Spruce up the Busa!

Trail_Blazer

Registered
Well ladies and gents,

Having spent a few weeks with my new lady I have to say I'm more in love than ever. I've gotten more comfortable with the riding position also so don't think I'll need to go to too many extremes to improve comfort, I'll still get the helibars and go from there.

So in a couple of week I'm gonna get the bike into a garage belonging to a friend of mine and get dirty. The bike was in pretty good condition when I picked it up, there're 30,000kms on the clock and of course there are some small blemishes I want to sort out, and seeing as I have very limited mechanical experience, and my friend only works on cars, I'd appreciate some expert advice! I'll list the plans here and you can weigh in anywhere you might have some tips.

1. I'm going to strip off all the plastics and give everything a good clean on the inside, including cleaning up/polishing any nuts, bolts, clips, screws etc that are a bit tarnished/fuzzy looking, then coat as much as I can with ACF-50 to protect. I'd imagine this is a fairly straight forward job? Remember Ireland has very wet, mucky and salty roads most of the year, and this Busa is on the go every day.

2.There are a couple of spots on the swingarm where the black paint got scratched off to the metal, about the size of a 2 Euro or a dollar coin, would spraying the whole swingarm with spray can paint and then sealing somehow be suitable for this or what would be the best method?

3. There is a small crack in the fairing just beside the oil window low on the bike, about 2 inches long but stable. Somebody suggested that I plastic weld it but I know nothing about that, would that be the best way to fix it?

4. I want to upgrade the brakes, as I feel they could offer more feel and be a bit sharper at hauling all that weight up quickly, and the current discs look a bit shabby so I was looking at putting on a nice set of wavy discs (think I saw a gorgeous set on Pashnits blue Busa I'll have to look again) and some braided brake lines. My question here is, is it within the reach of a spanner novice to put new discs and braided lines on, and will I need to install the Helibars before the braided lines to make sure the lines reach?

5. I have a Garmin zumo 660LM Sat Nav I want to install, but I'm not sure about the best way to do this. Does anybody on here have a set up like this I could have a look at?

6. Finally (for the moment) I'm not sure if the plastics have ever been off this bike and I can clearly see the telltale signs of grubby and oxidised rotting looking downpipes in there. This is a pet peeve of mine, I like them to sparkle and I don't fancy them developing a hole or the likes. Now I would love just to stick a full system in there but that's outside my financial reach at the moment, I'll be putting a set of slip ons on it (prob Akrapovic) so I want to know whats the best method of restoring the pipes to their former shining glory? Autosol and elbow grease seems to be popular but it looks like these may need some serious work.

Sorry for the length of the post, but any help would be welcome, I've caught the bug now and I'd like to do all of this myself and learn about the bike as I go.

Thanks for any and all advice!

:thumbsup:
 
Panels will come off easy, I'd just touch up the swingarm instead of repainting the whole thing..

There are many threads in the touring section about the gps mount. One of them is mine. :beerchug:
 
Panels will come off easy, I'd just touch up the swingarm instead of repainting the whole thing..

There are many threads in the touring section about the gps mount. One of them is mine. :beerchug:

Cheers man yeah I'll just sort put the spots rather than the whole thing.
 
Well ladies and gents,

Having spent a few weeks with my new lady I have to say I'm more in love than ever. I've gotten more comfortable with the riding position also so don't think I'll need to go to too many extremes to improve comfort, I'll still get the helibars and go from there.

So in a couple of week I'm gonna get the bike into a garage belonging to a friend of mine and get dirty. The bike was in pretty good condition when I picked it up, there're 30,000kms on the clock and of course there are some small blemishes I want to sort out, and seeing as I have very limited mechanical experience, and my friend only works on cars, I'd appreciate some expert advice! I'll list the plans here and you can weigh in anywhere you might have some tips.

1. I'm going to strip off all the plastics and give everything a good clean on the inside, including cleaning up/polishing any nuts, bolts, clips, screws etc that are a bit tarnished/fuzzy looking, then coat as much as I can with ACF-50 to protect. I'd imagine this is a fairly straight forward job? Remember Ireland has very wet, mucky and salty roads most of the year, and this Busa is on the go every day.
Check out the Stickies in the Gen II section, Blanca has a good thread about removing the fairings, and I have a write up about removing the tail section.

2.There are a couple of spots on the swingarm where the black paint got scratched off to the metal, about the size of a 2 Euro or a dollar coin, would spraying the whole swingarm with spray can paint and then sealing somehow be suitable for this or what would be the best method?
Just touch up with black paint the spots that are bare metal.

3. There is a small crack in the fairing just beside the oil window low on the bike, about 2 inches long but stable. Somebody suggested that I plastic weld it but I know nothing about that, would that be the best way to fix it?
Google plastic welding, or search on youtube for how to videos.

4. I want to upgrade the brakes, as I feel they could offer more feel and be a bit sharper at hauling all that weight up quickly, and the current discs look a bit shabby so I was looking at putting on a nice set of wavy discs (think I saw a gorgeous set on Pashnits blue Busa I'll have to look again) and some braided brake lines. My question here is, is it within the reach of a spanner novice to put new discs and braided lines on, and will I need to install the Helibars before the braided lines to make sure the lines reach?
The worst part is getting all the air out of the new lines. Be careful not to get any fluid on your paint. And yes, you will need the correct length, just let Tim know what size rise you are putting on to get the correct length of lines. Would be a good time to upgrade to HH pads as well.

5. I have a Garmin zumo 660LM Sat Nav I want to install, but I'm not sure about the best way to do this. Does anybody on here have a set up like this I could have a look at?
Check out Ram mounts, many good options and you can search by the device on their web site.

6. Finally (for the moment) I'm not sure if the plastics have ever been off this bike and I can clearly see the telltale signs of grubby and oxidised rotting looking downpipes in there. This is a pet peeve of mine, I like them to sparkle and I don't fancy them developing a hole or the likes. Now I would love just to stick a full system in there but that's outside my financial reach at the moment, I'll be putting a set of slip ons on it (prob Akrapovic) so I want to know whats the best method of restoring the pipes to their former shining glory? Autosol and elbow grease seems to be popular but it looks like these may need some serious work.
Cant offer much advice here, I dont really pay attention to the header on my bike other than when I change the oil.

Sorry for the length of the post, but any help would be welcome, I've caught the bug now and I'd like to do all of this myself and learn about the bike as I go.

Thanks for any and all advice!

:thumbsup:

My answers are bolded above.
 
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