Bol d'Or restoration

[fergie]

thought i'd post a pic of my ride before i start work on it. plan to ride for a month or so then tear it down. it seems mechaniclly ok but is cosmeticly challenged.
i will repair the fairings and repaint, and a general tidy up everywhere else. any advice/input greatly appreciated.

[fergie]

opps! forgot the pics

[riffer]

Wow, a blast from the past!

How's things fergie? What ever happened to the FZR?

Folks - fergie was the one who introduced me to Kiwibiker nearly four years ago now back when I was celticno6. So you can all blame him. :dodge:

Good luck with the Bol d'or. My father in law had one of those for about 20 years until about a year ago when he finally bought a Hornet 900.

I look forward to reading more about the restoration. And good to see you back here again.

[fergie]

hi there Simon, good to see you are still here, i still have fond memories of my last bold'or.as for the fzr! way too fast for me,i had visions of me lying in a hospital bed!

[riffer]

Really? Mine ended up pretty modded in the end.

It was a Jap-spec 87 FZR750R, about 80HP when I started. I changed out the CDI for the high-performance one with 7 degrees advance on the Jap one, did a full rejet on the carbs, debaffled the zorst, and got the airbox breathing way better. I probably got at least another 20HP out of it after that...

It used to wheelie off the throttle in first and with a bit of encouragement in second (close throttle, open throttle) after that. :stoogie:

And then it died in a gargre fire (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=10454&highlight=gargre+fire).

I've had an RF900 for over 2 years now. Yes, its been tinkered with too...

[vagrant]

They are great bikes. I had the half faired version in black. It was a real looker, and went like a cut cat.
It was pretty knackered when I got it, rusted forks, oval front wheel, generally in crap condition.
I stripped it right down to a bare frame, blasted it and repainted it in a baked enamel. All the bolt and mounting plates etc were glass bead blasted and nickel plated for a satin finish.
The forks were ground back and rechromed, and the corrosion on the fork legs and rocker cover was blasted out, filled with aluminium putty, and painted using stuff called "cermetal" (I think, it was a while ago) It was an aluminium colored high temp coating that was put on Skyhawk engine casings. Looked like a new one at the end.
That was up until I bottomed a frame rail while hauling a plus sized pillion round Queen Charlotte sound. It cracked the oil fitting taking the oil from the engine to the frame rail and up to the oil cooler. it all became rather hot and bothered, and the cams ate themselves. Bugger.:shit:

I will have a hunt for some pictures when I get home and post them up.

best of luck with the project

[nudemetalz]

RollaDors were neat bikes back then.
There was also the CB900F2 and the VF1000F11 from what I remeber that were also called the Bol'Dors.

Keep us all in the loop, looks like you've got a great project there :)

[tri boy]

Bought one in 85./86.
I think the very first ones had a bad crank( oil port chamfer was minimal), but Honda sorted that out quick. Bloody fast for its day. But then those bloody Gixxers turned up. Watch out for that nervous front wheel.

[roadracingoldfart]

I worked at Sawyers during the 80s and i wanted one of those CBX 750s but they were so popular i had to wait almost 2 months for mine. It was an awesome bike classed as a sports tourer but it was just a wee bit heavy at 223 kg dry lol. They needed the 23 litre tank and you only got about 250 k range from that.
They had a few worries like valve guides wearing out , pistons going all oval and the cam chain was a joke but a modified tensioner sorted that out.
I kept it for 5 yrs and covered 87000 k.
When they were new they sold for (from memory) just under $8 k.
Paul.

[fergie]

cheers paul, my bike has only 60ks on the clock and runs/sounds very well, thanks for those tips re engine, something to look out for.:yes:

[roadracingoldfart]

well the truth is that i used to cane it a bit and they dont like it you know lol. I actually went through 3 top end rebuilds under warranty . Maybee they are more of a tourer than the sport part . I would own another one any day as its a perfect touring two up bike.

[fergie]

well i came across a couple of boxes of parts on trade me. so plan to spend my spare time before pulling the bike down giving the alloy parts some serious shine.
so that when i re assemble it will speed up the process by having a heap of newly painted and polished bits and pieces ready.
i have a dremmel type machine and have been saving up elbow grease !
now just have to convince the boss it's ok to sit infront of the fire and telly with a tub of autosol and a cordless drill!

[fergie]

spent about 3 hours trying to polish one footpeg bracket, man what a job, started off with the palm sander with 600 grit then moved onto the dremel but kept destroying the discs. finished with autosolve aluminium polish on the dremel polishing attachment. pleased with the results so far.

the plan is to have all my spare parts cleaned,repainted,polished ready to go back on the bike when i repaint the fairings.

[Jimmy B]

Worthy project there Fergie and fond memories of that bike, twas the first one that I ever did 200 on :Punk:

[kevfromcoro]

Had a 900 yrs ago.Would do a good 200 plus.
Just tad slower than the 1000s around at the time.
Moved on to a CBX.6 cylinder jobby.
Good bike in there day...handling was a bit to be desired

[fergie]

i find that these days when pushing a bike too fast into corners i tend to get a hard thump on the helmet from the rear end? (boss). so cruising and enjoying the scenery is the plan. i do love those bold'ors though. this is my second one.