Battle cruiser Fuji

[Davo231481]

So I picked up my new 1988 fj1200 in midnight blue today. I've given it a tub and started detailing it as well as writing the to do list. First up will be an oil change then slave cylinder kit. After that will be regluing the speedo needle back on and then a test ride. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.

[Davo231481]

David Innes Considering it was windy enough to blow a dog off a chain here I spent a very productive day in the shed. Dropped oil. Changed oil filter, Inspected air filter....needs a new one, bled clutch, and started cleaning the old black paint off those lovely staino headers. Found a massive crack on the top of rear tail cover where gear sack rack had been rubbing and started thinking about laminating a carbon fibre patch (that should look like it belongs )to put over it so my saddle bags won't make it worse as I doubt a panel shop may have a bit off trouble matching the colour like OEM if I got it welded.. Pumped up front tyre. Inspected chain -it's still got a little bit of life left in it. Had a go at cleaning off the brake dust on front rim and will try a few products to see what lifts it easiest. Found a ton of built up oil stains from leaking cam cover gasket All over front and top of engine. Frame is in good nick and will benefit from a touch up here and there. Foot peg aluminium brackets are starting to lose the clear coat so I'm tempted to remove it and polish whilst I've got the exhaust off. I've gone through a couple of cans of the shit repco spray degreaser and its not really worth a pinch of shit. No wonder they sell them 6 for 10$. anyway it's past beer o'clock and I've earned it today. Sorry no pics as I was having too much fun
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[oldktmdude]

   G'day Davo, glad to see you're making some progress on your new acquisition. Most things on the FJ are easy to work on.
Just in case you have missed the post, there is an FJ Manshed weekend planned for the last weekend in November. It's being held down at Bermagui, which is a very pleasant ride from the ACT/Cooma region. If you don't have it on the road by then, feel free to trailer it down and meet up with some of the great FJ members that are attending. Plenty of accommodation, either camping or beds, still available. If you need a valve clearance check, the Manshed gathering is a great time to get somebody to show you how to do it, shims are available to get it done on the day. Let me know if you're interested and we'll get something organised.
   Regards, Pete.   

[ribbert]

....and started cleaning the old black paint off those lovely staino headers.
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Sounds like you earned that beer Davo, that's a solid days work.

You'll love the headers when they're done.

These are mine tonight after a post trip clean up, they look great polished up.



Have you got a compressor?

Noel

[Davo231481]

  G'day Davo, glad to see you're making some progress on your new acquisition. Most things on the FJ are easy to work on.
Just in case you have missed the post, there is an FJ Manshed weekend planned for the last weekend in November. It's being held down at Bermagui, which is a very pleasant ride from the ACT/Cooma region. If you don't have it on the road by then, feel free to trailer it down and meet up with some of the great FJ members that are attending. Plenty of accommodation, either camping or beds, still available. If you need a valve clearance check, the Manshed gathering is a great time to get somebody to show you how to do it, shims are available to get it done on the day. Let me know if you're interested and we'll get something organised.
  Regards, Pete.  

Hopefully I'll be able to get down there for a run.not sure if Fuji will be sea worthy by then. If not I might ride my lil gpz. My list of bits has grown somewhat since I got it. Looks like the valve cover is leaking so I'll be sourcing a new OEM gasket as well as the grommets as they're probs shagged as well. Since I've got the exhaust off I'll need to get some new gaskets for that as well. I may as well do a plug change but sticking with ngk copper. Might even do the coil upgrade with relay thingy. I also found the speedo needle has decided to have a lay down and is no longer sitting on the centre of the dial and is at the bottom of the dash,so I'll have to remove the fairing to get to the speedo to repair it.

[Davo231481]

....and started cleaning the old black paint off those lovely staino headers.
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Sounds like you earned that beer Davo, that's a solid days work.

You'll love the headers when they're done.

These are mine tonight after a post trip clean up, they look great polished up.



Have you got a compressor?

Noel

Those headers look great. I think the polished metal will look good with the dark blue colour scheme. I've got a compressor but it nearly as old as me and I turned up when astronaut John glen returned to earth. How well do the auxiliary lights work. If it's dark it must be beer o'clock for me as there's just too many Roos on the roads trying to kill me here.

[ribbert]

...... and I turned up when astronaut John glen returned to earth. How well do the auxiliary lights work. If it's dark it must be beer o'clock for me as there's just too many Roos on the roads trying to kill me here.

Haha, that makes you a young fella.

The lights are good, 3600 lumens each. I too never plan to ride at night for the same reason but get caught out often enough to justify them. I have previously (before fitting these) had trips where depending on the terrain, traffic and moonlight, I have simply turned the headlight off for hours of riding at night for much better vision, just turning them on for the occasional oncoming vehicle. The standard FJ headlight illuminates nothing and throws just enough light for your eyes to see nothing outside the dull puddle, casting everything outside it into the shadows.


Not being a dedicated night rider I opted for wide beam lights rather than pencil beams that throw miles down the road. It's like riding in a brilliant ball of light and is much better suited to curves and undulating country than narrow beam lights. If I was a night rider, I'd have a set of each. Having said that though and the risk of animals aside, they do throw enough light to comfortably ride an unfamiliar, non signed road at 120kph which isn't too bad.
You can also take corners smoothly and quickly at night because you can see all the way around them.

The reason I asked about the compressor is one of these, a kero gun.



(This one is available at Supercheapauto)

They're  cheap, and can be bought at any auto accessory store.  Kero at 120psi does a great job, particularly if you can follow up with a high pressure cleaner.

Noel

[Davo231481]

So I got home and straight into the shed to remove the fairing and tackle the speedo issue. As I'm removing the screws from the fairing I'm finding a few cracks in the plastics. These are clean cracks .Any suggestions on suitable glues so I won't need to respray.

[fudge12]

Pipe ABS adhesive from the backside. If it's on a fairly flat section, you can cut a chunk from a sheet of ABS to act as a patch. I get both from Amazon for small money. If the section is less than totally flat you can heat the ABS patch with a heat gun and form it to the shape.

[Russfjr1]

So I got home and straight into the shed to remove the fairing and tackle the speedo issue. As I'm removing the screws from the fairing I'm finding a few cracks in the plastics. These are clean cracks .Any suggestions on suitable glues so I won't need to respray.

Weld the plastic from the back, I have done this many times the favorite weapon of choice not the hot air welding gun normally used on plastic but a soldering iron, the type you can adjust the heat on set to low just enough to melt the workpiece using a flat blade about 4mm wide and a wet sponge. Check the thickness of the plastic and put the wet sponge over the crack on the painted side this will provide some protection for the paint, plunge in accordingly with the iron on the back side work quickly and your paint will be fine.  If you have any old fairing parts or side panels even going to a scrap yard and buying some scrap plastics (they might even donate them) practice on them until you get it right. If you need to use a filler rod you can find them on ebay or if it's the same plastic cut up a bit of old side panel or something.  Give it a try   Russ

[Davo231481]

Thanks for that tip Russ about the sponge on back side. I'll give that a try tomorrow. But now I've discovered why speedo wasn't happy

[Davo231481]

So my next question is does anyone have a speedo for sale?

[Davo231481]

Finally got top end rubbers ( valve cover gasket and rubber grommets for hold down bolts) to stop oil oozing out. I'm fitting them up tomorrow but since I've had a change in work situation I'm going to button it all back up after getting those cracks repaired. Just waiting on my newer speedo to turn up and she'll be sweet for rego. 

[Davo231481]

heres a photo on the day I picked it up

[aviationfred]

For some ABS repair methods. Here is a couple of videos on youtube doing plastic repairs using Paper clips, A soldering iron, Legos and Acetone. The directions are in French, but you can grasp the idea from watching.

Video #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBS7LCXocxY

Video #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_4msJ6uLPE


Fred