Project SMX [Pic Heavy]

[NINJA]

Thanks to the good weather I took advantage & cleaned, stripped down and resprayed a bunch of fiddly little parts today.

I also cleaned the 2 rear shocks I have in between coats of paint, I just need to give the mounts a quick respray and then pick the best one already for re-fitting. My fuel tank was in a pretty sorry state and my OCD also kicked in, so I decided to respray it. The original is just untreated plastic and although you don't really see a lot of it as it's underneath the radiator shrouds and seat. But hey-hoo I still know it's there and it looked tatty as bare plastic and also has some paint stains on her, so after several attempts and much rubbing down and respraying I finally got a decent finish on her!!! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Before;

Rubbed down;

After;

Not easy things to respray at home, I kept getting one side mint and the other side not so good. I guess I was getting too much over-spray which caused some problems, plus it was a very hot day so the paint dried super quick, it's like spraying a pyramid in reality. She's not perfect but will do for now and a vast improvement on the original for-sure. I'll let the paint cure for a week and then give her the final treatment of some petrol resistant lacquer to finish her off with, which should help protect her from any mishaps. :smiling_face_with_open_mouth:

[Calum]

@NINJA Looking good bud!

[Glynn123]

Impressive work mate, you're gonna have to sell it to me when it's done

[NINJA]

@Glynn123 Nope she's a keeper!!! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :smiling_face_with_heart-eyes: :smiling_face_with_sunglasses: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :smiling_face_with_heart-eyes:

[finnerz89]

@NINJA just remember to use premium fuel as the ethanol in cheap stuff can distort the plastic

Looking sweet though

[NINJA]

@finnerz89 I will only be using Shell V-Power in my baby. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :smiling_face_with_sunglasses: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

[finnerz89]

@NINJA good man! Same here

[NINJA]

A small update, I managed to get in a few hours this afty and cleaned the forks up, polished the stanchions as best I could and resprayed the dropouts. The stanchions have some marks on them, which would not come out sadly, plus they are ribbed so that made it even harder to get a decent finish on em. So their as good as they will get, but most of these marks are not really seen which is handy.

I then slid the yokes back on to test fit it all;

i didn't realise that the forks are Marzocchi units;

[Calum]

@NINJA Yes, it is the same on the Cagivas as well!

Looking clean. Small touches like that make a big difference

[NINJA]

@Calum Thanks bud, their not perfect but shiny and rust free will do for me!!!

[declan]

@NINJA it’s always harder to work with when it’s ribbed

[NINJA]

@declan said in Project SMX:

@NINJA it’s always harder to work with when it’s ribbed

Are we talking bike parts or condoms here??? :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes: :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat: :face_with_tears_of_joy:

[declan]

@NINJA how very dare you!!

[NINJA]

@declan I dared, you got ribbed - I won!!! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

[Calum]

@declan said in Project SMX:

@NINJA how very dare you!!

Yes, this is getting a little off topic now...

@declan was quite clearly talking about the bike parts.
@NINJA Let me know if you want me to tidy up the thread.

P.S. I was messing about the off topic. But do let me know if you want me to clean up the thread.

[declan]

@Calum I was definitely not talking about the bike parts lol you should probably clean up the thread

[NINJA]

@Calum Just boys being boys and having a bit of harmless fun. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Your call bud, but if it helps the website/server etc then clean away dude!!!

[Calum]

@NINJA I was messing bud.

[NINJA]

@Calum LOL no wucking forries!!! :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

[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;