Fairing removal. Taking the piss or what ?

[DEN MONKEY]

Have myself a nice 6 days off around my birthday in a few days, so decided (at midnight) to pull the fairings off and do a bit of cleaning. Most will be done tomorrow as I didnt want to upset the neighbours with the compressor going and its too bloody cold outside to be using the hose.

Anyway I decided to pull the fairings of the (99) zx6r to make it a quick start in the morning.

Well stuff my butt with a big stick and call me susan. Is there anything I didnt have to take off first before the farkin front fairing would come away. There are 2 bolts which attach to the headlight assembly that are nicely hidden behind the front vents. So to get at em the vents and resonators need to come out. Which finds me unsrewing everything I can see and still being unable to remove the bastards. Later I find 1 little screw hidden under a rubber flap where the vents meet the bike.

Now seriously its like a freakin jigsaw puzzle to get apart. Let alone puting it back together. Do they not think of these things when they assemble/design these things or have I been another victim of their evil japanese plan?

Any tips or re-assembling order would be great if anyone has stumbled across a trick or 2.

[the kid]

I'm hearin ya Monkey . Grabbed a phillips head and a can of Jimmie a couple of nights ago and now have bits everywhere .
Very worried about getting it back together , may take half a dozen Jimmies

[Stereo]

Yeah susan, it can look like a jigsaw.... but when you put it back together you will discover that true happiness doesnt come from within, it comes from being able to re-assemble something tricky...

[chameleon]

The easy method is spelled out in the "MANUAL" Susan.

[Duane]

easy as. you get good at it very quickly.

[photomike666]

Just make sure you have a method for putting everything back where you got it from. There are three methods used, most people use the first method and get into all sorts of shite.

1) Undo a screw/bolt/nut put it down somewhere, remove more and put them down somewhere, take off part and put it against the wall. Repeat until pissed off/can't move for parts/got job done

2) Put every screw back into the thred it came from once removed from bike (or nut & bolt through hole). Stack parts in order of removal, so a reverse process can be used to refit.

3) Have a multi box storage tray (preferably with lid) and put small bits into various trays. I use this method and bits from the top righ of the bike go in a tray in the top right of the storage pattern. Large parts are positioned in a safe place in a position relative to where they came from the bike.

This may seem a little over the top, but when you come to re-assemble you know what every bolt is for and where every part fits. With my old CBR I had to lower the radiator to change the plugs, there were four different types of fairing fastners, each with different lenght/size of thread.

Once you've done the job a few times it gets easier, but I wouldn't be removing the top/front fairing too often. With airflow and dash features, not much crap gets behind it.

[Smitty]

The easy method is spelled out in the "MANUAL" Susan.

hahaha
top tip that.......

[DEN MONKEY]

It's not so much the getting it together but more getting it apart and finding the right technique. Puting it together now (lunch ) Not having any problems thus far. I am looking at the number of bolts/screws I still have and am a bit worried. Im almost there.
Might have a few left overs weight reduction anyone ??

I do normally follow system 2 by puting the bolts back in the threads when I take them of but I wasnt originally planning on taking anything off other than the front fedner.

As for the manual . pffft have a look at the bastard

[red_dave]

Well stuff my butt with a big stick and call me susan.

Why wouldn't you just wear overalls?

[hoffy]

ride a naked mate, you dont have to put up with that shit.

[mrmina]

use a sledge. works well

[Smitty]

use a sledge.

where do you connect the reindeer????

[mrmina]

use a sledge.

where do you connect the reindeer????

mate put on ur reading glasses. i said sledge not slede

[Duane]

use a sledge.

where do you connect the reindeer????

mate put on ur reading glasses. i said sledge not slede

Mina, open your dictionary, i think you mean Sleigh not Slede

[mrmina]

where do you connect the reindeer????

mate put on ur reading glasses. i said sledge not slede

Mina, open your dictionary, i think you mean Sleigh not Slede

thats right.

a slede is what the blokes from cool runnings used

thanx duane