The MacDonald's racer
Project/Rebuild
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Well I'm suspended for 3 months, and I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind. Project or not, I have decided the bike is gonna be rebuilt, completely cleaned, de-rusted and parts that need replacing will be replaced.
I started to take my bike fully apart for the first time today, and I gotta say, I was enjoying exploring through the parts so much, I kinda got addicted and went out and bought a flood light so I could keep deconstructing it through the night. I dunno why, but I was having so much fun with it, and have so far learnt a stack about my bike. About 10 months ago, I was pretty much mechanically retarded, and im very keen to learn more.
You would never believe the things that I found tucked away in this bike, i lol'd when I came across what appeared to be an empty condom packet under where the suspension sits (Axell has some explaining to do). I also found some matchsticks in the undertray, and lots of long female hair...
This is as far as I could get without an engine stand, and it was getting pretty late so I decided to pack up.
My room is covered in fairings!!!!!
So what do I plan to do?
- Subframe, Frame, Swingarm will get powdercoated gloss black
- Forks will be painted gloss black
- Air passages in fairings will be covered with a mesh metal. Something that's thin and will not hinder air flow too much.
- Red LED's installed
- Thinking of integrating my new smoked black LED indicators into fairings
- Calipers painted Red
- Brake system flushed and serviced
- New bt45 tyres front & rear
- I'l do something to my speedo to get it adjusted with the 14/53 sprocket mod
- Major cleaning of all components
- Full service - spark plugs, oils, coolants, brake fluids, all brake pads replaced etc.
- I don't know anything about engines, but I hope to learn, and do something with the engine, I'v got an oil leak atm.
- Will post anything else that I can think of later.
I'v gotten quite addicted to my new camera, so expect many pics as I go along
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I already rebuilt the front forks, changed dust and fork seals. it was the first thing I did. No 20c for me, im not that heavy

Rear shock I'v never touched, so it will definately be adjusted in some way or another. I bottom it out when I sit on it, so thats another story. Dunno if im willing to buy a new shock when I have a perfectly good one here.
But no race glass! I like my double bubble screen!
Calipers are on the agenda today!
Sadly I only had time to strip one caliper as I got a design job due, and then im off to work tonight. So it's gonna be painted red and rebuilt at a later stage next week when the paints fully cured, and been cooked in the oven just like-a-mama does.
Gotta buy some new brake pads aswell.
Heres a few pics. The piston was absolutely filthy! It will need a good sand.
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Calipers
Got some free time today to give the calipers a good sand and clean up to be ready for painting. Sanded with 600 grit sandpaper all round dry followed by wet. Then hit it with some brake cleaner to remove anything that might have been left.
Gonna give it a full week to fully cure, then bung it in the oven for an hour at 200 degree's for a chemically resistant cure.
Paint used: VHT Caliper Paint.
Before and after
I also gave the pistons a light sand to get rid of the rust. I started to sand with 1200g being very cautious not to sand away too much, but moved to 800g after it was doing jack all. Started dry sanding, then moved to wet. I was happy with the result.
Before and after
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Finally got some more free time to finish off the rest of my calipers last night
So now that they're all painted, im giving them a week in which to cure, then into the oven they go for a chemically resistant cure.
They all turned out very nicely, and the pistons are looking almost brand new.
A new set of front break pads are coming in the mail shortly and I'm still contemplating whether to go for braided brake lines or not. Anyone got some links on places that sell them reasonably cheap? stick em up!
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Decals
This has been running through my head for quite some time now, and just recently I'v come up with something which is not only hands on, but will give me a great idea of how my decals will look on my bike if I decide to go ahead with it.
I have been working on these digitally over the past few weeks in photoshop and illustrator, but its proven to be annoying as hell working with all the contuer's of the fairings. I sorta just gave up after designing a few shapes and having trouble getting them onto a picture of the bike in succession.
Last night, I was feeling abit creative and after some pondering, I came up with what I think is an ingenious idea. I had some black tape lying around the house. Not electrical tape, but normal plastic tape which was black in color. I tested to see if it would leave any residue on the fairings when peeling it off. It did not. It seemed the perfect candidate for what I was planning to do.
I started laying out shapes on my nose cone with whiteboard marker, and then filling them in with lines of tape to make a temporary decal. I was having so much fun that I got carried away and worked with different designs until 3:30am last night. I'm bummed that I didn't document all of the designs before I peeled them off, but the last one I did, I left on there, so I was able to photograph it.
Here is what I came up with:
I kinda like that last one. The black will line up with the air intakes which would look pretty cool, but I still have plenty more ideas to experiment with.. JUST for the nose cone.
I still need to do my research on what materials to buy to make my own decals (vinyl?) but I have all the cutting equiptment. I'l just be doing it by hand.
If you guys have any feedback, or ideas/designs to throw at me, im all ears.. or should I say eyes.
I think I might have gone a little overboard with the black in the 2nd picture up there ^^
But I started on the side fairings and came up with this. I quite like it. I might even leave this part with the tape and nothing else.
I would love to do it with the CBR text just below, but sadly I don't think I have the time or patience to do both sides. It would take hours just to cut the tape to fit one side perfectly.
well fuck me dead I must be bored because I went ahead and did it. I like it.