JaBr

So much more progress this weekend than anticipated, the expectation was to complete the second fork leg and that would be it. As it turns out I was able to get a little further. The newly powder coated centre stand is on, the exhaust and radiator are now reseated and tightened up, I had to loosen them to allow access to the left centre stand bolt. After that I decided to offer the fork legs up to the bike, those are now in and torqued up correctly Finally, the upper cowl stay has been refitted, another part I had powder coated for this rebuild. The wires have been routed correctly since this photo was taken Getting the fork legs back on makes me feel like I've really made some progress, feeling much better after this. I'm off work next week so should get a few solid days in on it as well.

Sadly the plastics let her down, there will be a respray and some repais done but that may be a while after the build is complete. Just doing the best I can with the resources I have.

So finally the first fork leg is completed, rebuilt, new oil and looking way better than the old ones. Have to say, this was painful to get done. After several attempts to get the new upper bushing in I reverted to the old one, it was in good condition, the new one simply would not go into the seat as it was too thick. I measured the 486ml of oil in, only to find the airgap was way too big after pumping the outer sleeve and cartridge, it ended up with closer to 600ml, so now I've ordered another litre of oil to let me do the second leg. Ah well, it's only money right Pushing down on it, it does feel way better than the original legs did. For now I've kept everything standard in terms of oil and bushings, if I'm feeling flush in a couple of years when these are due for seals I may look at fitting some fancy cartridges I've seen, I'm way over budget now so trying to curb it a little. Paint job is a little amateur, but then I guess, so am I

That's a great idea, shame I can't do the same on the stanchions

Biker bling are a UK company who provide blot sets in stainless steel. I bought the complete blackbird fairing kit from them and also a mixed bag of M5/M6 pan head bolts for my garage bolt stock. The bolts are well manufactured and have the same drilled design as the standard bolts from Honda. In fact, the only difference I can see is the material, the standard items being made of steel that is not stainless. The guys who run it are very helpful, I first enquired after these in June and they had no stock, they were hoping for stock in August but it actually took until late september for the sets to arrive. I would happily use these guys again for bolts.

Not planning on it at the minute, I tend to steer more towards subtle changes that simply complement the existing colour scheme, not really wanting, or needing, too much attention 😂.

Also, in other news, the new stainless steel fairing bolts from biker bling arrived today. Looking smart

Actually got to do a bit this weekend, finally the legs are repainted in Ford Roman Bronze, hoping it will set off the titanium paintwork. Layer of primer And a layer of paint Have also lacquered them. Looking reasonable, i'm no sprayer so one side has more runs than grannies tights but the other is pretty good.

I used the old bearing as a protective layer above the new tapered bearing and then used the centre from my 2 tonne axle stands as a drift, fitted nicely and didn't seem to mine the 4lb lump hammer I smacked it with.

Not disagreeing with you there

Well at the moment we have a single garage that doubles as a bike storage and small workshop, we also have 5 cars and 2 bikes, something's not quite right there 😅

I'm sure they can, and here on the Isle of Man we have plenty of places who have years of race and road setup experience where we can get these things done - at a cost, unfortunately I have some budgeting to do at the minute, a divorce to settle from 2016, and a wedding to pay for in 2022. We also need a bigger house and additional garages with workshop. I have another car and bike still to bring to the island from the UK, I'm struggling to do more than you did yourself at the minute, my blackbird is one of 6 vehicles I own and keep roadworthy and legal, 7 if you include the C-Max my Fiancee owns .

I'm currently around 175lbs, usually around 140-145lbs dripping wet and naked, working from home plays havoc with my eating habits hence the increase. I'm not sure whether that qualifies as lightweight or not I also regularly take a pillion who ranges from 110-140lbs, she'd kill me if she knew I was sharing this 😳. On top of that we will occasionally be touring with three cases on a wingrack, when all this Covid nonsense is sorted we'll be heading for Provence to experience the lavender fields. At the moment though my finances are unlikely to go much further than a set of springs, I have already put well over £1500 into refurbishing the blackbird and that doesn't include bodywork which is going to need repairing, respraying, and new decals. I expect I'll be doing the front again in a year or two anyway as 5k is my fork oil change interval. Have to say, the andreani kit looks nice, but 548 euros isn't cheap.

I've already bought the Motul 10w but having done some more research I think 7/7.5 looks like a better plan for me. About 175lb in weight and like you say our climate is generally cooler.

I'll be fitting new seals, bushings, and oil of course. No change to the springs, they seem fine as far as I can tell. I've been seriously considering the preload caps from Jaws but with all the money spent so far I can't really justify them at the moment. I do have a 6mm shim ready to go on the rear though, I understand that makes a big difference, one of the things I've found with the bird is that it's way less nimble than my '90 VFR, hopefully the shim improves things. I have the centre stand and wingrack going off for powder coating next week, I had a bunch of other parts powder coated a while back and want the bike to look tidy, a ratty centre stand next to a newly powder coated side stand just wasn't working for me.

So I finally did a bit more to the bird at the weekend. Having previously shown the state of the fork legs I bought some replacements, over the last few weeks I have looked at them every time I went into the garage and thought, nope, they'll be fine, not rebuilding them. I think this was a combination of laziness and fear of the unknown as I've never rebuilt forks before. Anyway, I decided to go for it, took about an hour working methodically and following the instructions in this video. Ironically, the thing I was most worried about was the cap coming off at 100mph and taking a chunk out of me, looking at the way the forks are constructed I don't think it's even possible with these forks. Once the cap is released from the stanchion it is still attached to the damping rod of the cartridge by a locked thread and therefore has a very limited amount of travel, all of which would be damped anyway. So anyway, a couple of pictures of the deconstructed forks. As you can see from the second photo, it's still pretty cramped in my garage. The tube to the left is the one that sits on the lower part of the cartridge. Very glad I decided to do this, the oil from the forks is decidedly murky, and one of the oil seals was just starting to weep. The new stacnhions are reasonably good but do have a couple of small stonechips in them.

You could always go down this route... Chilly Reg Rec

Not true, there are several roads around Douglas that get jammed up, especially at the moment whilst we have major works progressing on all of the main routes in the town. It's a matter of perspective but it's not unusual for me to sit in a half mile queue on the way home from work. Thats on the odd days I actually go the office

I live on the Isle of Man 🇮🇲, it never gets that warm here 😂

They pretty much always get overlooked, I had one on my VFR which is why I checked for the bird. Don’t really want chunks of greasy foam in my carbs really.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. I got it from AES UK Cleaned the plastic using Armor-All exterior trim wipes that I got from costco in the UK last time I was there, cheap but effective.

So, a quick update. Heven't had a lot of time recently but did a little bit of cleaning of plastic stuff, also fitted the new Shindengen Mosfet RegRec and sited the secondary fusebox. Piece from below clocks Spare clock infills. Lower infills. Chain Guard Accessory infills - There will be a single one of these dual USB with voltmeter sockets and a waterproof accessory socket. New accessory socket hasn't arrived yet and I wanted to have something filling the hole 🤣 Airbox, complete with new HiFlo airfilter and standard honda secondary sponge filter (those are inside ) Shindengen FH020AA Mosfet RegRec. Yes I know, the starter solenoid wiring is a mess and there's still some frame cleaning to do. This rebuild is only going so far 😂, want to be able to ride her sometime soon. Secondary fusebox site. New box has LED's to indicate blown fuses. Currently plan to run 2 x accessory sockets, camera's, and heated grips from this all as separate circuits. Have a brand new Electrosport stator for the injection model fitted so plenty of extra juice for my carbie.

This may help Fault finding guide I simply measured the resistance between all phase combinations, they were all equal so I believe that confirms a good stator. I have upgraded to an Electrosport and Shindengen Mosfet R/R as my original R/R was shot. The stator I bought is for the FI, even though mine is a carbie. 2 advantages, firstly, higher output to power my accessories, secondly, the connector wires are long enough to reach the R/R on my bike without any joints. Win win.

Thank you The SL came to me as a project last year, cost a massive £600. Bodywork was awful but the engine was sweet. Straight-six and smooth as a babys backside. Couldn't get the original 7 slat grille as Mercedes no longer make them. Same part number gives you the 6-slat from the later cars so that's what I bought. £7000 later she looks pretty decent, perfect for taking the dogs and SO out on a sunny day Wearing the Hardtop Arty Farty pic at Laxey Wearing the softop Not the favourite of my cars, but a close second.

So I got some time on the bird this weekend, finally removed the exhaust so I could drill out the snapped bolt for the lower radiator bracket. Once that was done, many hours, I ended up using a helicoil to rethread. Have mounted the new 2 row radiator and the new R&G guard which doesn't sit quite right on this radiator. I think it's OK though . You may have noticed that the cover is off the thing at the back of the garage I mentioned a while back, it's the hardtop for my 1994 Mercedes SL280. Picture below