The seat in the middle is the one that came with the bike and was too far gone to save. The seats either side were a set I got from eBay. They’re from an ES250 and not quite the same but I can adapt them easily enough.
After months of scraping paint of rusty bits of metal things were beginning to go back together into something that actually looked like a bike. That said I was still finding unexpected problems. One of the first things I did when stripping the bike was making a large order of parts that I knew I would need when putting it all back together again (bushes, spacers, rubber parts, etc). I chose a supplier in Poland and bought a whole load of bits. They sat on the shelf for a few weeks until I was ready to fit them, it was only then that I found that most of the parts didn’t fit and were of really poor quality.
I had to reorder the majority of the parts again from someone else (ost2rad.de) leading to the old adage “buy cheap, buy twice…” I wish I’d kept that in mind from the start.
The rear shock absorbers caused me no end of problems. I could not get the metal sleeve covers off the old shocks so I bought, cleaned and resprayed a second hand pair off eBay. Unfortunately these sleeves would not fit on the new shock absorber springs, even with the aid of lube and spring compressors! In the end I gave up and ordered another set of shocks complete with sleeves that did fit.
I decided to move onto the engine. Not knowing the history of the bike, why it had been taken off the road and how long it had sat, I decided that I would completely strip, check and rebuild it. I made the slightly extreme move of or taking it to an uncle 65 miles away in Bedford! This was mainly so I could use his garage where I could leave the dissembled engine should I need to get parts.
Judging by the spanner rash inside, I don’t think this is the first time it’s been messed with!
As with everything else, stripping the engine did not go well… I had bought a clutch puller for the 4 speed engine in the order from Poland. Now when I came to use it it’s the wrong size! I did try using a universal puller and some heat, but no joy. The flathead screws holding the crankcase together proved exceptionally difficult to move, especially when the Impact driver won’t fit into the small areas. I came away to order a smaller impact driver as well as a new (and hopefully correct) clutch puller. More delays…
Getting the side of the crankcase off was as far as I got this time.
Oh, and then I fell off my everyday bike and broke my leg. I’m left with a half built bike in the living room just in time for Christmas and the engine sitting in a garage in a different county…
This year the Christmas tree will be replaced with an MZ. At least it’s green!
The other half is not impressed!