Oh so close! Race bike preps march on.

I had a three day weekend this past weekend. I had hoped to get out in the shop more than I did, but with Valentine's day as one of the weekend days and me with a 9 month pregnant wife at home, I didn't think spending three days in the shop was a physically sound thing to do. The work I did manage to do has gotten me ever so close to making a track trip for a test ride. I can almost feel the wind as it whistles over my helmet as I drag a knee around the corners. Here is what I managed to get done:

I spent lots of time scrubbing and de-griming the frame, engine, swing arm and basically everything aft of the drive sprocket. The last piece of that puzzle was the chain itself. I believe that the chain was over lubed regularly, but never really cleaned between the liberal applications of chain lube. I chucked it into a pan of hot water and detergent and went to town with some scrub brushes.

At first rinse there was a good coating of junk in the bottom of the pan as you can just make out in this picture. The heads of the brushes also turned a nice shade of oily black. The chain is an o-ring chain and was very stiff. After the first cleaning it loosened up considerably. By the way, the pan in this pic is from the dollar store and makes an excellent parts pan for jobs like this.

All done and looking good! After cleaning with soap and water and wiping it down I put it back in the pan and scrubbed it again only this time using WD-40 to break up the really stubborn grease. After that I wiped the chain again and let it sit. The chain freed up even more after the WD-40 bath. I will lube it as one of my last steps before hitting the track.

I assembled the rear suspension. I didn't get any pics of that process as I had my hands full. All of the suspension pieces got torqued to spec before the rear tire went on. After I was finished I pulled the bike off the stands and started her up. I needed to get it hot so that the thermostat would open and I could top off the coolant level. The bike starts up easily. I actually moved the Ninja under its own power. Once back on the stands I routed the carb overflow and gas tank vent lines into a hole in the air box. I used a barbed T hose fitting and a grommet from the tail piece to fill the hole. It all went in neatly though the grommet is a little small and I will need it back for the tailpiece later.

I got the body panels on as well as the drip tray belly pan. She is now pretty much in full race bike trim. I still have a small list of things to do, but it is really only the myriad fine details that every project has. I have completed the bike enough to give her a name. Meet the "Silver Bullet". No Lone Ranger or werewolf references here, this silver bullet is the kind that all infantry types will know and fear. Just a bit of an inside joke for all those that get to go camping on Uncle Sam for a living.

Stayed tuned for more updates. I will be busy with work so they may be a bit sporadic, but hopefully an update in the near future will include a track test. Thanks for stopping by!

Blue