Project Linkins 3LN6 - The Pink Lady

Side note, don't you just love Australia Post sometimes... no attempt at delivery, no card left. 'Yeah nah mate F it, just dump it at the post office'

Business address too.

 

Another parcel lost to the aether?

This one is the tyres I ordered. Suspension bits have been posted too but no tracking number yet. Will I get the trifecta?

 

Reassembly begins

 

It lives again!

Needs inlet manifolds and a tuneup, I had no time left after work and had to leave it. Just got home now.

 

I only had one slight problem with the carbs, which is that the screw-in caps for the needle retention in the slide are missing.

I have bodged them temporarily with some plastic push pins with the inserts removed, but the end result is that there is extra tension on the main diaphragm springs, and the slides only lift to about 80% before they bind.

@Grasshopper will look for them at his place, but failing that I will need four of these if anyone has any spares:

 

This is my bodge on the needle retainer.



The reason for the loud ticking, hole in the exhaust.



I replaced the plugs as they were old and fouled, continued reassembly, new airbox boots fitted, made up a vacuum fitting for the fuel tap, fitted the tap to the tank, fuel line etc.




Still waiting for tyres to arrive, but my suspension bits are here and look very good. Can't wait to test them out.

 

Double trouble

 

Forking mad.




The FZR400 springs are seriously stiffer than the mushy standard FZR250 ones (which were installed upside down - tight wound coils go towards the bottom for better weight characteristics), and are single rate, where the 250 ones are either dual rate or progressive.

As for the PD valves, the process is fairly simple. Double check the tension on the springs (mine were at 3 turns, according to the instructions, 1 turn is standard, so that's where I set them), as this is now your oil damping orifice. Basically they are a shim stack in a body with a preload spring.

For the damping rod, drill out the existing holes to either 6mm or 8mm depending on the diameter of the damping rod. In my case, four 8mm holes where the originals were. Deburred and cleaned afterwards.

PD valve then sits on top of the damping rod. Mine didn't sit flush and would wobble due to the internal shape of the rod, so I added one correctly sized alloy washer (big sump washer basically) between the rod and the PD valve and it was perfect. Steel would have been better but I didn't have any.

Next you have to cut down the preload spacers based on the height of the PD valves. In my case it was 16mm. Which I did in the vice with soft jaws and hacksaw, cleaned up the flat edge and deburred. The goal is 10-20mm of spacer showing above the top of the chrome tube. This is your spring preload. In my case they were about 20mm.

I ran out of time to photo everything as I had to go, but they are done and feel good just bouncing them on the ground. I may have to bump up the preload on the rear shock depending on how it feels, or get the standard spring (75-90kg, I have a 70-75kg fitted) from YSS and swap it out.

 

Until you see a new set of tyres on them, that's how they will stay

I popped the forks back in and assembled the front end. Going to need steering head bearings in the future as they are a little notchy but not terrible.

I filled it up with 5L of 91 from a jerrycan and took it for a little ride around the block. Despite the hole in the exhaust it goes well, of course being very careful due to the age and condition of the tyres.

After that I added 2 turns of preload to the rear shock. The rear is softer than the front now, but the front feels good. I think the adjustable preload caps will be a good addition as there isn't much static sag, and they are close to topping out. Less preload will help with that. Might raise the forks 10mm when I do the bearings to quicken the steering a bit.

After the ride I decided to just patch the hole in the exhaust. Wire wheel to remove the rust, laid on some 2 part 5-minute metal epoxy, then a small piece of paper towel to cover the hole, and more layers of epoxy. I will test it on Monday.

Once those tyres arrive and I fit them, rego time!

 

Added more preload on the rear (5 turns total), popped the fairings on, topped off the tank and out for a spin to test. Still waiting on tyres. Highway patrol about so back to the workshop quick smart.

 

Doesn't bottom out the front when going over bumps or braking, and doesn't jolt you hard either.

For the rear, so far I'm thinking I should have stuck with the 75-90kg spring. I will probably get one from YSS posted, then change it out myself. I have a shock/spring compressor at work. But rego comes first.

As for the HWP, we went past each other. I was going to go fill the tank with fuel, but turned around and opted to take a jerry can in the car instead.

 

No spring rates listed that I can find for the rear shocks. The fork springs are listed as 7.5 N

As for the OEM spring, Japanese bikes are usually over-sprung on the rear shock unless they have something like an Ohlins fitted, so I wouldn't re-use the OEM spring. Springs turn 'sacked' anyway and after 30 years or so I'd wager that's happened.

I need to go for a proper ride on it first anyway, tootling around at 50km/h doesn't really count.

As for the HWP, the less said about them the better, as I have no kind words for them.