South African rebuild of a XTZ 750

[Mezo]

Seen this one?







Or the factory jobbie.



Ive just been reading my old thread on ADV, page 83 when we were all talking about this before.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthre ... 24&page=83

Mezo.

[CharlieGreger]

Having no internet connection at home is a pain in the arse. So for now i will have to be uber sneaky when the boss isn't looking

OK, so where was I?... Ah yes... A cracked frame.
Sigh....


I have sent in my frame, swing-arm, passenger foot-peg brackets, headlight/front cowling mounting bracket and a few other bits for sandblasting. The Yamaha agents say they can weld the frame, but i am wondering if I should rather take it to an engineer or something like that. I will have a chat with them and see what the are planning to do when they weld it. Anyways, that will have to wait until later in the week. I have found a place in town that does metal finishing on nuts and bolts etc for a reasonable price. I have been looking into getting a complete stainless steel set of bolts for the bike, but so far i haven't found one( Geoff, where did you find yours??)

This week end i was hoping to have all my plastics ready for spray painting, but as luck would have it, i have more than a few cracks to fiber glass first. So off to the local hardware for resin and catalyst. then while i am in there i think i might need a mask, so that goes in the trolley, along with more sandpaper and acetone. Before i know it, 200 moola gets handed over and i am off home to get on with the job.



After the decal came off with the heat gun, it left behind the sticky side which is a pain in the proverbial to remove.






Right then, I am kitted with enough goodies for crack repairs and its about bloody time i start doing some work on the bike. Out comes the heat gun to get the stickers off. The decals on the tank have been clear coated so it takes an extra effort to get them off. Most of my Saturday is taken up with getting the decals off and doing the fiber glassing. And on Sunday i start getting ready to spray the plastic primer and I discover that i have overlooked a fekin huge crack on one of my side covers. So out comes the sandpaper and the fiber glass and its sorted.

to be fair, the cracks were mostly hidden by the paint and yes.... I know i should have remembered first time... Oh well

[Mezo]

Good stuff, id be finding a welder who knows his stuff, something like a guy who welds farm machinery or a guy that makes roll cages or any guys involved in motorsport should know how a good weld should be (experienced guys).

The cracked fairing, mine had several cracks also from where it had hit the dirt & i layered a sheet of matting on the rear side to give it strength, the bonus came when the resin oozed through to the front side between the crack (sealing it nicely).



Mezo.

[CharlieGreger]

FUCK FUCK FUCK....

The motherfukas have stolen the phone lines stretching 2kms. I now have no line for the forseeable future.
Just to keep you in the loop as to where my bike is, I have had the goodies sandblasted and have sent the frame and headlight mounting frame in for powdercoating. Which hopefully will be done by the end of next week. Pics to follow....
Till then, keep the shiny side up

[Mezo]

The motherfukas have stolen the phone lines stretching 2kms. I now have no line for the forseeable future.

Phone line = Copper = Johnie Walker.

What a pain in the arse that will be, out of range of wireless im guessing?

Mezo.

[Danjet600]

[Edgar]

[rywong]

[CharlieGreger]

while I wait for my frame to come home, let me tell you about the rest of the strip down.
So there i was, busy taking her apart one bolt at a time when i noticed the crack in the frame, needless to say that did not make me a happy bunny at all. But not much could be done at this point in time so i carry on stripping and little by little work my way forwards. I get to the point where i want to take off my radiator assembly, and there i see yet another cock up. ecept this time i know who is at fault..... The bloody agents who serviced my bike a few weeks ago. I had to take it in to have the valves set as i dont have the tools to do them.
One of the plug HT leads is not seated properly, although she hadnt been misfiring, It should be seated all the way in....




And as i have a rant and a poke about getting the radiator loose, I see this....



Mutha fukka

Is it just me or should i be throwing all my toys at this stage?? But its too late to cry over the milk, so i carry on taking bits off and eventually all i am left with is this, which has to be the saddest sight i have seen for a very long time.



I plan to do all repairs and painting of the motor last. Not only does it give me a little time to save up some cash to do the deed, but I am going to take my time(at east a few days) to get the rolling chassis looking tip top.

[CharlieGreger]

I have just received word from the man that my frame and headlight frame thingy is ready for collection. So later on this afternoon i am off to maritzburg to collect it.
For anyone who is interested, my cost of this little affair to date is as follows
sand blasting of frame R450
sand blasting of swing arm; headlight frame mount; passenger peg mounts; welding of frame crack and strengthen known weak spots on frame - R 1900
plastic & metal primer; base coats and 2nd stage; clear coat - R1692
Powder coating of frame and headlight frame mount - R800 ( will be a bit more with vat.)
New pair of Progressive springs; new ignition + keys; Full gasket set - R2270
total so far - R7112

Holy fukkaroony!!! And i haven't even started on the motor yet.

Aaah that reminds me. Do any of you have any idea where i can get heavy duty spokes from???? and if so, roughly how many beans?? Please let me know asap as i would like to do my rims as well, and i am thinking that while they are off to be powder coated i could do the hubs and the spoke job while i was at it.