My New 2011 WR450F

[johnnysneds]

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Hi All,

Just thought I would post up some photos of my new WR450F I picked up on Tuesday. It should be arriving at my home in Chiang Mai today in the post. Got lots of mods to do with her and will take most of my time up for the next month or so. I cant believe how light and well balanced it is compared to a KLX, not a huge difference but it certainly is the first thing you notice.
The fuel range is a bit disappointing. The stock tank is 2.1 gallons and the average im hearing from TT is between 25-35 mpg. Thats 85-117 km on a tank depending how your riding of-course. The Clarke tank should improve that

A quick query regarding fuel. The manual states it will accept Gasohol 95 (it does have "for Canada" in brackets when mentioning this), as long as it doesn't exceed E10 Ethanol, which I think is what we have here in Thailand. Anyone have any issues using Gasohol 95 (E10) in a relatively new Carb'd bike? or is it safer to go with Benzene 95, if so is there many places supplying B95?

Initail mods will be:

Scott Steering Damper
Clarke 3.6 gallon tank
Hand Guards
Skid Plate
Trailtech Vapor with Temp Sensor
Modify RHS Radiator with 4" Spal Fan and mounting frame.
Carry out stator mod.

All other free mods ie exhaust baffle removal, grey wire cut, snorkel cut, Jetting, AIS removal etc will be put on hold until I get use to it stock. Its heavily restricted stock. The first ride on it I certainly didnt get this impression (not that its not restricted) its just ive been use to a KLX

Plenty of respect required on this off-road me thinks

[Ian Bungy]

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Great Bike! I am Sure they have Two versions Sold New In New Zealand, One Street Legal the other is Pure Enduro. I also thought the New Models were Fuel Injected? Would Be great if You could get a Plate & Green Book for it! Enjoy!

[johnnysneds]

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I think they only come in Enduro mode. There are several companies offering dual sport kits, including Bajadesign.
Carb only for the moment im afraid, the YZ has been introduced with Fi, maybe 2012 for the WR's!

[johnnysneds]

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So eventually after alot of hassle with customs in Bangkok the WR arrives at my home in Chiang Mai.
Now I have no idea who builds these after they come out the container from wherever but I never take the chance of everything being the way it should be. Anything imported I would suggest giving it a really good going over, even from the likes of some big bike import companies in Bangkok. I couldn't believe the build issues I had with a brand new K8 GSXR-1000, that took ages to sort out.
So here I am again stripping down the WR and going over everything. So far, fuel hoses not on properly, rear subframe just about to fall off, filter not oiled, no grease on bearing/pivots, pinched wires/hoses, wheel axle's swing arm torqued to about 5,000 lbs/ft!!!, upper triple clamp lhs not even tightened, exhaust joint loose, loom routing incorrect, clutch no where near adjusted properly, the lists goes on and on.
This is going to be a great project.
Anyway here she is........

Before:


And a few hours after

[KenYam]

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Fu********farrrrrrr...out - Ok hope you have fun rebuilding her. Sounds as if your confident in your ability . Nice fun bike.

Cheers Ken F

[2wheels]

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That's one very nice bike JS and an interesting thread.
Look forward to your progress reports and then your trip reports.

[Ian Bungy]

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Wow You certainly Stripped it Down! I would love one of them if I could have it with a Plate! All the Best and hope to take a look at it once You are out one day!

[johnnysneds]

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Keihin FCR 39 Carb. When I collected the bike yesterday it was a pig to start, possibly due to sitting with Gasohol in it for 1 month. Will strip down and thoroughly clean all chambers, needles and jets.


450cc lump. Will check valve clearances, all torques and give the cylinder head/bore/piston a quick inspection while its out


Swing arm pivot bearing. No lubrication whatsoever!!!


Incredible how light these swing arms are.


Some light lubrication on the upper and lower steering head bearings. Not enough for my liking.


The frame, a work of art.


I may rebuild and re-valve the forks at some point. Allot of WR riders, more so of the pro riders complaining the front end is sloppy. As im only an average rider, it more than likely will suffice for now, we'll see.


There was some minor damage on the frame where it looked like a screwdriver or similar was used to lever/wedge the engine into place at install, These areas have been carefully blended out. Apart from that and the usual loose fastener or over-torqued bolt here and there not too much else to report in a negative way.

Im also considering an SMT slipper clutch, at $1200 new I may try an source an nearly new item first. This will be awesome on the road with 17" rims and some decent tires.


That me for the day.....

[johnnysneds]

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Top and bottom steering head bearing/housings well lubricated.


Before top triple goes on Scott Frame Bracket installed


Stock triple clamp installed with Scott sub mount. This raises the bars by approx 3/4".


Installation of Scott Dampener complete.


Front view.


With bar fitted.


Trailtech Vapor replaces the stock display. The stocker only gives you speed indication and various time settings. The Vapor will have water temp sensor, ambient temp, speed, engine speed (rpm), and all the enduro type time settings available. Will be 12V supplied but also operated off it own battery. Stock speed sensor cable was snipped and removed. Replacement routes up the same side as the brake line.


Front wiring has been re-installed with correct routing. Before hand was just a mess and cables would have been damaged over time. Alot tidier and organised now.


The pair of blue on/off toggle switches you see will be used to operate the headlight and rhs radiator pull fan. They installed very nicely into the old display mounting points. This way I will not have to carry out the stator mod to accommodate more power for the extra fan. The fan will obviously be manually operated and used in conjunction with the temp sensor output on the Vapor. I don't see any reason to have the fan and light on at the same time. The light switch is also handy for Cambodia.

[TonyBKK]

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Good Stuff Johnny!
Wow, that is going to be quite the beastie once you've finished with her!
Dumb question, but did you buy it new? And if so, shouldn't the bearings have been greased at the factory?
Great pics- my hands are usually too grubby to think about picking up a camera when I'm grease monkeying my bikes
Ride On!
Tony

[johnnysneds]

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Hey Tony,
Yes the bike was new and yes it should have been greased at the factory. However who knows what kind of journey these grey imports take on, and also remember it has been disassembled and rebuilt, to what extent I don't know. I would only be guessing the length of time it was sitting in a crate, bearings etc open to the elements. I wouldn't like to point fingers at a manufacturer or anyone else, its just something ive become accustomed to over the years, I actually enjoy taking bikes apart, finding problems and rectifying them, sad I know, but hey thats the way I am.
Using a camera has a few good uses when your stripping stuff down and carrying out maintenance. It serves as a running log of what you've done (no need for steps/entries in a notebook), you can quickly revert to a stage of disassembly for reference eg routing, its good for posting on forums like these (i hope it makes some interesting reading), it actually jogs my memory rather well when I flick through the photos before I start off on another day = fewer mistakes, and your always going to have these photos for years to come.

So what ive been getting up to over the past few days. I spent a good few hours rewiring the oem loom/harness to accommodate the addition of a fan with manual toggle switch, toggle switch for headlight, Vapor power/temp/tacho signals, Garmin harness. Its all been integrated into the existing harness properly ie wires not running directly off the battery, which is not wrong as long as you have the fuses in line etc, it just makes life easier for in the future when you have to remove it all again and it looks cleaner also.

This is the signal wire coming off the coil connector which in turn is converted in to your RPM (tachometer) reading on your Vapor.


Original speed sensor cable is now redundant as the vapor uses its own sensor. Snipped and blanked off with heat-shrink. I might be teaching some to suck eggs but always remember to leave enough tail incase you need to return the bike to stock for whatever reason.


After the electrics were all completed and ready for installation I had a wee break from the spanners and done some research for getting it green booked. After chasing my tail for a while and reading lots of posts on forums, and there is lots of information, some good some misleading, in-fact a lot of misleading information. I eventually narrowed my options down to three companies in Bangkok. And with help from my wife (my Jock accent and poor attempt at Thai doesn't come across very well!!!) I have a company that will sort everything out for a fixed price. I hopefully will receive the excise proof of payment shortly after the 15th of April, this is included in the fee. Some time later I will have to send the bike to Bangkok for a week or so for them to put it through the emissions test. Ive used Logispost and you can send a 400cc bike or larger to Bangkok for 1,790 Baht. Contrary to what people are saying about the new legislation regarding the emissions test and Carburated bikes it can be done and has been done quite easily using the right people. Hopefully, fingers crossed (and toes) they tell me I should be legal in approx. 3 months after the emissions test. I'd like to also add if you go this route apparently its far easier for the company to get cracking with the process if all the import papers are in a Thais name.

So with that good news I picked up the spanners again.

Time to work on the engine a little. Cylinder head cover was removed to give the valve clearances a quick check. The WR comes with a couple of handy aides to assist bringing the engine to tdc. Remove both covers on the crank case, rotating the crankshaft, align the notch above up with the line on the rotor.


Theres also a secondary indication on the camshafts shown by aligning the two punch marks up horizontally.


There's a total of 5 valves to check, 2 intake and 3 exhaust. All were within the specified limits, however the one shown below was at the upper end of the tolerances for some reason, usually out the factory they are adjusted to the lower tolerance to allow for wear. Ill need to keep an eye on this one.


Now a word of caution. The feeler gauges that I purchased a wee while ago, some of the values are incorrect, the ones below for instance. You can see the floppy one which is obviously the thinner of the two, the metric reading is larger than the thicker one!!! aaaah I here you say thats what you get for buying gear made in China, nope it clearly has made in the USA stamped on it. What's the world coming to when you have to get calipers to check feeler gauges!!! It took me a while to figure it out, but I got there in the end.


I would have liked to remove the cylinder head but unfortunately the gasket kit hasn't arrived yet, so its on the jobs to do list. All external bolts were loosened re-seated and torqued, all good.


So that was yesterday. Today I spent a bit of time going over what I had done up till now before installing the engine. All good (I think).
So in she went. I took my time removing it and making a mental note of the angles required to get it out smoothly. So the reverse was carried out and it slipped in very easily.



So after this I spent a bit of time routing all cables, which took longer than expected as it wasn't done properly previously on rebuild. The routing diagrams from the manufacturers aren't the best but its all you have to get on with. What I did notice with the Scott Dampener mount bracket which is shown in a previous post. When you rotate the steering one of the throttle cables and the throttle position sensor catches on the pinch bolt/gap of the Scott clamp. Its only slightly but enough to cause problems over time. Something to keep in mind if you fit one of these.
All connectors were checked for continuity and resistance between each other (within bundles) and earth. The battery was also slaved in and operation of the Vapor and GPS was checked good. Fan and Headlight toggle switches operating correctly. The electric/ignition system was also fully checked and all results within spec. The spark plug gap of all things was to too big by 0.1mm

The colorful plastic fish you see above on the floor are part of a game my two young daughters are into at the minute. It comes with two whipping fishing rods with magnets on the end which is quite sore when it cracks you across the heed. This adds to the challenge of an already challenging project.

I mentioned a few days ago how high the torques were on some of the bolts when I dismantled the bike, as if two or three mechanics had been bouncing on a 12ft long bar with a socket on the end. Well have a look at the picture below. I religiously use a torque wrench and refer to bike specific tables for correct values when re-building. Now as you can see these bolts aren't the best of quality (shame on you Yamaha) and is all the more reason to ensure you correctly stick to the correct torques. The torque for this bolt, and this is the lower engine mounting bracket bolt by the way!, is 38ft/lbs. Now thats not much but it managed to shear it quite easily, the reason because it had been well over torqued previously and just about passed it point of elasticity. You can actually feel this when torquing up. There were a few others that felt the same but managed to hold on until the required torque. I will be replacing these as a matter of course.


So that's me for the night, the front end is nearly complete, its sort of looking like a motorcycle again. Tomorrow ill try and get round to stripping down the Carb and giving it a good clean. And maybe get that fitted and give the engine a test before the rear end goes on.

Good night

[2wheels]

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Well done JS; superb photos too.

Contrary to what people are saying about the new legislation regarding the emissions test and Carburated bikes it can be done and has been done quite easily using the right people

Kawasaki, take note !

[johnnysneds]

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Replaced the main engine mounting bolts as promised. These bolts tensile properties are far superior to the stock items they are heavier but its a sacrifice im more than willing to accept. Its all about weight from the manufacturers these days, pressure is on them to produce lighter bikes than their opposition


Today I mostly sat at my workbench listening to music and stripping down the Carburetor. I was hoping to see some major indications of Gasohol residue, there was some but nothing to be concerned about. All chambers and moving parts were nice and clean and free to move. There was some flaking of coating from the throttle valve plate. Scraped the remaining flakes of carefully.

Throttle Valve. Looks like something out of Robot Wars! You can see the coating flaking off at the left hand corners.


A better view of the flaking.


Throttle valve being carefully removed.


Float chamber which contains most of the jets. Main Jet, Pilot Jet, Needle Jet, Starter Jet, Pilot Air Jet and Leak Jet.


Throttle shaft assembly being removed from its housing. Remove these carefully noting how them came out and position of springs as its easy to refit them again incorrectly.


When refitting jets as there is no torque values extra care is needed when tightening. They do not require excessive pressure a wee nip is sufficient. A note on the pilot screw (this may be the same for most makes), these are set at factory for each individual bike. It must be screwed fully in and a note of the turns recorded for reference.


All jets, needles, components and chambers cleaned thoroughly with a petroleum based solvent. All looks good for a rebuild.


And here it is re-built and installed on the bike.


Here's a photo of the foam blanks I used on the Carb. The orangey brown residue you can see is the product of Gasohol. This is very minor, I have seen some older carb'd bikes with this gunk everywhere. Too much of this and your bike just wont run properly and it will attack older plastics/rubbers that are not suitable for use with Gasohol. I have some photos of an R1 that had been severely attacked by Gasohol, ill try and find them and post them up for you to see what this stuff is capable of.


I had a quick go of the clutch before I knocked off for the day. I knew previously that something wasn't right with it. When I collected the bike I noticed a bigger clunk than normal when selecting from neutral into 1st. When riding the bike and stopping at lights it just wouldn't go into neutral no matter how gentle you tried. After the bike is stopped its rather easy to select neutral! Now when the bike is not running and you select 1st the bike obviously wont roll forward. If you pull in the clutch lever the bike still wont roll forward but it will if you push with a bit of effort. Ive taken a video of whats happening for an easier explanation. I believe the clutch is dragging for some reason. You'll notice the push lever being operated. It appears to be rotating at an angle of between 15-20 degrees. Whether this is enough or the lever has been incorrectly fitted ill find out tomorrow.


Thats me for the night again..night night...

[johnnysneds]

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One of those frustrating days with the clutch today, but it has a good ending. The drag that I was experiencing is normal although maybe a bit excessive. The clutch is definitely disengaging, proof was I could physically see the rotors/stators loosening when the clutch cover was removed, also when the clutch is disengaged its slightly easier to rotate the crank now, release the clutch and its all engine. So purely down to proper adjustment and setting the correct free play at the clutch perch.

Clutch cover removed. Notice the score marks on the pressure plate, this looks like a poor attempt at removing the cast marks from the surface in the factory. The edges were quite sharp and required de-burring, preventing cuts on yer fingers and cracks appearing. Your suppose to replace the gasket after removing the cover, I haven't got one so careful when removing so it can be reused. The clutch system shares the same oil as the engine.


Pressure plate being removed exposing the clutch rotor pack.


I initially thought the problems were down to the push rod ball bearing missing, it obviously wasn't.


Clutch pack removed


This your Clutch Boss in the center surrounded by the primary driven gear or Clutch Basket. The centre nut has to be removed and a special Yamaha tool is required to prevent the assembly from turning while you loosen the nut. Well I don't have one so....


So here's my first method. DO NOT do it like this!!


Or you'll have to do this...
The fabricator put too much weld around the post and it took me ages to file it down and finnish it off with a Dremel. Shi_t I thought. Its fine though, probably stronger than the others. A new one will be here in about a weeks time anyway. Now if you havent got the correct tool for the job I suggest getting one
Ive done it this way on other bikes in the past and this is the first one that has done this, been lucky I guess and I have learnt my lesson.


Now I sussed out a far better way if you haven't the correct tool.
Select highest gear possible, in my case 5th. The reason for this is there will be less of a ratio on the front sprocket reducing the torque. Lever the tommy bar against the foot-peg and remove the boss nut from the clutch assembly, easy/ Use tywraps to keep the socket on their good as it will come off easily under load from the other side.


Clutch assembly removed. All looks good.


A quick video of it being operated after re-installing (and filing for ages)


Now I previously mentionted about fitting a slipper clutch. I have decided against this for various reasons. After lots of research and reading reviews I have decided to go for a Rekluse Core Clutch with EXP Technology. It basically controls the pressure plate by means of centrifugal forces. The engine cannot be stalled. What I understand it would be similar to the semi-auto scooters. Its does have some negative points but the positives far outweigh them. Most riders who have them fitted state its one of the best upgrades they have applied. Rather than me rabbit on about it here's a link to their product.
http://www.bustersdirtshop.com/produ...productid=8835


So a bit of a frustrating day, but were all good now. Its the weekend, time to forget about fixing bikes for a few days, lets ride the KLX

[johngooding]

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Hi Johnny,
A very informative and well illustrated,entertaining read. Did you pick up your engineering skills from just working on bikes over time, or have you some training. I think if you decided you wanted to work on other peoples bikes as well you could find many people willing to pay good money for a job they can have confidence in. Alternatively a training school for Thai mechanics!!

[johnnysneds]

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Thanks for your kind comments John. I'm not after making money, it's what I enjoy doing and would be happy to help someone out if need be.
I spent 14 years in the RAF as an aircraft engineer working mostly on Harriers and Tornados amonst others. The past 10 years or so I've been working offshore in the ROV industry, at the moment taking a long break from ROV Superintendent in Angola, I love the job but it's a hel_l of a lot of traveling.
So now I find comfort/relaxation from breaking motorcycles!!! Training Thai mechanics, hahaha, I'm trying to chill at the moment and I can see this bumping the stress levels up a few notches, I will say though there are some excellent Thai mechanics

[Franz]

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Perfect job Johnny !! Well yes, clutch holders are difficult to come by, so I also broke off one thread (don't know the english word for it) at an old bike which forced me to go to Nana screws and get myself a tool to hold on the clutchhousing while tightening......Real nice job you are doing on the WR. Experienced the same lack of grese in some bearings on several bikes, now if I get a local manufactored one new, I remove the PVC protectors and give them a plenty fill of bearing grease. Same with the steering stem ones. Usually I try to get SKF ones as they seem to be the only ones putting in enough lubrication. Overtightened bolts: the rule of the day......on my old SRX I had to redo some 25 threads due to excessive forces prior to my overhauling it....keep up the good work, rgds, Franz

[2wheels]

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Improperly marked feeler guages !
Who'd ever have anticipated that one ?
'Take nothing for granted.'
This is a superb thread JS and I agree with John; I would be one who
would come to you (and Franz) for deconstruction and rebuild (even of a new bike).

[Changnoi1]

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Wow you have a lot of time, patience and tools on hand!
While doing the wholl engine you might as well blue-print it.

Grey import bikes are TOTALLY dis-assambled and shipped in different containers (wheels by wheels, engine's by engines, frames by frames, tanks by tanks) and then if you are lucky here in Thailand rebuild with somekind of love for the bike. First disaster is the battery ... they ship them also .... dry... and refill them here after been dry for a few weeks. I once saw that they even not took the effort and money to put new oil in it but just used some old oil they had. They will try to save money on every step they have to make. Also the grease on the bolts.

Chang Noi

[johnnysneds]

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Hi again,

Thanks for all the comments and feedback it all welcome.
Franz-ive found Nana screw very useful during this project, thats the place on Charoen Mueng Road, over the Narawat Bridge, right? A lot of mods/upgrades come with larger/smaller dimensions which require longer/shorter fasteners, this place is a one-stop for all of that and also has an excellent choice of tools.
2wheels-your more than welcome to bring your bike round for anything I can assist with if I can. As time and money are not factors I tend to take my time and make sure I don't make mistakes (although not infallible), most people usually want their bikes back asap and I don't seem to work as good or as confident with that thought hanging over me, takes the enjoyment out of it.
Changnoi1-Blueprinting, well as mentioned previously I don't have the gasket kit to do that yet or some other bits and bobs. You are correct though and I will do this at some stage. As you probably noticed from an earlier post some of the engine components were not exactly bang on tight tolerances. Your comment on Grey Imports/Local assemblers is the main reason i am going through all this, many thanks to them for the endless hours of enjoyment.
Just a wee word on batteries. I have ordered x2 of these. They produce the same output as the stock battery, the two of them combined are still lighter than the stocker and will fit in the battery compartment. One for in-use and one for backup. although the WR comes with a kick start. The more start options is always a bonus when your out and about. Because of the Rekluse clutch that will be getting fitted shortly there is no option to bump start. There is an bypass to use the conventional clutch but until it arrives im not sure how easy it is to bypass.


To be honest I wouldn't say you need loads of tools to do what ive done up til now, in-fact you would be amazed at how much you actually do need. A half decent socket set, allen keys, screw driver set, torque wrench and away you go. There is times when "special tools" are required, but my experiences are you can always get around it by having a good think and using what you've got around you, but then again you may have to have a good thing a couple of times to accomplish the task as previously happened with the clutch boss

So after a nice weekend I went out this morning and stared at the bike with a cup of 3in1 coffee for half an hour, trying to figure out where to begin. Well all the engine was plumbed in so I thought i'd make a start on the cooling fan. I would have to mount the new 3.6 gallon Clarke tank as opposed to the 2.1 gallon stock tank. This should give me a bit more ferry on the road. Here's the differences in size:


It doesn't half get the 2011 award for ugliest motorcycle part


The stock tank mounted.


and the Clarke tank...


I went for the a black one as it looks as if it belongs there. Ive seen colour coded tanks, clear ones etc and my personal opinion is they look out of place, however the clear ones are handy to see your fuel level if you've no other means of telling. I have a Zumo which monitors your fuel level and also the reserve on the tank as back up when that goes wrong. Just a matter of getting use to and monitoring your range. Here's the tank mounted with the right hand shroud. All bolted straight up no problem, nice fit.


Well the Clarke tank left me hardly any room to work with regards to fitting the pull fan. The tank and shroud was on and off approx. 1,001 times!! Eventually with the use of a Dremmel (great little things, Homepro 2,000 Baht, I got the last one, display model, sorry), some much needed patience and a wee bit of jiggery pokery it squeezed in quite nicely. There's a slight gap between tank and fan and its very close, Ill put some PTFE tape onto the tank at that point incase there is any sort of fouling and inspect it on future maintenance schedules. For those who don't know, a pull fan works by drawing the air through from the leading face of the radiator. You actually get more airflow than the normal blow fan and off-course if you were blowing from this side it would probably be hot air from the engine/exhaust, maybe sounds negligible but it all helps in this climate! Also by having it mounted on the rear of the radiator prevents or drastically reduces damage and it doesn't block normal riding air flow if it were mounted on the front. Forgive me if this sounds simple but Ive been asked this a few times in the past. A quick note on the fan, its a 4" Spal unit from the states ($40ish eBay), waterproof and robust. Some folk use PC fans! not recommended for off-road use. If they fail quite regularly in an air-conditioned office with the fresh smell of Chanel#5 flowing through them, what chance have they up Doi Suthep or the Cardamoms?


My daughter was drawing pictures of teddy bears on the back of the radiator


You can buy fancy brackets to mount these fans and usually they are a pain in the butt to fit, extra weight and they also cost extra. You also can take the radiator to a local fabricator and get them to weld some lugs that will match up to the mounting points, all the best to you with that, I wouldn't, these radiators are really fragile. Here's the best way that I have found to do it and its dead easy, will cost you next to nothing and its easy to remove. The fins on the radiator (the bits that are easy to damage in between the water path tubes), a correctly selected tywrap will pass through from one side to the other. Open the mounting holes up on the fan if necessary (I had to by a couple of mm) pass the tywrap through the hole and through the radiator. Don't finnish the tywrap off in the conventional way just use another end of another tywrap and slide it down the other side which will secure the fan. I only did three as this was more than enough. Here's some photos . It looks really tidy when you do it this way and you can just about mount the fan anywhere you want on the radiator. You also get the fan flush to the surface of the radiator which makes it operate more efficiently.




After the fan/radiators were fitted I moved on to fitting the temp sensor for the Vapor, straight forward, cut the required section out of the hose and slip it in. The display will show engine temperature and if your not paying attention to this there is LED warning lights, amber for initial high temp then red for critical temp, will post the results of a test of this later. Hopefully the plan will be to flick the switch for the fan on when I see the amber LED and the water temp should stabilise. The WR does come with a catch/expansion tank for receiving excess expanded hot water. You'll more than likely have heard that riders like to remove these as they are not required and save weight. The folk that don't need them are riding on deserted roads in the antarctic, and for saving weight!! its only like half a kilo, better to take a dump before you go out on your ride rather than risk your coolant spewing out all over the ground. Ill be using Motul's Motocool for coolant, its pre-mixed and you don't have to worry about getting the mix ratio correct or using the right water. It's readily available at the Kawasaki garage in the old town for around 400ish Baht. So I think all this will go a long way to keeping her cool.




Rest of the day consisted of wiring the loom to accommodate the position of the fan. Also its important to test all your connections before you start soldering/heat-shrinking or wrapping it all in electrical tape, nothing more annoying than when you press the button and nothing happens and you have to remove all the insulation again, ugh. Some double ended test crocodile clips, chocolate blocks (terminal blocks) and your battery and it only takes a minute to check it out.


I decided to relocate the Vapor to where the original display was. Once I put the front headlight panel on it looked vulnerable, so down it went, and if you've ever seen any of my off-road videos posted on this forum you'll understand why as im a wee bit partial to going head first over the handlebars when getting too excited!!
It will also be out of the sun and ill probably be able to see it more clearly. This left me with a problem of where to relocate the fan and headlight switches to. I wasnt too happy where they were anyway. Ill need to have a think about that one, maybe some sort of universal handlebar control, something like this. I also want to have some sort of LED/visual indication that either the headlight or fan is on.



If you close your left eye and raise your left hand up to cover where the rear section of the bike would normally be you can just about make out a motorcycle


good night.....