Project SMX [Pic Heavy]

[NINJA]

I've been busy cleaning and spraying up various parts, I'll take some more pics when I've got more done, but here's one to keep y'all going;

I also started to clean the engine and took the crank cases and head off to inspect the engines internals. I have to say my engine looks very good inside, plus the barrel and piston both look pretty damn good too. The previous owner had the engine rebuilt, with a new Mitaka head and piston, which looks like it's not covered too many miles;

[Calum]

Looking smart!

[NINJA]

Update; I've been able to get nearly all of the parts I wanted resprayed completed now, so here's the results of my handywork;

The gear shift lever is for a Kawasaki ZZR 1400, but it has the correct shape and fit's perfectly too. New Protaper Fat bars and some Progrips all ready to go on as well. I am disappointed with the finish on the Protaper fat bars, I was hoping that they would be more like the shiny silver of the anodised riser clamps and gear shifter. It's more of a dull textured finish, which may be a feature to provide some durability to them? I am contemplating respraying them with the same graphite grey paint I've used on the crank cases, but I suspect that the paint won't last very long? Due to the fitting of brake/clutch perches, hand guards etc. So I'm 50/50 on that, plus I'll loose the Protaper decals, so I'll ponder that one for a bit. :confused_face:

I've also resprayed the engine in some rather sexy shiny VHT aluminium colored paint too. The engine's internals look damn good too, so I'm gonna run the engine as_it_is for now and that will also give me the time to save for the upgrades I plan to purchase;

Whether permitting I plan to start the reassembling process this weekend!!! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

[Calum]

Nice, looking smart bud.

Handlebars look sweet, I wonder whether you can get the decals from somewhere...

[NINJA]

@Calum Thanks bud I'm looking for decals now, I may just give them a polish up and see how they look after that???

[NINJA]

I managed to snag an RX125 rear wheel, which uses the same hub as the MX125 for a rather cheap £40 delivered to my door. Not in the best condition but very usable with a bit of restoration work, I only needed the hub which are super rare so it was a cheap deal really;

I started removing those stubborn disc bolts very carefully;

AND WOOP WOOP - I managed to successfully get all 6 of those damn pesky disc bolts out this time, much to my delight and I gave the wheel a bit of a clean up with my trusty wire rotary wheel & drill;

This hub will replace the damaged hub, from my previous attempts to get the disc bolts out. I'll strip both wheels down and make one good wheel out of the two, which means that I now have all of the parts to get a working rear wheel. I already have one good set of wheels and this hub is going to be part of a second set of wheels, as I plan to have one set of wheels with summer tyres and another set with winter tyres. I'll send it all off to a wheel restorer, who will strip, sand blast, then anodise the rims and hubs before rebuilding the wheels back up. So it's a win, win in the end!!! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

[Calum]

@NINJA Good stuff!

[NINJA]

@Calum Thanks man.

[Calum]

@NINJA Remember Seiki had his rims Powdercoated. You going for SS spokes?

[NINJA]

@Calum Who's Seiki?

I plan on having one set of wheel rims polished and one set anodised. All hubs will be anodised too, I haven't decided which colours as yet? And dependent on costs yes SS spokes would be lovely. However as I am going to use spoke wraps, they may not be worth the expense? The wheel builder will advise me whether to go stainless or not? Stainless might be the way_to_go for longevity tho???

[Calum]

@NINJA The original DTR admin with his red and white 89.

[NINJA]

@Calum AAAHHHH OH yeah, now I remember, user names are hard to place sometimes. I only joined the old site when it was on it's last legs, after all the dust had settled and people had lost interest. Sad really but hey hoo us survivors live on................................ :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

[Calum]

@NINJA It was dead when I joined anyhow. Merely serves as an archive. Most forums are dead these days anyway.

[stinkwheeler]

You are right this is pretty successful as a dtr forum it seems to get alot of traffic new posts builds ect

[NINJA]

@Calum @stinkwheeler It's interesting that a pure owners club forum has less traffic than the FB groups, all down to easy access and lazy people I guess? Plus I also suspect that it's easier for scammers to find victims on FB, which is a shame but the modern world we live in sadly!!! :disappointed_face: :worried_face: :persevering_face:

[stinkwheeler]

@NINJA i think is down to people just living on Facebook and the fact it has market place tbh its pot luck with scammers I've had some good and bad experiences with buying and selling on fbook i sent a guy 20 quid through bank transfer for a mint condition head and actually recived it so there are good and bad everywhere tbh ..

[Calum]

I don't have Facebook. I adore the intimacy of this forum. Just a few gear heads into their smokers. I don't aspire to get that sort of traffic. Lose that one on one we have.

[NINJA]

@stinkwheeler Too true, it's 50/50 who's good and who's bad as you rightly say. I do not give out my bank details, I always use Paypal, so at least you have some protection.

@Calum FB is over-rated, I have over 1000 so called 'friends' from games I use to play on there. All just faceless names to me and I learnt the hard way about so called 'Social games'. Interacting with like minded people who share a common interest is COOL. If people are really serious about being an enthusiast, having a hobby or into owning something, then they would search for an owners club and not just join a random group. Don't get me wrong, there are some very helpful people in FB's group's but for every 10 good people, there's always the 11th douche-bag!!!

[Minia]

I certainly keep my facebook private and don't want this forum associated with facebook. The amount of tits who spend their life on there questioning and complaining on everyone else's posts is not something that is needed here. Though I certainly wouldn't mind an online chat room being added, could make for some interesting conversation. How many people here use discord?

[NINJA]

@Minia I only use Discord whilst gaming, but that's just to enable teamwork and win the games, I certainly would not use any VOIP service just to talk to random people. However, I agree with you that a lot of people just use online chat to vent their frustrations at others and I would imagine it could quickly become a nightmare to moderate. I feel that the current set-up is perfect, as we get to interact with one another on a friendly but non-invasive level. Plus a chat feature is already included in this forums software.

Personally I feel that the current set-up is just peachy and as the ole saying goes, if it ain't broke....................................... :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :winking_face: