OK here are some photos of the tear-down which commenced today. I found out some interesting things about the bike today !
will detail these down at the bottom.
Here is how the RX looked this morning - basically as it was, when collected from Corvus.
Morning smoko....Here are a lot of pictures of...............stuff............
Some bodywork, and some bits'n'pieces.......
Engine cradle, carbies and headRadiator, cam coverEngineEngine from above. Engine bits......Switchgear, cables, frame-mounted stuff......Airbox, fairing sections, bellypan. Fairing panels, OEM header pipesBasically, I gave the whole shebang a good blast with the pressure degreaser-gun and Karcher. This got rid of most of the gunge. Then it was just a matter of going over the bike and removing all the bits and pieces that were still attached to the frame. I wanted to break it all down to the 3 major components that are going to be blasted and powder-coated - the frame, sub-frame and engine cradle. Things moved along nicely during the morning.....
Lunchtime.Basic rolling chassis.After lunch, it was a matter of stripping the rest of the rolling chassis bits off, in the shed. Before I did this, one of the things I noticed about the bike was the frame number........
It may be a bit hard to read - but this bike was built in 9/85, and has a frame number of 000969. It is one of the first 1000 RX's built ! It would have been sold as a 1986 model, I was pretty happy to see that it was the first model GPz1000.
After a couple more hours in the shed after lunch, this is what I was left with............
Afternoon smoko....Engine cradle, frame, sub-frame.These bits have all come up pretty well now, 100% degreased and ready for blasting. The sub-frame is aluminium and very light.....the frame should come up nicely once its powdercoated......I also managed to get the wheels done, and the swingarm also - it is looking pristine !
There is nothing that cannot be cleaned with a compressor-powered degreaser gun, and a Karcher !!!! Uncle Chopper would be proud !!!
Tomorrow I will spend on tidying-up the wiring harness. It is about 95% good, only need to fix up a couple of connectors and plugs. Some of the smaller brackets will also get a coat of paint.
One thing that was a surprise - that front tyre is a Metzeler ME33, and looks to be in almost brand-new condition. Well, looks can be deceiving.........given that this is a 1986 bike.............the fuckin' tyre has a 1982 manufacture date !!!!!
More to come over the next few weeks......