So before getting into mods and improvements I wanted to remove lots of things from the bike – heated elements under the grips, front crash bars, rear crash bars/luggage rack, front spotlights, HID conversion, toolbox and awful stock arrow indicators.
Most of it was bolt on so easy to remove. The indicators I swapped for some KTM EXC ones that I had to hand, dead easy to swap over the only thing you require is the longer wiring out of the originals. Remove lense, bulb etc disconnect spade connectors and then do the same to the EXC version and swap the cables over then they just bolt on. On the rears the bottom of the plastic indicator moulding needed a trim to match the shape to the rear mudguard. They look SO much better than the originals.
Getting to the wiring under the rear rack is fiddly but you can always unbolt the rack and grab handles to make life easier, which I did and also blasted and repainted the grab handles, added new stainless bolts and removed the rack base plate.
There were lots of brackets that could do with a refresh so removed everything and then it was blast, paint, refit using stainless bolts – repeat.
Next step was to do a basic service and check things over and that’s when things started to go a bit wrong. I wanted to do an oil change, filters, plugs etc and to do that you have to move the fuel tanks slightly for better access and as soon as I did that the fuel house split (due to age) and I then discovered one of the fuel taps was stuck so ended up with fuel going everywhere whilst I got some pliers to closed the fuel tap.
At this stage I decided to drain the fuel and remove both tanks to make the whole job easier, I also removed the battery box and oil tank as I wanted to flush the latter through. When I removed the battery box I discovered the oil pipes are behind it which are in a perfect position to get covered in crap from the road and they were corroded and some of the wiring from the regulator just snapped off due to corrosion. I replaced both connectors with waterproof ones and used glue lined heat shrink to seal the cables.
Battery box was cleaned and its brackets blasted and repainted with new cage nuts fitted.
Standard practice – remove, inspect, clean, blast, paint, refit with new seals, bolts etc. I did the oil service at the same time changing the many filters.
I ditched the SAS kit to allow for better tuning, as I managed to get a powercommander 5 off eBay at a very good price, fitting blanking plates and dongles. If you’re removing the SAS equipment also remove the solenoid bracket off the back of the airbox otherwise you’ll cut your hand when removing the rear plug, ask how I know! Put the screws back in to plug the holes. Fitting the rear cylinder plate is easy due to access unlike the front which requires small hands or lots of patience.
I sourced a new stainless allen bolt (M10 x 210mm from Accu – SSC-M10-210-A2) for the front engine mount and replaced all the bracket bolts with stainless allen bolts at the same time, as I figure its easier to carry a few allen keys than a socket set.
I blasted and repainted the oil pipes, note they take very similar but slightly different size o-rings and its very easy to mix them up, pinch an o-ring and have to start again.
The last two photos show a nice before and after comparison.
