The story of one neglected Daytona

Well, I'm probably gonna keep them there just to annoy the feds, the minimum height for them here is 350mm from the ground without rider, they sit at 365mm :biggrin: They will be replaced with the "blade" type LED indicators shown earlier in this thread, I meant to change them yesterday but ran out of time. Been trying to figure out how to get them wired neatly cause there's pretty much nothing to hide the wires to... Not entirely sure do the visibility angle requirements get fulfilled, might have to change the place, haven't made decisions about them yet.

 

I went to spend the gift card the other day and ended up getting all the liquids to the bike in one stop. Ended up paying another 75e over the gift card but should now have good quality fluids all around.



The new footrest hanger came friday, very neatly packed and hardly even used.



The brake fluid reservoirs came too, but now that I`ve seen them in the flesh I`m not liking the color... So that`s the first swing `n miss of this project, not much of a loss cause they were something like 5 eur a piece so I`ll be using them for the test fitting and probably order another pair for final use later so I won`t scratch them. I also moved the bars in 25mm and turned them back a bit too, made a surprisingly big difference into the position.



Didn`t get the bracket to bend neatly so I`ll be making a new better one later but that one will do on the test fitting phase.





I made a quick test fit with the forward indicators too, some might not like them being there but to me they look pretty good. They fulfill the law requirements very, very barely so some officious copper might try to give me a hard time about them but I`ll be prepared cause I remember the law section word to word

 

No way in hell those flimsy little ears are the holders of crash anything, I can bend them with pliers and not even use excessive force! I`d reckon they have some doing with fastening the fairings. And hold the lower end of the radiators.

Might change the place, might not...probably won`t...

 

Not much of an update but had to post... I went to the metal shop again today and this was waiting for me there:






Custom hand made from a solid hunk of stainless steel! Still needs a bit of a finishing touch as I need to break the glueing from the threads of the little nipple and drill the hole a little bit deeper so I get that gap to disappear and can polish those last little vice marks out from the center part. The guy that did this for me persistently declined to accept any kind of compensation from the work but I`m not having it! Gotta make a some kind of a "merry cristmas" basket, a few bottles of something nice and so on...

 

The mailman dropped a huge box at our door today, so for the Triumph christmas came a bit early! :icon_drool: Just as expected, solid Airtech quality, straight as an arrow, almost flawless gelcoat surface, and it`s even lighter than the one on the CBR which is a little odd cause this one is bigger, or at least feels like it. Overall very satisfied, although I did run into an itty bitty problem... The infill panels that goes between the tail and the tank, the ones that are currently sent to the UK being hydrodipped into carbon fiber pattern, doesn`t fit into place with this tail cause apparently it has them integrated into the shape! Most definitely am NOT going to try and cut this one cause I`m 100% certain it wouldn`t end up looking good so I might just try and sell them when they arrive... A bummer, although the original idea was to get the hugger dipped and those were just thrown in to the box at last minute...



Ohh the tail just SCREAMS for slash cut LED:s! Gotta see what`s in the market and make decisions accordingly.

Hopefully I`d have time to test fit the tail next weekend, probly have to do the same I had with the honda and take the whole rear fender/tail light/plate holder assembly off before I get this thing on...

 

Got a lot done today with the garage today:



I managed to make space for the Honda to the side, couldn`t resist the urge to try to start it and it did right away! Well, required a few tries cause it immediately stalled after I so much than touched the throttle but eventually was able to drive to the street, make a turn there and drive back into the garage, could have gone for a ride cause the temp is above 0c and there`s not one flake of snow anywhere which is a bit odd as there usually is full on winter around these dates, I remember one Christmas not many years ago when there was -29c and snow up to my nuts! I must say I was tempted to take the CBR for a spin but didn`t want to get it all muddy so I decided maybe not this time...





This is what the boiler room at the back of the garage looked like when I started (very difficult to take pics from such a confined space...)







...and this is what it looks like now. Not nearly finished as the tool wall is still empty and I need to relocate all the tile boxes that was on the floor but a good start anyway. Turns out the plywood on the table is not thick enough as it flexes under the drill and makes a hell of a racket when you do anything on it so another sheet is required later on which is why the vice and the drill is not yet fixed to it.



I really should have used the time to start filling the tool wall but the temptation grew too large to tinker with the bike even a little, so I stripped the tail of the fairings, and amazingly didn´t find ANY bodge jobs or wire patents from under there not counting the stuck passenger seat locking mechanism which is gonna be removed anyway so it won`t matter one bit.



Before every ride always remember *a patch of fur*
It is very important to daily check *a patch of fur*
because without *a patch of fur*, *a patch of fur* can happen :biggrin:







Now THIS is why I spent a fortune on the Airtech fiberglass tail, the fit is FLAWLESS. Not the slightest bit bent in any direction, very sturdy and overall amazingly well made! The tail still needs to be tidied up, I learnt the the whole plate bracket/inner tail/battery box etc. is a one piece kit, I need to pull the battery so I can take it all out and cut the "tail" part off to make it just an undertail. I was just about to start measuring the new tail light assembly when my wife knocked on the door and called it quits for today cause our son had just gone to bed, the biggest flaw in the new house is the sound insulation which is almost non-existent, when you drop a wrench to the floor in the garage it`s clearly heard in the living room, let alone in the bedroom which is directly above the garage...

I ordered an exhaust bracket from eBay the other day so I won`t have to cut the footrest off of the original.

Probably would be a good idea to remove the new mirrors cause I keep hitting myself into them while hovering around the bike. Also trying to decide if I should order a new front fender cause from the pics I`ve seen it looks kinda stubby and I suspect it`s been cut, but I`m not sure if that fits even better into my design than the original that looks like an eagle talon to me cause it`s sooo long....

 

Right, where was I... Center about there, bottom roughly...there, taking into account the curve in the surface, 0,5 cm up from center.... so the top should be right around.....there... fits. Only just but fits...



Pilot holes ready, the left one bit in slightly so it ripped a bit but not too bad... I can admit being properly scared doing this cause I can c*ck it up precisely once...



My weapon of choice, brand new saw bit, brand new drill bit, twice used drill, eliminating any possible things that can be avoided... The long drill bit is the trick I learned from TV, even though it won`t help me all the way it will be a huge aid in he beginning. The only problem is the original pilot drill is 6,3mm and this is 6,0 so it wobbles a bit cause it doesn`t fit perfectly straight but I think I`ll manage...



Right, first hole... Judging from the lines apparently I can still calculate... The saw is biting bad but I couldn`t find one with finer teething either so just gotta bare with this one...



Two holes, as expected the saw bit in and cracked the bridge in between the holes but that can be fixed later on... Figured out that even though it makes three times the noise the saw bites into fiberglass just as well on reverse without ripping so much, too bad I figured it out three seconds too late or I might have been able to save the bridge part...



60,3mm stainless steel pipe, a skip find from work just laying around getting kicked, figured I might need it one day. Tried to hand saw it but merely managed to make a scratch so I ended up cutting it wit an angle grinder. Didn`t get it 100% right but was able to clean it up pretty easily.

So, after a bit of deburring, sanding, cleaning and straightening I made a preliminary mock up assembly, nothing`s connected to anything yet...







...but I think it`s gonna look pretty cool when finished, polished and lit up

 

got some time to fly some sparks again today as it`s extremely quiet at work between christmas and new year so I got home really early.



I tidied the baloney cuts from the pipes first, I meant to use my belt sander only to discover it`s still at my moms so I had to staple some sandpaper into a 2x4 and rub the pieces against it manually, cursing loud the whole time as you guys might know stainless steel is HARD!!! Finally got them straightened and made a preliminary polish (am not gonna make a mirror finish to them but gonna try to remove any scratches and such markings) Then I took two square M16 washers and rounded them out to make backings for the lights and quickly tacked them in place with the lights so I`d see where they set at.



Ramped the welder up and spot welded the washers in place. No point in making a 360 seam as that will surely hold what they need to, still gotta paint them later on cause even though the pipes are SS, the washers or my wire is not.



I know, the weldings look horrible but I`m still only beginning to learn...



Not bad... not bad at all... This was, IIRC, the very first piece I`ve ever made from scratch with a welder. Still gotta clean it up and finish the bracket with a piece of angle iron which connects it straight into the back of the subframe, that is if I remember to take the rod with me when I`m going to the old garage tomorrow...

 

Yes the whole thing is gonna be cut out of the undertail and replaced, ATM it's just hanging out of the way from whatever it's wedged against. Gonna pull the whole mudguard out to see where it would be best to cut. The rear indicators are going to be replaced with the same "knifeblade" LED:s that's going to the front.

 

A small update again:



The new exhaust bracket came today from the UK, another piece that I had imagined in my mind, and just happened to find one exactly like it while searching for something else.



Made by ProJection Components, very good quality. The only problem is that the bolt hole is showing from behind the lower end. Gotta try to tweak the holes a bit to make it turn back a little, I already cut about and inch from the exhaust pipe to get the muffler to sit right, if I cut any more the clamp that tightens the seal is forced to go over a bend and will not seal properly. I might be able to shave another 1cm max from the pipe but no more.



I also got the seat back from the upholstery, for some reason no matter what settings I use I cannot make the color look right in the pic, it`s actually darker and has more contrast than what it looks like.

I seem to be lacking two parts: a some kind of rubber that goes to the rear mount of the tank, and a some kind of mount/bracket that holds the seat in place. Can anyone give me a hint about what I`m looking for cause I can find nothing of the sort from eBay cause I don`t know the exact trade names of the parts.

Hopefully tomorrow I`ll get the tail end in some kind of order.

 

Took the undertail off to see how it`s made...



...and to shave off some excess weight.



I ended up cutting almost the whole flap off leaving just enough so it will hold the undertail inside the fairing. Would have been nice if those gaps in the sides would be closed but can`t do anything to it so I decided not to eorry about it either...

I started digging into the bike in search for a better place to put the steering damper and to my surprise found several untapped pegs from at least three different places in the frame, of which these seemed the most suitable:



I want to remove that rubber flap from around the coils, anyone know a reason why I shouldn`t? I seem to remember reading a thread that someone had removed it and had experienced problems afterwards but I thought that could have been from something else too like a loose connector or sth...



I was thinking about making something like this from an angle iron. Should be plenty sturdy enough and will fit under the airbox. I do need a shorter damper but that don`t bother me none cause now I can get a smarter looking one! Truth be told that sparkly light blue color on the first one was IMO kinda gay...



Yes mother, no mother



*sigh* as an electrician by training seeing this makes me want to take the maker of this, put him in a well and poke with a blunt pitchfork... Gonna have at least a day`s work to tidy up all the electrics...

I`ve been trying to find a new (or used) brake pedal for months now, there is one on sale in eBay but it`s in `Murica and the asking price is ludicrous so getting it here and paying the VAT:s of it would cost me overall nearly 100EUR so I decided I`m going to spend the 200EUR (vat+shipping included) to an adjustable Danmoto rearset kit. Figured since I`m going bankrupt with this thing, and since I`m building it to keep and ride I might aswell go down screaming, at least I`m getting exactly what I want and that`s what counts right?