K5 Hayabusa Midlife Crisis

[Captain Starfish]

On a ride last week, I noticed that something was slipping as I powered out of a couple of corners. Nothing since, until today, where it started happening again.

It had to happen sometime, I'm 99.9% sure it's a clutch slipping. Oh well.

EBC friction pads for about $160 delivered, no biggie. In the sunlight today, my old man drew my attention to what a bag of shit the bike is looking like at the moment (scratched, bashed and battered) and so I'm thinking now (76,000km) would be the perfect time to take the bike off the road for a month or two and give it a bit of rejuvination.

Throw some ideas at me. So far, the list goes to:
1. Repack clutch.
2. Standard service: oil, filter.
3. New fluids (hydraulic, coolant, fork oil).
4. New brake pads all around (close enough to do them now).
5. Maybe new chain and rubber.
6. Timing chain - maybe.
7. New plugs.
8. Clean air filter (K&N).
9. repair and repaint fairings.
10. Replace stator cover after lazy moment.
11. fix intermittent garage door remote
12. Sort out a decent cradle for my phone

Hopefully this won't turn into a "Desmogod's 2nd gear" 5 year epic and I'll be riding my bike again soon.

Questions:
- What obvious things should I also be doing/checking/replacing?
- How do you check a timing chain for wear?
- Any dumb stuff not in the manual I should know about when it comes to repacking a clutch?
- Is it worth all this mucking around or should I just nurse it along with the "slipper" clutch and trade it in on a newer one when I have a job again?

BTW, paint scheme I'm favouring is along the lines of the new black and red busa, but with the red flashes a little more faded in and glowy via airbrush. And yes, this time I'll paint the tank too.

[Roady]

Nike..

[GD Engineering (Gavin)]

The throw-away mentality is rife these days......... give the old girl a birthday.

[busa_bloke]

Got a painter lined up?

I've got some scratched on the fairing and might get it touched up..

[Captain Starfish]

Thinking about cash flow over the next few months, the bulk of the cash outlay (on the clutch primarily) needs to happen. And I'd not feel comfortable handing the bike over, even to a dealer, in its current mechanical & cosmetic state.

So yeah, gonna do it.

Can anyone tell me, or point me to a site which describes, the easiest reliable way of checking camchain for wear/stretch?

[GD Engineering (Gavin)]

If it's done 75k and hasn't had a chain, put one in it.Otherwise, first measure the valve clearances and write them down in case any need adjusting, pull the cams and chain out and there will be a spec in the manual for x amount of pins should be less than or equal to y mm distance wise. If it's under the spec, you can put the chain back in, change the shims that need doing(if any), bolt the cams back in ( careful how you do it or you will snap the journal cap), re-check that the clearances are what they should be( and pull the cams back out if necessary), and you should get another 5 minutes to 5 years out of it. I suppose you can guess my thoughts on which way to go........ Insufficient tension on the chain is an equal contributor to shortened camchain life.

[Captain Starfish]

If it's done 75k and hasn't had a chain, put one in it.

Well that would have to be about the easiest test I could think of

As far as tension is concerned, I'm hoping that the hydraulic tensioner on these newer models is taking care of it, but short of trying to pull the back riser of chain off the side of the gear I have no idea of how to check the tensioner's effectiveness.

Thanks, Gav.

[Rich]

It big, fat and old...

Just shoot it...

No wait...thats the rider...

[Captain Starfish]

Haha

Be nice to the whales, biotch.

[M|ke]

Thought about getting the suspension tuned? I'd assume it would make it feel almost like a new bike!

[Captain Starfish]

Ahhh yes, kinda part n parcel of changing the fork oil is a re-setting of the suspension.

This time I may even lash out and buy the correct ring spanner for the rear shock, too

[Lochwood]

It's a C-spanner, and you need more joints in your wrists to be able to get your hands in there. Which is why I haven't done mine yet.

[Captain Starfish]

D'OH I'm picturing the thing in my mind and, of course, it's a C spanner.

[Captain Starfish]

Bugger. Witch Cycles have not deigned to respond to my request for pricing availability. Zanottis (awesome US company) only do Yamahonda and Harley.

Will try McCullochs and Chapmans tomorrow. In the meantime, anyone care to recommend cork vs kevlar in the new clutch rig?? I'm hoping I can get away with just replacing the friction plates and keep using the metals. Is this false ekonmeez?

[BigTim]

I only replaced the friction plates, when the clutch went on the SXV. Your best bet is to have a look at the steel plates (should only take 10 minutes, and probably won't have to drop the oil). If they look shagged or warped, replace them. If they don't look too bad, just sandblast (or bead blast if possible) them, and re-use them.

Paint scheme you're planning on looks pretty damn good, too.

[Captain Starfish]

Cheers, Tim. First stock busa scheme I've really liked since the bronze and silver of Tyson's era. Of course, plan ≠ final result when you've perfected shonky paintwork to the level I have...

[jmoore]

fighter it!

nah but in all seriousness this will be the goods.

id fix up some of your electric issues like your remote when youve got it all apart, maybe add a laser jammer like munkers

[Captain Starfish]

Parts ordered. By golly, the local guys are asspensive. One quote for over $760 for parts. A half hour's shopping on eBay came in at $350. Not totally equivalent - aftermarket EBC clutch plates (kevlar) instead of the zook ones, a shiny chrome stator cover instead of the stocker (because it was cheaper, not for the bling: I may end up spraying it black so I don't have to polish the bastard). Not just blaming the shops, of course - labour is expensive in Perth and there are multiple levels of markup between factory and we poor end users. But still, shiiiiit. To celebrate my mammoth saving I also bought a set of shorty levers.

Now the waiting game.

[Captain Starfish]

Well, not the fastest build so far. But the clutch came apart today and, dammit, not good news.

The busas are equipped with a "back torque limiter" which is like a set of ramped dogs at the back of the clutch basket hub. Too much torque and these guys start spinning and rattling away. One performance mod available for the busa is a new basket hub which is a single piece, eliminating this pesky chatter and allowing full torque to hit the back of the bike.

Some champion, ie the original owner, decided that he wasn't going to pay the $300 or so for this mod, so he just welded them together. By the look of it, he's a dodgy backyard welder who (as I would have too, I admit it) welded it without pre-heating or controlled cooling. So, on the three dogs, two of the welds have snapped and one of the dogs has sheared just at the line of colour change from the tempering caused by the welding. Goodbye martensite, hello cementite/pearlite.

No wonder the bloody thing was rattling like a Ducrappy at idle. I was briefly tempted to weld it again but, if the grain of the steel is rooted anyway I don't trust it any more. Time for another one.

Ohai, findapart!

[lee]

why dont you get one of the basket hubs without the stupid teeth?