I have a few things to do outside but will be back later!
 
Wow you made good progress there bud! I'm waiting to get a decent day so I can finish a few little things (mostly the rear turn signal wiring) on my FZ1 as well.
 
Good news today and great news today as well. My upper fairing decals and Tony's decals came from Partshark today. Finally I have the right ones. I know that Tony is happy as well.

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Now for the great news. The painter called my friend at work this afternoon to let him know that he will be dropping the newly repaired/ newly painted gas tank and tail section off to him at his house after work today. My buddy is off tomorrow but has an appointment close to the job and will pass by to bring them to me. Those are the final two pieces of my long, drawn out puzzle! I may even be riding by Sunday!!!! Pics tomorrow evening of the tank and tail. Oh, and may I say that he mentioned that the two pieces came out unbelievably sweet! He cleared both pieces with a special urethane coating that Porsche uses on their cars. He says the finish is something that has to be seen. It's baked on in a booth under some ultraviolet system which I know nothing about. I only know that I'm dying to see them. I may have a B.O.M. shot very soon!
 
Oh I'm looking forward to putting those FZ1 decals on my bike. It looks "naked" right now since the full fairings are covering the stock decals.

That's great to hear about your parts. The nose piece came out good so I'm sure these will be at least as nice. Weekend weather is supposed to be good so just might be riding after all ;)
 
Just when I thought I was done I have more work to do. I was looking at the upper fairing which was painted by another shop (for free) and noticed some "fish scales" on the sides where the "FZ1" decals were going. So to make a long story short, I grabbed some 2000 grit wet paper to knock them down. Well it winds up that there was hardly any clearcoat so you can imagine what happened. So now I'm bringing it with me to work tomorrow to drop off with the painter that I'm paying to have it redone to match the tank and tail section. I will use my old one in the meantime so I can at least ride the bike. One step forward and two steps back!:disapproval:
 
So much progress and then this setback! Well, at least you have the spare so you can ride!

Looking really great Billy! Happy to see you getting it all back together. :D The fork videos were well done save the one mishap but you covered it well with the "ticker" at the beginning! :tup:

Keep up the great work and the fantastic updates.
 
FZ1inNH said:
So much progress and then this setback! Well, at least you have the spare so you can ride!

Looking really great Billy! Happy to see you getting it all back together. :D The fork videos were well done save the one mishap but you covered it well with the "ticker" at the beginning! :tup:

Keep up the great work and the fantastic updates.
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Thanks Eric. I'm not too worried about it as long as I'm able to ride in the meantime. Right now I'm devastated as to whats going on in Japan. God bless those poor people.
 
I looked more closely at the tank and tail section when I got home and I'm not really happy with the paint at all. Maybe I'm being "anal" again but I expected a better job from a so called "professional" whose been in the biz for more than 30 years. The repair on the tank is "flawless" and you'd never know that it was "creased" as it was. There is one tiny spec that looks like a tiny chip but is barely noticable. The tail section came out okay and is looking good. There is a ton of metal flake in the paint and maybe I'm not used to the look. Also, on the "Yamaha" badges, you can see a couple of places where the white from the decal shows through. It's hard to explain but I think the decals were masked and sprayed silver. I could have sworn that they were "white" when I looked at them before handing them over.

I guess I should be happy that I'm not looking at that crease anymore and just shut my mouth. I'm getting real "picky" in my old age. So here's the pics from tonight.

The tank before:
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The tank after:
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I mounted the tank after a hassle getting the gas cap mounted. More on that later.
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You can see in this next pic just how much metal flake is in the paint.
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Here is the tail section back in place. I was going to get the upper fairing on but Richie came back from the movies with his friend and asked me to give her a ride home so I'll finish up tomorrow and give you some video of the big "start"
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