Where to start.
Picked up the 900 winter project a few weeks since. Didn't look too bad in the photos but when I got her home she sure was a tired lady. First issue I noted was a smashed up undertray which sent alarm bells of in my head. I was right, on closer inspection I could see that the rear suspension pivot point had sheared off the frame at some point. (Let this be a warning, keep the link well lubricated, more of which later). To be fair the repair had been made and welded to a very high standard and I have no reservations about it. So strip the back end off, managed to get an excellent oe undertray off ebay for £28 and set about swapping over. Not an easy job, lots of electrics to disconnect and reconnect. Still gave me the opportunity to wd40 everything and copperslip all the nuts and bolts.
Then on to checking the suspension link, the two short bushes (front and rear) were in good condition, but the centre (connected to the drop links ) was completely foobarred. Why do people only half repair something and not do proper job ?, doh!
In the post to the fabled Mr Henty for refurbishment then.
I realised that when I had got the bike home that I had forgotten to pick up the spare shock absorber that was advertised with the bike. After getting in touch with the vendor the said item was posted on to me. Opened the box and, WOW, a 9000 mile mint red spring shock, with, wait for it, a linkage in perfect condition attached. So I quickly re attached the suspension with my newly aquired linkage. Greased up all the axle, serviced the rear caliper and reassembled the rear end. The rear tyre still has a slow puncture. I think it's the valve. That can be sorted later. So I'll now have a fully Lee Henty refurbished linkage spare !
Let's move forward on the bike a bit.
Body work needed a few minor repairs. Both the kidney panels needed repairing, which I fixed with some araldite, thin stainless steel sheet and a pop rivet. I was very pleased with the standard of my solution. Another slight repair on the inner os panel and all was well.
Petrol tank lifted and that showed the air box mod had been attempted by simply pulling off the vacuum from the top of the airbox and wrapping a cursery bit of insulation tape around the end of the tube! That could explain the vacuum error code then ! Tube was reattached and the air box mod done by my preferred method of simply pushing a ball bearing up the vacuum tube attached to the os injector.
Further forward. The forks showed some corrosion above the travel distance of the lowers, so a quick clean up and the installation of some fork gaitors to prevent any future issues and that was it. Front calipers cleaned and serviced, all nuts and bolts copperslipped on reassembly. The handlebars on the bike were low renthals and the heated grips were not working so I took the opportunity to retrofit standard bars (thanks chrisr) and some new grips. I had a nightmare trying to get the throttle to work on reassembly, it seemed the return cable decided to wrap itself up at the injector end when I disassembled the throttle housing. An easy fix but very frustrating to source the problem. Front wheel not fitted yet as it needs a new tyre. I'll get the tyre fitter to check my rear tyre's valve while we're at it.
I had removed the after market fuel cans and decided to refit the supplied oe silencers. I'm sure the Fuel cans will sell later.
Decided to check if the thermostatic fan kicks in when up to temperature, so started the bike up. Oh dear,something wrong here, it's stuck at 2.5k revs and does not drop as the temperature rises. We knows what's going on here don't we? Yup, a seized cold start mechanism. Tank up again, airbox off and fat fingers trying to work in a confined space. To be fair the unit came off quite easily. The offending push rod was released, lubricated and the unit reinstalled with copperslip and allen bolts should it need to be taken off at a later date.
Engine restarted, tickover set to 1.2k after warm up and then the fan kicked in just before the temperature gauge reached the red zone.
It's been a long long time since I've really been able to get my teeth into fixing a bike and I have to say I've right enjoyed it. So there will be a sorted 900 up for sale soon and a man searching for another project.
Edited by big dave, 23 September 2015 - 09:30 am.