133 replies to this topic

[laughin in a windstorm]

if you are feeling like you are tipping forward you just need to remove a relatively small area of foam at the rear of the standard curve where you sit, use a pen to draw even marks on both sides and then use an electric carving knife if you have one (I bought a cheap one from argos a while ago and it works great), but my seat was done many years ago and I used a very sharp samurai sword to cut it, after shaping by cutting you can use a drum sander in a drill to smooth down the foam and do any fine adjustments to the shape, 'tip' don't use anything too aggressive to sand down the foam as it can grip and bite more out of the surface than you want (bad experiences), time gives better results,

I took the square edges off of mine as they gave me a burning sensation on long rides

[fixitsan]

if you are feeling like you are tipping forward you just need to remove a relatively small area of foam at the rear of the standard curve where you sit, use a pen to draw even marks on both sides and then use an electric carving knife if you have one (I bought a cheap one from argos a while ago and it works great), but my seat was done many years ago and I used a very sharp samurai sword to cut it, after shaping by cutting you can use a drum sander in a drill to smooth down the foam and do any fine adjustments to the shape, 'tip' don't use anything too aggressive to sand down the foam as it can grip and bite more out of the surface than you want (bad experiences), time gives better results,

I took the square edges off of mine as they gave me a burning sensation on long rides

Very helpful, thanks

[laughin in a windstorm]

not as far advanced as I'd hoped to be due to intermittent other things happening at inconvenient times,

the filling and shaping has been a boring job as usual. fill - rub - fill - rub - fill - rub - blah de blah etc., it starts with dry sanding with a very coarse grit to get to the desired shape,

when the desired shape is seemingly achieved I go onto wet rubbing with a finer but still quite rough grit, the water running down the sides helps to show any uneven bits, it does this by following reflections by eye, if they distort other than on specific curves then it is not yet correct,

once this is declared reasonably ok'ish, I dry it all off and use some sacrificial paint to cover the areas of filler, (in this instance it was yellow as it is the only aerosol I had with enough paint in it to do the job), I do this as it gives a one colour finish which shows up any areas that are still not right, the filler itself has slight differences in shade from mixing and can give the illusion of uneven surfaces,

this is a set of very complex curves that need to be as similar on both sides as is possible,

the yellow shows one small area that is too high and this will get lost as I rub down the entire area until the yellow has all gone, again it is a time consuming job but patience rewards 

 

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 tank fill 2.jpg   193.99KB   0 downloads

 

 

[dapleb]

Noice.

Still got da rotts too LIAW.

[laughin in a windstorm]

Noice.

Still got da rotts too LIAW.

 thanks, yes we still have Rottweilers, three at the moment and a very small Tibetan Spaniel/ Pekingese cross that has a bark to make up for her size (all rescue dogs)

 

I have managed to get the priming done on the tank though not without some problems, I used a 2 pack primer filler but the actual filler I used to create the shape seems to have been a relative of the Aero chocolate bar, it was full of bubbles which kept being 'opened up' between rub downs, so I'm hoping the primer filler has got into all of them so they will be no longer troublesome,

I have to leave it a few days to harden properly now, besides that we are forecasted for lots of rain over the next few days so I 'll have a go at my seat cover as it arrived much earlier than expected

[laughin in a windstorm]

the priming seems ok at the moment but I'm giving it a few days to fully harden before carrying on

 

the rubbing away of the unwanted paint

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the new seat cover arrived so I got on with fitting that, it is a genuine YAMAHA cover and they don't give much overlap for fixing the edges down, the new cover has a dimpled effect where as my original was just a smooth grain design, still it looks better than holes,

you can see where I rounded off the edges of the foam over 20 years ago, it still holds shape nicely

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one thing that is disappointing about the new cover is that the manufacturer had folded it into the packaging and it has left a few crease marks, I hope they will come out with some time

 

[laughin in a windstorm]

the weather has been rubbish so I have not been able to do a lot, though I was able to rub down and re-paint the 'frame covers' I made that cover the coils under the tank, one was slightly damaged in the bikes crash

[laughin in a windstorm]

frame covers  

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[laughin in a windstorm]

I took advantage of a good day and got the primer rubbed down, it took 4 hours due to the previously mentioned filler problems and having to put more 'primer filler' on to fill up the bubble holes in the body filler, (I can now commit a crime as my finger prints are all gone  ) , anyhow it all turned out ok and I was able to get the blue base coat and some single pack clear coat on,

I have used a single pack clear as I will need to rub it down to create a 'key' to be able to put my 'stripes' on, you can't rub down metallics as you damage them, and if I used a two pack clear coat I would have to wait around six weeks for it to harden properly before spraying the stripes on as it would react (weather and time is running out),

I will eventually finish with a two pack clear coat

 

 tank 3.jpg   78.51KB   0 downloads

[laughin in a windstorm]

while the clear coat on the tank is hardening off I thought I'd have a go at bringing the wheel rims back to a decent standard, they were quite furry and pitted from neglect,

it took around four and a half hours of polishing but I managed to get them looking ok,

they are not as good as they used to be as the corrosion has put a lot of pits in the surface, this would take a lot of time to get perfection as a lot of metal would need to be polished away to totally smooth the surface out, you can only see it if you get close though so I am happy with them, 

I polished them on the bike as it can be hard to hold the wheels still when they are removed from the bike, they will be coming off as I need to properly clean them up and re-paint them

 

before during and after

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[Snowbird]

Looking good!   

[leehenty]

😍😍

[laughin in a windstorm]

thanks guys, 

nearly a full day yesterday just removing and preparing the wheels for paint, just a bit of masking left for today as my head blew a fuse yesterday so I climbed inside my vodka bottle, it's dark in here despite being clear,

I'm hoping they turn out ok purely as they have been painted many times before, I should really strip them as they have the original finish as a base, they were then primed and painted red, then blue, then black, then back to blue with a clear coat on, this is what they are at the moment and I will be painting them an orange/red colour, this is also the colour that my 'stripes' will be, this colour has been chosen as I have orange mirrors and I can't be arsed to change them,

there is nothing wrong with lots of layers of paint as long as the preparation is done correctly, the problem is that they can be easily damaged by impact like small stones etc., it shatters larger areas instead of causing just tiny chips

[leehenty]

Shiny = Good is a good rule to go by.

[fixitsan]

 

I have used a single pack clear as I will need to rub it down to create a 'key' to be able to put my 'stripes' on, you can't rub down metallics as you damage them, and if I used a two pack clear coat I would have to wait around six weeks for it to harden properly before spraying the stripes on as it would react (weather and time is running out),

I will eventually finish with a two pack clear coat

 

 

I've learned something useful here

[laughin in a windstorm]

so I finished the masking of the wheels and got them sprayed, I 'm pleased with the result considering I should really have stripped the wheels back to bare, still hope it doesn't come back to haunt me,

masking the edge to the polished area is quite easy on the rear wheel as the 'cross section' is reasonably flat, the front wheel has a curved raised edge to the polished area and it is almost impossible to just stick the masking tape neatly to the edge, so I just overlapped the edge and then used a sharp blade to cut as neatly as I could against the line, doing this reminded me of my age and how my eyesight has become not so brilliant

(I used to be able read a registration plate at the required distance with binoculars no trouble, now I need special glasses just to find my binoculars   )

anyway with the help of nothing I did ok 

 

masked, during and after

 wheel paint.jpg   177.75KB   0 downloads

 

as with many paint jobs the preparation and masking takes so much longer than you think, a day versus half an hour to paint

[Catteeclan]

so I finished the masking of the wheels and got them sprayed, I 'm pleased with the result considering I should really have stripped the wheels back to bare, still hope it doesn't come back to haunt me,

masking the edge to the polished area is quite easy on the rear wheel as the 'cross section' is reasonably flat, the front wheel has a curved raised edge to the polished area and it is almost impossible to just stick the masking tape neatly to the edge, so I just overlapped the edge and then used a sharp blade to cut as neatly as I could against the line, doing this reminded me of my age and how my eyesight has become not so brilliant

(I used to be able read a registration plate at the required distance with binoculars no trouble, now I need special glasses just to find my binoculars   )

anyway with the help of nothing I did ok 

 

masked, during and after

wheel paint.jpg

 

as with many paint jobs the preparation and masking takes so much longer than you think, a day versus half an hour to paint

Like the colour.

[laughin in a windstorm]

thank you

 

I don't know how much picture space there is available on this site so I am condensing some pictures to add here,

I am now adding my TDM refurb on my face book page, there are more and bigger pictures if anyone is interested, hopefully this link will work

https://www.facebook...931608196432136

Edited by laughin in a windstorm, 21 September 2025 - 10:40 am.

[Catteeclan]

thank you

 

I don't know how much picture space there is available on this site so I am condensing some pictures to add here,

I am now adding my TDM refurb on my face book page, there are more and bigger pictures if anyone is interested, hopefully this link will work

https://www.facebook...931608196432136

Link's good.

[laughin in a windstorm]

cleaned up the swingarm area and removed lots of grime from the sprocket and carrier, packed fresh grease into the bearings, fitted a new rear brake disc as the previous mot's had advisories of scored and worn disc (it looks ok to me), but as the wheel was off I thought I might as well fit one, discs fitted to front wheel and both wheels put back onto the bike, front will be coming off again as I need to fit new steering bearings and a better top yoke,

the front mudguard and rear seat panels have been removed to join the tank in preparation for my crazy paint