Finally Finished!!!

Very nice. I'm looking to do mine in NZ winter. Keen to know how you got motor etc so clean. Lots of othe questions about the processes you used. Mine is a tidy red 1998 with 29km on the clock.

Cheers

Don

 

Hi Don,

Thanks for your comments.

Just a lot of degreaser, a stiff brush, a high pressure washer and time. I had all the fairings stripped off. Also used a soap pad on some parts such as the cam covers and oil cooler pipes etc, which came up really well, some other parts I used WD40 soaked on a rag, it just basically took a bit of time and elbow grease. I took off the radiators, oil cooler and all hoes. I repainted the radiators and cooler, cleaned all the radiator hoses etc. The thing that looked really out of place was the exhaust header pipes and engine pipe/ cat converter which look like an eye sore( rusty looking ),,,, Mine was bit of a mess when I got it, which was what I wanted as I was looking at doing a bit of a project bike. The guy that had it actually used it, not like me....I might clock up 5,000kms a year if I'm lucky.....

One of my colleagues at work has a 1999 model in red, he reckons it's faster than mine because it's red....I beg to differ!!!!!

The best advice if you're going to do a rebuild is to take your time and enjoy doing it, although sometimes it seems to take forever to complete it, it gives you a lot of satisfaction at the end.

Cheers,
Navman

 

Thanks for the advice. I really do like the colour and machine looks mint. I have a Honda Bros ( Hawk GT). I have just finished doing a tidy up on that and have really enjoyed the project hence the keen interest in moving on to the VFR which is a bit more of a challenge due to the greater complexity. Main problem is that scungy look that dirty alloy gets and rust bolt heads that need replacing or replating.

Have just replaced the fork seals and now trying to sort out the rear brakes which are much weaker than the Bros to the point of embarrassment.

Like you I am fussy and do 3 to 5k a year and don't ride in the wet. Will likely polish the wheels and other alloy bits as I like the bling.

Using your bike as inspiration and may even change the colour from red.

Cheers

Don

 

For the exhaust and cat, did you consider painting them with black header paint. That wold cover up the worn out look quite well and because it is flat in appearance, would be very forgiving of dents and chips in the pipes.

Like everyone else, I love that colour too. Mine is really showing it's age. Not that it is old. I mean It was in the crate in August 06 when I got it. But I ride like your previous owner. Today it had 115,300+ km on it. Someday I will get it re=painted but I don't want to be without the bike long enough to get that done.

 

Hi Don,

Try manually bleeding the brakes, failing that try changing the rear brake pads as it may have some "no name" cheapie brake pads fitted that deliver poor braking performance.

I could have gone overboard and removed the engine from the frame but considered the gain and thought better of it....got to draw a line in the sand somewhere...also considered polishing the rims but wanted to keep it fairly standard in case I need to sell her. Thought is would be harder to sell if I modified it too much as what I think looks great may not appeal to everyone else.

Hi Randy,

I painted the exhaust system in special high temp flat black for exhaust headers(about $25.00 a can), looks glossy in the pictures because of the flash from the camera and also the paint hadn't cured. Once I had the engine running all the glossy bit faded and went to flat black. Thanks for the compliment on the colour, believe or not I have always been partial to red bikes....the 06 model looks fantastic in white, it a colour we don't get over here in that model. Good to hear that you actually use it!!!!

Navman