TDR Project. Front End. USD Forks Test Fitting.

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Brian

Now that I have my frame back from powder coating I can start working on the front end of Mildred.  I bought the following TZR125RR Belgarda (4DL) parts about 6 months ago:

  1. USD forks (50mm diameter).
  2. Top and bottom yokes.
  3. Brembo brake caliper, master cylinder and lever.
  4. Front mudguard.

The first part of this phase is to work out what is required to make it all fit together and carry out any modifications required as a result of this test fitting.  This blog post covers the test fitting of the yokes and USD forks.

Redditch Shotblasting did a decent job of masking the headstock bearing seats as you can see below:

Masked Headstock - Upper

Continue reading →

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

TDR Project. Powder Coated Frame.

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Brian

After the saga involving the repair of the frame corrosion, I now have my frame back from Redditch Shotblasting.  The time taken (2 months) to get Mildred’s frame sorted couldn’t be avoided, I guess it’s just one of the many tests of patience and resolve involved in motorcycle projects.

I unwrapped the powder coated frame slowly, just to savour the resulting transformation.

Unwrapping

Continue reading →

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

TDR Project. Stubborn Studs.

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Brian

I’ve been struggling to remove 2 studs from the upper half of Mildred’s crankcase.  I’ve tried all of the usual methods: stud extractor, double nutting, heat, WD40, cold and hitting the stud to free it.

My final roll of the dice was to weld a nut onto the stud, use some WD40 and hit the stud to try and free it.

Nut Threaded Onto Stud Ready For Welding

Continue reading →

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

TDR Project. Frame Repair.

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Brian

This is just a quick update post about the frame repairs which have now been completed by Dave The Frame.

I left the frame with him a couple of weeks ago and it had a number of small corrosion holes which looked like they had rotted from the inside outwards.

Dave checked the extent of the corrosion (and subsequent weakness) and has managed to save the frame with a number of plates and spot welds.  He has given the frame the all clear and I have now dropped it off with Redditch Shotblasting (again).

Frame Repair - 1

Frame Repair - 2

Frame Repair - 3

Frame Repair - 4

Thankfully, this section of the frame is hidden by the seat, fuel tank and body panels and besides strength is more important than looks.  I would not want the frame breaking underneath me….

I am expecting to be able to collect the freshly powder coated frame on Saturday and then (at last) I can get on with the re-building process.

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

TDR Project. Mildred Has Steelworm.

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Brian

I received a bad news phone call from Dave at Redditch Shotblasting regarding the frame I had left with him for shotblasting and powder coating.  The top rail of the frame has a number of small corrosion holes.  They are mostly on the top and sides of the frame and it’s not clear how they happened.  They only became apparent once the frame had been shotblasted.

I did not have chance to take any photos of the actual holes but I managed to find some other similar holes online to show what has happened to Mildred’s frame:

Corrosion Holes 1

Corrosion Holes 2

Some of them are slightly larger than those shown above but they are the closest I could find.

As Redditch is about an hour’s drive from my home I had to find someone in the Birmingham area who could look at repairing the holes, although it may not be a simple case of just patching the holes with some plate.  It could be much worse and I may be looking for a new frame.

I found a guy called Dave The Frame and the frame is now with him for further investigation and hopefully repair.

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

TDR Project. Engine Inspection.

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Brian

In preparation for vapour blasting the engine cases I have measured the service tolerances and inspected the following engine components:

  1. Clutch plates.
  2. Pistons.
  3. Cylinder barrels.
  4. Head.

The clutch friction plates need to be measured to check that they have not worn past their service limits and the steel plates (sandwiched between a pair of friction plates) need to be checked for any warping.

Clutch Kit Cleaned And Ready For Inspection

The clutch friction plates were measured using vernier calipers and should be thicker than 2.80mm (measured in 4 locations on the friction plate).

Clutch Friction Plate Measurement

All of my clutch friction plates were between 3.1mm and 2.9mm which was OK.  I then checked each of the steel clutch plates for any warping.  To do this I used the factory surface table where I work.  You can check for any warping with a feeler gauge but I found the easiest way was to see if any of the steel plates wobbled when pressed onto the surface table.

Checking For Warping

I found 2 of the steel plates had warped beyond the specified 0.1mm acceptable limit.  These need replacing so I have decided that I am going to replace the complete clutch kit (including springs) while the engine is apart.  I want to do this job properly and I’m not prepared to cut any corners.  I’m going to ask the members of the TDR250 Forum for any recommendations.

The next engine component checked was the cylinder head.  A surface plate was laid across the cylinder heads in all directions and checked for any gaps with a feeler gauge.

Checking The Cylinder Head For Warping

There were no gaps at all and the cylinder head is fine and just needs a little bit of a clean up before it is vapour blasted.

The barells were then checked for any scoring and for their diameter.  One of the cylinders in oversized by 0.25mm and the other is 0.50mm oversize, both sizes are defined in the service manual.  I don’t know what the measurement tool I used is called but it was perfect for the job.  It uses 2 sprung probes which are released when the tool is inside the cylinder and locked off before being measured with vernier calipers.

Measuring The Barell Diameter

Both barells were damage free and within the required service limits so can be vapour blasted without any further work.

Last up were the pistons and rings.  The ring clearance of both pistons was as it should be but I did find some worrying damage on one piston:

Piston Damage 1

Piston Damage 2 (Same Piston)

Just to be safe I’m going to replace both pistons and rings while the engine is apart.  Again, I will ask the members of the TDR250 forum for their recommendations.

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

TDR Project. More Polishing And Engine Inspection

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Brian

While Mildred’s frame is away being powder coated it was time for a couple of other jobs:

  1. Continue the aluminium polishing of my silencers.
  2. Dig out and prepare a number of engine components for inspection and measurement.

Silencer Polishing

When I last tried to polish one of the silencers it took me a number of attempts to finally suss it out. This meant that I had only properly polished a small strip of one of my silencers so I was determined to polish the rest of the can today.

As I discovered last time, it is easier to polish small strips of the silencer rather than the whole silencer in one go.  Each strip was just over an inch in width and this resulted in about 8 different strips, each one polished one at a time.

I still have to polish the ends of the silencer but this shouldn’t take too long.  Fair play, polishing a round item requires serious patience and care so although the swingarm is a bigger item it is essentially flat and should be easier.

Below is a comparison between the polished and unpolished silencers:

Polished and Unpolished Comparison 1

Polished and Unpolished Comparison 2

I struggled to do the final finish justice with a still image (I think) so I’ve tried a video as well:

Engine Inspection Preparation

I’m planning to have the engine cases and probably the carbs vapour blasted at the same place where my frame is being powder coated (Redditch Shotblasting) but before I can have them vapour blasted I need to inspect them and take some service measurements.  I also needed to remove the head and exhaust studs and the power valves from each cylinder.

A couple of the studs were a real pain to remove and I ended up re-threading the stud just to get it out with a stud extractor but there is still one exhaust stud which won’t come out.  I’ll seek expert advice about this before I make it any worse than it already is.

Seized Exhaust Stud

The final step required to prepare the cylinders was to remove the power valves.  This is a simple job but here’s a tip: use the wooden handle of a small hammer to lock the power valve in place while you remove the long screw which secures the 2 halves of the power valve.

Wooden Hammer Handle Locking Power Valve 1

Wooden Hammer Handle Locking Power Valve 2

I’m taking the cylinders, pistons, head and clutch into work this week to use our inspection facilities to take accurate service limit measurements before I go any further with the engine refurbishment.

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

TDR Project. The Grand Plan.

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Brian

In response to Chris’s request, this is a post summarising where I am currently and what my plans are for this project.

Where the project is now

The bike is completely stripped down and each system (such as the brakes) have been stripped down to their component parts.  Mildred is now housed in about 8 different plastic crates and the larger parts (expansion chamber, wheels and swingarm) are in dry storage locations.

The frame has just been delivered to Redditch Shotblasting to be powder coated in gloss black.  Once this is back then I can start re-assembling the various parts (described below).

The plan from here

This is the first time that I have actually committed the required tasks to a list of any sort so I’m expecting a bit of a shock and a dawning realisation by the end of this blog post…..  So in some kind of chronological order here’s the list:

  • Measure all engine and gearbox service tolerances.
  • Vapour blast all engine cases.
  • Rebuild engine, replace any out of limit components and fit new gaskets/seals.
  • Vapour blast and sonic clean carburettors.
  • Re-fit carburettors.
  • Figure out the fitting of the Yamaha TZR125R Belgarda upside down forks.  This will require some custom machining.
  • Replate and restore upside down forks.
  • Uprate upside down forks as the TDR250 is heavier than the donor TZR125R Belgarda.
  • Fit upside down forks.
  • Replace original rear shock with a new Nitron unit.
  • Fit rear brake system.  Replace rear pads.
  • Fit front brake system (Brembo) from TZR125R Belgarda.
  • Repair and re-fit electrics.
  • Powder coat wheels in same gloss black as the frame and pin stripe in red.
  • Polish aluminium exhaust end cans.
  • Polish aluminium swingarm.
  • Recover seat in black.
  • Paint plastics and tank in white Yamaha speedblock scheme.  Inspired by the 3 images below:
Yamaha Red White Speedblock

Yamaha Red White Speedblock

Yamaha FZ1 Fazer ABS Limited Edition

Lawson Original

This list does not include many smaller parts which will be either replaced, restored or cleaned before re-fitting.

I have no idea when it will be finished but I will enjoy the process and make sure that every part is as good as I can possibly make it when it is re-fitted.

Chris: to answer your questions I would say that fitting and engineering the replacement front forks will be the most challenging and the scariest moment will be when I kick start the engine for the first time.  The engine is very simple so I have no fear during the re-build of the engine.

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

TDR Project. Frame Powder Coating

Posted on April 24, 2010 by Brian

This is just a quick update post to note that I have finally dropped off my frame to be powder coated gloss black.  I will hopefully get it back around May 8th.

On the strength of a recommendation from the TDR250 Forum I am using Redditch Shotblasting to do the work.  They looked very busy when I dropped my frame off which is always a good indicator and Dave (the owner?) was very friendly and helpful.

Redditch Shotblasting also do vapour blasting, so if they make a decent job of the frame then I’ll get them to do my engine cases as well as several other bits and pieces that I need power coating.

Here’s how the frame looked when I’d finished preparing it for powder coating:

Frame After Cleaning - 2

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

TDR Project. Frame De-Greasing

Posted on April 2, 2010 by Brian

Before we go any further, an apology to Chris, this is quite a dull blog post which does not cover the dismantling of complex components or any red (blood-like) fluids.

It’s been a while since my last blog post and also a while since I did anything on this project, I’ve been away with work a number of times and the weather has been rubbish of late.

Last Sunday was the first dry and bright day for a few weeks so I decided to crack on and prepare Mildred’s frame for power coating.  This involves ensuring that it is clean and de-greased and that all fasteners and bushes have been removed.  Once the frame is power coated it should look like new.  Here’s an example of the finish you can achieve: Powder Coated Frame although Mildred will not be blue, she will have a black frame.

As well as large areas of heavy oil and grease the frame was generally mucky with many spots of surface corrosion which thankfully have not developed into any significant rust/damage to the frame.

Frame Before Cleaning

Frame Before Cleaning - 2

Frame Before Cleaning - 3 (Large Areas Of Corrosion)

Frame Before Cleaning - 4 (Heavy Oil And Grease Around Lower Engine Mount)

Frame Before Cleaning - 5

Frame Before Cleaning - 6 (More Areas Of Corrosion)

Frame Before Cleaning - 7 (Even More Areas Of Corrosion)

Frame Before Cleaning - 8 (Oh And Some More Areas Of Corrosion)

To remove the areas of built-up grease and oil I used some Gunk Engine Degreasant, a paint brush, a stiff scrubbing brush and a glass jar (to decant the Gunk into).

Stuff What I Used

The Gunk Degreasant was brushed onto the areas with grease/oil and left to work its magic for 10 minutes.

Gunk Degreasant Brushed On And Doing Its Thing

You then simply hose it off with water but if the area is really heavily built-up  up with oil and grease then you need to work in the Degreasant with a stiff brush before leaving it for 10 minutes to work into the affected area.

Working The Degreasant Into The Affected Area

Clean Area After Hosing Down

As well as the lower frame/engine cradle area, the underside of the lower frame rails were also thick with grease and oil.

Underside Of Lower Frame Rails - Before

This area also needed a good scrub to work the Degreasant into the affected areas.

Underside Of Lower Frame Rails - After

Once the heavily greased/oiled areas had been cleaned up with the Degreasant the rest of the frame was cleaned using Muc Off and left to dry.

Without the general dirt and areas of grease/oil, the full extent of the surface corrosion can be seen.

Frame After Cleaning - 1

Frame After Cleaning - 2

Frame After Cleaning - 3 (Corrosion On Rear Subframe)

Frame After Cleaning - 4 (Corrosion On Rear Subframe)

Frame After Cleaning - 5

Frame After Cleaning - 6

There is one last job to be completed before I can send the frame away for powder coating, I need to run a tap through all of the fastener threads and remove a sheared off bolt from the rear caliper mount.  I’m hoping to do that this (long Bank Holiday) weekend and then I should have a shiny new powder coated frame by the end of April……

Posted in TDR 250 | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments