Stripping: not always a force for good

Sie würde ein gutes stripperin sein. Ein verfluchtes gutes!



Meesa say dissa bad stripping:


Take it from me, over-tightening the sump plug is firmly in the latter category.

So, 1000 km ticked up on the clock, the engine was spicy hot, and it was time for the first 'regular' oil change - actually the 4th change I've done, but who's counting? Me, that's who. The plug came out easily enough, and after a thorough drain, I put it back in. Like a cheapskate, I didn't replace the crush washer though.

I am fairly certain that I didn't over-tighten it this time, which just means that I must have over tightened it last time. In it went, tighten, tighten... slacken. Ouch. That dawning moment of realisation is just awful. When I took it back out again, it had the sump wrapped around the lower threads. Ouch. I'd blame the soft alloy (aluminium and cheesecake?) but this isn't just an issue on Chinese bikes: BMWs eat their sumps too. It's more likely an Idiot Tax issue than a materials problem.

The long term fix is to fit a helicoil. This will actually be a Good Thing^tm in the end, since it'll provide a harder thread. However, it'll be tricky to do it in situ, and trickier to get all the swarf out, so I don't want to rush it.

So in the meantime, I've bodged it, in best mend-and-make-do stylee. Removing the defunct crush washer and the spring washer (what was that doing there?) from the sump plug and replacing them with a thin rubber seal - a repurposed bicycle inner tube repair patch - allowed the plug to reach further up into the sump and grip the good threads that I hadn't stripped. Then I tightened it up... very... very... carefully.

Praise to the Invisible Sky Giant, it's holding tight, with not even a hint of seepage after 2 days. I'll punt on it until the next oil change, since there's no point in disturbing it if it's good for now. Nicely dissembled, non?

To lighten the mood, I can report that actually riding the bike is still an absolute joy, and the engine is still getting smoother and stronger. Nothing has broken that I haven't broken myself. If I'd just leave it well alone, it'd be fine.

The 1,000 word post

All of them "pimp".



Liking that. Liking that a lot.

For those playing along at home, that's a rattle-can job. 4 light coats of Plasti-Kote white primer, 36 hours drying time, a light sand, 4 coats of Plasti-Kote 4400 metallic bronze (it's got pronounced silver sparkles in it), 36 hours drying, another gentle sand, a further 2 very light coats of bronze, 24 hours drying, and then 3 coats of Halfords clear gloss lacquer on the mudguard and side panels and Halfords petrol resistant lacquer on the tank.

The Plasti-Kote paint is pretty decent, and quite hard to mess up as long as you go lightly and treat it primarily as an exercise in can-shaking punctuated by brief bursts of spraying. The lacquer, I wouldn't recommend: the regular stuff runs like a French soldier, and the petrol resistant variety needs to be put on far thicker than I'd like in each coat to get a decent gloss effect.

Still, with enough preparation and patience, I've got a pretty good finish going. It'll need some gentle smoothing and re-lacquering after the lacquer has cured (two weeks!) but it's ridable as-is until then. Also, I think the rear mudguard and luggage rack need painted to match, to balance the frontal pimpness.

I'm in half a mind to do the wheels and crash bars in metallic gold, although that may be a bling too far.

Hot naked barely legal bike action!

Saucy minx, flaunting her exposed frame like that! What's the occasion? We'll come to that in a minute. First, let's take a closer look while her kit's off.



That's the aforementioned K&N filter fitted to the carb. I'd previously thought that it was too big, and that it would foul the battery anyway, but it turned out that I just needed to cowboy up and clamp it on tighter. It was much easier with the carb removed, and while it's pressed tight against the battery, it's not under strain. In fact, it's partially holding the battery in place now, assisted by the traditional garden wire twisted around and over the battery.

Here's the void where the air box used to be: it could be used for more tools storage, or a sub-woofer...



The reason for taking the carb off was to fiddle with the jets. Following the advice from the usual suspects, I drained the float bowl (remember to turn the main fuel tap off first!) using the screw at the bottom of the carb. I then unbolted it from the engine intake and the old air box, removed the fuel and breather pipes, and wiggled it free from its mounts. Three small bolts underneath hold the float bowl on. With them removed, the main jet is exposed, in the centre at the bottom. I was surprised to find that the stock jet is only a 90 (i.e. 0.9mm diameter). I'd bought a 105 from Xian, and tried that, but it was too big, even with the K&N filter. Another next-day order secured 95 and 100 jets, and the 100 seems to suit nicely.

While I had the carb off, I also did the other recommended fix; raising the main needle. It's underneath the throttle cable on top of the carb. Unscrewing the end of the throttle cable reveals the spring that presses the needle down. Carefully pulling this clear of the top of the throttle slide revealed the top of the needle, with a circlip around it and another clip over it holding it down. With it all disassembled, I found that the circlip was in the middle of 5 grooves. I moved it to the bottom groove, effectively raising the needle and letting more fuel through at 1/2 throttle and above. It was fiddly getting it all back together, but just took patience.

With those changes made, the bike feels gutsier throughout the rev range (and incidentally makes a distinctive growl under throttle). These are definitely changes worth making.

Now... why is the bodywork off? The stock black has a nice finish, but I can't be doing with the Houniao branding, so it's time to break out the rattle can and wet-and-dry paper, and pimp things up another notch.



That's the front mudguard (Pioneer Nevada), tank and side panels. I won't be doing the rear mudguard, at least not initially, as I'm investigating alternatives. Well, I wouldn't be happy if I'd run out of things to tweak.

The parts are currently on about their 4th thin layer of white undercoat. They'll get another gentle sand and coat tonight, then tomorrow morning, I go for it with a can of Plasti-kote metallic glitter copper/bronze sourced from the local B&Q. Wish me luck.