[Yellow Submarine]

Had a surprise warm and dry day today. Wish I knew it was gonna be as nice a day as it was. Spent the mid morning at the shop rebuilding the front drive shaft on our Nissan Pathfinder. One u-joint was completely trashed. Anyway, took the opportunity to get a little bit done on the tank.

A few weeks back, when it was pissing down rain I mixed and applied some filler and took it inside the house to cure. It was perfectly ready to sand today so I bounced back & forth between sanding on the tank and spot painting a rust spot on the Pathfinder.

Also cleaning the Pathfinder’s battery terminals and getting the battery on the charger. Here’s a few pics of the tank:

This is the side where I pulled the large dent using the hot glue kit that came with my dent puller. It’s pretty close to done now. Has a couple high spots to sand back and some really tiny low spots to fill. Other than that, the right side still had to be sanded back so no where near ready for paint.

 

[Yellow Submarine]

Woke this morning to find a package had been delivered after I went to bed. After seeing the original shipping label, I was surprised to see it was the ‘89 upper fairing stay I’d ordered from eBay UK.

I’ll take pics later tonight or tomorrow for the sake of documentation. I may have to refer back to this thread at a later date!

 

[Tinsnips]

New episodes of The Mandalorian & now an oil boiler build thread! Life is good!

 

[Yellow Submarine]

Yep! A long and on-going project. Really need to get my other oil boiler finished and off the bike lift so I can really dig into this project.

Sad part is, I already have all the parts for the 900SS. It’s just a matter of getting on the job and getting into the groove.

Even the body work is pretty much done & ready for paint. Certainly the tank is, as well as the upper fairing. The solo seat unit and the slab sides just need a wet sand and prime and they too are ready.

Have some minor carb tweaking and timing stuff to work on but seriously I should be done already. Brake calipers have been rebuilt, master cylinders too. Just need some time to do the jobs.

This weekend is shot. Taxes gotta be done too so at least a couple of weeks before I can even get back to the 900SS, much less the 92 to 89 retro mod. More later, once I have time to get something done that’s worth documenting.

 

[Yellow Submarine]

Managed to get out to the garage for a few minutes this morning and pull all 3 upper fairing stays in my possession out for a quick comparison:

Top to bottom : ‘85-87 followed by 88-89 and then 90-92

The alloy bracket next to the 90-92 stay is the “stand off” bracket I wrote about in another thread by @Darksun

It is also offset so as to align the stay mount to center. Also, I think it fairly visible how much deeper the later head light bucket protrudes compared to the early ones.

Another shot slightly different perspective:

 

[Yellow Submarine]

Took some time this afternoon after doing a little yard work to clean up the ‘89 fairing stay. There was a little rust in places and a a couple of the tabs were a little bent. Nothing a crescent wrench and a few taps with a hammer couldn’t straighten though.

Anyway, got it cleaned up & wire wheeled. Wiped any remaining rust down with some white vinegar and then heated things up a bit with a heat gun. Shot a little primer followed by some black enamel:

Prolly let this cure for a few days before I sand and spray a second coat. Planning on using a wheel paint clear after that to make sure it has a good tough coat of paint to protect it.

Will also rethink my means of holding the stay securely while painting. I slapped the boards together in a few seconds but looking at it, I can do a whole lot better.

 

[Tinsnips]

I’ve updates Sir. Having all three generations of front stay is solid street cred.

I just hung it with wire from the top of the stay. Made it easy to spin while painting. I did one coat screwed to an old saw horse and I had a hard time getting a good shot at all angles. Then again, I am a cheap ass, no skill,
rattle can guy. Your mileage will vary.

 

[Yellow Submarine]

Then again, I am a cheap ass, no skill,
rattle can guy. Your mileage will vary.

Ummmm……I resemble that remark sir.

😁

 

[Yellow Submarine]

Having all three generations of front stay is solid street cred.

So uhh, I spent some time researching the online parts fiche at Partzilla. Seems the early stay is also used on the ‘88 1100 with a second piece that is not integral. That and the stay I got for the ‘89 MY I want to retrograde to, is also used on the ‘90 MY.

Funny thing is, the eBay ad I got the ‘89 fairing stay from in the UK stated it was for the 1100. When I compared it to the online fiche; it’s the same as the 750 while the 1100 looks quite different.

I’ve decided I’m going to clean up and refresh the 86-87 stay and sell it on. So, if anyone is restoring an 86-87 750 or an 88 1100 drop a post in this thread and maybe we can work out a deal. Given the rarity of these parts now, and how much I paid it still won’t be cheap

 

[Tinsnips]

The 1100 and 750 models varied with what was on different versions depending on what market they were made for. My 89 1100 is a Canadian market bike and has 40mm carbs like the European version. The US got 36mm that year.

The 750 seemed to get the improvements first and they trickled down to the 1100 the following model year. You can sometimes go a year back for 750 fitment as many things are compatible bit appeared first on the 750.