Dezza

I think you mean caustic soda, drain cleaner, which is definitely sodium hydroxide. If you want to remove the anodising from hose fittings personally I would remove them from the hose first then you can remove the anodising with CS and scotchbrite more carefully. Then refit using a new olive and check regularly for signs of corrosion and change your brake fluid every year (essential when using ally brake fittings).

I saw this bike (rebuilt version; white Marvics, different seat and paint) up close and with him doing 150mph wheelies on it at Bruntingthorpe (1988). Shortly after it was comprehensively totalled when he flipped it at Aintree during a wheelie demonstration. It must have been a different bike he took to Strylia (beam frame monster Spondon??).

Are the headstocks on these the same as a Blandit, so doing a front end swap (stem and so on) is as for a Blandit?

Yep, but it's not a patch on a 'normal' jumble at Newark.

I'll PM you his number if I can find it. He rebuilt a Sprint damper for me no problem but couldn't find suitable parts for an old leaky WP I had too. I ended up having to get the WP reassembled at much greater expense by a suspension specialist that had some NOS WP bits. WP no longer offer spares for their older dampers, they just want you to spend a fortune on something that looks like it's off the space shuttle and totally out of place on a classic machine. This was a shame as I had another leaky WP I bought for 20 quid rebuilt for 50 quid a while back but the bloke that did it is no longer trading .

The spindle is one piece and threads into the spacer/nut on the other side (the cylindrical bit in your pic at the other side), which is held in place by the clamp on the bottom of the forks. Hold the hex head firmly and the nut should unscrew using a very large cap head (allen) driver if it's tight.

Plenty of decent quality steering dampers out there secondhand, and if leaking they'll be cheap. If you go for a Sprint, I know the bloke who used to run the company. He still has mountains of bits and will rebuild a leaky damper for 30 quid, which is basically buttons. It'll cost 4 x that from a suspension specialist, if they can be arsed (many can't be and only do the latest fancy units).

Do you have to remove the front wheel in order to remove the fairing? I wonder what idjut decided the one-piece fairing was the way to go . Probably the same pillock who decided that Bimota weren't going to make a frame for an oil-cooled Suzuki engine.

If you want knick-knacks, bits-and-bobs and all manner of bike-related wotsits and thingies, Stafford Show is going to be your place . And they don't charge for parking, although the food is still shite (BYO).

Even with the correct unit for the engine, refitting the alternator can be fiddly. I remove the clutch cover so I can see when the gears mesh. Tightening the bolts when the gears are not engaged correctly is easy and has disastrous consequences. A light smear of copperslip means next time you don't even have to buy a new cover gasket .

What is your chassis spec? About all you can do externally with the engine to reduce weight is change the sprocket cover to something more rudimentary and fit a 4 into 1 exhaust. With chassis mods there's a lot more you can do weight reduction wise; brakes, wheels, suspension, 530 chain conversion and so on, with the added bonus of ending up with a bike that doesn't want to kill you when you ride over an uneven road surface at speed .

Some cdis differ in the advance/retard settings, and the rev limiter. This is certainly the case between slabby 1100, 750s, Blandits and at least some 1127 engines. Whether there is variation among different 1127 models I do not know. The data are all in the genuine workshop manual for each model though, which are freely available as pdfs on the web.

Heat can also be applied directly to a screw by holding a crappy (JIS!!!) screwdriver as supplied in a bike toolkit in a pair of mole grips and then heating the screwdriver shaft with a blowtorch whilst the screwdriver is held in the screwhead. The heat conducts across the screwdriver into the screw. +1 on being extra careful with the impact driver on these screws as it can easily all end in tears.

6ft 3 and 75kg - that sounds like an ergonomic / suspension set-up challenge, especially on a physically small bike like an SB6

Outfits (at least racing ones) absolutely kill their engines so maybe go reliability and cost-effective replacement/rebuilds over outright power. I agree with Daz on the powerscreen lump as suitable.

Did it come with all of the original bodywork?

The hose routing is pretty straightforward and the height the cooler is mounted shouldn't be a problem as it's pressurised. The point on the crankcase feeds the cooler with a straight hose. The other outlet on the cooler feeds the two holes in the cam cover so one hose from the cooler fits onto your rail. Otherwise it has to split into two to fit onto each part of the cam cover. From what I have seen of your bike it's going to be a major challenge finding space for the head cooler though. Mine's in the seat unit but that's not an option here. My seat has a big hole in the top so the heat rises up to dissipate. I still made sure I fitted a hugger and a grill on the underside as a stone throught the cooler could easily end in disaster. Position the cooler near the back wheel and a protection grill from stones is going to be a must.

Don't start faffing about with the carbs unless you have a half decent tool kit or you'll end up mashing the screws and jets. A set of JIS screwdrivers is very useful for splitting the bank and removing the tops and float bowls. Once you're inside you'll need various sizes of flat headed screwdriver. Unless the screwdriver is a nice snug fit in the jet, then don't proceed. Find a better fitting screwdriver instead In the pic above you can see that the main and pilot jets are mullered, probably due to someone using screwdrivers that were fitting loosely in the slots in the heads of the jets. The pilot screws should be a loose fit. Once you have carefully removed them, they'll be a tiny spring, washer and o'ring left in the hole. These can be removed by careful use of a bit of thin wire with a small hook bent in the end held with a pair of long-nosed pliers. If you dismantle each carb in an old washing up bowl, you'll be less likely to loose something. Keep all parts for each carb seperate from the others. Once you've done a couple of sets it's quite straightforward.

Whatever you do, ensure that you change the alloy bolts especially those that are in structurally important areas such as the ones attaching the subframe to the main frame

Hello. It sounds like something's blocked in the pilot circuits of your carbs. A good clean after systematic disassembly and then reassembly will likely sort your problem out without going to all of the hassle and expense of changing the carbs .

Presumably you've never used an aircraft filler cap with a bolt-on fitting ring. You have to put sealant (I use 3-bond) on the screw threads to stop fuel coming up through the threads. Problem with 3-bond is getting the bloody stuff off when components are dismantled. In the notes that come with a Pingel tap it explicitly states to use PTFE tape on the threads and to experiment with different amounts of tape to get the tap correctly aligned and leak free. It sounds like a bodge but it works.

Flog fancy master cylinder and then fit cable conversion

Can the tank be raised a little and/or can you 'sculpture' a recess in the tank with a mega-fuck-off ball-peen hammer?

Mv Agusta but you'll have to do a SS swingarm conversion.

if you're on friendface then Gary is much more active on that than on here, Harris owners and aircooled suzuki club, so he tells me. The seat looks like a rotax style. Email harris and ask as these were supplied by harris with the mag 4 frame kits. Gary is best to contact directly though