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Project Blackbird


JaBr

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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

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And a layer of paint :)

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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.

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

 

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15 hours ago, blackhawkxx said:

I think that color will look good.  Are you going to accent anything else with that color?

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 😂.

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We went on a little ride over the weekend with the Hurrican' that usually gets couple head-turns two nice Harleys and a BMW.

 

We stopped for gas and a guy at the pump was absolutely staring at my Ti as I left.

Edited by XXitanium
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On 9/28/2020 at 12:27 PM, JaBr said:

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

IMG_4845.thumb.JPG.ea634952327b17b5344b2b8d549ac928.JPG

 

And a layer of paint :)

IMG_4847.thumb.JPEG.b5af49cb78886543dccb6e67c652e02c.JPEG

 

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'm going to make a recommendation of putting some of that clear self adhesive paint protection film at least on the front half of the fork legs. Should slow down the rock chips and keep the legs looking better longer.

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18 hours ago, rhubarbray said:

 

I'm going to make a recommendation of putting some of that clear self adhesive paint protection film at least on the front half of the fork legs. Should slow down the rock chips and keep the legs looking better longer.

 

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

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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 ;) 

 

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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.

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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.

 

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After that I decided to offer the fork legs up to the bike, those are now in and torqued up correctly

 

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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 :) 

 

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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.

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On 10/16/2020 at 5:29 AM, XXitanium said:

Are you saying your body panels need refurbishing?

Indeed I am, I want to retain the original panels where possible so have some bits of plastic welding to do, unfortunately I feel the front mudguard and rear cowl are probably beyond rescue as there are bits of plastic missing on the rear cowl and the mudguard fixings have turned in their recess and damaged the seats beyond repair.

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On 10/17/2020 at 6:04 AM, XXitanium said:

Those look cool, but for slightly more than that I can get my originals sorted :) 

 

Thanks though

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I can put it in wheelie and stoppie positions so hopefully shouldn’t be an issue.  Have a large syringe to inject fluid in from the bleed valves so the system won’t be completely empty when doing it.  Hopefully will be simpler than I’m expecting.  Brakes are a little way down the list yet though, many other things to sort out first 👍

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  • 2 weeks later...

So a full week of playing with the bird has yielded some fairly decent results.  Currently all that is left is to bleed the brakes, revisit the petrol tank hoses, mount the cans, change the oil, and fit the Side panels, V-Panel, Rear cowl, and seat.  It's been a week of highs and lows, getting to Thursday and finding I was missing 3 slider pins for the caliper mounting plates was not my finest hour but in fairness to Honda they manage to ship them from the UK to the Isle of Man overnight, no mean feat with our postal services and the challenges associated with living on an island in the middle of the Irish sea, had I been a day later I would still be waiting as stormy conditions since early hours of Saturday morning have blocked the boats from sailing, so very little is getting here, and the supermarkets will be low on stock by now. 

 

I must say, there have been many times over the last week when I've consciously doubted my own abilities and whether completion of this project would ever happen but I'm cautiously optimistic now that I'm nearly done, my toolkit has grown massively as well :).

 

So on Monday we started here...

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First job was to clean both wheels and fit the new front disks.

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Then the clocks went on

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Followed by the upper cowl on to the stay.

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And the mirrors...

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All fitted with new stainless steel bolts from Biker Bling

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And to protect the bolts I also have stainless steel bits.  Not cheap, but typical high quality from Wera.

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Infill panels went in next, those of you who've done this before will notice the glaring error at this point.  Yep, they had to come back out so I could fit the airbox 🙄.  

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New Accessories infill fitted, wires have since been wrapped

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So at this point we're quite a bit further on, airbox and tank are now in place.  One of the carb vacuum screws had been removed to fit a scottoiler at some point in the past, when the oiler was removed, the vacuum pipe was left in place and open and it could suck air in, this has now been removed and a new blanking screw fitted. 

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One of the tasks I hadn't looked forward to was plastic welding the side panel to V-panel mounting point.  It was completely detached with virtually nothing left on the side panel to mount to.  Paperclips enter stage left...

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I used cable tie offcuts as welding rods, not a pretty job, but very strong now.

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Rear wheel mounted and aligned, and new chain tensioned.  Back to an original chain guard instead of the poorly fitting hugger that was installed, at some point I'll invest in a decent hugger.  Chain monkey laser alignment tool and tensioner, absolutely brilliant.  

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The wires still need a little tidying but the new relay and fusebox are in and connected, I've fused the line to the accessory fusebox at 30A (Fusebox rated at 40A), currently using 26A of fuses in total, I could reduce the USB sockets fuse to 5A which would leave me 9A of capacity for future use, cameras are on a 1A fuse.  4 of the 6 ways are currently in use so there is space for some low power future additions if required, a rear accessory port comes to mind for passenger use.  A few extra battery connections were required, (Reg Rec / CTek Port / Relay) so I have fitted slightly longer screws to the battery terminals and they sit fine.

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Cameras have been set up and located.

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Front and rear brakelines done, calipers fitted and awaiting bleeding.

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Fancy clutch fluid reservoir cover, have the same for the brakes.

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Cans are polished and awaiting fitment.  Far from perfect but way better than when they started.

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So a fair bit of progress this last week, a few hiccups, having to tear stuff down and rebuild because I forgot to fit other parts first, but in general I'm happy with where I've got to.  Very close to completion now, it's been a long road to get here but I'm happy with where I am.  This build has been a huge learning experience for me, cars I'm comfortable with, bikes I've done very little with until now and this has been rather a baptism by fire, for a job that started off as just changing the front disks it's mushroomed somewhat, but overall I'm pleased that I did this.  

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The last bit for now, the Abba Skylift has been tremendous, it wasn't cheap by any means but I couldn't realistically have done this rebuild without it.  The box to the right of the bike in the above picture is the Abba front wheel chock, that's another new toy for me to play with :).  The only other work I feel is needed is the bodywork restoration, this will come in time, for now I'll be happy to have a bike with everything else sorted.  Mechanically I think she's sound now, I'm going to do the CCT as a precaution, and possibly next year replace the clutch.

 

Edited by JaBr
Photo in wrong place.
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14 hours ago, TeXTrain99 said:

Looks like good work all the way around. 

 

Thank you, it’s been a learning curve for sure, can’t wait to ride her when she’s finished 😊

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23 hours ago, JaBr said:

Chain monkey laser alignment tool and tensioner

Is that a brand name, interested?

 

Quote

Infill panels went in next, those of you who've done this before will notice the glaring error at this point.  Yep, they had to come back out so I could fit the airbox 🙄.  

Who hasn't done that type of stuff?  At first I kick myself and then realize it is just time, no harm. 

 

Your project looks like it is going great!

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