Topic: Terry's NEW Redneck CB750 rebuild. The "Swamp Rat". Too soon? Nah..........

[PeWe]

Good knowledge for the Yamaha guys. This is probably sure to happen this kind of bike when coolant is not replaced for some years, right?

Terry, you are a Yama expert too!

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, and it made me think about my other water cooled bikes, (RC51, VTR10000F, VFR750 and BMW K100RS) I think I better drag them all out and do a coolant change, I'd hate to think when they were last done!

[Terry in Australia]

Thank God it's Friday! I love Fridays and now and then I wonder what it'll be like in only a few short years when I finally retire from the workforce, and every day's a Saturday? Wow, the thought of being able to go for a ride any day of the week, any time of the year really does seem like Nirvana to me, having worked full time for the last 44 years, what the fcuk will I do to fill my days? Oh that's right, all of these motorcycle projects! Anyway, to cheer myself up, I went to the little cafe across from the barracks and had some eggs benny.

Terry's breakfast 23 May 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I came home after work today, and even though it was rainy all day, the clouds parted as I was farting around in my garage looking for parts for the K2, so I got a couple of hours to play with the big Yam. The few parts I've had to order for the Swamp Rat have been coming in this week, I didn't need much, but a new repro petcock assembly was cheaper than buying a rebuild kit, so I bought one, plus some 2 foot tyre levers so I can fit the new Stinko tyres on to the better wheels I have for it, so I think all I need to buy (apart from a new tank cap seal, which is on it's way) is a master cylinder rebuild kit.

I found a good used fuel tank cap with a lock and both pins attached on my bench when I was looking for my Yamaha air filter and spark plugs, plus some tank and sidecover badges that should come up OK with a lick of paint, and even a new repro K1 seat cover ('cos I've only got a K1 seat to put on it) new hand grips, the new brake pads that Spotty gave me last year (thanks mate!) some fork seals that Jona in Israel sent me (thanks mate!) even new bronze swingarm bushes from Germany, so along with all the other bits I've already found, there's pretty much everything to put the old bugger back on the road as a tatty "barn fresh" rat.   

Anyway, back to the FJR. Last night I thought I'd solved the over-revving issue, but when I fired it up again today, it did it again! I was sure though, that the "wax motor" coolant hose was the issue, so I pulled the hose away from the radiator and nice clean green coolant flowed out, so I wondered whether the "spiggot" that the hose was on was blocked, so I grabbed a small allen key and poked it in, and sure enough, it was plugged with crap. I poked the allen key in and suddenly clean green coolant shot out. sweet. As soon as I refitted the hose and started the bike the idle stayed on a steady 1000 RPM.

I'd put that bottle of Nulon radiator flush in it a couple of nights ago, so after running the bike for maybe 20 minutes or so I decided there wasn't much left to clean out and drained the coolant so I could refill it with nice fresh stuff. I remembered not to pull the drain plug all the way out, as last time the coolant shot a couple of feet past me and missed the tub completely.

Terry's FJR coolant drain 23 May 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I refilled it with fresh coolant, and topped up the overflow tank. I ran it for awhile, and it didn't get hot, so I called it good. I need to go visit my Ma 200 miles away tomorrow so it'll have to wait until I'm back in town, but that's OK, the weather's gonna be sh1t for the next couple of days. I also need to replace the worn out rear disc and pads, once again I bought the new ones ages ago, and haven't gotten around to installing them yet. Good thing was, when I was pulling out the new rear disc tonight, I found the genuine Yamaha air filter and spark plugs I've been looking for all week! Woohoo! I haven't completely lost my mind!

Terry's Yamaha FJR new parts 23 May 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

   

[PeWe]

Good work Terry!
It's always so nice feeling when fixing something, especially a stopping problem that found to be an easy fix.

I found the old stock gear lever to my K6 yesterday after looking at the same place it should be for the 3:rd time hidden under a smoothbore rack and old oil cooler stuff.
Could bend it right looking better and mount it on my K6 that lost its lever when riding it earlier this week.
What a surprise when trying to gear down on the road when turning off to a friend. I did not hear when it jumped off. The Hindle song is wonderful in 140-180 km/h twisting throttle passing cars!

Yamiya aftermarket lever that could jump off??? The M6 screw should block it even if rattling loose.
I passed a friends house so I could change gear to 3:rd from 5:th and continue to a weekly bike meet.
The old stock gear lever got some Loctite 222 on its threads just for sure. This Loctite work really fine, weak but add resistance into the threads.

[Terry in Australia]

Wow that's weird Per, I've never heard of a gear pedal coming off unless the splines were so stripped that the lever was loose, but I know that isn't the case with your magnificent K6! Is it possible the old lever cracked and fell apart? As you say, the bolt should have held it in place? Strange mate, for sure.

[PeWe]

The other lever sit rather loose... but work. My K2 has also stock lever,  not tight I guess the splines could be fresher, but no sign of splines grinded off making lever to slide. The lever however, might be damaged inside after all use.
The lost one was rather new, used since 2017. 

I have thoughts if it might have cracked, but no incidents that can have done it.  Probably brittle steel or even worse, cast iron compared with CB750 stock that withstand abuse.
Tightened when mounted early 2017, no signs of play.
I tested the old good lever with M6 screw not tightened at all, lever not possible to force out from the shaft.

Good idea to check all nuts, screws/bolts etc now and then.

I found earlier that the 2 M6 that holds front sprocket were going off. One has left completely, the last on almost there. I used Loctite 243 on those after that. Those should have a locking plate with ears as for rear sprocket nuts or early front hub for rotor nuts.
The 2x2 nuts keeping front wheel is on my check list though

[Terry in Australia]

Well Sunday morning coming down. The sun is shining, even though there is more rain about. I didn't go visit my Ma 200 miles away yesterday, she warned me off as she's got a chest infection that I don't need right now, so I put it off for a week and spent the day tinkering with the FJR. First job was to remove the tank (again.....) and replace the spark plugs.

FJR1300 Saturday 25 May 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I was surprised how good they were, considering that they've done around 60,000 miles?

FJR1300 Saturday 25 May 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, next job was the air filter replacement. I was pleasantly surprised that it has been running a K&N filter for the last 15 years or so, without any issues, and that might be why the plugs lasted so long too. I still installed the new genuine Yamaha filter element because I couldn't be bothered cleaning and re-oiling the K&N, but I'll keep the K&N for the next service in a few years time.

FJR1300 Saturday 25 May 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I can see why K&N filters cost about twice the price of the OEM item, they really are a much better quality build, the genuine Yamaha item looks "cheap" in comparison.

FJR1300 Saturday 25 May 2019 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, so I put it all together and gave it a wash for probably the first time in 3 years. Still looks good for a bike with 140,000 miles.

FJR1300 Saturday 25 May 2019 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then I thought about the rear brake disc and front pads. I replaced the front discs with "as new" R1 discs in 2016 as the old ones were worn out, but the pads I bought from Jeff at ACE Motorcycles are sh1t, so I bought new genuine Yamaha pads which I'll install today. On top of that, the rear disc is screwed too, so I bought a new disc and pads, but need to install it. I'll do that today, but I need to go to the auto parts store to buy some nice moly grease so I can grease the splines on the driveshaft while I've got the back wheel off.

FJR1300 Saturday 25 May 2019 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, I better get out there and get some more work done before the rain comes back!

 

[PeWe]

140.000/225.308 km!!!
Thats like a well used car!

That bike has been a daily family rider with wife sitting behind, children in the boxes maybe room left for a dog somewhere too?

[Terry in Australia]

140.000/225.308 km!!!
Thats like a well used car!

That bike has been a daily family rider with wife sitting behind, children in the boxes maybe room left for a dog somewhere too?

Actually a bit more Per, here's a pic I took back in 2016 when I was still in Canberra, I think I've done a couple of thousand more now?

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9i by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So maybe closer to 146,000 miles? Pretty amazing when you think that the engine has never been apart, it hasn't even had a clutch replacement. Anyway, today I went to the Auto parts store and bought some nice Penrite moly grease, some injector cleaner, WD spray and some radiator sealant stuff. I noticed a couple of drops of coolant dribbled past the seals that direct coolant into the cylinder head, and if I had new ones I would have replaced them, but anyway, I think this gloop worked, as it stopped dripping today once the engine warmed up. My focus today was on replacing the rear disc and pads, so even though it was pretty cold (for Oz) I bravely got stuck in. Youtube is a wonderful thing, so by the time I'd watched a couple of guys removing their back wheels, I felt like I'd done it a hundred times.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

These 3/8" drive allen socket thingies are fantastic. The disc brake retaining bolts are notoriously difficult to remove, but I cracked each bolt while the wheel was still on the bike, and it was easy.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I soon had the old disc and pads off.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

While I was at it, I pulled the differential and drive shaft so I could re-grease the splines. Lucky I did too, there wasn't a skerrick of grease to be found, how those splines survived at speeds of 250 KMH (156 MPH) on some of my more "spirited" rides, I'll never know?

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, the beaut Penrite moly grease cured that ill, I was just happy that all the teeth were still there. Okay, onto the brakes. I knew I had a new Bendix brake cleaning pad that I bought 4 years ago and never used.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Trouble is, it had gone completely dry, so I reverted to some shop towel soaked in acetone. I cleaned the disc, put some blue loctite on the threads of the mounting bolts, and tightened those suckers down. Looked much better than the one it replaced!

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then I went looking for the new brake pads. I was sure I knew where I'd put them, but do you think I could find them? I pulled the garage apart, but couldn't find them. FCUK! Then I remembered that I'd shoved a couple of non-KZ1000 items into my boxes of new Kawasaki parts, and there were my brake pads, right on top. Sweet.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It didn't take long to wiggle the wheel back into place and fit the pads. All good.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I used my special G Clamp/Valve spring compressor to push the caliper piston back into place, and re-fitted the caliper.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9b by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

OK, I pumped the brake pedal a few times, and just for fun, fired it up, put it in gear, and pumped the brake pedal some more, and called it good. As I mentioned earlier, I was never happy with the brake job that Jeff did on my fronts, so I'd bought new pads, but never fitted them. I had plenty of time, so I thought, "why not"?

These are Yamaha''s famous "Blue dot" 4 piston calipers, and are the "Go to" caliper to put on the older FJ1200 Yamaha's, because they work so well. But after Jeff swapped in some really good lightly used genuine OEM R1 discs and some dodgy no-name pads, they never felt as aggressive like they'd been before. I rode it for several thousand kilometers and never felt that they were as good as they had been before.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9d by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

These Yamaha pads were ridiculously expensive from the dealer in Canberra, but I needed them and i knew that the PO had used genuine Yamaha pads previously, so I shelled out the 150 bucks for the pads, and of course forgot about them until now.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9e by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Before I installed them I cleaned the discs with more acetone, pushed the four pistons back in with the special tool, and cleaned all the other parts with acetone while I was at it. I'm glad I did install them, it didn't take long, and next time I ride it, I'm sure they'll work better than previously.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9g by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I pumped the lever a few times and it felt good. I thought about taking it for a ride, but it's not registered, so to legally take it out on the road I needed to buy an "Unregistered vehicle permit", which will cost me $55 for 7 days, so I want to make the most of those 7 days, including getting a Roadworthy certificate and getting it re-registered, so I'll make some enquiries first so I can do all those things in a week. Anyway, good thing is it's all sorted now, and ready to do many more miles! I'm glad I had bought all these parts years ago, I realised that I'd just replaced around $600 worth of parts this last week, so was happy that I already had them.

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9c by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Next job is to do me some Swamp Rat tyre fitting, I received my big tyre levers last week, so tomorrow after work, I might try my had at tyre fitting. I haven't done it in years, so be gentle everybody!

[mick7504]

Put some air into those tubes before you wind the tyres onto the rims mate.
They're like the ol' lubricated profylactic straight out of the packet and are prone to getting pinched until they're inflated a bit.
And we all know how much trouble that can cause. 

[Terry in Australia]

Put some air into those tubes before you wind the tyres onto the rims mate.
They're like the ol' lubricated profylactic straight out of the packet and are prone to getting pinched until they're inflated a bit.
And we all know how much trouble that can cause. 

Thanks Mick, will do, and from memory, last time I installed new tyres I dusted the tubes with talcum powder to act as a "dry lubricant" to help them seat properly inside the tyres, I've seen people spraying heaps of soapy water into them, but I always worry that's why a lot of rims rust from the inside out?

I will use a bit of detergenty water to seat the tyres on the rims though. I did heaps of car tyres when I worked at the servo when I was a kid, long before we had tyre machines, so I got the hang of tyre levers and rubber mallets, but how much I'll remember, who knows?

[MoMo]

never pinched a tube using this method:  mount one side of tire (tyre?) on rim,  fold tube in making sure nut is put on stem after inserting stem through rim,  blow up tube to remove all folds, release air, mount other side of tire, blow up again to make sure bead is seated, release air again, finally blow to desired psi.  Usually don't use any mounting lubricant, sometimes soapy water, in the shops I worked we had a special tyre (tire?) mounting lubricant,  Spray Nine works well.  Who knows how many hundreds of tyres (tires?) I've mounted over the past 40 or so years.  BTW, I use Honda tire (tyre?) spoons I purchased back in the early 70's.   I used tyre so y'all knew what I was talking about ....Larry, aka MoMo

[PeWe]

I pinched some tubes when not filled the tube with a little air just before wrenching on the last side.

I was so sure I could hold the tube away from the tire bar, rim protection on too. My stubbornness cost me 2 Michelin tubes.  I had ordered 3 for rear. A little air make tube round and tire bar will not reach it.

I use tire lubrication that works fine, it dries after a while and does not lubricate tire long after making it to slip when driving.

[spotty]

Wow that's weird Per, I've never heard of a gear pedal coming off unless the splines were so stripped that the lever was loose, but I know that isn't the case with your magnificent K6! Is it possible the old lever cracked and fell apart? As you say, the bolt should have held it in place? Strange mate, for sure.

the gear pedal on my old 750 decided it was not happy about moving from sunny adelaide to melbourne with me so about half way back it jumped off. it was last seen when i left horsham, and having gotten up into 5th i had no cause to interface with it again until i tried to change down upon entering ballarat, oh dear i said ( or words to that effect ) where could my gear lever have gone...didn'rt seem much point backtracking a few hundred km's to look for it so i had to ride into ballarat in 5th. through red lights, over kerbs..whatever it took. found a bike shop and put a new one on
the old one wasn't loose before i left and the new one never came loose on the splines so it remains a mystery to this day ( as does why i moved to adelaide in the first place )

[MoMo]

Back in the old days when I wrenched at Honda shops one of the more important things to check was tightness of the bolt that cinched the shift pedal.  Usually required a half to full turn to ascertain longevity of the shifter....Larry

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks men, all good info, and you can spell Tyres "Tires", "Tars" or even "Round rubber tings" and I'll understand what you're saying LBB, I spend more time watching Youtube videos than I do commercial television, so I understand "American/English". ("Americanese"?)

Well I forgot that I had physio again after work tonight, plus it's absolutely freezing outside today (51 deg) so no "Tar fittin" tonight. No biggie, as it was the wind had blown the cover off the poor old swamp rat so when I got home it was wet from todays rain, and embarrassingly naked, so I put it's dress back on and tied it down, I know it's been out in the weather for the last 10 years, but I'm trying to show it that if it looks after me, (and continues to run perfectly) I'll look after it, and keep it covered up. I might do some "Tar fitting" tomorrow.  

[Terry in Australia]

Sh1t weather here today, but I'm going to bravely brave the cold and take the big blue Yamaha FJR1300 for it's first ride in at least a year, probably 2, worst case, 3........... My big brother died 3 years ago today, and I was so busy with funeral arrangements etc, I forgot to renew the registration until when I was doing my tax on the 31st of October, and by then the 3 month "Grace" period was well and truly past, and so I just parked it and rode my other bikes.

With it's big screen and heated grips though, it's a great long haul fast tourer, so I've bought an "Unregistered Vehicle Permit" so I can legally ride it on the road to test all the work I've done over the last couple of weekends to make it roadworthy (new rear disc rotor, new pads all round, etc) before I take it over to Jeff at Ace Motorcycles to do the inspection so I can legally ride it again. I'm looking forward to clocking up lots more miles on the old beast, it's already done around 234,000 Km (146,000 miles) without so much as new clutch plates, and I was happy to note when I did it's first spark plug change in 55,000 miles that there was no sign of oil burning either.

I'll rug up in my leathers and a rain suit to battle the cold, and should have a lovely ride. I'll be pissed off if I don't..........  

FJR1300 Sunday 26 May 2019.jpg 9h by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Terry in Australia]

Of course, before a man sets out into the frosty world of a Melbourne winter, he needs some tasty grub. I'm good, I eat my cereal every weekday to keep me "regular", but on weekends I needs me protein, so the egg, bacon and cheese muffin is my "go to" breakfast. In the old days I would woof down a couple of these babies and a couple of slices of toast, but nowadays this is about the limit of what I can get down in one sitting, although it takes me around 20-30 minutes to get it down.

Terry's brekky 1 June 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Okay, had to wait a little while until my driveway was clear of cars, then it was time to go. The bike started right away, and did it's cold start routine, so I just went with the flow, and by the time I'd stopped at the local Caltex to fill it up, it was happily idling at 1000 RPM. The first thing I noticed (apart from the cold) was the brakes. The front brakes were working better than I could remember since I bought the bike, and they still weren't bedded in.

The rear brake, on the other hand, is a bit of a worry. It was working fine, then I suddenly had no pedal at all, so I pulled over to check it, expecting to see brake fluid all over the back of the bike, but there was none, so the caliper seal wasn't leaking. Hmmnnn, I checked the Brembo MC and it was dry too, but the rear disc was hot while the fronts were cool, so it appeared that the rear was dragging. I took a couple of pics, and when I got back on it I had pedal again, and the brake wasn't dragging. Weird.

Terry's FJR1300 1 June 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's FJR1300 1 June 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I'd taken the opportunity to swap gloves from my lightweight summer jobs, to a pair of winter gauntlets. My hands were absolutely freezing and I'd lost feeling in both mitts. This didn't improve for the rest of the ride sadly, so by the time I got home after a couple of hours, I was struggling to operate the clutch and front brake. So much for my "heated grips", I'm guessing that I've got a blown fuse that I need to fix before my next winter sojourn.

That's OK, I'll add it to my list, I also need to change the brake fluid, and do an oil and filter change too. I did still have a great ride, apart from the above mentioned issues, the bike's cooling system appears to be working fine again, and it was just as much fun as I remembered, and the 172 Km's (107 miles) went very quickly.

Terry's FJR1300 1 June 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Tomorrow though, it's time to do that "Tar Changing" for the Swamp Rat that I've been putting off all week. Hopefully the rain will stay away long enough for me to crown those slightly rusty old rims with some shiny new rubber. All going well, I'll survive the ordeal!  

[PeWe]

Wish  you well on your rides on the blue cruiser and making it road legal.
With this you can go to the northern warmer parts if Australia.

We have sh!t weather over here too. I had  planned a testride on my brown K2 after adjusting rear shocks that were too hard. Now swampy soft, one step lower springs.

Road felt bumpy  that my K6 can handle well. I realized that the stock looking shocks have no dampers, only springs. My K6 Ikons feels hard but have dampers take care about bumpy roads or bad done asphalt roads with waves. I see a 500 euro bill coming     

[RAFster122s]

Nice work sorting out the FJR Terry. Hopefully your experience getting the bike roadworthy again might be able to help other FJR or Yamaha bike owners if you shared your travails on a Yamaha forum...

Good luck with the tires/tyres and tubes...

David

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Guys, the big FJR is a magnificent beast, sadly worth nothing due to the massive mileage, but priceless to me for some winter cruising, once I get the heated grips working again, my hands are still sore from yesterday!

But that was yesterday, and like all weekends, this one has rushed past me at the speed of light, and of course I've only got half of what I wanted done finished. That's OK, today was my "Tar fitting" day, so I foolishly went out with great expectations. That's the downside of being an eternal optimist, I always assume that I'll get more done than I ever manage, but what the heck, if I aim for the stars and only hit the power lines, I guess at least I got something done. I decided to take the easy way out, and install the rear tyre/tire/tar on the bare wheel I bought from Mark Harrison, before I took to the front wheel, with it's 30 year old Metzler as hard as a rock.

I used a piece of cardboard box as a work area, so as not to scratch the remains of the chrome on the battered old rim. Once I'd installed the new rim band, with a spray bottle of soapy water as lube, I popped the tar over the first lip of the rim, then used some baby powder to lube the tube, put some air in it, and tucked it in.

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I pumped some more air into it to make sure it wasn't twisted or pinched, then deflated it again before using my tar levers and some more detergent spray to pop the other bead over the lip of the rim. I pumped it up to 60 psi and it appears to have seated properly, so I let the air out, then pumped it back up to 36.

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 9a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The front wheel is a bit of a mystery, I honestly don't remember where it came from, but I was glad to have it just the same. The spokes are a bit rusty, but hey, it's a "Patina bike" so no need (or funds) for new spokes. Likewise, the rim is in pretty good nick, interestingly it's not an old K2 rim with "DID" cast in the rim, but rather, it's stamped along the edge of the rim, like the ones you can buy from Yamiya, so i wonder if it has been replaced, although looking at the tar, many moons ago.

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The old Metzler must be around 30 years old, and was as hard as a rock.

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I decided to give the spokes a clean up, but the usual method of using an adjustable wrench and a screw driver to undo the axle nut failed miserably, I bent my screwdriver, so I decided that I needed a lot more leverage. I used a long breaker bar and socket on the nut, and bolted a long length of 25mm round bar thru the hole in the axle. I stood on one and reefed on the other, and cracked that bugger. 

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

I used the Dewalt impact wrench to remove the (very rusty) disc nuts and locking tabs. While I'm sworn to not spending any money I don't have to on this build, I did lash out and spend 39 bux on new nuts and locking tabs. What the hell, safety is my middle name..........

Swamp rat locking tab set by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Then to the tar. The old Metzler was still holding air, but as I didn't intend to use it or the ancient tube therein, I used my cordless angle grinder to chop it in half, saving me some sweat. I used the tyre levers to hold the bead up off the rim and chopped thru it lickety split. Easy work.

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The good thing was that the inside of the rim was really good. I took to it with the wire wheel on my bench grinder just to shift some dry rust, and called it good.

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I spent an hour of so cleaning as much loose rust off the spokes, but got bored with it, so I sprayed them all with some WD spray, and fitted the tar. All good.

Sunday Swamp Rat Tar Changing 9 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I'll be interstate on business from Tuesday to Thursday, so not sure when I'll get back to the Swamp Rat. Next weekend is a long weekend though (Queens birthday. As a descendant of Irish rebels transported to Oz in chains for their sins against the crown I'm no fan of British royalty, but a day off work is a day off work, so what the hell, Happy Birthday, Lizzie.) so hopefully I'll get some more work done on the old monster. Wish me luck!

   

 

[MoMo]

Good work on them tars.  Helluva lot easier working with the wheel laying atop an old trash can, or even a 5 gallon bucket.   LBB

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks LBB, that makes good sense, I'll remember that for my "Mad Max" Kawasaki build, it'll be getting some new tars too!

[spotty]

lovely day today, bet you wish you were out playing under the patio

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, well I was wishing I was anywhere else but at the barracks first up this morning mate! I have to have my Army medical today, and when I got to the guard house I found out that my pass had expired? Bugger! Oh well, I still had my Army ID card, and it turns out that's expired too! Bloody hell I'm flying to Adelaide for work tomorrow and there's no way I can get on base at RAAF Edinburgh without either, so had to make some hurried phone calls, and after (only) 2 hours of waiting, I got my new pass! What a nightmare.....