It's comin' along .... slowly

[SWAGGER]

Well I've been fettling the Firestorm. Done the renthal kit, the CCT's, the rectifier, ripped off the poxy hugger .... damn thing had a seized bolt that I had to drill out. Replaced the chain guard and rear brake pipe fixings, splash guard etc. Stuck on a shock tube. Sorted the R&G protection. Just tried to get the fender off ... same thing, seized bolt ... trouble with this one, got a two mm guide hole through but then snapped off a HSS drill as I tried to open it up. How the hell am I gonna get that out now)

Next on the list .... replace significant bolts with 'Tastynuts' kit. £110 worth . Indicators ... will attempt to find some LED's. Will they fit? The shaft for the fronts must be 50mm for them to sit beyond the fairing ... are they that long?

It's lookin' good so far ... very happy

[tony.mon]

Re snapped bit- they're quite brittle, so if you can still see it try a centre punch, see if you can break it up. Depends on how solid/stable the surroundings are.

If you're really stuck, a decent engineering shop should have a spark eroder.

Funny you mention a shock sock; that's what I was going to do after I fit the Blade brace onto the swinging arm. Although normally it just means you need a Blade hugger, I've already cut the mounting brackets off the Blade brace, so that seemed the easiest way out.

Wonderful thing, peace of mind, now the CCT's and RR is done.

[SWAGGER]

Thank you TM.
Give it a whack hey? Yeah why not. I'll get my head back around it in the morning. Can't let it get the better of me

[sirch345]

Swagger,
It sounds like you've been pretty busy with doing jobs on your bike, well done

That fender/front mudguard seized bolt, (if you've already thought of this then ignore the next bit ) you might find (a bit of a pain I know) removing the fork leg, then holding the offending lug in a vice and supporting the rest of the fork leg weight. That way there will be less chance of snapping the lug off, and it'll take away any springiness that will be there if you're trying it in situ. Do go carefully though, the last thing you want is a snapped off lug.

Good luck with it,

Chris.

[tony.mon]

Good point, well made- I'd just assumed that you would have pulled the leg off to drill it and wind in the easy-out.

That might be why the drill bit broke- the fork leg will turn as you push the drill against it, as the plastic mudguard isn't that good at holding the leg still.

Those easy-outs are very brittle, by the way, make sure you don't get any sideways force at all on them. A tap-holder works well, as you get equal force both sides.

Lastly, once the leg's off, and depending how far you drilled in, why not try from the other side?
Once the drill bit touches the broken-off drill bit that's heading in from the other side, withdraw and use a pin punch (or pop rivet) to punch out the broken bit.

[SWAGGER]

Luckily I drilled a 2mm pilot hole all the way through. I then went up half a mm ... the same technique I used on the rear. This is the one that broke. The tip of the bit can be seen from the reverse. Should be a case of whip the wheel out and knock it out with a suitable sized drift. If it won't budge I could carve it out with a Dremel I guess. Patience and time .... I need to deal with it at the weekend.

The troublesome bolts appear to be aftermarket additions .... they are definitely not OEM. Shame ... hate the extra work but hey it's a project and I guess I like the challenge it presents .... yeah like I need it

Thanks for the advice chaps ... much appreciated.

Oh yes ... got the stuff from Tastynuts today .... oooooh that stuff is pant wettingly good

[SWAGGER]

Finally got round to sorting that seized bolt. Dropped the front wheel .... gave the broken drill bit a tap from behind and it popped right out. Ran a 4.5 mm drill back through the pilot hole. Re tapped and it's all good. TFFT.

Suspension lowers .... powder coat or paint? What d'ya think. I've got hooked up with a good powder coater so that's my favourite choice unless someone says absolutely no way.

[benny hedges]

powder coat them by all means but you will need new seals - might be able to get away with the old dust covers like... then new oil etc.
use the proper honda seals tho as the cheap ones are shite apparently (not done the ones in my storm but changed the cbx ones for some off ebay & they've been ok.... up to you)

if you nitromors & spray them you will only need to mask up the seals

[simo]

What colours the hugger Swagger? might be interested if its for sale and in one piece ?

[SWAGGER]

.... powder coat them by all means but you will need new seals - might be able to get away with the old dust covers like... then new oil etc ....

Thanks for that BH. I'm stripping them right down for total rebuild. New prog springs n everyfink. Will end up with all new components. Will keep the original stanchions.

[SWAGGER]

What colours the hugger Swagger? might be interested if its for sale and in one piece ?

Simo .... it's a plastic carbon lookalike unit. (Red Fox??) It ain't great and one of the lugs has hair line cracks (from over tensioned bolt). It could be repaired by plating it but it's not something I'd be bothering with.