https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/gene...13-girls-reconditioned-yamaha-600-secaii.html
Link up above to the beginning of fixing her ride.
Hey guys:
I havent been on the Org as much lately. In january I decided to get Karen's bike from her and get it ready for this riding season. It was a bike in rough shape when when got it in October 09. I spent a few months fixing the old owners repairs and crash damage. The Seca 2 got repainted and a lot of things got replaced and repaired. Well after Karen rode about 4.5k last year, and other things started to show up as things of concern on her bike.
The valve cover started to leak and I heard a noise coming in going from the engine when cold and some times hot. The headers needed to be painted again. The rear sets on her ride were noisy and a rear peg needed to be replaced.
So I get the valve cover off after removing the carbs and airbox. The first thing I notice is the timing chain tensioner guide coming apart at the top. Not good! I remove the tensioner. The tensioner spring was weak. (not bad for 37k and 18 years of being under tension.) So I decide to check the valves.... spec is .010" to .008" exhaust and .006" to .004" intake. All of them tight by more then .003" below min spec. After looking at replacing the chain guide..... the head needed to be removed any way. I may as well lap, clean and restore the valves back to spec. I also did some small clean up and porting to the bowls and ports.
With the engine apart (head removed and waiting on parts). I figured I would get the exhaust ceramic coated. I got tired of painting them with high temp exhaust paint every 6 months. Along with this I got her rear sets power coated black like my busa's. I come to find out that the mounting bolts to the rear sets are bent from the PO's crashes. So new bolts were picked up for replacement.
During this down time I also got another stock set to modify. I took it apart and cut about 1/2" of padding from the bottom. Them recovered the seat with left over vinyl I had from recovering the original seat. I got it done saturday, and it was worth it! She can now touch with a flat foot. Before both heels were off the ground about 1". I did lower the front of the bike, but couldnt get the rear to lower at all. I looked at many ways to do this.... there wasnt any except, take padding out of the seat.
After several weeks of waiting and working on her bike. I was able to get it together last friday for a maiden ride. The engine sounds better and runs smoother. I had done some carb tuning on friday and saturday. It was very lean. This improved cold starts, idle, and off idle throttle movement. (I am still tuning the carbs for best drivability.) On my saturday ride the speedo cable broke. So now a new one is on order. The rear sets feel better with the bolts being straight and the pivots points for all foot controls being lubed.
I am hoping by the end of this week I will have it all sorted out for her. Then I hope she feels more comfortable riding and trusting her ride!
Link up above to the beginning of fixing her ride.
Hey guys:
I havent been on the Org as much lately. In january I decided to get Karen's bike from her and get it ready for this riding season. It was a bike in rough shape when when got it in October 09. I spent a few months fixing the old owners repairs and crash damage. The Seca 2 got repainted and a lot of things got replaced and repaired. Well after Karen rode about 4.5k last year, and other things started to show up as things of concern on her bike.
The valve cover started to leak and I heard a noise coming in going from the engine when cold and some times hot. The headers needed to be painted again. The rear sets on her ride were noisy and a rear peg needed to be replaced.
So I get the valve cover off after removing the carbs and airbox. The first thing I notice is the timing chain tensioner guide coming apart at the top. Not good! I remove the tensioner. The tensioner spring was weak. (not bad for 37k and 18 years of being under tension.) So I decide to check the valves.... spec is .010" to .008" exhaust and .006" to .004" intake. All of them tight by more then .003" below min spec. After looking at replacing the chain guide..... the head needed to be removed any way. I may as well lap, clean and restore the valves back to spec. I also did some small clean up and porting to the bowls and ports.
With the engine apart (head removed and waiting on parts). I figured I would get the exhaust ceramic coated. I got tired of painting them with high temp exhaust paint every 6 months. Along with this I got her rear sets power coated black like my busa's. I come to find out that the mounting bolts to the rear sets are bent from the PO's crashes. So new bolts were picked up for replacement.
During this down time I also got another stock set to modify. I took it apart and cut about 1/2" of padding from the bottom. Them recovered the seat with left over vinyl I had from recovering the original seat. I got it done saturday, and it was worth it! She can now touch with a flat foot. Before both heels were off the ground about 1". I did lower the front of the bike, but couldnt get the rear to lower at all. I looked at many ways to do this.... there wasnt any except, take padding out of the seat.
After several weeks of waiting and working on her bike. I was able to get it together last friday for a maiden ride. The engine sounds better and runs smoother. I had done some carb tuning on friday and saturday. It was very lean. This improved cold starts, idle, and off idle throttle movement. (I am still tuning the carbs for best drivability.) On my saturday ride the speedo cable broke. So now a new one is on order. The rear sets feel better with the bolts being straight and the pivots points for all foot controls being lubed.
I am hoping by the end of this week I will have it all sorted out for her. Then I hope she feels more comfortable riding and trusting her ride!