Small Details

To say that it has been a while since I've updated this blog is an understatement for which there is no sufficient adjective. Let's start with the biggest update first.

That's right, I'm a dad now! My wife gave birth to our son Calvin in the middle of January. He doesn't do much beyond eating, sleeping laughing and discharging adult quantities of doo doo.

Of course there has been a lot of stuff going on with the bike as well. I'll start where my previous post left off. The Ohlins KA606 didn't fit the bike! A big dissapoinment.

The nub pictured above held one of four chain guard screws. I ground the nub off but then realized the shock preload adjuster still fouled the subframe on big shock compressions. While it was possible to have relocated the adjuster with a longer hydraulic line, it would have neccessitated a rebuild of the shock's entire hydraulic system. I definately did not want to do that so I chose to order an Ohlins KA345, which was well known to fit the ZX-7R (the KA606 was a bit of a gamble)

With the KA345 ordered, I focused my attention to other items on the bike like the new motor I had Gord Bush build for me last year.

first we tear it down ...

... and then we build it up

so clean

the headers installed

the cooling equipment and muffler installed

While the KA345 was still in the mail, I took on a number of small projects. For starters, I polished the engine covers.

here you can see the +4 Vance and Hines advancer in the new motor

Permatex gasket remover working hard

lots of baking soda

the clutch cover sight glass was damaged by the gasket remover so a new one was needed

I also had some of the more visible brackets powder coated. I didn't bother with the mirror and instrument brackets because they would be replaced with aluminum items in the near future.

brackets as they were removed from the bike

I replaced the throttle cable and some fuel line as well.

throttle cables

fuel lines

The new motion pro made a huge difference to the feel of the throttle. For $30 they are definately big bang for buck. New throttle cables will be a part of my regular maintenance for now on. The new fuel lines replaced existing line which connected the gas tank to the fuel filter. The new lines are longer which allows the tank to be pulled off the bike and set near by as an auxillary fuel source. The new lines are also thicker and almost impossible to pinch or kink.

The last thing I had finally gotten around to was sourcing a one piece fender.

I'm not sure which bike this fender was based off of but the sides of the fender were textured and not smooth so I definately didn't want to paint it. As a temporarily fender solution, I borrowed a spare that Chris had lying around.

That's all for now. I'll post updates of the Ohlins shock sometime soon.