Project - Bandit

Cyanide · 5 Apr 2008 at 13:18

Well I finally got a new engine for my bike today

I've been attempting to find the time and money to fix it since it went pop in October. The generator fell apart and the uneven weight spinning at the end of the crankshaft caused 2 of the pistons to crack so it was a case of either replace the pistons and generator or get a new engine.

At the tail end of last year, just before we moved house, I'd completely stripped down the bike and decided to re-paint it while it was in so many pieces. The plan was to re-do the boring Suzuki red to have black bodywork and a white frame. It looked awesome in the paint modded picture I did

I got as far as doing the tank and half the frame before we moved and it's sat in mum's garage ever since.

The new engine - Mine was a 1991 GSF400 engine with GSXR cams and gearbox and 32k on the clock. I've managed to get my hands on a 1990 engine with a whopping 10500 miles on it for the grand sum of £30

It needs a bit of a clean up but it's come out of a runner (front end was smashed) so it should be fine.

The plan is to spend my week off next week cleaning up all the old parts and re-painting those that I haven't yet done. I'll need to give the new engine a bit of a strip down to swap the cams and gearbox and it'll be given new oil, filter and plugs. The carbs will probably need a tune up and I think I'll leave the pod filters off for now until I know it's working properly then I'll re-jet it at a later date.

On to the project...

Here's what I have at the moment. A severely dismantled bike, partially re-sprayed, crammed at the back of my mum's garage.

The new engine. Looks ok, just needs a clean up and all the electrics replacing with the stuff from my bike (some of the wires were cut to get it out)

The new engine as it is now. I've steam cleaned it and given it a coat of metallic black high temperature spray as the old light grey wouldn't have looked quite right with the new colour scheme.

More updates to come later. I might do some more this evening but it'll be more likely tomorrow. Hoping to have the whole thing finished by this time next week.

Griffo · 5 Apr 2008 at 13:53

All these bike related threads are very good timing! My friend has got me thinking about Bandits, also seem cheap to maintain. ANYWAY I must say the bike looks hilariously dead at the back of the garage, tidy that area up and get to work hehe. You must take many photos throughout. Are you a mechanically minded type chap, or are these bikes quite straightforward to work on(compared to (modern(ish))cars)?
I look forward to seeing the final colour scheme!

Cyanide · 5 Apr 2008 at 14:13

Griffo said:
All these bike related threads are very good timing! My friend has got me thinking about Bandits, also seem cheap to maintain. ANYWAY I must say the bike looks hilariously dead at the back of the garage, tidy that area up and get to work hehe. You must take many photos throughout. Are you a mechanically minded type chap, or are these bikes quite straightforward to work on(compared to (modern(ish))cars)?
I look forward to seeing the final colour scheme!

Everything's in buckets/boxes of roughly the same parts (electrical, engine, body etc) so it's sort of organised. I've just got to negotiate the use of the garage next week before I can make some room to work :rolleyes:

I am mechanically minded, but I do have a full Suzuki workshop manual for it and they are a hell of a lot easier to work on than a modern car. Everything's easy to get to and there's barely any parts to it anyways.

And the colour scheme... here's my paint-shopped pic

Before -

After -

(Yes, I know I'm lacking in leet 'shopping skills

)

Ghosteh · 5 Apr 2008 at 14:30

Well, it's cirtainly in worse state than mine lol. I got the main part I needed to fix my engine just now, so I should be back on the road very soon, probably much sooner than yourself, so I don't think the fixing buddies thing will work out

lol.

Well done on the £30 engine though lol

.

helpimcrap · 5 Apr 2008 at 14:33

Cyanide said:

you get 5* from me just for this!

keep up the good work and let us know how you get on!

Griffo · 5 Apr 2008 at 15:02

hah nice work! That should look the funk when done though, individual also hopefully!

Cyanide · 5 Apr 2008 at 18:55

Big update!

I've managed to procure the garage for the week and cleared some space which means I've got loads of the spraying finished tonight.

The engine has been fully painted now, it just needs heating up to cure the paint. I'm thinking it'd be better to warm it gently with one of my blow torches before mounting it to give the paint half a chance at not being scratched.

The frame was completely steam cleaned, washed and dried then given a lick of paint.

So far I've only done the back end. The whole bike's had 2 coats of primer, 3 of colour and 3 of clear coat. For the frame this equates to 5 coats of white primer then clear coat

Not a bad finish for spray cans

The tank is almost done but I went a bit mad with the cutting compound trying to get a drip out of the front so it just needs a quick patching up. Should be done tomorrow.

Also finished the swing arm

And I've tarted up the radiator a bit too

Cyanide · 5 Apr 2008 at 18:58

Whipped the cams out of the old engine ready to fit on Monday

Given the exhaust a good clean. I've also done part of the headers but I ran out of metal polish

And I get the feeling I'm going to need a small amount of wonder wheels sometime in the very near future! :eek:

That's all for today. I'm hoping to get all of the paint work done tomorrow, but I still need to work out how to get the front fender off as the head of one of the bolts has worn. So far I'm on target for finishing it all off by Thursday, but I would put money on having several long days before then!

ChoÞÞer · 5 Apr 2008 at 19:01

Lookin good, cant wait to see the finished project.

Griffo · 5 Apr 2008 at 20:04

Crikey there really isn't much to a bike!

Good work chap, liking the white frame so far

Cyanide · 5 Apr 2008 at 20:15

Griffo said:
Crikey there really isn't much to a bike!

Remind me to take a pic of my "parts pile" tomorrow

Ghosteh · 5 Apr 2008 at 20:37

Griffo said:
Crikey there really isn't much to a bike!

You'd be surprised how much fits in & around them frames lol

.

helpimcrap · 6 Apr 2008 at 02:02

Griffo said:
Crikey there really isn't much to a bike!

carbed bikes are easy to work on

the really tricky stuff comes when it goes to injection - the amount of wires you have to fit in is stupid. :mad:

still, it's never an 'easy' task - just 'easier' when it's carbed.

Biohazard · 6 Apr 2008 at 02:12

Looking good mate!

Can't believe how much easier that is to work on than a car!

Flukester · 6 Apr 2008 at 08:47

looking good man, though not sure about white frame on black...

best scheme i yet seen on a bike was some guy who 'rubberised' the body work using some special coating. left a totally matt finish black

Cyanide · 6 Apr 2008 at 10:05

Flukester said:
best scheme i yet seen on a bike was some guy who 'rubberised' the body work using some special coating. left a totally matt finish black

I've seen an all carbon-fibre GSXR1000 and a chromed 'Busa

Cyanide · 6 Apr 2008 at 21:08

Update!

I've got 99% of the painting finished now, just need to give the frame another clear coat in the morning then I should be able to start assembling everything in the afternoon.

There's a couple of bits of advice I could do with at the moment though. First of all is choice of oil. I know it needs 10/40 but I haven't a clue which. I've been told that as it's got a wet clutch using synthetic oil isn't the best choice. I can also only use what's readily available in petrol stations (don't ask

)
Secondly is the colour of my calipers. At the moment they're gunmetal with black lettering. It looked fine with the red but I want it to stand out a bit more with the new colours. My first thought was gold... Any 'shoppers out there?

Here's the frame - complete with 5 coats of white primer. I'm not a chav, I just couldn't find any matt white spray.

And here's it half-assembled. It's really just a test-fit to see how the colour combination looks. I think I need to re-do the silver on the side panel in white but I'm not sure yet. The tank looks naff but it's just the light, the paint's as flat as a pancake.

And for Griffo, here's what I need to fit into the frame, along with the engine and radiator pictured earlier -

Airbox

Carbs

Wiring Harness

And the rear light cluster and alarm system (this one's a really tight fit under the seat!)

SKILL · 6 Apr 2008 at 21:17

looks like it's coming along quite nicely

As for the caliper, don't think gold would work, maybe white or leave it gunmetal for a subtle look...

on a bit of a tangent, I've got a black and gold FZR400, which works well, just don't think gold and white would go at all...

Cyanide · 6 Apr 2008 at 22:03

SKILL said:
looks like it's coming along quite nicely

As for the caliper, don't think gold would work, maybe white or leave it gunmetal for a subtle look...

on a bit of a tangent, I've got a black and gold FZR400, which works well, just don't think gold and white would go at all...

I might just leave them for now then and save the money to put towards the rejet or some other gubbinz I'm eyeing up

Cyanide · 9 Apr 2008 at 18:49

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I've been out all day today and I really didn't get much done yesterday

The frame and bodywork is all done now, it's been polished and waxed and is ready to go together. Hopefully I'll have something resembling a bike tomorrow if all goes to plan.

Spent the best part of yesterday cleaning the wheels, chain and sprockets. As you can see from earlier pictures the wheels were in a real state and the chain and sprockets were quite literally black. A bit of wonder wheels, degreaser and elbow grease managed to produce this though -

I've also decided to keep the calipers gunmetal for now as the gold just didn't look right on a 'shopped picture.

Finally... I'm currently bidding on some GSXR suspension and some Suzuki decals. It won't be going on during the initial project as I need it finished asap but it's a straight forwards job to swap it over and stick the decals on so if I get it I'll give y'all a quick update next weekend.

That's all for now, should have some pictures of an actual bike tomorrow