Disaster strikes

I am glad you are able to see this more clearly. Any of us who have dropped a bike know exactly how you feel.
I have left a few scars on my bike to remind me not to do the stupid little things that made me drop it in the first place.
But I know guys that have had the new parts ordered as soon as they got home from the drop. You have a lot of time and money and your own personality invested in her, no sense kicking her to the curb just because she is a bit smudged.

 

I dropped my ZX-11 after only being on it for a month- & it bugged me for about the lenght of time it took to pick it back up... A few scratches in paint or a decal don't matter to me, but this was different. I got this bike because it was "the one"- and it was f'n perfect (as most of you remember the previous owner was a fanatic about it). If this was a simple drop It wouldn't have bugged me as much, but in 21+ years of riding it was my first time actually going down.

Dosen't matter though- Toe's hooking me up on the big stuff, and the rest will fall into place as time and money permit. The reality is I'm gonna have this thing till it's junk, so I might as well not fuck around with trying to make it showroom perfect because in 1, or 5, or 15 years from now some ass-clown is just gonna knock me off of it, or I'll find another crosswalk stripe! Good enough I say.

 

Alrighty...

Tore the dirty whore down this afternoon. Not as bad to get the front fairing off as I had expected....



Got the clutch cover off without much difficulty. F'n dealer charged me $16 bucks for the gasket I ordered today, but whatever.. I'll throw it in the mail to Sebastian tomorrow at lunch.

Now for the part I don't know shit about: The metal plate (Clutch disk??) directly behind the 5 bolts holding the clutch assembly together-



Is it an easy pick? I want to have it either powder coated or painted, But I've never pulled a bike clutch apart before. Is it as easy as pulling those 5 bolts? Are there any tricks or proceedures I need to know about for disassembling it? I've got about 2 weeks or so before the cover comes back to get it done.

 

Now I know that I am guilty of some pretty frivolous mods, but I never considered powdercoating something inside the engine. You sir, will completely reset the bar!

FWIW, remember the two dabs of gasket sealer when you re-install the right side engine cover.

Edit: just saw the name sebastian.........

 

NCB: You didn't answer the question. Take your meds bro! ADHD is controlable!!!

Now, focus & answer thw question!

 

That plate you're lookin' at is called the "clutch pressure plate" Greasemonkey,it distributes the clutch spring force evenly throughout the clutch pack. Yeah it's as simple as backing out those five bolts to remove it. HOWEVER,the clutch springs are captured behind those bolts so back those five bolts off evenly. When you go to install those bolts tighten them back down evenly as well. Bolt torque is 12 Nm,approximately 9 ft/lbs. I usually add a very small drop of Blue Loctite on those bolts as well.

Far be it from me to curb another man's creativity but if you're dead set on putting some color on that pressure plate I'd stay away from paint or powdercoat. Any paint or powdercoat that might chip off that plate would then have direct access to your engine sump and it's usually a good idea to keep the oil contamination in your engine down to a minimum.
Since it's aluminum a much better and safer way to add color to that pressure plate would be to have it anodized.

Here's a breakdown pic of the clutch assembly in case you decide to go exploring while you've got that pressure plate removed.

 

Quit popping steroids and download the manual that's available for free on this site......:tongue:





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That Stosh fella.... He's a smart futhermucker....

Good lookin out- thanks man. Now, how does this whole annodizing shit work?

 

HEY! Steroids keep me goin.... Doc gives em to me by the case for my back...

& Yeah- I saw the exploded thingy before, but I never took one apart before. Didunt wanna fuk anythine ELSE up...

 

The electrochemical process of anodizing is kinda complicated (gonna hafta Google that up for yourself if you really wanna know Greasemonkey) but basically the long and short of it is that color is impregnated directly into the metal's surface so it can't chip or peel.

 

I'd be careful with annodizing as well. We use hard coat annodizing on aluminum parts at work (machine building) and impact with those parts can still crack/fracture the coating as it's just that, a surface coating, usually less than 1mm deep. Hard coat annodizing is not the dyed color you typically see on consumer products though which something like a key-chain you will see can wear off meaning it's probably less tough than a hard coat. I would just be clear with who ever you talk to about getting it done that you get it sealed or a tough coating so that nothing can come off into your engine innards.

 

This guy, has allready dun painted his, and I haven't heared of any paint flaking, chipping, or otherwise coming apart to cause harm inside the engine. Not to say that it couldn't, just that I haven't heared of it happening. I would PM him and ask him what he painted his with and how it's holding up before proceeding.


Clutch and grab - VFR Discussion

 

Took the cover to the post office at lunchtime. 3 days there, 3 days back, & 2 weeks in the middle .

Made a little stop by the powder coating shop on the way home too.... :spy:

 

SEE, if you'd listened to me @ post 10 it would be on its way back by now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, had to give ya shit for that one, I'm done :whiteflag:

 

So I went to a body shop the bike dealerships around here use today. Pretty squared away dude... F"N SPENDY... but no hack. Anyway, I had him lookin at my damaged plastics to see if I wanted to fix the rear cowl, or just get a salvage one I located.

While he was looking at the front fairing he discovered somethin I hadn't noticed before:

The red stripe is actually a graphic on a white decal! The white isn't paint, it's just a 1pc decal w/ a red stripe across it!

Sooo... I said fuk-it, & started peeling it off, and wouldnt'cha know: the damage isn't bad at all.. better yet, it's COMPLETELY within the area of the decal, so with a little sanding, a new decal ($30 bucks. already ordered! :wink will totally cover the scuffed area- and this piece will require 0 paintwork!

A single strip of painters tape to mark the original decal edge, and the old sticker comes right off. Not even cleared over...

Yeah, yeah... :blah:

Seriously though- a new one is 217 anyway, so a totally tasty mod for just a few $$ more. :thumbsup:

 

Well damn, I allways thought they acutally painted those!

 

Good luck. I bought my 2004 VFR for a very good price after it had been down on its right side. It looked about the same as yours after your mishap. It didn't cost that much to pretty it up. I didn't bother with the chips in the tank because it wasn't that important to me AND because of the $$$. I had the front cowl and the right side panel sanded and sprayed. The match isn't perfect - Honda's Italian Red is a difficult paint to match - but it looks fine in natural light and the bike runs great! As a matter of fact, I am relieved that the motorcycle isn't perfect; now I don't have to be nervous that I'm going chip the pristine paint!

BTW, if I were you I wouldn't bother with painting/anodizing the clutch pressure plate. I might engrave it with the name of my favorite beverage, though . . . :tongue:












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I got the cover back yesterday & already prettied it up.




Started a fairly thorough thread on doing the mod since we didn't really have one here.

http://vfrworld.com/forums/mechanics-garage/37353-clear-cover-mod.html

 

Since I'm stalled on the clutch cover project I figured I'd better check out some other things before the ride to R3.

Pulled the tank up to check the air filter & plugs. Right off the tank slipped I got a scratch right where the seat meets it :mad2:, but hopefully a tank pad will cover it up...

I took off the air box lid & found a vacume actuater with the actuating valve DISCONNECTED from the little plastic door..



WTF is this, and is there a reason it's unhooked? Should I leave it this way, or hook it back up?

Also: How the hell do I unhook the lines from the tank w/out getting gas everywhere?