Featured S3 Rs Naked Goes Super Naked

You’re dead right there Tigcraft but making me nervous now!!
The original guys told me that if anyone has polished the paint and particularly if there are any silicone contaminants, it can screw things big time, which is why I haven’t ridden it or hardly even touched it.
Dream Machine told me their original quote sounded high because they were covering themselves against something going wrong.
I will suggest they perhaps go for one of the plastic parts first as a test bed. keeping

 

I had the second quote last night from AP Customs in Uppingham £590 inclusive with me dropping off and collecting and so I took everything there first thing this morning.
All I need to do is replace the Triumph badges myself, which I can do at my leisure.
I fitted an Evotech rad guard today which was a fairly straight forward job and a decent fit. Not so the oil cooler guard. I’m probably being too fussy but the problem lies in the attachment points chosen by Evotech - the single central mounting bolt at the top and its mirror at the bottom. When the guard is mounted, because the brackets on the cooler aren’t welded on 100% square, when the bolts are tightened the guard is about 1cm in front of the cooler on the right and all but touching it on the left. Someone not in the know wouldn’t notice but it’s irritating me cos it looks squiffy. Have made some thin wedge-shaped carbon fibre washers To set it square - bit of a faff but should look better

 

Have been faffing in preparation for 2nd attempt at making the carbon washers but spent the rest of the day installing my "home brew" wiring for the accessory socket which is now complete.
One blade fuse holder and fuses (15amp installed) - £2.35 on eBay. 2m of 16AWG Silicone wire £2.55, Two ring connectors £0.99, One accessory socket off eBay £17.50 and the heat shrink & spade connectors I already had
Using the above, I spent an hour or so making up the cables to the required length and installed the socket with the wires connected directly to the battery. The biggest ballache was getting the sidepod off. For anyone wanting to remove theirs, it might be useful knowing how to do it although, I suspect the RS is the same as recent earlier models but as if that wasn't bad enough - getting it back on again took me about an hour of head-scratching!!
The side pod is held on by a sliding fit grommet at the rear, the indicator bolt and then at the very front and fully inboard, a small locator peg and plastic clip.
Having removed the indicator bolt, the panel feels loose but just didn't want to pull free. Once I realised where it was attached, I applied force at these two points and eventually it came away but not without considerable force.
Prior to reassembling, I coated both the rubber grommet and front locating peg with a little DowCorning Silicone grease but although this helped, trying to get the thing back on again proved a real struggle. The problem is the bracket into which the indicator bolt is threaded prevents both the rear grommet and front peg being slid into position - if you get the grommet in, you can't get the front peg in and vice versa. In the end and unless anyone else has a better technique, it seems the best way is to feed the rear of the panel minimally onto the grommet and then bend the panel inboard at the front as much as you dare but at least until the plastic clip just aligns with the locating peg and then slide the panel backwards - sounds easy . . . . you've been warned. Just wait until you try it!!!
As I was making up the wiring myself, I needed to be absolutely sure I had the polarity correct in the socket. I suspected it would be centre posative and body to earth and with reference to my 1050 socket, I was able to confirm this .
I'm very pleased with the final result which I feel is a little more convenient than having an optimate cable hidden under the passenger seat and it also gives me an additional power socket direct from the battery if ever needed. Why on earth do Triumph not now include an accessory power connector in the standard wiring loom???? It would have made life so much easier but for some bizarre reason, it isn't included on the RS . . hey ho, I got there in the end.
If you look at the pictures carefully and particularly the closeup of the radiator, you can see the small peg just outboard of the upper radiator mounting bolt and this is where you need to pull, whilst gripping the panel at the rear and pushing forward to encourage it to slide off the rear mounting grommet. When it comes to getting the thing back on again . . Good luck - you're going to need it but take your time, be patient and don't force anything as the plastic tab on the front of the panel, into which the prong fits, does look as if it could be fairly easily broken.
More oil cooler guard work tomorrow and then hopefully, tank and panels delivered back midweek . . . .

 

Some progress since my last post.
I picked up the lacquered tank and panels last Monday morning but was told that I should perhaps leave it a few days for the clearcoat to fully cure before reassembling the bike. I finally got her all put back together yesterday, dropped a gallon of fuel into the tank and tried to fire her up . . . nada . . dead as a museum dodo carcass. All was well when I realised I had turned off my key some weeks earlier in order to preserve the battery - I've never before had a Smart Key that can be turned off . . . lesson learned!!
I haven't yet ordered the tank badges from Triumph and may well leave that job for a little longer but as of now, I'm pleased with the look.
As the bike only has 6 miles on it and totally clean, I'm thinking that I might drain the oil and install the Dimple plug from the get go - It will be interesting to see how much swarf the plug collects during break in as opposed to the amount I normally pick up on my 15000 mile 1050 Tiger.
The Dimple Plug is 16mm as opposed to the 17mm of the OEM but the flange on the bolt is rather narrow - it's the same on my Tiger and hasn't proved a problem, however, I have always opted to use the OEM sump washers rather than the skimpy little washer that comes with the Dimple plug . . . the magnet is super-strong and they've modified the design a little as my old plug had a flat magnetic surface as opposed to this one which has a spherical magnetic insert . . . should help collect a little more swarf perhaps.
I needed a supply of sump washers and just measured the ID/OD and thickness of the OEM item and ordered a bag of 10 off eBay for £2.00 delivered instead of the stupid money Triumph want for . . . .a washer!!!! I will need to save every penny to pay for the wretched Triumph badges on the tank at over £40.00 each. That said, the paintshop managed to get the old ones off without any damage but they need replacement 3M tape. The main issue is getting the spacing spot on because if not, it will look dreadful and bug me to death. Plan is to maybe buy one badge and use the template that it comes with to space the letters which I still have and see if this works . . . if not, I can always buy another badge. The originals came off real easy - no need for heat . . . just a fingernail under one corner of each letter and they popped right off - a little disconcerting perhaps!!!
Have encountered a few problems with the Evotech Rad and Oil Cooler guards where the fit has been less than perfect but I've worked around it - I will write a separate review on this because the Evotech guards do seem to be the most popular.

 

Oh yes . . I forgot to mention in the above post

I registered with the Tritun website and downloaded the entire manual for my S3 RS. It wasn't difficult and cost the grand sum of £18.00 which is far cheaper than I paid for my old paper manual for the Tiger. I seem to recall I paid around £90 for it in 2008!!!
Interesting to note that when I entered my bike's VIN into the Tritun website, there's a recall out on the Speed Triple for defective front brake pads. Not sure which VINs or MYs are affected but mine is included and it was first registered in July 2019. The fix is nothing more than a new set of pads up front but I read the dealer bulletin and if when they strip your brakes, they find non-OEM pads, they're not allowed to swap them out and so If you have some old OEM pads and your bike is recalled . . . slip em back in before you take your bike in!!!!
I think a load of folks will be interested in the manual and so I have written this up separately!!

 

Not sure why it’s called Tritun but clearly part of the Triumph group. When I entered my VIN, I was told I had a recall and also all the Service info is Factory stuff.

 

Hi Joe - just read my other post. All instructions are there. If you try it and have problems, I can probably help but not until you’ve tried it and get stuck with a problem.
Give it a go - it’s easy but time consuming

 

Be sure to read my other post as all the instructions are there - make sure you know what you’re doing before you subscribe!!
I went with £6 per hour. As soon as you’ve had your hour, it locks you out and so you have to dig out your credit card and fork out for another hour