Fast Taker Secaha - a blog

Let's see the polished piston crowns, combustion chambers, and the blasting cabinet !!

 

Whoa yes, pics coming later today. I spend so much time with the bike to get it done for the season, that pics are considered second priority, hehehe

 

Takes a little more time to polish the pistons and combustion chambers. To be honest, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to polish those item when the polishing compound leaves residue - or did I miss something here?

Anyway, here is the blasing chamber. The rear sports a nice filtered fan to vent the dust out.

 

Finally done cleaning up the parts (only have the forks left), and it's time to start putting her together again.
Parts for the final drive and engine oil seals arrived last week, and they're all going in now.
Here's me posing in front of the shelves. The big shelf on the right are stage floorings that I've put together to serve their new found alternative purpose.



Aaaand here is the new seat cover. Some stretching was necessary, but I still didn't get rid of the crease in the front...



And here is the planned paintjob:

 

So, where are we at?

The following has been primed for painting:
- Centerstand
- Stock handlebars (considering a lower bar from Rizona)
- Carbs
- Front fender
- Passenger grab bar
- Passenger footrests

Paint will be bought inn later this week. I'm thinking Yamaha Black for the black parts - mainly because it will tone down the shine for parts that I wish to hide (like grab bar, footrests, brakes etc.) - and the original Brilliant Red for tank and stripes on the front fender.
Having a little trouble removing paint from the plastics using a grinder and fine sanding paper. It just eats through. Will need paint stripper for them.

 

Got to gun-painting some parts yesterday (grab bar, handlebars, rear foot peg brackets), as well as priming final drive, rear swing arm, and rear wheel hub parts.



But while I was putting the engine together for masking and prepping for priming, I managed to strip one of the upper case flange bolts (long, thin bolt)... It's located next to a similar bolt, just 2-3cm away.
I REALLY didn't need this right now...

 

During the weekend, I finished coating the rear footrests, rear swing arm, final drive, rear wheel cover, bars, and center stand.
The flash really does no justice to the nice semi-gloss coat. Thanks to the activator (or maybe the paint in itself), the surface feels resistant to road rash etc.





After prowling the forums today, I noticed that Darkfibre hung his engine using the front bolts. I have to admit this never crossed my mind
You can see a hint of the marks I managed to make while taking the engine case apart. This needs to be fixed. I don't believe the engine case is pressurized, but it's not acceptable to have these marks on the bike...

 

Picture of the freshly painted frame:



The wheels are painted and left for dry, and meanwhile I'm working on getting the engine in shape. The stripped bolt had - luckily - broken off without going all the way in, so it's possible to get out...

 

Got some new pictures of the process. Done painting all, except for the tank, which will now have be Yamaha Lava Red. Pretty close to the Brilliant Red - which apparantly no company can make in Norway...

I have to admit, the black paint really makes the brake lights more striking:


Valve cover painted and demasked:


New primary chain and guide in, connecting rods connected. Seems rods 2-3 are tighter than 1-4... Anyone with similar observations?


Some of the rest, ready to put in:

 

looking good - hope you keep posting till the bike is done.

 

Hopefully, I'll have time to keep posting after the bike is done too

 

That's really nice work!! Keep posting .... really good pics and commentary!

 

Thanks!

I got the crankcase oil seals problem solved by Len, so the engine assembly will progress once JB Weld arrives + I get the two stripped bolt threads fixed.

Meanwhile, today, a friend will be helping me with painting the tank with this

While that dries, I have to start on the forks :roll:

 

The tank actually turned out well. I was hoping for a glossy paint, but I think the lack of it makes the bike look more angry...

 

And now for the forks... I found the two thin washers on the oil lock valve assembly were busted. The oil and gunk suggests the forks haven't been seen to for years (okay, I'm responsible for two of them ), and the hex bolt in the bottom of one fork got busted. Luckily, no pitting or rust detected on the inner tubes, though the c-clip beneath the dust seals were rusted out. Oh, and I've forgotten to order the inner oil seals, so go figure...

 

Very nice work!

 

Why, thank you!

Currently in the need to source shim washers for the forks bottom valve. They may even be hard for Chacal to find (though hopefully not)...
Once I got the inner tube out, all but 1 of the original washers were "alive"...

 

Finally got some more pictures to put up. Actually got to do a lot of work during the last few days...







Next up is the bar mount MC with horizontal reservoir. This does not work if you want to keep the original RH switches. Even if you do, like I've pictured below, you need to cut the lever bracket from the existing switches.



A point ot check when troubleshooting faulty blinkers, is the switch internals. I had problems with the right blinkers not engaging towards the end of last season. When I opened up the switch, I noticed the two prongs were bent just slightly out of reach for the lever. Solution: bend them inwards.



Finally the frame is on the assembly table. Got the center stand, side stand with stwitch, triple T and crown, bars, and the switches on. Ordering alternate RH switch with throttle slider today.

 

Good work, good choice of colors. You might think about a pin stripe on the tank, maybe a brushed aluminum silver, light but not shiny. 8)

 

Thanks! I'm considering the triple racing stripes (white-black-grey) on the sides, but since the red is so little compared to the rest, I don't want it to be too obstructed... for now