About Me

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Henry Martin spends his nights writing fiction and poetry, which predominately deals with the often-overlooked aspects of humanity. He is the author of three novels: Escaping Barcelona, Finding Eivissa, and Eluding Reality; a short story collection, Coffee, Cigarettes, and Murderous Thoughts; and a poetry collection, The Silence Before Dawn. His most recent published project is a collection of Photostories in five volumes under the KSHM Project umbrella, for which he collaborated with Australian photographer Karl Strand, combining one of a kind images with short stories and vignettes. He is currently working on his next novel narrated in two opposing points of view. He lives with his family in the Northeast.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Getting there

Well, the powdercoating saga continues with a homemade fix - sand, sand, and buff and buff.

That's right, I went the crazy route of fixing the messed up powder job instead of looking for someone else to fix it. (not that there is anyone near me who could fit the frame in their oven).

Started with a 1000 grit and moved on to a 1500 grit sand paper. Wetsanded without cutting into the color coat, then used some polishing compound followed by Mequiar's 205 glaze. Due to its nature, the powder is not perfect, like a catalyzed urethane coat would be, but it looks much better than what I brought home initially.

I also got some of the smaller parts back from a different powdercoater - one that has never failed me yet. Those pieces look good, and I'm just sad that he couldn't have handled the frame for me as well. It would have saved me a lot of trouble, aggravation, and pain.


I flipped the frame upside down, inspected powder coverage in all the welds, and laid a thin coat of clear on the suspicious areas.

Tomorrow, I'll start working on the AN hoses for the oil lines, and, if time permits, will attempt to put the engine back into the frame without causing any damage.  

Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Bandit 1200S Project continues

This Bandit 1200S project just keeps throwing obstacles under my feet. One thing after the other does not go well, or is not working as it should have. Those of you who had followed and read this blog for a while know that I generally do not run into any big issues when restoring bikes. The Bandit did not need to be restored, and maybe that is why I'm having such a bad luck.

This time around, it is the frame.

So, I had decided to change the frame color. Not only because I wanted a different color, but also because the frame had a few chips and scratches in it. When I first started looking for a place that would powder coat it, I kept coming up empty handed. All my usual sources refused to touch it, either because the frame is so large or because there are too many brackets/triangles to ensure optimal powder coverage. I almost ended up having the frame painted with 2k urethane, when someone recommended a powder shop to me.

I spoke with the owner, did all my usual checking, viewed sample of his work, and decided to let him do the job. The order was mirror red with a second coat of clear on top of it to provide extra protection.

I dropped the frame off, and waited. About a week and a half later I got the call that the frame was done. However, the owner said that the second coat of clear turned it dull. I went over there expecting a slightly dull finish, but what I got instead was this:    
Looks great from a distance, right?

Well, a closer look reveals not a dull finish, but a 'frosted' finish:
This is all over the frame.

The shop did not want to redo the frame without raising the price, which I thought was unprofessional. They did offer to try one more coat of clear on top of it, which I rejected. Covering a screwed up job with yet another coat was not making me comfortable. The owner knocked down a bit from the agreed-upon price, and I took the frame home, thinking about what do do.

First idea was to sand the 'frost' coat and have it coated with a clear 2k urethane. But then I started thinking that if I'm already sanding it, I may as well try buffing it.

I hit the frame with 1000 grit sandpaper, followed by 1500 wet sanding:
So far doing only the exposed areas. The clear coat sands fairly well, and leaves a decent finish behind without digging into the color coat so far.

Here is a section I hit with a polishing compound:
Not good enough, but getting there.

So, the plan is to go over the frame with more wetsanding, followed by a polishing compound (silicone-free), and then some finer scratch remover compound. Because it is all tubes and angles, I'll be doing this by hand.

I'd guess you know what I'll be doing every evening :(





Thursday, January 22, 2015

Fixing broken tabs with fiberglass

Many motorcycles have plastic body parts with flimsy plastic tabs. It only takes overtorquing the mounting bolt once before the tabs break off. This was the case with many bikes I had seen, and also with the Bandit I bought last year.

Taking things apart, the little tabs were falling off. Since I did not feel like replacing the broken parts with new parts featuring the same weak design, I decided to fix the broken parts with fiberglass mat and some polyester resin.  

This is an example of a broken piece, in this case, a sidecover. After gluing the two pieces together, I grind the back nice and rough, removing any factory applied finish.

Then it is as simple as mixing resin with hardener, cutting a few strips of fiberglass mat, and having go at it. I tend to make my resin not too hot, so it does not melt the plastic as it cures.

When it is all cured, just cut the excess cloth with a small cutoff wheel (I use a Dremmel), smooth over the edges, and drill the hole using the stock hole as a guide.

The same thing was done with this inner fender mounting tabs, except that the first step was to glue the broken parts together with ABS glue, as this was ABS plastic.




Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Replacing oil lines on Bandit 1200, Part 1

My 12 year old Bandit 1200, despite having only 11k miles on the clock, has developed some small oil leaks in the factory oil lines, both on the cam feed, and on the cooler lines. The leaks happened in the factory crimped seal, which were lose and actually swiveled.

Since new OEM lines cost an arm and a leg, I decided to make my own, with Russell Performance AN braided hose and fittings. Unfortunately, Suzuki uses odd fittings on the valve covers and on the cooler. I had two options:

Have a machine shop make me some new fittings tapped for the AN, or tap the existing fittings.

OEM lines with crimped seals
Hard lines cut off at fittings
Fittings with line drilled out. Hole drilled at 27/64 for a 12mm tap
Tapped valve cover connector
Tapped sump connector
I also drilled and tapped the cooler, so I can run AN hose there

Replacing OEM banjos with Russell 16mm x 1.5 to AN-6 adapters
12mm x 1.5 to AN-6 adapter in the cooler
Adapters and hose ends in the OEM fittings


I plan to use thread sealant and copper (or aluminum) crush washers under the adapters. Next, I'll be finishing this setup and making four hoses to connect everything. That will be part 2.


Sunday, January 4, 2015

Bandit fixes

With the motor out, I spent a few hours taking everything else apart. Once I had the frame all bare, I scrubbed it and cleaned it the best I could. Now it is time to decide whether to paint or powdercoat. While powder seems like the logical choice, there are too many brackets and gussets on this frame, that I'm not too confident a powder will sufficiently coat everywhere. I may just go with a good 2k urethane paint, which, coincidentally, costs more than powdercoat.

So, mulling this over, I started inspecting the vast array of parts that took over my garage. I found a few issues here and there, and decided to tackle them right away.

Item #1 - a broken stud in the headlight mount. These studs seem to be inserted into the plastic housing while it is still hot, or rather, they are probably molded right now. Somehow one of the studs was broken off (it was a used bike).


I cleaned the broken part with a file, squared it, and found center. Then I drilled it, and tapped the hole for 6mm bolt. 
 I used a regular stainless steel bolt that I cut to the right length, applied some red loctite, and screwed it right in. Seems like a good, secure fix - much better than buying a new headlight :)
 Item #2 - There was a crack in the rear plastic section, right where the tailight is housed. After some scuffing with an aggressive sandpaper to give it a decent bite, I used polyester resin and fiberglass mat to make it nice and strong. 
 Sanded fro the other side. A few more passes, some glaze, and it will be ready for paint.

 Item #3 - well, there are four of them. The silly PAIR secondary air gizmo the 1200 has. The pipes were all corroded and not looking healthy.
 Wire wheel and sandpaper later, the base metal looks good enough to keep.
 Coated with VHT high temp enamel, drying before it goes to the oven. Originally, I thought about powdercoating these, but than I was not sure how hot these get. The local powedercoater does not have any high temp powder, so I decided on the enamel instead. It's good to 650 degrees, and once it is baked at 200 degrees for an hour, it turns into a fairly resistant finish.


Well, that's all for today. More to come soon.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Motor is out

I continued on the bandit 1200S teardown, and I finally managed to pull the motor out of the frame. What a pain that was. I have done many motor removals, but this one was, by far, the nastiest one.

For one, the engine/tranny is heavy and huge. For two, Suzuki placed the rear brackets so well that it was almost impossible to align everything right with just two hands and one jack. I will get some help putting it back in, otherwise I will end up scratching the new finish on the frame (once that is done).



The work planned:

Refinish frame
New rubber mounts
New oil cooler lines
New brake lines
New clutch line
New exhaust seals
Clean all electrical connections
Fork rebuild
Swingarm lube
New wheel bearings
New chain and sprockets
Luggage sidecase support
Put everything back together