ducatilover's squidtastic pile of crap

[Fast Eddie]

Nah, got my bike licence before my car one lol

Rear rim is still ghey gray, needs to be polished and the spokes done black to match the front.

Fork lowers, they're silver and I'll be filing all the casting marks off, I'm not sure what colour to do them.

Should I keep the black parts on teh frame? Was thinking gunmetal or silver.

lucky you, i have lights in my shed but too dim to actually see what I'm up to. gotta upgrade that asap so I can work longer hours.

oh mint so ur doing polished lips and black centers? can't actually see in that photo ill have another look.

Fork lowers, im planning to do my forks gold and the lowers silver too. ohlins style. looks clean. can't think of any other color really apart from matt black.

I would probably have a look at silver on the bits on your frame. The black does stick out a lot next to the polished sections.

[ducatilover]

This is a pic when I did teh front wheel.

Silver is nice.
Ordering a shit-ton of bright zinc cap headed bolts for the beast, details!

[ducatilover]

Ordering even MOAR cap screws for:
Radiator mount
Tail light
rear brake assembly
chain guard
chain adjusters
subframe.

I've given the front brake splitter a flick of gloss black, looks nice.
BUT!

It looks silly, I've never been a fan of the splitter idea.
So, I'm going to measure the lines up and find some that fit, will be double line from the master. Just 'cos.

Did some soldering, really have to stop fucking around pulling bolts, measuring and ordering and plastic weld the belly pan, make a mount for the front and then get the shape right.

[ducatilover]

Started a new little side project on the bike (as per usual, I get side tracked a bit easily)
Was warming up the soldering iron/having a ciggy/cup of tea and looked at the speedo fascia/cover (that thingy)

I decided, whilst it was going to be simple, there wasn't enough "custom" happening.
So, I started this:

So it's currently very much a work in progress...
Took a wee bit of sanding to get the curve where the smaller gauge pod meets the side of the speedo.
Will have a small square pod on the other side for my volt meter too.

Crap pics, took the first two on the kitchen table and then decided you couldn't see my not so pretty plastic welding, I need a bloody camera!

The plan is to run the original temp gauge in there, I think the digital one that's still in the mail might be a bit non-traditional looking as it's a pretty 90's looking machine.

I'm warm in the office, I need motivation to go to the garage and keep working on it.

[ducatilover]

Bit of work done so far, got the rear caliper mounted

Dash is starting to look good

While plastic welding the soldering iron shafty bit started getting wobbly...so I put it down, unplugged it and the fuckin' thing fell to bits! Not too pleased as it's my father's, it's probably older than me. So I'll buy him a new one

Picked up a new hacksaw and 10 spare blades this morning 'cos they were cheap and got a 2m length of 20mmx1.6mm flat alloy, so here's the beginning of the headlight mounts on my highly technimical jig...also known as a spare fork leg


I also took another pic, because I can and I think I've made a very, very sexy looking bike

[Fast Eddie]

The plan is to run the original temp gauge in there, I think the digital one that's still in the mail might be a bit non-traditional looking as it's a pretty 90's looking machine.

hah.. my 1994 Aprilia is running a digital screen.. flashes COLD at me until engine is warm enough to ride. which I love, no longer do I have to make my own decisions. and then reads out clock, water temp, lap times.. some other shit on the screen.

[Fast Eddie]

all round looking mint tho..

im having probs cleaning my crank cases, cylinder and heads.. they have lots of baked on grease/oil.. very tough. using magic green max at the mo. have tried other degreasers..

anyone else have ideas on how to make an old engine look new, get rid of all the black shit thats baked on

[bogan]

White calipers? You bloody fairy

Its coming along nicely, is it a case of better shed, better tools, better work stories? I still have your stem nut to grind down a bit I just found in the shed, will hit it with the angle grinder then hopefully get it surface ground flat again next weds.

[bogan]

anyone else have ideas on how to make an old engine look new, get rid of all the black shit thats baked on

Take it to the powder coaters?

[ducatilover]

hah.. my 1994 Aprilia is running a digital screen.. flashes COLD at me until engine is warm enough to ride. which I love, no longer do I have to make my own decisions. and then reads out clock, water temp, lap times.. some other shit on the screen.

I wouldn't mind one of them!

all round looking mint tho..

im having probs cleaning my crank cases, cylinder and heads.. they have lots of baked on grease/oil.. very tough. using magic green max at the mo. have tried other degreasers..

anyone else have ideas on how to make an old engine look new, get rid of all the black shit thats baked on

I used a wire brush, scothbrite pads, elbow grease (don't be a pussy) and a wire wheel on a drill mainly.
Take it right back and slam some VHT over it, I did and it looks tasty.

White calipers? You bloody fairy

Was waiting for that

Its coming along nicely, is it a case of better shed, better tools, better work stories? I still have your stem nut to grind down a bit I just found in the shed, will hit it with the angle grinder then hopefully get it surface ground flat again next weds.

Yeah man, more space, better lighting, nothing/no-one in my way. Choice, will be neat having my top clamp on at the right height for the first time lol


Right, who has a soldering iron they'll send me this one's a bit beyond repair and I'm not in town 'till Tuesday.
Fuck it all!

[avgas]

You can remove the plug in the speedo and tie together two of the wires if you want to go that way, if you get it wrong you blow a fuse, no biggy lol From memory it's a pink and black that go together.

You could also do that... but it'd be cooler if you slap a 600 motor in it like I did

I didn't have too.
I had SP with flatsides and a blueprinted (then tweaked) engine
Feel sorry for the poor soul in Japan who spend all the $$$ to get it to the spec I got it in. The race clutch alone was worth a fair bit of coin.

Sold it a fellow on here many moons ago. He blew up the engine after running low on oil somehow.

[ducatilover]

I didn't have too.
I had SP with flatsides and a blueprinted (then tweaked) engine
Feel sorry for the poor soul in Japan who spend all the $$$ to get it to the spec I got it in. The race clutch alone was worth a fair bit of coin.

Sold it a fellow on here many moons ago. He blew up the engine after running low on oil somehow.

Very nice! I want to nick a set of flatsides for this bike.
Did your SP have a slipper clutch? I've seen a few L/M models with them installed, they were a seriously trick bit of kit back then.

[Fast Eddie]

I used a wire brush, scothbrite pads, elbow grease (don't be a pussy) and a wire wheel on a drill mainly.
Take it right back and slam some VHT over it, I did and it looks tasty.

shweet, yea figured so. will get some supplies from town tomorrow.

Whats VHT? where do you get it from.. is it colored or just a clear/protective coating.

I want to do the cyl heads flat/matt red as well. and water pump black.. side covers are undamaged so will leave them. and just want to clean up the crankcase and cylinders themselves.

[ducatilover]

shweet, yea figured so. will get some supplies from town tomorrow.

Whats VHT? where do you get it from.. is it colored or just a clear/protective coating.

I want to do the cyl heads flat/matt red as well. and water pump black.. side covers are undamaged so will leave them. and just want to clean up the crankcase and cylinders themselves.

VHT spray cans, repco stock them (ring around, repco is very marked up, I pay $12 for a can, whereas they charge $18) VHT can be had in lots of colours and they do good heat resistant stuff, my motor is all VHT, have used it before and it works well. The VHT brake paint is supposed to be good for 800 degress so theoretically the fairy white homo paint on my calipers won't fall of instantly...
Just re-paint the cylinders/crank, will look awesomesauce if you spend some time on it.

Righto, got a drill so tomorrow, if I don't finish those headlight mounts, somone punch me.

[bogan]

so theoretically the fairy white homo paint on my calipers won't fall of instantly...

gotta let the boys know somehow eh!