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The noise was hilarious, 2 stroke lawnmower followed by a car bonnet being dragged down the road.

I spent a while trying to get the bleed nipples out of the calipers.. I wasn’t successful and will get a tap to chase out the last part. Yesterday I blasted the hubs and dust plates, brunox layer and black zinc. put boots on the idler and pitman + wire wheeled and zinc sprayed the drag link. Stripped and labelled everything and whipped radiator out. Donk is out. Got top arms out too but had to cut the bolts. Then my thumb. I stopped for the day, felt like shit all morning anyway.

Im gonna write up a proper post tomorrow. But got home just after 6pm. Best fucking motorcycle trip ever

Fuck today was possibly the best day Ive ever had on a motorcycle !

Just got to Govs pub. Buggered.

i was struggling to figure out some electrical issues with this thing so send it to Kane at r twin works and he worked his magic and also balanced and tuned the carbs and made everything work as it should. went for my first proper ride and it bought up afew issues i need to fix. (i really need to take photos that aren't at my workshop soon) i had to add more brackets to my rear triangle anyway so am going to have to get that re powder coated but thats no biggie also i have to make a new mount for my numberplate bracket too. I mounted up the rear guard today which came up nice. am waiting for my front guard to turn up. need to try and get a wof hopefully then hopefully will be chopping it up again and i'm going to build some stainless high pipes 2-1. i am attacking a 7 day or so ride down to the brass monkey smashing a bunch of gravel and just taking this places i probably shouldn't be

Went up the WHK, wasn't a lot of water, it was neat. (Phone vid from inside waterproof case, so looks a bit weird) Also, turns out you need more than 20mm of water to boat. New high score on grate rocks too. Very keen to go waaaaay further up this bugger one day.

Yeah mine too, biggest day I've ever done on a bike!

still cant find any door rubbers. anywho today i made a parcel shelf. it goes without saying the old one was fucked but not as fucked as it should have been given that its 50 years old. as is the norm for this car with the old parcel shelf removed the steel was in perfect condition. i made a new shelf out of 18mm MDF because thats what i had. made it in two pieces because its close to impossible to get it in or out if its one piece. couple of bolts to hold it down and we're in business. tomorrow ill glue the carpet on and shes finished. 2021-03-06_04-00-50 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-03-06_04-00-44 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-03-06_04-00-37 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-03-06_04-00-29 by sheepers, on Flickr

Done. I suppose I should do some kind of leak test since there are eleventy billion welds on this thing. I also learnt that if you use the cordless drill on the nut for the v-band clamps, and there is no lube, and they are stainless, the thread eventually galls and welds itself on. Fortunately, my original design was going to use more clamps, so I had a spare. But still, they aren't cheap. I put a drop of oil on the threads now.

I got home just now. Dropped bart and karl home. Totally knackered. What a absolute stunner of a weekend

Rush of enthusiasm this week. Lots of cleaning, dismantling rims, Started cutting and notching tubes with my lathe tube notching attachment. Works really well. Laid everything out to get an idea of how it'll look. I'm very pleased. This weekends job is to rehabilitate the seat post lug.

Looks like a terribly boring and not at all exciting day fellas. Not jealous at all, not one bit.

Just got home Cruiser packed a sad just coming in to chch, managed to limp it to work, borrowed ute, left trailer and Aaron's bike there too, dropped off Aaron Big day

I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE ALIVE THAN I DID THIS WEEKEND!!!! It's a big call, but I think I enjoyed it even more that Nats11.

First riders were in Hanmer about 45 mins ago. They are currently enroute to Chch, young Bart would be there already.

Fitted an aliexpress cam cleat on one side to try keep the rope from going in the water and doing a mischef. IMG_20210306_191922 by John Bell, on Flickr Pretty keen on some aliexpress sponsor stickers tbh

Got air horns...yes I do!!

The dust is bikes

Most of the engine is here, so time for some cutting and tucking. Waiting on piston pins and some hardware. Also going to a fueltech ecu, so I have a link fury and 2 race tech dashes up for grabs if anyone is looking for one. Will try and update this a bit more regularly as I make progress. This is just mocking up, fitting everything in and then will do the engine build once that is all sorted.

Did you ride the GN back from Hanmer as well? That's some serious km if so!

Would count as a driveshaft modification so would need cert Cert requirements are,

https://a.aliexpress.com/_m074Zf5 Not great, not terrible

Oh, hey, 1 year. Have not been up to much, though have done a minor amount to the 250. Tyres and wheel bearings, front forks freshened up, front and rear pads, clutch plates and cable, speedo drive replaced, chain and sprockets, replace damaged original headlight with pretty convincing UFO copy, Brazilian seat cover (which kass kindly fitted) and tank cover (to hide the yellowing tank) and fender tool bag, set of white bar guards, aliexpress big footpegs. IMG_20210306_183151 by John Bell, on Flickr IMG_20210306_183217 by John Bell, on Flickr Things I'd like to do still, purple sticker for above headlight and sidepanels, possibly pull swingarm and rear shock and look at doing bearings. Still trying to figure out if getting it registered is viable, as I understand, due to the new ABS rules, and this being a '1st time' registration it won't be possible after a certain point later in the year (or possibly already isn't). Oh I picked up an XR100 recently also, its a bit of a sack of shit, so will start collecting parts.

Been looking for one of these tail bags. Found a place in Bolivia of all places making them, and a bigger version. But then this one came up locally, and it's new old stock, doesn't seem to have ever been fitted.

Serviced and ready for adventure Quake City Rumblers Adventure Division

Time to make this into more than a wall hanger. Condensed. Further condensed. I found some secrets from the past. One of the lugs has been cracked in a couple of places. It pre dates the crash as both cracks have braze in them. I've ground the cracks out but I cant decide whether to tig weld them now or to leave them as is and fill them with braze when the tubes get brazed in. Anyway I have this .8mm wall chromoly tube from another project I decided not to continue with. So with a rebuilt frame, wheels, and all the old components cleaned up it should work out nicely,

today was make a fucking stupid mistake day. the hubcaps are your standard cheap chinese rubbish "chrome" that will inevitably go rusty in a few months. i got a price to re-chrome them and it was a bit beyond the budget at 500$. each. so Richie suggested i clear coat them to try and make them last a bit longer and that sounded like a great idea to me. here is where things start to go wrong. for some reason i thought that i couldn't possibly spray clear straight on to the "chrome" because it wouldn't stick long term and i also got the idea in my head somehow that if i sanded them with 1500 the clear would magically make the scratches disappear. why the fuck i thought that i have no idea, it was approximately 1 microsecond after i started spraying the clear that it became apparent that the clear was not some form of wizard paint the would somehow fix the surface and restore the mirror like appearance. honestly, what the fuck was i thinking. anywho with this massive fuck up unfolding in front of me i had no choice but to suck it up and chalk this one up to blind stupidity. i had already inquired about buying another set of hubcaps so i had a spare set and im still going to get another set but the ones i have currently, they are fucked. until i feel like spending 2k on re-chroming a set of hubcaps. well, ive gone this far, i might as well paint them a colour. so i did. i painted them black because thats one of the few colours i have and i thought id just try it and see what they look like. nothing to lose...... and amongst all that fuckery i put the back bumper on and polished some trim pieces and stuck them back on. im super happy with both the bumper fitments and the time i spent fucking around earlier was worth it. so it wasnt a completely waisted day. 2021-02-28_04-33-50 by sheepers, on Flickr2021-02-28_04-33-42 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-02-28_04-33-27 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-02-28_04-33-19 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-02-28_04-33-13 by sheepers, on Flickr

made this go back on. 2021-02-27_04-51-12 by sheepers, on Flickr 2021-02-27_04-51-22 by sheepers, on Flickr also made the front bumper go back on but i didnt take a picture of that because im useless at remembering to take photos.

YAY!! ive found a rear windscreen! not so yay, its in Dunedin. so im going to have to figure out some way of getting it up here, preferably without breaking it. if you can help please let me know.

@Bling try these guys to compare a local price https://www.towbar.co.nz

Noticed the upper triple clamp was hitting the tank when turned all the way left. Starting to leave a mark on the tank and it would suck to bust a nla plastic tank (but I looked into it and I'm pretty sure I could fit an aftermarket dr350 safari long range tank) (or a steel dr200 tank with some mods to the front mounts but that's lame). The stop on the frame was a little bent up at the front, hammering that back down helped a little but still hitting. So welded a bead on it, now it's perfect Tail light is nice and bright, really happy with how that came together

Well it went off to the beaters on Friday for the repair cert inspection. There’s only 3 to choose from. 2 in one company. He said he wasn’t interested in any long term projects as he’s semi retired and will retire fully in December.. Said I need to look at the economics of repair. That was the whole email, lol. Mate, your the one charging $515 for an inspection! and I don’t fuck around, Im invested at 3 months turnaround once parts arrive! His co-worker is retiring too so that’s that for Hesson & Bowry. it’s not all doom and gloom, the beater is applying to become a repair certifier since there’s an opening and the current one has recommended him to the board. He has one more course to go, Only catch is he’s not going to be ready this year.. FUCK That means I either send it to my brother down south (iCar approved) and he goes through the Dunedin guy.. it means a faster turn around but out of my hands and more transport costs. OR we truck on and repair it up here with lots of photos but can’t sign it off this year. Also the trans leaked all its juice on the tow truck and the beaters workshop floor and car park n stopped co-operating + the brakes failed completely, caved in a fence. (No car damage) So yeah, really uncool and big momentum stopper. Now I’m fluffing around trying to sort out the electrics in the mean time. I also have the trans to assess (at least do a pan gasket), a leaking frost plug, a wee radiator leak, replace all the brake hardlines in anticipation for new pads shoes rotors drums cylinders hoses etc. I’ll go through the steering and shit as well. Super GC Clint sent me down some brand new ball joints! So there’s one less bulky item to get across from the land of the free. Thanks heaps mate!

Ive been working away at the 550 with the intention to use as a commuter now the reg is 39$ a year! That means looking at old pics trying to figure out what wires go where, found some from when i done piston rings and head work.

I also got the title and the bill of sale in the mail! Still missing shipping documents but I’m told that’s coming. Back side of title has his name but not signed so I’ll corner him when he delivers the fuel tank within the month.

More kinda lame updates: After the rust converter cured I hit the bumper with hammerite silver, sealed the deal. Put the lenses through the dishwasher and gave them a polish. The rear side markers are half-fucked with an odd hazy crazing you’d find on the bottom of an old lady’s feet.. I gave them a wee tong up, hopefully passes the test. Can buy new for not bad coin. Polished the chrome (pot-metal craters, we all know how well that shit lasts), painted some housings, rust killed the screws, cleaning as I went. ^unmasked areas went satin black soon after.

So checking out new motor. Has water cooled egr valve and water cooled crank case vent tube. Guess they try do everything possible to stop knock or misfire with a big egr amount. Interesting stuff, that, can fuck right off. The electric waterpump arrangement looks easy to wire up, 4 pin plug with two big and two small wires. Will be 12v, earth, then i suspect pwm input and maybe a return signal or just voltage for pwm perhaps. It looks like it would be easy to retrofit a mechanical pump setup or vice versa. Id like to keep the ewp for nerdy reasons but i suspect mechanical is lighter and more reliable. It will come down to how tricky it id to mount an alternator I guess. As the belt arrangement might be better with the mechanical pump in place. As it gives more belt wrap and acts like an idler between aircon pump and alternator. The intake manifold is interesting with a tiny tiny e-throttle unit and a shit looking manifold. This too can GTFO obviously. The egr pipes are all in the intake manifold though which is good. Nothing intrusive in the head. This later motor has a flat response knock sensor so it wont max itself out by 5000rpm like the other one does. The main trickiness of this swap, apart from mounting an alternator. Looks to be figuring out the water lines and probably just blocking a bunch of it off. Will draw some shitty diagrams to compare to regular motor next time im up.

There's been a 2012 Toyota Aqua 1NZFXE engine on Trademe for $520 a while... 50,000km old, but says it doesnt include any extras just sold as bare block essentially. It's been relisted lots of times over, so I figured it might have been picked dry of parts since the pictures were taken. The only thing I really need that might have been taken was the water pump. But even if it wasnt there, still a decent price for a low km engine I guess. Since it was for sale from a wrecker near my work office in Auckland, I thought I'd pop my head in while I was up there yesterday and see what's left. I asked the guy if I could take a look at the motor, so we go over, and way down the back it's been sitting on a pallet completely untouched. Still has coilpacks, electric water pump, EGR junk, wiring loom, etc etc... and he said he'll include all that stuff if I buy it. Sweet! After some fairly one sided chats involving his enthusiasm to be rid of it, he haggled himself down to selling for $400 with no warranty. Done deal! So for now it's just going to be put in storage at my Dads place in Auckland until my shed is built. But I've already got the 1NZFE cams and sump ready to swap across, so will see if I can do that up there in the meantime. Gonna be good! Prius + echo combined, what an absolutely astounding motorsport pedigree

Turns out I'm a moron and those fuel injectors were hoopajooped. Changed the filter and cleaned the bowl, everything was covered in this fine silt crap. I figured of its on the inside of the filter bowl - it's on the inside of the injectors. Then it hit me. What causes detonation, crappy power and chunks to break off a piston - shit fuelling! There was also one time I started the engine and it locked on one cylinder. I'll bet number 4 injector was leaky and that's what screwed the old motor. Anyways, the internet was half divided on whether you could/should run VT-VY injectors on a VS ECU. Everyone agreed they would fit and had the same capacity and impedance....But a solid 90% of posts said you would need a map to suit. One guy posted on the justcommodores forum that he did it and drove around for a few weeks and nothing bad happened. That's the sort of scientific evidence I needed! So on went the VY injectors with fuel rail, pressure reg and a new filter. Drove to the boat ramp, fired it up and boy did it sound quite different. So went for a quick lap and holy shit, it seems so obvious now that things weren't running right before. Have a listen to the engine note and max rpm compared to earlier videos. What an unbelievable difference.

So after the last outing, I whipped off the RH exhaust and realised there was no amount of sealant that was going to fix this. Took it to the local engine shop and had them mill it flat. The bow was to severe for them to sort out so I got it back with the recommendation to have someone else fix it. So I did. Build up the problem side with a skim of high temp JB weld. Make a ghetto surface plate out of some sandpaper glued to an old floor tile. Refitted everything and headed out to the lake with a bunch of spares and tools and a safety tow boat.