Juv's Strom "Restoration"

[photon]

Those first few pics remind me of my old bandit. Vinegar, autosol, acf50, various auto glym products etc....keeping it looking fresh was like a never ending resto project! One of the reasons we parted ways and I swore no suzooks for ages. That didn't last long!

[Juvecu]

Just got home after work a short while ago. I'm now on leave for the whole of next week and the Monday of the following week. The good lady has reserved next Friday to Monday for a trip to somewhere near Woolacoombe for her birthday, but the rest of the time is me & Strom time.

I have to strip things down first so the get things sandblasted and powder coated, but before all the works starts I had to something more urgent: have a beer!



Been ill and on meds for the best part of 3 weeks and I was craving a very cold one to go with the heat we've been having. I also think it's a great way to get out of the work mood and into the holiday mood and a good start to the bike restoration  

ps. Not my usual poison, but I'm giving a few different beers that I don't usually drink a try to see what they're like.

[Ptarmigan]

 Always a good way to start the weekend!

[Juvecu]

Spent most of the afternoon tidying the garage, making space available and gathering various containers for putting things in as I strip them off. Headed to Mad Phil's and picked up his sandblasting cabinet so that I can clean the smaller stuff myself. Had a quick dinner and proceeded with the stripping taking pictures as I go. I'll work through all the pictures later and put them up, probably next weekend. Decided I would sandblast the fork brace so I can see the kind of finish I should expect. Ran into a bit of an issue at this point, my compressor can't handle the air volume needs. I only have a small tank and it pressures up to 8 bar then the compressor cuts out. If I use any air attachment there is a significant pressure drop on the gauge (goes as low as 1 bar) and then it stays there while blowing out air. The tank empties rather quickly, but this is nothing new for me. So am I right in thinking that my tank is too small and that as soon as I let air out the pressure drops because of it. Will getting a bigger tank solve the issue?

Edit: This is the compressor I have.

[Mr Nick]

A bigger tank will help to an extent but it will only be to prolong the drain time but also the fill time will go up as well. If the compressor side was upto the job it would be able to hold at a reasonable pressure.

You really need a decent compressor that can provide the air volume at the pressure the cab needs: some compressors will say they can do 8cfm but it's not at 100psi.

[Juvecu]

The reason I'm thinking it's the tank rather than the compressor is that this sand blasting cabinet works on Mad Phil's tank when the compressor is not running. It runs off the tank alone and then when the pressure in the tank gets to below 4 bar the compressor kicks back in.

Could it have something to do with the regulator not flowing enough air? If I set it to 8 bar the gauge shows 8 after the compressor turns off. If I then set it lower you can hear the air blow off to regulate the pressure to the lower number. If I turn it back up it goes back up to near 8 again. So there is pressure in the tank by the looks of it, but it might not have enough volume or the regulator isn't letting it out quick enough?

[Juvecu]

Sorted it, was the regulator. Took it apart and it looked like it has half a bottle of Loctite in it. Cleaned it all out and put it back together and I'm getting good pressure now. Compressor runs all the time when using the sand blasting cabinet. It's only a small one, but it'll have to do for now.

[Mad Phil]

Wheres the before @ after pics of the blasting ??

[Juvecu]

I took loads of pics today as I went along with the stripping. I also have before and after of the fork brace, only did the smaller part of it. Haven't done anything else, the compressor doesn't keep the pressure high enough for the blasting to work all that well and I'm struggling to see what I'm doing.

Will put some pics up when I've gone through them.

[Juvecu]

Comparison pic for the sandblasting on the fork brace. I have a shitty camera and it blurs sometimes when I move or it focusses on something else.

[Juvecu]

I also added 126 photos to the album today. Many of them are just taken for myself to remember which bolts/rubbers/washers/wires/cables/pipes/etc. go route where.

I spent most of the afternoon stripping it down some more and took some pics of it from each side at intervals. I'll put them below, but have a look at the album too, lots of pics of corrosion and dirt that will need to be sorted out.













And one showing the rust on the headlight cowl frame:

[Juvecu]

Ended up trading Mad Phil some beer to borrow his compressor as well. It's only slightly higher rated than mine, but it seems to work properly with the sandblasting cabinet.

Otherwise I've things were slow today. I continued stripping and, assuming I can get the exhaust off, the engine will come out tomorrow. My front cylinder's header seems to be stuck where it goes into the connecting pipes. I might have to cut it off, but I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. I've stripped off the airbox, throttle bodies, bash plate and related bits, drained the fluids, took the radiator off, loosened the exhaust and removed the foot pegs. It seems I need new foot peg mounts, but I might still be able to salvage what I have with a bit of luck.

I uploaded 45 pics to the album today, here are a few.

[Juvecu]

Struggling my arse off to get the exhaust off the bike. The front header down pipe has rusted onto the 2 into other pipe and also seems to be fused to the cylinder head. Can't shift it at all and I don't want to hit it hard with something else than the rubber hammer I tried. Considering cutting things apart with a hacksaw/grinder.

I'm now considering buying a full system to replace the whole thing with (which means my titanium Scorpion end can and link pipe will be up for grabs.) Either that or buying an old K4-6 system from eBay and putting my end can back on. Decisions, decisions... Can anyone recommend a full system, must have a bung hole for the standard O2 sensor?

[mjc506]

Mine needed a good few hefty boots and wiggling back and forth with a length of wood before it came free from the front cylinder head (~50k miles). give it a bit more welly

[iansoady]

(Lots of) heat usually helps although I expect you know that. If you can borrow an oxy-acetylene (or MAPP gas) set that might do the trick.

[Juvecu]

Took me a good 30 minutes, but managed to get the exhaust off. Like my old man (a diesel mechanic) says: "It doesn't have a mother or a father so it doesn't have a will!" Meaning it will bend to my will It did bend a little, right where I hit it numerous times, but I think it will need replacement anyway. The joint on the collector pipe has a quarter rusted away. At least the header pipes seem usable.

The Strom is now almost completely stripped, just need to take the brake discs off, knock some bearings out, get the tyres removed and strip the forks. I'm going to be doing all that tomorrow along with a big cleaning session and then it's off to the powdercoater.

I uploaded 84 pictures today, here's a few:

Shortly after I started, in a good mood, enjoying myself and 'keeping hydrated', as you should in this kind of heat    



Exhaust off    



Used the provided threaded holes, stuck a bolt in it with some chain and rope to lower the engine with:





Engine dropped (not literally!)



Not too bad looking for 100k+?



Looks a bit naked now...





Brakes, wiring and cables stripped off:





Rear master cylinder cheese bolts, rounded off immediately and then the filings that came out stuck to the allen socket tip. Shitty stainless is that magnetic.



Had to grind the heads off after cutting grooves and hitting them just didn't yield any results. This was a massive waste of time that could've been avoided by Suzuki using normal bolts instead of shitty stainless button head ones that were screwed into aluminium. Those just fuse together over time, chemical reaction or something like that. I'm going to need another heel plate, this one's damaged.



Those bolts are so shitty I could break bits off them with a vice grip. I have no idea if I will be able to get them out of there without damaging the master cylinder. That's a problem for another day.



This one was my fault, I used an A2 stainless bolt that screws into the aluminium swingarm and it looks like I forgot to coat it with something so that the two don't react. Yay for road salt aggravating the problem...



Sub frame off:





Forks off:





Rear wheel out:



Swingarm off:



Done for the day:

[longman]

Brilliant!!!

[Ptarmigan]

 

[MartinW]

..... Done for the day .....

If that was my bike and I had to put it back together, then it would be more a case of "done forever"

[Juvecu]

Picked up a 2nd hand rear brake master cylinder that appears to be in good condition. Has the guard plate attached and it's from the looks I'm hoping that it doesn't need any new seals. All in for £24 so that's a bargain as the rebuild kit for mine and finding the plate would probably cost more than that  

I decided I'm going to try find the exhaust bits from a breaker rather than buying a complete new system. Should work out a lot cheaper and I'll keep my trusty Scorpion titanium can then. I might make it a bit shorter, just and inch or two, but still just thinking about it, not sure if I will do it.