very long 3aj rebuild

[gobo]

Hello ténéré forum,

I open this thread to document the rebuild of my 1988 3aj. It will be a very long process and I will need some motivation from you in order not to give up the project not finished Note that I don't live in the place where the bike is stored and I have 1, 2 days per month to work on it and then several days every 2, 3 months

I hope also that it will be helpful for somebody as the rebuilds documented earlier here by you were for me.

So let's start.
I bought the bike last year and the bike was relatively in a good nick – the previous owner started the restoration but he didn't finished it completely in my opinion. Initially I wanted just to find the missing parts and install them and have the bike as close to the original Yamaha design as possible.

So I started to collect the parts :






some parts from Yamaha dealership





and some others from e-bay and different gumtrees






Initially I didn't want to do the rebuild but as I started to look more into details the decision to undertake some more serious actions was taken. So it is where the fun begins ...

To be continued...

[Fred333]

Hello and welcome to the mental institution!

Have you got before pictures?
Did you ever drive the bike?
Which colour are chosing?
...
...



Cheers Olli

[Mezo]

Yes some pics of the bike before you start, are you going to paint it?

Mezo.

[gobo]

yes, I drove the bike around 200 km, when I bought it, from the seller's place to mine. The only problem was that the stator was not functioning – the previous owner warned me that “there was something wrong with the charging system”
The battery was fully charged when I've bought the bike so I could start it. Then I had to drive 200 km without stopping – the battery was empty after 1 hour, so no lights, no turnsignals, no horn. I could continue to drive but I wouldn't be able to start it again if something stopped me ;-) - the cops for example for turnsignals missing

So the stator was the number 1 on my “to buy” list and I've got it for 30 euros after 2 or 3 weeks of recherche



Below are some pictures when I bought it - you can see it was in a good nick, the previous owner painted it and put the new stickers. The bike was complete, just can't find more photos with the covers and seat on





The problem with the painting, I discovered it 2 or 3 months after buying the bike : it started to fell off the tank


I don't know what was the reason for that, my painting guy told me that it wasn't clean enough before putting the first layer of paint.

I decided to sandblast the tank and to do the paintings right. And here was another “surprise” after sandblasting the tank : a lot of bog filler on both sides of the tank (sorry, no pictures yet)

I told the painting guy not to continue the work on the tank and started to look for somebody that would fill the missing areas with lead. I've got a quote from one of those companies that specialize in restoration of old vehicles. They quoted me 500 euros for the repair work !!! For that price I will find several used tanks and I have a chance to find a not dented one.
As for my current tank, I think to paint it as it is now anyway and keep it as a spare.

[Mezo]

I had my 3AJ tank repaired with lead here in Australia, it was a very professional job but cost me a fortune

But like you say for you it will be cheaper just to find a used tank & there are plenty where you are, lucky bugger.

Mezo.

[gobo]

I had my 3AJ tank repaired with lead here in Australia, it was a very professional job but cost me a fortune

Mezo.

yes, I saw it in your thread. Nevertheless, the satisfaction having a descent tank s is priceless

[gobo]

So after having a detailed look on the bike I decided to strip it down completely and change, clean, paint and give to powder coating everything that is necessary. The objective being to be as close to the original Yamaha design as possible.

The first step was to learn
1. Reading this forum and go through restoration threads
2. Complete the bibliography, download parts fiche and service manual
3. Buying this :



The strip down process :







And the frame ready for powder coating. I decided to do that when I saw the rust in some places – some of them was covered with a brush by one of the previous owners.
The color chosen is the same as the original. It’s Signal Blue, RAL 5005



and some other parts (more in later episodes) :



As I am not a mechanic and will have surely problems putting it all together, I’ve noted the location and size of every bolt, nut and washer (sorry guys, it is in Polish )



There are some stains on it from the brake liquid getting out of control but it is still readable to me ;-)))

To be continued …

[steveloomis]

When I do a tear down, be it an engine or an entire bike, I put the bolts removed in a logical area in a plastic bag and marked. Upon reassembly, the bolts are together for a particular area and easy to sort out.

Next, the Clymer manual is a poor choice as there are errors and lack quite a bit of good information, find an OEM manual. There are links to a downloadable manual somewhere, ask here and on other forums.

Good luck, ask here if you get into trouble....

Steve

[Mezo]

He does say that he is going to use the Clymer manual (with its errors) in conjunction with the OEM manual & part fiche, that is how i did it (used all three).

Mezo.

[gobo]

Next, the Clymer manual is a poor choice as there are errors and lack quite a bit of good information, find an OEM manual. There are links to a downloadable manual somewhere, ask here and on other forums.

Good luck, ask here if you get into trouble....

Steve

thanks Steve. I agree that the Clymer manual is not 100 % compatible with the service manual and other Yamaha publications. However, it gives some explanations on disassembling and assembling the bike which is important for me. Both can be used together and in case of differencies the service manual should have the priority, especially when it comes down to putting the things together and torque specifications