New Member

[Straycat]

Hi All, im just about to start restoring a recently acquired 89 FZR400. Ill keep you updated and im sure Ill have lots of questions. This is my first FZR, the tail thats on it is a fiberglass solo seat. aside form some extensive bodywork , paint and decals, the clutch doesnt work (pull the lever and it doesnt disengage) and who knows what else as i tear it down.




I've got a few other bikes, including a retored Honda NS400r, a RZ350 ported & milled with Jim Lomas Pipes and an RG250 Gamma (to be restored).

[Evilchicken0]

A powervalve F2 - that was my first bike back when it first came out in ... 86 I think

[kilika2]

Welcome. Glad to have you. I like the multitudes of color on the ns400.

Chris.

[ragedigital]

Excellent collection! Welcome to the community!

Darrin

[Straycat]

Thanks for the warm welcome ! Id post some pics of the RG250 Gamma but its not much to look at right now, all the bodywork is off it. The NS400 was my first Bike restoration, the FZR and the Gamma are number 2 and 3. Ive spent 10 years + collecting and restoring classic "muscle sled" snowmobiles, and Im at the end of my journey on that front, so time for a new collection to begin.

[pefrey]

That's a very clean looking FZR. Where are you located?

[Straycat]

Hi, I'm in north Ontario Canada.

The Bike isnt too bad, of course when it comes to old bikes needing work, photos often look better than in the flesh, so to speak.

the good news is, the bike is complete, nothing missing as far as i can tell, anything that got removed was in a box (like the scoops that fit between the fairing and the cylinders).

Most of the body panels will need plastic welding (which I enjoy) - (Tank cover is good, Solo Seat is good, everything else needs repair work)

-All the bodywork will get new paint and decals - current aftermarket solo seat decals will be changed slightly to a Red stripe boarder (instead of the black),and will be similar in look to the '88 2TK solo seat.

-Wheels will get new powder coat
-Rear subframe will get a repaint or powder-coat
-new rear tire
-Brakes - -just because
-Fuel petcock tap is broken, which I understand is common on these bikes.

The mechanical fixes (that I see so far) are the Clutch (not even opened it up yet) and there is an oil leak which im tracking down and hoping its just the oil pan, but worried it may be coming from the seam of where the 2 halfs of the engine cases meet up...we'll see. Right now all the body work is off and Im making tracings of the decals and shaving the decals off for the graphics guy to make the correct reproduction decals for it. Once thats done ill ge to the plastic welding and sanding step. Ill take pics as I get to something worth showing

Im hoping to get the body done in the next 2 months before the Canadian winter takes hold and it gets too cold to work in the shop (still in need of insulation and heat)

[Straycat]

Well, i got the decal package sent off to the Decal guy. This invovled making a tracing of every decal on the bike, followed by shaving off every decal with a razor blade and packaging it all up. The tracings are necessary because the decals often get their shape distorted in the process of getting them off the bike.

Now its on to removing the decal goo (rubbing alcohol) and starting the plastic welding using bits of ABS from an old fairing and a soldering iron.

I got some Automotive paint code matches from a buddy for the Yamaha pearl white, ill take the fuel tank cover in to have the Apple Red scanne for a good match before the bodywork gets sanded down.

[Evilchicken0]

Don't use a soldering iron, use some Plastex you'll make a better and longer lasting job of it.

[Straycat]

Hi, thanks alot for the tip, not used Plastex, just Q-Bond.

I've used the welding technique many times before and im pretty comfortable with it, my personal experience with Q-bond is it does indeed work well for clean break cracks, but when there are chunks completely missing (like I have) the abs welding works very well for me and as long as you dont over/under heat it its very strong, I've never had a crack come back or a piece break off. Some bits that I repaired on the weekend are curved sections of ABS that had to be heat bent to shape and welded in.

For the fiberglass Solo Seat, the repairs will be done with a product called Polyall 2000, much better than fiberglass resin for making secondary repairs. Amazing stuff

the botton corner of this mid fairing was missing:



top of this duct (where its black) was completely gone, welded in new abs and sanded it:




of course, all the repairs will be sanded smooth and any imperfections will be treated with surface filler before priming

Fiberglass repair ...I grind away the gelcoat where ever there is spider cracking (see pic) the Polyall is applied in 2 ways 1) with cloth/mat on the back side to re-enfore the weak area, and 2) in the spider crack on the top side to penetrate the fissures. Polyall is the same viscosity as water when first mixed so it penetrates the old fiberglass parts very very well (where resin just cant due to thickness). Polyall also stets up in 10-15 minutes to the point ou can use a grinder or sander on it. It can also be used to pour into a mould to fabricate missing parts. Ive been using this stuff for over 10 years on my snowmobile restorations and wont use anything else for fiberglass.

[Evilchicken0]

I guess if that's how you want to do it. Plastex though is one method that will do all the 3 things

Here's a top fairing "ear", I cast the part with strengthening mat a bit like carbon fibre, then attached it to the fairing. I did the other side too then use some knifing filler over the imperfections.





Making tabs on a rear fairing joiner, you get moulding compound with the kit.

[Straycat]

Very cool, thanks for the info, I do appreciat it, unfortunately, I'd already finished all the "welding" when your post hit, so its something i will look at for my next project for sure. I still have the RG250 Gamma to do so ill look into it for that.

Thanks again

[Straycat]

Hi folks, well I finally got all the bodywork prepped for paint, took longer than I planned to get all the decals off and layers of past paint and clear coat off. Some panels were poorly clear coated (good for me as it shaved off fast with a razor blade), some panels had paint over decals, some were original paint, a real hodge podge of reapirs over its life, not unusual for a 25 year old bike.

I dropped the panels off at the painter on Saturday morning, so hopefully Ill post some pics in a couple of weeks. Apparently i bought way too much paint, and spent 3x more than I had to on that (live and learn), the Waterborne paints go a long way, I bought a quart of white, quart of pearl and a pint of red. I could have gotten away with 1/2 pint of each apparently.

Decals are in queue at the decal guy's shop, not sure when Ill see those, but no rush. Ill have to take the tank cover back for a secong clear coat once I get the "YAMAHA" decals on it in the spring

I'll be getting in to the clutch soon, if the weatehr holds up. The Canadian winter is knocking on the dioor, and when it arrives it usually hits hard and fast up where i live, gets too cold to work in the un heated shop.

New tires have arrrived, so I need to get the wheels off and get them mounted too

lots of dissassembly and cleaning /painting to do, but again, the arrival of winter and the hunting season will slow progress for a while.

[Straycat]

Progress was halted over the cold Canadain winter, but im back at it.

Clutch has been sorted out, plates were all stuck from years of sitting.
New Fuel petcock installed, old one started leaking overthe winter
Brakes are off now for cleaning and new pads
Wheels are off so the new tires will go on in the next few weeks
New throttle cables are installed
New Grips are installed
Fluids changed

Still waiting on the decal kit fo the newly painted bodywork, hope it arrives soon

Wheels still need painting

and a whole lot of cleaning to do

more pics soon

[Evilchicken0]

It's a really though job you're doing, well done