S90: New Rear Winker Bracket

For whatever reason, the rear turn signal bracket is one of those hard-to-find parts that rarely pop up on eBay.  A Thai repro part costs about $80 shipped.  Found this used one for just $16.50 shipped and jumped all over it.  It's got surface rust, but nothing that can't be polished out.

 

Garage: Paint Box

This set-up seems like it should work reasonably well for the small pieces.

S90: Speedo Update

I didn't actually touch up the black paint near the 40 mph mark yet, but I went over the white border piece with plain old Wite-Out (which worked beautifully), and replaced the green neutral indicator lens.  I'm pretty sure the lens is in upside down, and should actually look like the turn signal indicator on the far right.  However, I can't see an easy way to position it under the speedo face and then glue it in.  But since I only used white glue to hold it in, I can always re-fix it again in the future.  Obviously, the glass got a good wipe down as well.


Before...

After...

S90: Tank 2, Left Cover

Popped off the left hand cover on Tank #2 for a closer inspection and light cleaning.  This is the one with a big dent, so it's a good one to beat up on.

S90: Rubber Gas Mount

Not sure why the old rubber mount bothered me so much.  Seems pretty pointless to work on making the gas tank mounting more sturdy on a bike that won't run for another year.  But regardless...  old mount out, new mount in.  Took quite a bit of elbow grease to fit it onto the frame - which is probably a good thing.

S90: Speedo Repair, Part I

Unfortunately, the speedo isn't designed to be easily disassembled.  That doesn't appear to stop anyone, however.  Trouble is, you literally need to peel the metal lid off the main housing centimeter by centimeter.  It's almost as if you had to remove the lid to a pickle jar - except you can't do it by unscrewing it.  Instead you have to pry the metal up all the way around until you can literally pull it straight off.

It would probably be easier if you had the exact right tool for the job (not sure what that would be, though).  But I ended up having to use a large flathead screwdriver.  I'd work the tip under the metal lip and pry just a little bit up, then just repeat that down the line.  But the rounded edges of the speedo were difficult because it was hard to get any purchase under the lip.  This job just took time and a lot of patience.

Once the cover seemed almost ready to come off, you have to get some leverage and pry it off.  I was conscious of warnings not to ruin the glass face.  Unfortunately, it's hard to know exactly where your screwdriver tip is the first time you're doing it and I ended up putting a couple of gauges in the glass.


Poor lighting on these pictures, but you can see the metal lip being pried up little by little.

After a working all the way around the perimeter, this is the lid about ready to be pried off.

Close up of some paint chips that need to be fixed.

S90: Rear Light Modification

Classic rookie mistake: there have been at least three different versions of the S90 taillight bracket over the years, and the first two I ordered were both wrong.

The first one I tried was made for a completely different type of fender.  So I ordered another one that I thought was right, but while it fit the curve of the fender, the mounting holes weren't in the right place.

So, Dremel time...  The left hole below is the original size and location.  On the right is how much metal I had to remove to make it fit.  Once both sides were done, it fit perfectly.

S90: Handlebars Stripped

Yanked out the winker wiring, speedo cable, and the remnants of the old left side handle grip.  We're now left with a nice clean handlebar that we'll have to build up from scratch.

Evapo-Rust

My gallon of Evapo-Rust got delivered the other day and I was pretty eager to see if it lived up to the hype.  Twenty-four hours later I was sold.

Not only is it effective, the process itself couldn't be simpler.  And it's non-toxic to boot.  And it's not that expensive ($26.95 shipped for my gallon jug).  And it's re-usable.  What more could you ask for?

So you take a badly rusted bolt that looks like this:

You soak it overnight, and end up with this:

Viola, no more rust!

S90: Winker Switch

Apparently they're commonly referred to as "winkers" in Asia as opposed to blinkers or turn signals. 

Popped it open to see what we had to work with.  The switch was stuck in place so I figured it couldn't get much worse.  Took everything apart and soaked the metal bits in carb cleaner (no plastics!) followed by a good scrub with the bristle brush.

Some of the rusty parts are soaking in Evapo-Rust now.  I think the stuck switch is due to the ball detent frozen in place.  Pictures of the cleaned up and (hopefully) repaired parts to follow soon...

S90: Speedo Inspection

Yanked out the speedo to take a closer look.  It seems in good shape except the green lens has come loose and the inside of the glass could use a good cleaning.  Unfortunately I have yet to figure out how to open the thing up.

S90: Polishing Continued

A little more polishing today... starting with the easy part of the clutch cover.

Before...

'

And after...

Also the dimmer switch... which I probably won't even get to use in the end, given that I inadvertently melted the plastic part of the switch with carb cleaner. 

S90: Aluminum Polishing Test

The bike will never look right until the paint is freshened up and the engine and chrome is polished.  I'd read up on aluminum polishing and it looked pretty straight-forward.  Decided to attack it as follows:

1. Clean with solvent and steel wool to remove any and all debris
2. Go at it with 400 grain sandpaper
3. Then 600 sandpaper
4. Then 1500 sandpaper
5. And finally apply a good metal polish

Worked like a charm!

The only metal polish I had was an ancient jar of BlueMagic polish but it still seemed to work pretty well.  I have a tube of Autosol coming by mail, though, so I'll have to compare that as I've heard it works wonders.

Before...

And after...

S90: Dimmer Switch

Spent the last week fiddling with small electrical projects at home, creating little switch boxes, rigging up a night light, etc.  All to get comfortable enough with electrical wiring to start tackling the S90's fifteen year old system.

Since I'd taken the dimmer switch apart once before to clean the gunk out and get the thumb switch operable again, I figured I'd start there.  With the switch open and the thumb lever removed, you can easily see the wiring and the actual black switch that moves back and forth to change the connection.

Now I just have to get the little plate off that holds the wiring and black switch in place.  It was so covered with gunk that I couldn't really get a good look at it.  At first I thought it was a rivet.  But looking at the close up photo I took, perhaps it's actually a screw just filled with crud.  I'll need to soak everything in carb cleaner and go a few rounds with the bristle brush to see what's actually lurking under there.

The next problem was that the plastic shroud around the wires themselves was so old that it was frozen stiff and would literally crack into pieces with the slightest pressure.  No amount of tugging and pulling would get it to pull free from the handlebar.  So I first decided to cut the wires right below where they exited from the bottom of the handlebar.

Next, I just pulled the wires themselves out, leaving the shroud behind.  I had a little heart attack when I realized that if I couldn't get the carcass of the shroud out of the tube, I'd never get anything else back in.  But each time I tried to grab and end with the pliers and yank it through, the plastic would just shred apart.

Finally, though, I was able to use the needle nose and get enough purchase to slowly lever it out, centimeter by centimeter, using the hole itself as a fulcrum for leverage.  Going very slowly so as not to tear it, I was able to pull it up and out.

The offending piece of ancient plastic, like something clogging an artery.

Now, I only hope the same thing works when I do the other side!

S90: Proper Vintage

It's not really a vintage bike unless you can pull a mouse nest out of the frame.  This one came out of the battery box.  Unfortunately this is only about half of it.  Couldn't reach the rest with the needle nose pliers; I'll have to get a longer tool.

S90: Alternator

Fiddling with the wiring harness led me to the alternator and I decided to give removal a try.  The nine left crankcase screws came out easily with the impact driver.  I then used the clutch basket holder to lock everything in place so I could remove the flywheel bolt.

Next I got a chance to use the 14mm flywheel puller for the first time.  Using a good dollop from the new can of Moly-B grease, I used a 16mm wrench to tighten it into place (once again using the clutch basket holder to keep everything locked up).  It worked fine, except I noticed a lot of metal slivers coming off the puller.  Inspecting it, I saw that the threads were getting shaved.  But I went ahead and pulled the alternator out, then unscrewed the stator so I could get a look behind it.