Making The Old Girl Beautiful And Sleek Again.

So I have a 1999 748BP which I've had since new and I'm embarrassed to say she's only done 2500 miles! For the first 11 years of her life she was kept in a garage when I was living in London and was only used when the weather was fine and when domestic/family/work commitments permitted I could have a Sunday morning out on her - so few and far between, hence the low mileage. Then I moved to the s.west of Ireland. No garage. She came over with the furniture in a van and was put under a waterproof cover in the front yard. Not ideal. It was October. It rains a lot (well it used to but now we have a drought!). The roads are covered in cow shit and potholes. She didn't get used. Come the next summer (short as it was) I had a job which, for the next several years kept me so occupied I had no time to ride. The poor girl sat there and waited and waited and waited - and waited some more, shivering under her cover. Then last October, Storm (Hurricane) Ophelia came and we live on the Atlantic coast - full force. Ophelia very kindly picked up a half full 10ltr tub of emulsion paint from behind the back of the small shed and deposited it right next to the bike. She then blew the cover off the bike (even though it was strapped down) and then blew the bike off the axle stand and deposited it on top of the plastic tub of paint which duly split open and covered the left hand side of the bike in white emulsion as well as cracking the fairing and breaking the wing mirror and indicator. Thanks Ophelia, I love you too!.

Long story cut short, my job finished a couple of months ago and I now have time to fix her up and, hey, it's permanently sunny & dry now, perfect riding weather. OMG. What a mess. So here's a thread about what I found and what needs to be done to restore a 748 after 7 years of not being used and kept under a cover outside.

 

So here's the first thing. I found the original receipt and I bought her in June 1999. However, the frame label says 748S, but she has a gold frame and 3 spoke wheels, Ohlins rear shock and no Showa forks, so why 748S on the frame label? can anyone shed any light on that please?

 

Here's some pics of the paint spattered and damaged panels.

 

Good idea. I've found so far that a) they do peel off if I use my fingernails or very carefully scrape and b) WD40 and elbow grease seems to work well. I like the idea of the bath - I'll just have to wait until the other half has gone out for a few hours as she might not take kindly to a bath full of bike bits!

 

Anyway, the paint damage (and split fairing) is cosmetic, that was the least of my worries. Bear in mind she's not been run for 7 years so thinking, new battery, new fuel, new fluids, etc. Check I've fuel, air and a spark and lets' see if she'll at least start up. But........... the throttle would not move at all and neither would the clutch lever. Both seized solid. So, seat, tank and airbag must come off to join the other bits of plastic on the floor. WTF!!!!!. There's all sorts of muck in the airbox. Mostly dust and loads of it but a couple of small leaves and a tiny twig. How did that get in there? The foam air filters are fully intact so it couldn't have got in that way. The only thing I can think is that perhaps the front of the tank wasn't sealing perfectly against the seal of the air box. The rubber seal's in good nick though. Anyway, wipe it all out, remove the bell mouths, remove the air box. Aha, that's the problem. Both butterfly valves and the opening of the throttle bodies are corroded with a white fur where moisture has attacked the alloy of the throttle body causing the butterfly valves to seize shut. The throttle bodies have to come off.

First thing is to clean out all the corrosion and make sure that when I do get them open there's nothing can drop into the cylinder. (I wish I'd taken some photos but wasn't thinking of it at the time). Judicious use of carb cleaner spray eventually loosens them enough I can just about open them, with leverage from a screwdriver, to get the throttle cable off and finally they can come out. It took a day of continually saturating the parts which are supposed to move in carb cleaner before I could eventually get them fully open. Even then they didn't automatically spring back and snap shut. But, once open I could at least attack the surface pitting inside the throttle body with vinegar and aluminium foil, it works wonders. Another 24 hours of saturation in carb cleaner and finally they were fully operation again and would open and snap closed when released. Hoorrayyy!!! Now for the clutch :-(

 

I never thought of the dishwasher. Great idea.

 

THE CLUTCH.
It was absolutely seized solid. You just could not pull the lever in at all. The workshop manual says this can happen when they've been stored for a while and suggests "place the bike in gear and gently move it back and forth to release the stuck clutch plates". Ha Ha, what a joke, no chance. So clutch cover off, pressure plate off and another 'aha' moment. Mr Ferrous Oxide has taken up residence between the clutch plates and around the drum. But, wait a minute, the manual says 'remove the pressure plate and withdraw the clutch pushrod (if it doesn't come out with the pressure plate).' How the f*** are you supposed to get that out 'coz it's just not moving. Oh, well, let's get the plates out and see what we can see. So, all plates come out and I think 'let's try the clutch lever now'. It moves. Although only about 5mm. So, time to take the slave cylinder off. Everything looks fine on that side, the clutch lever now has full movement and the slave cylinder moves and can be pushed back. The clutch pushrod looks ok from that side so why's it stuck?

Absolutely now way would it move so eventually I resorted to the specialist tool known as a 'Brummie screwdriver' aka a hammer. A few taps (several whacks) from the clutch plate side and eventually I can pull it out to find corrosion between the slave cylinder and the o-rings. Mind you the o-rings are fine, absolutely perfect. How on earth can moisture get in there?

Anyway, a bit of wet & dry on the pushrod shaft and its housing (very fiddly) and whilst the pushrod is marked it's now smooth as a baby's bum again. Clean all the clutch plates up one by one with a drill and wire brush, and the drum and clutch housing. Spray and wipe with brake cleaner and reassemble and voila! A fully operational clutch again.

 

On reflection. perhaps I should have put this in the 'Builds & Projects' forum? That's what comes from being a Newbie. Can an administrator move it or can I?

 

It is actually red - underneath the yellow. I'll take a pic and post it, if I remember. It looks like the plastic bits were moulded in a red colour coz it's coming through in a couple of places where it rubs. However, that being said, I ordered a yellow one coz every other one on the road at that time was red - so common. ;-)

 

So, I mentioned that my yellow 748 is really a red one in disguise. Here's the pics to prove it. As you can see where the yellow has rubbed and been cut away under the seat you can see it's red at heart.

 

Also I whipped the timing belt covers off today to have a look at the belts. It's even got surface rust in there! Anyway, the belts look ok to me (bear in mind it's only done 2500miles and it did have new belts around the 2000 mile mark but that was 8 years ago! I'll probably get some new ones just to be one the safe side.

Anyone got any suggestions/advice please for cleaning up that surface rust while I'm in there?

 

I'm also working away, slowly on getting the emulsion off the body panels. Hot water/fingernails/WD40. However, the nose fairing is probably beyond salvage (although it's been glued and gaffer taped for now so I can at least have a ride on her again very soon). I posted a thread in the wanted section but I'll post it here as well.

I'm after a couple of bits and pieces to repair/replace some storm damage that happened to my 1999 748.

1. I could do with a new yellow nose fairing because the current one doesn't look too pretty and they don't make yellow gaffer tape. Ideally one with the white strip up the middle.

2. I also need a 'special screw'. No laughing at the back there! Seriously, that's what it's called. It's part no. 779.1.137.1A and it screws into the wing mirror and secures it to the fairing frame. 'Special' as it's designed to break off if the bike hits the ground.

I'm thinking, if I have to get a new nose fairing I fancy an SPS type one with the white strip and I'll probably change the BP seat for a Mono, (I almost did that 16 years ago - probably should have specced a mono in the first place!), also with a white strip so if anyone has those bits knocking around please let me know.