The moment almost didn’t happen.
Hooking up the battery should have been the simplest task in the whole project. One red wire to the plus, one black wire to the negative, right?
Yeah but what about that third wire there? Well it’s got some red on it, so it must hook up to the plus, right?
Next thing, a plasticky smell. Then a hint of smoke. Then me frantically attempting to disconnect the wire before the whole project bike caught fire.
I guess that wire goes on the negative then…
A quick check of the Victorian Track Bike confirmed it. I was an idiot, and had risked frying Lord knows how much. I felt like I wanted to be sick.
Hook it all back up, turn the key, and no sound of the fuel pump kicking in. That’s it, I’ve fried it’s meagre brain, I’m done. Take it to an auto electrician and just ask them to fix it, and then see if the damned thing will start after that.
Still dead, until – wait – the kill switch is set to ‘off’. Turn it to ‘on’ and the sound of the fuel pump kicks in, whirring a long whirr to suck up the fuel after it’s four month hiatus.
Full choke, hit the starter, and…
It started. No great cloud of smoke from a seized motor. No rattling sounds from a broken ring. Just a slightly cold motor, idling a little rough, and with the idle set too low once it had warmed up.
Taking it out on the road yielded an oil light, a quick u-turn, another splash of oil (noting that when I dumped most of the oil from the ill-fitting sump plug fiasco I had no idea how much oil was in there), and it was good to go for a quick blockie.
Back home to put the rest of the fairings on, and then down to the local servo to get some fresh fuel and air in the tyres (and in the process get a few gawks from young lads probably wondering what the hell it was). On the way home I let it rev out to 7000RPM, noting that I will treat it like a brand new motor (which is almost is) and do some gentle breaking in for a little while, and it revved cleanly, sounded smooth and pulled hard. A quick stop at the local park for a glamour shot, and it was time to head home.
There’s still a few little things. Indicator surrounds that are somewhere between Europe and here. A throttle that is just a little sticky. Fairings that don’t quite line up thanks to the past sins of previous owners. At some stage the tank will need a respray, which was the one item that was close enough for me to leave it as is, just with a little ‘patina’. Then I’ll need to start sorting the awful front and even more awful rear suspension, but that’s all for later. For now, it’s all about just sitting back and enjoying what is, in my totally biased opinion, the sexiest middleweight motorbike of the 1980s.
It is also time for me to list the official thank yous for a project which I could not have done by myself, so here goes in no particular order:
- Yamaha World, for the spare parts, advice and encouragement along the way.
- The Motorcycle Society, for the work done in the early stages to get the bike roadworthy, as well as good coffee and encouragement.
- The Facebook FZR forum folks, in particular Bill Bryant, Shane Hoeckel, Wade Stoddart, Rory James, Hubes Kubes and Nick Kidner – amazing knowledge and support throughout the whole project, no way I could have done it without their help at various points.
- Benjamin Crash Repairs, for the work tidying up and respraying the fairings – top work at a good price.
- Signs by Knight, for doing the decals that I would have stuffed up completely if I’d done them myself.
- Chris Milton Engineering, for reconditioning the head.
- Parkside Radiators, for modifying the 89 rad to accommodate the 90 plumbing – thanks Yamaha for making that necessary (not).
- Julia B, for risking some of the most valuable hands in the business to help me get the block back on.
- Shaz & Pete, for helping me get the motor back in and just generally being there along the way.
- Cousin Cheyenne, for smuggling some spare plastics across the border. It’s our secret cuz.
- Jay Ro, for being willing to come on a random adventure to find a parts/track bike that was invaluable as a blueprint for the project bike (next project will be to get that one ready for the track). Told you we probably wouldn’t get stabbed.
- Alice, for letting me store the parts bike en-route to Adelaide.
- Mark from MRT Motorcycle Transport, who got the Victorian track bike here.
- Bikes Only, for getting the original project bike from Tenterfield to here in one piece.
- John Harold Haynes, for writing the manual for the FZR that was like a bible to me throughout this project. Absolutely no way I could have tackled this without this manual. Shame he couldn’t quite stick around long enough to see another person finish a project thanks to his work.
- Mum, for her unshakeable belief in me and her never-ending encouragement.
- And finally, Kahiwa, for your love, help, support, patience and willingness to let me spend hours hiding in the shed working on this project.
And with that, the project ends, and I might shift my focus to a much smaller project, overhauling the crank on a 1980s pushbike, and maybe powder coating the frame while I’m at it. Watch this space…
