First Love Revisited

Author
Discussion

Liquid Knight

Original Poster:

15,754 posts

182 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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About eleven years ago after twelve years of riding bikes I was acting under orders to get a car. The girl I was seeing at the time was scared stiff of the things and my TDM850 custom was a little less than discrete.



That relationship failed and a few other life related issues occurred and even though the thought of getting back on a bike has always been there; something else always came up.

Until I recently took this VFR800i...





...as a part exchange for my Mazda RX8

I took the bike for a test drive and I swear it was like a piece of jigsaw that had been missing just slotted back into place. smile

I phoned for a couple of more than reasonable insurance quotes and all was going well until I noticed I didn't have a bike on my license. One of those "life related issues" was two month ban. As I was driving cars and had sold my bikes for a cohabitation deposit I never looked. Phoned the DVLA and they said obviously and for good reason because it had been over six months I had to start from square one. CBT, theory and test.

First I thought words not suitable for a family friendly forum but then realised this is going to be hilarious.

Now the VFR was great but whatever you ride it is never as good as your first bike.

No, not the 50 or 125cc neighbor harasser the bike the made you a biker.

For me it was this...



...my Suzuki GSXR250R

The extra "R" being for "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" When your ears exploded due to hitting the 18,000rpm redline. I loved this machine and got stopped by the Police loads of times because it sounded like an F1 car going down the road and they thought I was doing 160 not 60mph. hehe

My RD50 was great, got me my first ban and my AR125 was a pain in the arse if I'm honest but at least it didn't try to kill me like my toffee gearbox'd TZR125. My race bike Aprilia RS125, RS250 and Kawazaki KR1S (TT) race bikes were, well race bikes. My GSXR250R was the bike that made me a biker. I was at the turning point where I was old enough to consider a driving test or stay on two wheels. Three seconds on that thing and I knew no car would ever make me feel as good (and so far none have including some very expensive and fast bits of kit).

I have kept in touch with most of my bikes or knew when they were crashed, stolen or scrapped and I found my 250 six years ago.

With the back to square one thought in the back of my head and knowing the chap who has been holding my bike to ransom also had a couple of mopeds I paid him a visit.

Offered the VFR in exchange for my 250 and some moped action. My nephew has just turned sixteen so one for him and one for me to hoon about on until I get my 250 back on the road.

That was the plan until I saw this...





Now I am a pacifist by nature but it took all of my collective will power not to censored the censoredcensored off and censored shove it up his censoredcensored

furious

I should have walked away, but my beloved bike would still be there and my nephew would have to keep getting the bus.

She was dug out today and I can see how much of a task is at hand and started a basic parts list.



Oh crap! rolleyes

The things we do for love eh?


Biker's Nemesis

38,536 posts

207 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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That's gonna be some job.

CoolHands

18,498 posts

194 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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You woz robbed

twizellb

2,774 posts

211 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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Fair play to you for taking that onclap
Get stuck in!

freddytin

1,184 posts

226 months

Thursday 6th April 2017
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I'm loving your precission / percussion tools at the ready smash

Prizam

2,335 posts

140 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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That rear tire looks epic!

moanthebairns

17,918 posts

197 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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oh my, this is going to cost you...even more

Renn Sport

2,761 posts

208 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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Is that a low profile rear tyre? Nice!

seriously though... good luck with bringing that back. Bathe it in WD40 for a few days and start to take it apart!

I hope the engine and box are ok?

pozi

1,723 posts

186 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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Good luck although I don't envy the task you have finding spares for those little import 250's, they are rare as hens teeth these days and you need to make friends with someone in Japan who can source parts direct for you.

Jazoli

9,086 posts

249 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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The very best of luck finding parts for that, myself and a few others on here have bought rare old 80's stuff and given up on it as there are no parts to be found, I think SAS Tom had a GSXR400 that he couldn't find bits for, I had a VT250 and it was impossible.

I do hope he paid you to take it away smile

Liquid Knight

Original Poster:

15,754 posts

182 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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Okay, not my tools and I wasn't exactly polite about the front caliper extraction method.

Every sensible part of me screamed "Walk away you twunt!" but I couldn't.

Engine...



...at some point the exhaust has been pigeon poo welded and instead of spending a whole £20 on new gasket rings so much gumgum was used it basically closed the number one and two down-pipes. This had blown the head gasket. The new gasket set was ordered and arrived but at the stripping stage something else came up and she was left there for me to track down and find years later.

I have brought home a boot full of body panels to clean at work tonight. The exhaust to get the gumgum out, rub over with a wire and brush and see if it's worth rescuing or replacing...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311776676590?_trksid=p20...

...with the only used part on eBay or making a new one from Stainless.



I have noticed a couple of things going through the paperwork.

She was declared as a 1988 model GSXR250R when she is a 1989 GSXR250R-SP



Well according to these guys anyway...

http://www.suzukicycles.org/GSX-R-series/GSX-R250....



Right time to head off to work. smile

Loyly

17,990 posts

158 months

Friday 7th April 2017
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I do hope you didn't hand that VFR over. That looks like it needs a lot of work and it'll be a tt sourcing the parts for it, if it can even be saved. I hope it's as good as you remember.

Liquid Knight

Original Poster:

15,754 posts

182 months

Saturday 8th April 2017
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So the end of day one and it's not as good as I hoped nor as bad as I expected.

Bodywork...



...went from so green I could have picked up Kawasaki bits by mistake to...



...I have seen worse on the road.

Carb' cleaning was a bit more of an issue. After an hour freeing the butterflies and choke...



...the linkage was broken and one of the plungers missing its end.

I only opened one of the float chambers as I don't have new gaskets yet...



...and it was full of water and corrosion.

The exhaust is a combination of pigeon poo welding and distortion.



Could be the excuse I've been after to buy a pipe bender. wink

Liquid Knight

Original Poster:

15,754 posts

182 months

Saturday 8th April 2017
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The engine is out and it's good news/bad news again.

Bad...



...remember how one and two exhaust pipes were crammed with gumgum? Well two and three ports were just as bad. furious

More bad...



...not so bad but a job I didn't expect to have to do.

While attempting to extract the cam' cover the chap doing the engine (as part of the VFR deal he does the engine. I'm not that much of a masochist besides he bought the gaskets in 2003).

Good news. The engine turns freely, well, good compression feel and the valves all move properly.

One thing that concerns me is the valves. Usually I pull valves, put them in a bench drill and clean them with some wet and dry soaked in WD-40
These valves look so small I may have to get a Dremmel or something. hehe

Liquid Knight

Original Poster:

15,754 posts

182 months

Saturday 8th April 2017
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Chasing part numbers for consumables.

EBC front pads FA158HH - fitted to many bikes smile

Front brake discs - Suzuki number MD3003X - also fitted to several bikes.

Caliper seals and pistons should in theory also be a universal Nissin seal kit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Suzuki-GSX-R-400-GK73A-T...

woohoo


P.S Edited to add, I'll be using this blog as a notepad for parts and bits so my watch list doesn't arouse an undue attention. wink

Edited by Liquid Knight on Saturday 8th April 21:12

Liquid Knight

Original Poster:

15,754 posts

182 months

Sunday 9th April 2017
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She's home. Rather than commenting on every photo I'll post them and write a bit at the end. smile



























Right then. It's not as bad as I expected. The Steel parts need brushing back and repainting (powder coating?) Aluminum parts need cleaning. The brake pistons aren't bad at all considering so I should be able to reuse them when I get the seal kit. The loom looks mostly okay but the fuse box is missing it's cover and the terminals look like they have been washed up on a beach. Wheel and headstock bearings are all good. The fork tubes show no signs of pitting and the new seals I fitted in 2002 are still in fine fettle. The wheels look reasonable but need stripping, painting (powder coating?) and the tyres are unsurprisingly completely censored to censored and back.

The dinky winkers on the back were also my fault. I kept kicking the original ones off when I got on or off. I still have them in a box in somewhere in my loft. No mirrors but they should be easy to find. smile

All in all not bad at all. I'm glad she's home, sorry for the state she's in but optimistic she will ride again.

CoolHands

18,498 posts

194 months

Sunday 9th April 2017
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I love it. And now I want one, or a CBR250RR grumpy

Benni

3,510 posts

210 months

Sunday 9th April 2017
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Good thread, and a great challenge to rebuild the tiny screamer !

Was this model ever sold officually in UK ? Will you find parts, especially the exhaust system ?

They have not been sold in Germany, but a custom car builder has imported one or two

to make a "Junior Drag Bike" for his son out of them.

I could send you the address if you are interested.

crofty1984

15,830 posts

203 months

Monday 10th April 2017
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Nowt the that can't be fixed. Don't expect it'll be easy, but well done you for taking it on.

SAS Tom

3,398 posts

173 months

Monday 10th April 2017
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Good luck with it. As Jazoli said above, I had a GSXR 400 GK71F and getting parts for it was a nightmare. Mine was in much better nick than that so it should have been fairly simple but I just couldn't do it.

I ended up selling it to a collector who worked for Suzuki and he reckoned he could only get the parts due to working for them and knowing people in Japan.