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Post by quazi on Nov 21, 2015 10:51:43 GMT
I've had my old XT500 now for about 20 years, built from a basket case from a mate of mine back then, think I paid £350 for it because it had a gearbox fault. It had a complete rebuild, frame was put on a moto liner jig to get it dead straight, everything was rebuilt including the wheels. The engine had all new bearings, a new rod, piston kit, bronze valve guides made for it, new valves, I ported the head, sorted the gearbox problem etc. There were many new parts, think the total bill came to £1500 but I ended up with a nicely sorted XT500 which I knew I would never part with, so the spend was worth it.  Rode it about for some good summer jaunts, but it's only ever been a fun bike, never a daily tool (other than a couple of weeks emergency van breakdown). Since those days the bike has only done about 4000 miles (shame on me) mainly because I loved the engine, but the brakes are shite and the handling was a little interesting! So, plans are a foot after much head scratching I've got fed up with looking at it and dropping my head in shame. Just before I went in to Hospital, I started a plan... I'm going to try and flat track the old girl, not sure of the finished result yet as a vision of the whole bike, so it may change as it goes. I don't just want to copy anybody else, I want to try and do something a little different. I've started ripping things off it, and currently adapting a seat unit to fit the rear, fibreglass to be done soon. I'm edging towards 19" spoke wheels, R6 forks and brakes, Motolana swingarm, everything else will appear as it goes. This will be a long-ish build due to time really but I look forward to getting stuck in myself.   |
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panda
New Member
Posts: 46 
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Post by panda on Nov 21, 2015 13:45:10 GMT
Good work quazi , keep the pics coming, will be watching this with great interest  |
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Post by quazi on Nov 22, 2015 12:23:22 GMT
I like the idea of this already mate, looking forward to seeing where it goes 
If you need any help/advice on the fibreglass stuff just shout up, I have pretty good knowledge where that is concerned Thanks fella, I've done a fair bit myself but no expert. Here's one question for you, does the resin or catalyst have a shelf life? Because I have had some on mine since building the gsx, the last time I tried to use a bit of it, it didn't go off. So I suspect the catalyst has gone off or both? |
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Post by quazi on Nov 22, 2015 12:37:29 GMT
Fair enough bud, ta.
Shop!
Ha ha.
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Post by bigkenxx on Nov 22, 2015 14:39:31 GMT
Mega can't wait for the R6XT
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Post by quazi on Nov 26, 2015 11:42:36 GMT
Been able to do a wee bit this week, nothing too much. I've got an idea about how this bike will look now, so happy to get on with it as I can. I'm having to modify the seat unit to fit the frame, the first little mod is to glass over the frame rails as they emerge from within the seat unit. Once I've sorted this bit, I can work on the under-side of the seat and glass in some supports to the upper frame rails, because at the moment there is a gap between the seat unit and the rails. Packed out the rail and put multiple layers of release agent on, just waiting for some resin to arrive then I shall warm the place up and start to form a shape.   |
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Post by quazi on Nov 28, 2015 15:40:57 GMT
Resin arrived this morning, so despite the gale force winds and persistent fucking rain for about two weeks now, it never fucking stops! Made a start with moulding the seat over the rails.  Removed the seat without any problem, you can see where I'm going with this can't you.   I'm going to lay another section on the inside of these to add some more strength and thickness, then I can start to trim to shape, gel coat on top and sand away.  Once that's all done, I shall get to work on the seat rail supports, then on to the mounting points for the seat unit to the frame. |
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Post by quazi on Nov 29, 2015 14:37:42 GMT
Bit more done today. Underside had a layer, it's about the same thickness as the rest of the seat unit, it also re-strengthens the back of the seat unit where it was cut.  I'm happy with it so far, I don't want a massive tail section, so I followed the lines of the frame rail.   Small bit of filling to do then gel coat over for a final finish. Then onto the supports. |
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Post by quazi on Nov 29, 2015 15:14:33 GMT
I'm not with you, what you mean?
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Post by quazi on Nov 29, 2015 15:44:14 GMT
No prob bud, yes I thought you was going to mention moulds. I didn't want to faff about trying to make a mould of this small section. Yes, normally you'd apply the gel coat first in the mould then glass over that, I could make a mould of the entire seat unit now if I wanted a spare before a full paint job. not sure if I'll do that or not. |
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Post by quazi on Dec 1, 2015 14:49:43 GMT
Took delivery of a set of yokes today and just bagged a pair of forks for a good price too. I'll have a look how things marry up and see what I'm up against. |
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Post by quazi on Dec 4, 2015 19:51:08 GMT
Still glassing the seat unit, put some rail supports underneath and now fleshing out the lower edges of the seat unit to utilise some original frame mounts at the rear.
Having looked into using the R6 yokes, I'm going to have to get the stems swapped over somehow, as the original upper XT stem and frame top is smaller than the R6 obviously, I cannot get a bearing due to the size restriction between the r6 stem and the xt frame top. My only option is to use the original stem (which is still to be decided exactly how) and the lower R6 yoke for the time being, then have a nosey. I need to get the R6 stem pressed out to start with then I can work with the XT stem and make some accurate measurements.
No more pics as yet.
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Post by bigkenxx on Dec 5, 2015 4:00:33 GMT
Ooooooooo can't wait have you got a place to get your stem done fella
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Post by quazi on Dec 5, 2015 9:34:28 GMT
I should have bud, there's a couple of good engineering shops in Carlisle that I've used before, they've always done a good job as we used to use them for all sorts of things in my last place I worked for. My misses also works for an engineering place, but they can be a miserable fucker sometimes when I ask them to do stuff for me, plus he somehow then thinks my misses owes him, so I try not to use them at all for anything other than metal supplies. |
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Post by quazi on Dec 7, 2015 18:27:46 GMT
I may have to rethink the Engineering shop in Carlisle, there's a good chance they would have been flooded out. Moving on.... Early xmas present turned up today, a bargain.  They'll more than likely get stripped and worked after I have finished the mock up, but for now they're spot on. |
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