My 990 Project

So, lets set the scene a little bit.

My first SD was an 06 model in the faster black colour. It had round Arka’s, friskier gearing but was otherwise much as it left the factory. I loved it, never had the slightest problem with it, didn’t ride it much but rode it hard when I did. Other than an occasional oil change and adding some bling levers from china (which were top notch by the way) I didn’t have to do anything at all to it over 5 years of ownership.

I have always been a bit schitzo about the styling. To me sometimes it looks like a random collection of bits and sometimes like an angry insect. Beautiful it isn’t, I think the best you can say is that it’s distinctive but in any event mine was unmarked when sold and basically in close to showroom condition with less than 7K on the clock. There are a couple of pictures of it on the crashfest thread from 2014 if anybody is interested.

I had owned it for about 5 years before I eventually got round to doing a track day with it, Crashfest. I wasn’t expecting much as it had been a while for me away from the track and the SD is so different to what I used to track that I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Needless to say it was fine and the bike performed flawlessly, easily keeping up with highly modded versions (and numerous sports bikes) with the rider being the limiting factor. Over two days I never got my body position right but Stalker thought the pace was fair even if I looked like an idiot while doing it which is Ok with me.

However I did make one big mistake, I parked next to the Reaper and his family’s SD. For those that don’t know, his bike is the very definition of how a modded SD should look. From all the usual intake mods, single seat conversion, slipper clutch, forged wheels etc etc and all done to a great standard.

Before this I had planned to keep mine, as it was, for ever as its such a great road toy but after that I knew I wanted to make mine into my own definition of the perfect SD. When I got home I drew up a list of stuff that I wanted to do. This list included;
1. Single seat conversion
2. Rotty airbox
3. Flies & shafts out
4. Pro custom tune ECU map by an expert (Kev & Projex came highly recommended)
5. Uprate the suspension
6. 2007+ tank and front mask
7. Belly pan
8. Lifi battery
9. Uprated wheels
10. Rearsets
11. Slipper Clutch
12. Some kind of distinctive paint job making it mine.
13. Assorted bling, fasteners etc to bring it as close to perfect as I can reasonably manage before my usual neglect kicks in.

I expected all of this to take a long time and be done a little at a time but events overtook me…

Fuel, a longstanding member here who has done a lot of trackdays with the usual suspects has become addicted to pedal bikes and decided to sell his 2009 SD which already had quite a lot of what I was planning to do done. The timing was too good to resist so we did the deal, I sold my 06 SD and bought his, total exchange cost to me was under 1K.

Fuel had done a lot of work already. From the list above;
1 – Has both single seat conversion (fitted) and a dual seat set up ready to bolt on so can be either.
2/3/4 – All done already and tested at 118 RWHP
5 – Has full race Wilbers rear shock and revalved front forks with Schrader air release valves on the fork tops
6 – It’s a 2009 bike so all that came as standard
8 – Already fitted but not seen by me yet
11 – Full professionally fitted sigma slipper ( I have the standard clutch in the box that it came in)
In addition to all this both base gaskets have recently been changed, the water pump rebuilt, has the Oberon slave, a quick action throttle, gear indicator, mini indicators, tail tidy and numerous other bits and pieces.

The bike is fairly tatty though, all the fastners are furry / rusty, tank is a bit scratched up, few marks in the paintwork and on the fork tops from straps when it’s been transported and generally looks a bit tired. Its done 20K miles and a fair few track days so perhaps that’s not too surprising. It’s black and white and I can’t decide if that’s OK or if I’m going all black.

The biggest surprise came when I rode it. It felt slower, softer and just less fun than my old standard 06 bike. Throttle response was softer, steering was slower and although noisier on induction it just didn’t have the hooligan feel that I’m used to. Some of this might be explained by the 38 tooth rear sprocket and well worn set of semi race Dunlops that its wearing at the moment. A new 40 tooth sprocket and a pair of the Rosso Corsa’s await fitment which should improve matters.

Where my old bike would wheelie off the throttle in second the new one doesn’t, where my old bike popped and banged spitting flame the new one is silent on over run as all the sas stuff is removed and Motohooligan block off plates are in place.

I still think it’s a good basis to make the bike I want but until it rides better than the old one and looks better I won’t be properly happy with it so that’s the aim.

Other than the wheels (I want a forged pair from the SMR but they seem rare as rocking horse shit) I have assembled all the other stuff I need so I’m almost ready to start.

Had to remodel my garage building a play den for the boy upstairs and by removing vast quantities of accumulated rubbish down at ground level to make room for all the work which has mostly been achieved over the Christmas holiday period.

I have taken apart and even reassembled a fair few bikes but not for a very long time. It’s more than 20 years since I did anything serious with spanners so I approach this with some trepidation. I’m not splitting the cases but I might end up taking a lot of stuff off / apart. I know how this goes, you keep spotting things and more and more bits get recoated / replaced etc etc.

To keep myself on track I am going to book an April TD at Cadwell / Mallory / Donnington when the dates are released so that I have a deadline to meet. That should ensure that I don’t lose focus and end up with a lot of widely dispersed SD parts and a bad mood.

I’m planning to take and post a load of pictures / video as I go along with commentary on how the jobs got done and whatever problems I’m struggling with at the time. There are MANY people on here more talented with spanners than me so any / all suggestions / assistance will be welcomed.

I would just like one moment at the end of this when it’s all done, sitting there on its stand and (to my eye) sorted. If I get that I will think it was all worthwhile. After that it will either be a keeper or sold. If it rides as well or better than my old SD then I will keep it as my long term road toy, if not then I will sell it and buy a fairly standard older SD for the same purpose.

Wow, long post. No doubt somebody somewhere will have done everything I’m about to do previously but I thought it would be nice to have a current 990 project thread running and perhaps I can benefit from input from those that have been through all this before.

Here goes….

Right, work is now underway so I thought I would post a few pictures to show the baseline and some initial observations.

First the overall bike as it stands. Space lighting etc in the garage were not ideal for pictures and all were taken on an iphone so forgive the quality but hopefully you will get the idea.







In the first two you can see a bit of oil on the floor. The bike has a slow weep from the sump plug (enough for a drop to form over a few days) and also a weep from the top of the oil sight tube. Both will need some action although hopefully not too much work to resolve. On the third picture you can see an orange thing sticking out of the side and this is an optimate charging connection. In addition to looking tatty t's also redundant as the bike has a Li Pro battery which isn't compatible with an optimate.

Not sure how many pics are allowed in a single post so will add one more and then post some more detailed shots of the poor areas with comments / thoughts

Regarding battery / electrics I knew the bike had a Li Pro battery and assumed it would be one of the makes discussed at length on the forum. The bike has a fixed Optimate charging point installed tapped into what looks like a really complicated arrangement of connectors etc down by the battery box, On the top end it was threaded behind the crash bung bracket which held it in place. Functional but unsightly and in any case the Optimate doesn't work with Li Pro batteries so my idea was to just remove it.



On removing the chin fairing I was surprised at the complexity of what faced me. I should stress that everything on the bike works but there were far more connectors than I remember from my last SD (some not connected to anything) and the optimate was wired into one connector that had multiple ins and outs as well as having another wire that went somewhere else. In other words it couldn't simply be unplugged. I like doing a neat job but I lack the confidence / expertise to pull the spaghetti off the battery box and reinstall it all in a less chaotic manner. I have removed the charging point from behind the crash bung and my current thought is to leave it connected but tucked inside the new bellypan when it's installed.

The other surprise was that the battery is not Shorai etc but made by a company called Haijiu, the model is SPS. I have never heard of them but looking it up they make quite a range, all are the same size as the lead / acid that they replace with the same terminals but they are at least 65% lighter and claim all the usual Li Pro advantages. My experience so far is positive. I recently started the bike after more than a month unstarted (more like two I think) with temp in the garage well below zero. Cranked but didn't start on first poke, started on second try no problems after 30 seconds with the headlight on warming the battery up. Dont know how they compare price wise but seems like a good unit for the SD to me. Couldn't get the batter case door open enough for a picture but its green.

I might post an image of the wiring spaghetti tomorrow in case some smart people can give me advice on how to improve.

Last point from this picture, the bike has brand new Samco hoses fitted but they are oragne and I'm doing a black thing so they will all have to go. If aybody ut there fancies a set of almost unused Orange Samco hoses then let me know.

Every time I see a ZX14...

Here are couple of images to give a general feel for the overall condition of the bike. Pretty much every bolt / fastener I have come across is rusty, furred up or partially rounded. A lot of money has been spent on the motor and suspension but much less has gone into the cosmetics. The bike was built to ride (20K + Miles) and track, not to look at. I want it to work and look good so the cosmetic aspects are going to be my main areas for development.



This little mark is typical of the minor paintwork damage all over. I'm going to repaint it although I haven't decided on the scheme yet. The larger bright spot on the fork top is where a strap has worn through the anodising. I'm wavering about what to do, I could rotate the forks and just hide it that way although the air valves fitted make this more complicated, I could use a WP sticker to hide it or do the decent thing, take them out and send them away for re anodising. I'm reluctant to do the latter as it would be time consuming and expensive, money I cant really justify. Other thoughts I had were indelible marker pen (yes really) or possibly paint? If anybody has a useful suggestion then feel free...



The exhaust looks worse in the picture but I have managed to get hold of a new unused set of downpipes so seems stupid not to swap them over.



One curiosity, the bike has a tail tidy fitted and the plate is much closer to the right pipe than the left. Not sure why yet but its on the list;



Here is the rad, again I was tempted just to get a rad guard but as I have to replace the hoses I will pull it out and spray it. Might get a rad guard as well.



Right thats probably enough for one evening, more as things progress.

Watching this with interest.
Get the headers grit blasted - they'll come up like new

You have my apologies for instigating your current addiction..........








......it needs more black.......

Too distressing for me to see as my luverly SD is pampered

What IS that???

Interesting what you say about the old one feeling better, seems to be quite a few people that agree with that!

I've got a standard 06, had an 07 R model 3 years ago (standard apart from akro's) and the 06 feels just as good.

The White SD is the best looking and rarest ........ I might be a little biased though

No - sensor and nut are one thing - disconnect at connectors and wield spanner.....

Thanks guys, got it now!

OK, after weeks of endless birthdays, family commitments and other keep John out of the garage stuff I finally got a clear run at the SD this afternoon.

A bloody frustrating afternoon it was too, very discouraging.

The plan today was to pull off all the stuff that I'm replacing with the first item on the agenda the exhaust headers as I have a new set and or might get the current set blasted. Obviously this should have been an easy job but surprise surprise has proved not difficult but impossible!

So the headers have exhaust gas analysers in and these need disconnecting before the headers can be removed. I start tracing the wire back but it's impossible to follow with the tank and bodywork on so all of that has to come off. No big deal as it's all coming off for paint anyway. With a very bright torch and much forcing of fingers into tiny spacers the wire is eventually followed to it end wher it is cable tied uselessly to the frame connected to nothing! Cut cable tie, ten mins of buggering about to unthread and it's untangled. Now the fun really starts. The rear header cable is bundled with a load of other wires, wrapped in tape and threaded Behind a bracket that holds the bracket that the side stand is bolted to. This is held in place by two round bolts with torqe heads (so you can't use spanners) and a conventional bolt where it's very awkward to get any movement with a spanner. I traced the wire and here again the other end wasn't connected to anything at all. In common with every fitting I have so far touched there is no evidence that whoever has bolted anything to the bike had ever heard of grease. Torque bolt one was so tight I though it would sheer, the bike was close to lifting with the force I had to apply! Eventualy it did give and I got it out but it was a close run thing. I soaked the other torque bolt in even more release agent but this one just would not move and eventually the head failed and rounded out. There is now no way to take the bolt out, the wires behind it are stuck there for good and if I want to remove the exhaust I'm required to cut the cable from the pointless unconnected sensor. Grrrr

Does anybody know if you can buy neat looking blanking plugs for the exhaust? The sensors arnt connected so do nothing anyway, blanking plugs would allow me just to cut the wire and try pulling it through from the connector end to tidy things up.

Also any suggestions on how to remove the shit torque headed bolt? I can't heat it because wiring runs just behind, I wonder if there is enough head left for an impact driver to have a chance??

Will upload some pics to photo bucket and share when the backup allows.

Bloody frustrating few hours, nothing at all achieved and now sitting here talking myself out of the urge to throw it all back together, sell it and buy something else!!!

This shows the cable bundle that includes the sensor wire disappearing behind the bracket with the partially rounded top bolt in place.

Another view of the same area before bolt removal.

Waiting to be fitted......

:lurk: I'm just gunna grab some popcorn and see where this goes.

Also, how much do you want for those hoses?

Current state of deconstruction complete with bungee fuel tank levitation.

Why should someone who wants to sort out some things on their bike, want to add more black which as everyone knows- slows the bike down. White is, was, and always will be the fastest 990 color. It's common knowledge. [/quote]

Yeah it's common knowledge, when you live in your own world.

Proof the rare white ones are faster........ Cos all the colour has been ripped off by the air pressure.

How about a racing stripe? That will add 5 hp min at the wheel.

OK, quick update as I got a few hours with the spanners today.

Before the specifics a little general observation. A couple of people have said to me over the years that they hear the SD is an easy bike to work on. Well speaking as somebody who has done a couple of bare frame, split case rebuilds, worked on two and four stokes of various vintages, Jap 4's & Twins, Itallian tripples and twins etc I beg to differ. My spannering skills are really rusty but so far and even taking into account forgotten problems the SD has been the most awkward and relentlessly problematic machine I have ever laid a spanner on. Not one job, no matter how simple has taken less then twice the time expected and the last one many times more than that.

Right now, considering that all I'm doing is tyding and blinging it up a bit, if I knew just what a total pain in the arse it was going to be I never would have bothered. I'm only persisting because I'm bloody minded and refuse to give in. For sure, no matter how well it turns out it won't have been worth the effort!!

So to the specifics. Removing the headers from a bike should be a thirty min job, perhaps a bit more if there is loads of bodywork to take off and a few rusty bolts / collets to free up. Taking them off the SD has taken nearly five hours split over three days. It has necessitated in addition to the usual spanners and sockets, three planks of wood, a car jack, large quantities of release fluid, a plumbers wrench, snips and quite a lot of other crap I'm presently trying for forget.

Unwinding the front gas sensor cable was awkward but not especially dificult, the rear one was impossible to remove without cutting the connector off as it was wound into the loom and threaded behind a bracket that would have needed a drill, tap and helicoil to remove at the risk of damaging the engine case. Risk / reward didctated that this stayed in place. I did try to unhook the connector as Guy suggested but mine had no such tangs to allow the wires to come out of the connector so cutting was the only option. I even sawed the connector in half to see if they were there and I was being stupid but they dont exist. Snip and the cable pulled out of the loom easily.

Unbolting the front header was a bit fiddly as the oil tak is a close fit. The rear header is more dificult as the proximity of the Y piece pipe and frame makes sockets impossible and the frame means you can only get tiny movements on the studs. With the exhaust in place I had no access to the bottom bracket joining the rear header to the front header. Having got the exhaust off the heads and loose I could drop it down a bit and get a bit of access to the bottom header bolt which although stiff came off OK. Now the fun realy begins...

To get the headers away from the bike the rear section has to thread behind the swing arm in a gap between it and the engine. This cant' be done with the short rear header joined to the front assembly. Took me over an hour and a half to seperate them using release fluid, heat, impact, plumbers strap wrench ahd everything else I could think of. I was so pissed off toward the end that I even considered a saw or disk cutter but as I need the short pipe section again reason prevailed and eventually I got them seperated. Wow, job done I think...

Not really!!

The front headers and link pipe to the Y piece are all one part so you have to twist and jigger the whole asembly to get the big bore section through the gap between the engine and swing arm. Guess what, it can't be done when the bike is on an Abbot stand. There is no combination of angle, twist and force that will get the pipe lined up and through the gap, either the floor or parts of the stand impact the headers and you are stuck.

The solution was a car jack, three wooden planks all used to jack up the rear of the bike allowing the abbot stand to be removed and enough clearance to get the pipes out. What an utter pain in the arse. Same will be needed when it's time to refit them.

Yes I know I could have taken the swing arm out and made the job easire but honestly what a shit design. A job that I don't think has ever taken me more than a relaxed hour on anything before has been a longwinded nightmare. Last one I did was a full system on a K5 Gixer which I did with a couple of spanners, bike on side stand in well under an hour while sipping a cold one.

All this just to shine them up and make it look a bit better.

My advice - Dont bother!!! Just shine them up a bit with polish in situ and save yourself a lot of bloody trouble.

Right, next up is the Rad which I'm only taking off to repaint and the hoses which are new but Orange and they need to be black. Expect no end of sheered off bolts, missing crap, odd wiring challenges and for everything to take five times as long as it should not to mention the fun of trying to get the air out of the cooling susyem. Bloody Rad guard is looking like a good idea about now....

Obviously one of the problems with riding in the UK is salty roads fooking up bolts and generally making life difficult.
Might pay to give it a going over with a SS bolt kit and plenty of anti seize. Did this to mine a few years ago and never had an issue.
I have pulled my headers off twice for cleaning and to use your words it took a lazy hour, bit fiddly but doable.
I know its a bit late but there is enough room in the rear O2 sensor cable to carefully undo it without disconnecting and twisting the cable, well it worked for me anyway.
Dont know how you went with the rounded nut but sockets like Metrinch work well on rounded bolts
Plug away at at it mate, will be worth it in the end.

Got a bit more garage time today and the system is now drained, the Rad disconected and all the hoses exposed ready for swapping when the black ones arrived.

Today nothing broke, stuck or otherwise buggered about, it all went just as you would have expected it to. It was almost a pleasure and some of yesterdays frustrations are leaving me

Couple of little things to note and curiosities..

The bolt in the middle half way up the bottom spoke in this picture was mistaken by me for the cooling system drain bolt. It is long and came out well oiled but nothing drained from the hole, anybody know what it's for?



When taking the fan assembly off the back of the removed radiator you only need to remove the top bolt, the three long bolt / screws simply retain the fan to the shroud and can be left in place

My bike is on an Abbot stand so with the rear wheel removed I can pick up the front and it pivots round the swing arm mounts. When I did this quite a lot more coolant came out although I couldnt see if it was from the rad itself or from the drain plug or both as my position was a bit awkward. I think when refil time comes I will prop the front wheel up 50CM, fill the rad with the drain plug out till it starts flowing, replace the drain plug and keep slowly filling till its full. Then run the motor for a while, check level and top up as required. Does this sound like a good plan to minimise trapped air problems which quite a few members have posted as an issue over the years?

The rad itself is now thoroughly cleaned, de greased with Gunk and is hanging up in the boiler room drying. A can of satin black smooth Hamerite awaits it when it's ready. These are the before prep pictures;





On anothr note I'm curious about the exhaust. The top flange on the headers has a sort of double rim as if some kind of sealing ring should be present but mine had no such rings, just a graphite gasket where the rear header tube joins the front pipes. Should there be something in there. Also both front and back headers had one stud with a spacer and one without. The spacer goes over the stud between the haed and the pipe retaining bracket. Seemed odd to me having only one, is this right??



Thanks guys, assistance much appreciated.

First picture missing..........

Loosen the coolant pump vent bolt, the top bolt, not the drain bolt, with the front end raised 500mm.

The header gasket is between the head and the top flange (it'll still be in the head) - the lower flange takes the load from the restraint bracket which, yes, has a spacer on one bolt only.

Thanks No 47.

Because of having to upload pics from the mobile but editing post with laptop it takes me a while to get the posting organised. I think all the pictures are there now.

I will have a look and try to identify the vent bolt that you mentioned.

Yep - think that bolt is just an inner clutch case fixing bolt.

Coolant pump vent bolt is the top middle one.

Alobar makes a valid point.

My question is: Which is which? I'm assuming the blasted ones are the ones on the right?

The only negative to using the blasted ones is that they look more porous, which could mean that they're going to get dirty/rust really quickly. Have you considered getting them ceramic coated? The prep work is done, so you're already half way there!

Or just hit them with ceramic header paint if cost is a lroblem.

Radiator before and after five coats of Hamerite satin black.

Mate. I bought a shot-blasting set up last year. Big compressor, shot-blasting booth, gun, different medium from sand to wallnut shells. Love it! Totally transformed the way I renovate stuff and tackle problems. But one thing I have learned is that a shot-blasted surface looks great when first done but it doesn't remain that way for long. If it's ferrous it will rust up very quickly. If it's an alloy it will start to oxidise in some way. And if you run it on a bike then it gets very dirty, very quickly and looks shit.

Shot-blasting and bead blasting is a great way to clean up objects and prep them for another stage of work. You are better off going down the blasting route to get a finer surface and then polishing back to a standard finish. Or used to prep conventional painting or powder coating or other finishes. But on it's own the shot blast finish is doomed to failure in a real, dirty, working environment.

Just my experience anyway.

Been a while since updating this as life, work, kids ec have prevented a lot of progress untill yesterday.

Where to start...

Hoses are all black and as far as I can tell corectly installed. My only concern is the one from the thermostat housing towards the rad. This turny up from the thermostat at quite an acute angle and creates a bit of a flattening of the hose which I dont like. Its squeezed behind a bit of the frame and imposible to photograph. Anyway the hose is far from closed up so I'm hoping it wont cause an issue, time will tell. Overall the job was very fiddly and dificult requiring the removal or more or less everything attached to the engine block. I'm glad I have black hoses now but had I known the time and hassle required I might have found a way to live with the orange set instead!

Rad and ancileries all went back on fine. One thing to note is that pusing the bottom of the rad in to fix to the oil tank compresses the hoses a surprising amount, oh and dont forget to put the fan back on as I nearly did! Is all sort of settled down but as I mentioned, not the easiest of jobs by any means.

The exhaust. If you recall I had a shot blasted imaculate onle system and a brand nes front section and I was trying to decide what combination to use on the bike. Ideally I would have ceramic coated the shot blasted set but that was £250 and just at the moment I cant justify that. Instead I set about with metal polish, hours and hours of hard work and a brill / buffing wheel to see what I could achieve. In the end I was delighted with the result. Refitting was a great deal easier than removal, I used a motorcross bike stand under the swing arm to raise the rear, removed the Abot stand and access became easy. At times an extra pair of hands would have helped but essentially it went well.

This is how its looking now. If you compare to the before shots earlier in the thread I think the diference is quite striking. Obviously It wont stay like this but there will be a moment when all the other stuss is on and the paintjob completed when its all looking good









I have also fitted the Sato rearsets. They are exquisitly well made and look great on the bike. The pictures dont really do them justice as the stand gets in the way but I think they will look great when its all done. I do have one question though and I will post this as a seperate thread so people not reading my project thread might get to see it. On the brake side the std footrest assembly has a small return spring designed to bring the brake pedal back up fater use. The rearsets dont have a spring or any provision to use one. I'm just wondering if this is normal? Wont the rear brakes bind on if the pedal doesnt return?? I cant check as the rear wheel is out at the moment. If anybody has experience with this that they can share I would be grateful...

Anyway here are the rearsets.....









And this is the std assembly with the spring that isnt used on the rearsets.



I think thats about it for now. Tomorrow I'm going to refill the coolong system, refit the tank and see if it starts /runs OK. Thats a big deal for me as I have taken so much off / appart I'm a bit concerned to make sure I havent bollocksed anything up in the process!! If thats all good and leak free I can deal with the couple of oild weeps and turn to fitting the belly pan / sorting the paintwork out. More later.......

Looking good mate. I like the look of the Wilburs shock - hope the postage from Aus. is not too steep and i may have one soon.

If I was you I'd just rig up a return spring on the rear brake hidden from sight.

Post up photo of your thermostat - doesn't sound like it's in right place.

Your assistance opinion is gretly appreciated!!

My description of which hose was from memory and wrong. It's the one from the hard double joint on the right towards the thermostat. It comes out at a slight down angle and has to turn a bit uphill which flattens it out a bit. I have removed the crash bobbin and done my best to picture it but its burried behind a bit of frame and I'm using an iphone so not sure how clear it would be. If the images are not up when you first look they will be soon. I have to add them from my phone and I'm typing this on my laptop.

Here they are

Do you want to sell the stock shift lever?

OK quick update.....

If you have ever wondered what a Superduke looks like when the front wheel is 50 CM off the ground this is it. In fact it's a few CM short as stand would go no higher and I figured it was close enough for the cooling system refil. In any case the swing arm was close to the floor at this angle so it was pretty much the max I could achieve with this set up.



I took out the water system bleed screw (thanks 47 for the tip) and poured in the first litre of Silkolene Mag. Took a while but soon enough it started spouting out of the bleed hole so finger in the dyke, screw reinserted and we were away. The first litre went in fine, I slowley added the second but only got about half way when the rad appeared full. At this point I noticed several drips on the floor so started tracing where these were coming from. Lots of wiping, torchlight and investigation led to a couple of jubile clips which needed tightening a bit more. Eventually the drips were banished and more coolant could be added. This has to be done slowley as air finds it's way out of the system. Eventually I got about 1.7L in and it would take no more. At this stage the tank was put back on and a few litres of fuel added. It's clear the tank has expanded while off as per everybody elses experience so I'm going to need some of those MH brackets to allow it to be fitted properly but I just left it fastened at the rear for this trial.

With everything connected it was show time. Would it work at all, would it piss fluids all over the place, would the battery be flat (not started since before christmas). Only ne way to find out....

Key in, turn, wait for all the whiring noises to settle, stab starter and it fires almost inmediatly. Bloody lithium Iron battery is fantastic and test one completed.

Left running for nearly 20 mins, fan kicking in and out, zero leaks or weeps of fluid and this was as high as the temp got...




I count that as a resounding success!! Once cooled I got about another 100 Cl in for a total of about 1.8 Ltr, well short of the 2.1 specified so I'm guessing some of the origional fluid remained in the system.

Much relief and on to the next set of tasks which include rotating forks 180 degrees in the yokes to hide the marks from road use, removing all the bits with CF replacements, cleaning everything exposed that will later be hidden and fixing the oild weeps.

A good day in the garage

Here is a little hint towards the shade, weave and overall quality of finish I'm looking to achieve overall on the bike.....

New belly pan roughly positioned. Ignore colour / decals as this is all changing...



Forks are also rotated and look a lot better for it.

Getting really anal now. Took off and apart the steering damper, repainted the brackets, replaced the bolts and had a general clean up...