Redbeard redux

I was just getting over a long drawn out affair with a Dakar; that in the end, no matter how much blood, sweat and dollars I poured into it, was not going to work out.

I swore to myself that this next time it was going to be different. I was going to take my time, find the exact right bike with all the maintenance done and factory fails worked out. I would buy a garage queen and try my damnedest to keep her that way.
No more tear downs and farkle fests.
No more rolling money pits.


I would put my money towards a quality bike.
Fill with gas. Ride the shit out of it. Repeat.

Then it happened...........................................

SON OF A BITCH!
less then an hour from home and I would be in that town the very next day with an empty truck.

"honey can you come to the ATM with?"


I met the seller at his storage unit. Looked here, poked there. Everything looked low mileage and fairly well taken care of. I roughly calculated what I could get in a part out - and made him an offer.

After searching for the title for a few hours and as many trips between house and storage unit, the deal was done.

as it rolled out of storage......



Having just moved into a new house myself last summer I have yet to set up any real dedicated work space. I do have a 1000 sqft barn out back - but I have yet to run electricity to it. Lucky me however, I also have a one carriage garage - and this does have electricity! unfortunately it also has a gravel floor, no work bench, no tool chest, nor anything except for beer that would aid in the resurrection of the mighty 950.



so the first night I get it home and just sort of take inventory.





if any of you FFs recognize anything let me know where it goes and what it does.
specifically the top bracket/bolt


here is everything that came with the bike. most of it I have a feeling will be in the flea market soon.




the plan, is to do whatever needs to be done in order to get this baby running for as little coin as possible (without being too KLR about it). then commute for one season - make sure it is what I want. then sink what should be my kids college fund and most of my 401k into it.

it is at this point in the program however, I feel I should bring to light the fact of which I have never turned a wrench on a 950.
not once have i even caught a peek up under a big orange dress.
I know not of this strange and foreign bike.


i do however have a good, steady supply of Narragansett beer, the ability to read shit posted on the internet, and a consistent track record of biting off more then I can chew.

an important note: from the seller's ad:

if you didn't read the ad carefully you might not have caught that. basically the bike was worked on, left sitting, then reassembled for the sole purpose of transporting it somewhere for proper reassembly. that means none of the wiring is connected, almost all fluid lines are disconnected, none of the throttle cables are hooked up, the carbs are not sync'd, the clutch slave and countershaft cover are flopping in the breeze, the damn axel bolts were barely hand tight.
basically, that means I am going to have to go into it as far as the PO did, and then work my way back out - manual in one hand and torque wrench in the other.

so with that in mind I am going to ask - and I am sure there will be no shortage of bench racers willing to jump in - if you see something that looks wrong please let me know. I am going to need some experienced eyes to double check my work.


off to it - last things first. let's start taking shit apart in a haphazardous fashion, whilst pretending I am going to remember where it goes when it is time to put it all back together....



i looked on the microfiche and it looks like the fuel pump is outside the tank. here - not so much. is the other petcock an inlet from the starboard tank?


a tube to nowhere?


the bike does look to be in damn good shape. in fact it is cleaner and overall in better condition then a "like new" 950 some dip-shit whistle-dick tried to sell me




de-canister'd/de-SAS'd


another den of mystery snakes...



plugs??......chime in here fellas



euro light?


previous owner said he was having trouble with the battery draining - so all non-OEM wiring was removed. it wasn't much and I was going to re-do it anyways b/c I am a little OCD like that. but it will mean no heated grips for the beginning of the season



next is the air box and carbs.
the air filter had some scorching on it from some indigestion. hopefully a re-jet will address that issue.


at this point I am getting jittery. I have owned the bike for several weeks and I haven't bought anything for it..............
so I make a purchase: oil and air filters.very sensible.
while being in the sensible mood that i was, i kept on being sensible and ordered the manual too.



even with the damn assembly instructions there seem like a lot of loose ends to figure out






is that red dead head OEM? it sure doesn't look it - but there is another in the wiring harness up under the dash.
red one - port side rear upper subframe

brown one - port side instrument cluster



a little corrosion on one of the cooling lines - shouldn't be an issue - but documented here for posterity


homebrew pipectomy - I have a sneaky suspicion this and the de-SASing are responsible for the poor running conditions described by the PO.


ohh good. my first chance to order some anodized aluminum.


cotter pin-less too. if I am going to have to order that - might as well update the whole push rod assembly and replace it when I go in to check on the clutch pressure plate bolts (TB 0804)


getting there.......


the pile of parts continues to grow


It is at this point I realize I need some bigger allen head sockets. 12mm and 14mm.

alright - how deep into the woods are we and how do we get out:

TO DO:

open up carbs and re-jet -- ADV workshop jet kit is installed in only one
forks - seals and oil change
inflate tires - front and rear to check tubes
freewheel bolt TSB
clutch pressure plate TSB
update clutch pushrod and install new seal
install metal gasket at exhaust headers
check valves
replace and top off all fluids
torque all bolts

TO BUY:

fork oil
fork seals
oil
coolant
clutch slave
hydraulic fluid
front blinkers
battery
mirrors
more beer

can anyone think of anything else?

I would think that if you offer enough beer, you just might have folks showing up at the garage to help you work on it...

Remove that chainsaw at once, lest you be tempted to use it :eek1

The best aftermarket clutch slave is the Sigutech one.
Buy the best once, it ends up costing less in the long run.

http://sigutech.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=36

or :


http://www.ktmtwins.com/ktm-sigutech-billet-slave-cylinder



Pentosin CHF 11 is a good choice for fluid in the clutch system. Any shop which deals
with Mercedes or Audi cars should have some. The 11 is synthetic and maintains its
viscosity over a wider temperature range. It costs far less than that Magura Blood
fluid which is not even as good.

http://www.pentosin.net/pressreleases/CRP-116_Pentosin_CHF11S_V3.pdf


http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/PNT0/1405116.oap?pt=04184&ppt=C0031




A Renazco seat. Yeah they are expensive. And until you
put in a long day you won't know why. Afterward
you will. They don't feel so comfortable when you sit
on one at first, but later your butt doesn't hurt at all
and that is how you know how good they are.



A Shindengen MOSFET voltage regulator. The OEM one
can wreck an expensive battery in a few minutes when it
fails. You will notice I said "when" and not "if, and that is
because the OEM regulator is an inferior design which
tends to kill itself due to the excess heat it produces during
operation.

This guy is my preferred voltage regulator supplier,
and his kits are absolutely first rate. He also sells
a very cool charge voltage indicator LED which weighs next to nothing and
can alert you to an over voltage condition quickly.

http://roadstercycle.com/



An Antigravity battery. Not a Shorai, because they lack the onboard
electronics which help the battery achieve a balanced charge and that means
the only way to charge them properly is using a special charger. Also, a Shorai WILL
fail if it is submerged in water, but an Antigravity will not. The OEM Yuasa is a good battery
too if you don't care about weight and are willing to leave it on a trickle charger when
the bike won't be ridden for long intervals.


http://www.ktm950.info/how/Electrical Shop/battery/batteries.html



.

Ah, I will watch with interest, and can offer to take photos of anything you need off of my 06 950S (that is all in one piece)

I will be digging in a little to mine, so I may be able to help some with wiring, etc.

It looks like you really do need the more beer that you mentioned, as I see that the recycle bin is quite full!! Something tells me that this will work out in your favor, and you will be a happy camper in the end.

Cheers!
Dave

i probably should have went with that one - but I got the oberon from CJ. I really like doing business with folks like CJ. He is going to see a good bit more of my $.

I've had one - and I liked it.
if the bike gets through this summer commuting - then I will spend some coin - but for now if it ain't broke I am not going to change it.

thanks for the VR link. I am going to have to look into that. I am having trouble justifying the Shorai and it is only $30 more then the OEM.

I need to make sure the bike actually runs before I go sinking $ into it.

thanks dave - that is the type of feed back I am looking for.

I have been looking at the SAS/Canister procedures and have noted several of the plugs belong to missing hardware. I am going to have to basically do the procedures myself to ensure they were done right.

I thought the euro had two bulds and USA had only one? maybe that is on newer '05.5 and up?

I am going to hold off on the water pump until I get it running. I am going to do a fluid flush after a few hundred miles - so I will evaluate it after that. If I knew she was a runner I'd be doing the WP no questions getting this deep into it - but right now I could just be throwing good money into a bad bike......

if PO already had the pipes off - that is why the gasket if out. so hopefully no troubles there.

by "purge all hydraulics" do you just mean the bleed the clutch?

That small white plug on the left side of the bike is for the fuel gauge (Inside the left tank) the tube to nowhere is the crossover tube from the opposite side and is what makes the tanks drain evenly. The Two hoses joined together in the De-Canistered/de-SAS'd pic are the carb Vacuum balance lines and should be individually capped off not joined together. The Den of Snakes pic includes the Fuel crossover tube (The Longer smaller diameter one) and the Main Fuel line (Shorter but larger diameter one) that hooks to the petcock that is closer to the rear of the bike.

You'll be fine with the Oberon, and I +1 / ditto letting CJ help you with this. I installed the Obie last week for a gnarly offroad trip and had no problems. And I am probably less of a wrench than you.

Also, the seat is one of your last priorities, as you noted. There will be plenty of demands for depleting cash on hand, before you get to sit there and twist that.

Seems like you have an outstanding opportunity to learn about this bike, so take your time, and I'm betting on you to get it sorted out.

Lookin at this...

Miss my 950....

A few of things that you should find encouraging–not that you need encouragement.. indeed, seems you lack that little cartoon angel on your shoulder that's always saying, "Noooo, nooo, don't go in there!" Um, let's see, what was I saying?

Oh, yeah, first and most important, they really only go together one way, so you've got that going for you.

I've found the 950 to be more pleasant and pleasing to work on than any mechanical device I've ever taken apart. The engineers and designers were expecting us. If something is maddeningly fiddly then there's probably another, better way to do it. You've already found out how easily it all comes apart. I have an 04 and even though it's a first production year, it's been the best bike I've ever had.

The manual is pretty good, especially the electrical schematic and the photo index of all the connectors, every one of'em.

Another plus: you get to buy some exotic new tools!

I'm thinkin' your biggest worry is that gravel floor. Hope you have a really powerful magnet.

Oh, one more thing: the dealer will have a fork rebuild kit that has seals and bushings (and other stuff) for a third of the cost of the individual parts. Get it. It will also update your forks to current parts list. You'll throw away some bushings and spacers that are in there now.

Hey Red, congrats on your new beastly Adventure. If you need me to bring mine over to look at, let me know. I have a manometer if you need to borrow something to sync the carbs.

Good luck sorting all the tubes and plugs. I hope you get it running well soon. I'm bringing my 990 to Pachaug on April 27/28, think about it.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jp0d4fisTNw/UPTEyq-5lcI/AAAAAAAABhI/zBrd7vTT-xw/s640/P1020724.JPG

That long bolt/bracket looks to be the rear mount for the old style SWmotech crash bars. It feeds thru the swing arm bolt and spaces out to mount the bars.

let's do it to it


parts man here - get em' while they're hot!



12mm allen - and the rear shock is out


swing arm needs a little persuasion


even despite the never seize. vashonz (OP) was a man after my heart in some ways. I, working in the marine field, have a particularly soft spot for copper never seize. Of all the wacky shit people do to fuck up a perfectly good motorcycle - applying too much anti-seize is ok in my book.



found this knocking around in the swing arm



not a great picture - but if you look at the bolt, there is a coating on it that is coming off and sticking to the races. I think it is scorched grease - but not sure if the OEM bolt had a special finish on them?


either way a little steel wool and some grease had it fitting w/o sticking in no time.

front brakes come off. both are dirty and look like they could use new brake pads. I am going with Galfers green in the front and black in the rear. I have run this on a few other bikes and I like the feel of them


also one of the caliper's threads are buggered up - so I need to chase them out before reassembly.

front forks and front wheel dismounted.


I have been kicking around the idea of a more complete fork service - but for now I am just going to do seals and fluid. If the bike makes it through this season I am going to have SPS hook me up with the "S" spec goods this winter.

so here she sits..........


I was surprised that these were the only tools that I have used to take it down this far. This is my field kit for my 250 with the addition of the dowel and the calipers.



unfortunately it is going to be a few weeks until I can do more work. I have a wedding out of town this weekend and then work is sending me to Philadelphia and then New Orleans on two consecutive trips. So I am going to take this opportunity to order up the few parts that I need, get a battery, and of course purchase more beer.

This a great up! Please continue upon your return.

Narragansett Porter; essential part of the field kit!




this pics reminds me a lot of cold evenings in the garage working on your Dakar..




<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/8644983?byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" width="500"></iframe>

This rebuild will go easier with the 950 since you are not redesigning things, just checking and re-installing things.. It can still take longer than you could possibly imagine though! It's always a little surprising to me how much easier it is to take things apart than it is to put them back together!

Perhaps I'll head over there some day after work if the weather warms up a little and starts to finally act like Spring..

Perfect....three weeks is just about enough time to forget where certain length bolts and such went!!
Looking good, can't wait to see it start going back together.

Is it weird for you to not be field-stripping your motorcycle on a trail?



Though it looks like you have your work cut out for you, your project should pay off nicely. One up side is that you will be so familiar with the bike that your oil changes should go 10% faster.... Think about what you could do with that extra 40 minutes every few months...

My shop is in an 1800's barn as well. Here are a few tips:

Dirt floor: I have worked in dirt and it sucks. A your earliest convenience I would recommend throwing a heavy canvas tarp or plywood down under your work space. This will keep those tiny bits from burrowing there way back to Austria and lessen the dust.

Lighting: If you don't have a headlamp, go get one and use it.

Critters: You probably have mice or other furry citizens in there. They will nest in the most inconvenient places and eat anything that has cotton in it. If you don't have a skilled barn cat grab a few boxes of mothballs and pop the balls around the shop.

Godspeed, my red friend.