[StreamRider]

Yeap, do enjoy the heck out of what you’ve got and lose any guilt you may harbor for piling up the miles. Otherwise it’s just like abstaining and keeping your girlfriend tight for the next guy.

This comment is pure gold. Trust me, my little "Slutty Sylvia" is getting ridden harder then she's ever been ridden before. I got her with 48K on the clock and put 18K on her this last year alone. I don't plan on there being a "next guy". If she makes it another 12 years I'll let my daughter see her off.

 

[WRXer]

U-joint cleaned up nice with just WD-40 & a rag. Feels nice & smooth. The gurus swear by this special Honda lube for the splines on both sides of the U-joint. The current exchange rate is 1 tiny tube = $20. :banghead: At least I get to use it on the rear diff to rear wheel connection too.

I put an end to my speedo button saga.:surrender: Went ahead & got the replacement cluster for $60 & plucked out the damn buttons.

Note NONE of this disassembly of the gauge unit was really necessary to replace the buttons. They could just be popped in & out thru the front. Of course I only know this in hindsight, did not know if there was a little peg or rod in between the button & gauge & did not want it to fall out or disappear without me seeing where it went first; or know how the buttons on the circuit board worked. As it turns out they are built right into the buttons. Here they are....$60 worth. :2guns: Mice.

So I did the usual clean everything & put it back together. Ready to go.

At least I can move on now. Like getting to clean this....:banghead: EVERY piece on this motorcycle is this dirty or worse.

 

[BigOgre]

Did you change out the bulbs on the cluster while you were there?

Wait. I don't want to know. 🙃

 

[StreamRider]

I know that paste! I know now is neither the time or the place but someone out there needs to hear it. I told you so!!!
I went with Moly but I knew that paste was what all the hubbub was about. Luckily I still kept it around.

 

[Oldjeep]

Meh. Grease works fine.

 

[chucksklrst]

I still have a tube of the Honda Molly Paste 60. left over from my ST1300 days. It has been over 8 years since I traded my ST in for my FJR. I have used the same tube on the ST and the FJR splines at every tire change and also to lube the U-joint splines on the FJR. A little bit goes a long way.

 

[WRXer]

I did do a vigourous inspection of all gauge lighting while it was apart. If I remember correctly the backlights for the gauge cluster were LEDs built into the circuit board so they were good. The idiot lights were bulbs & all looked ok-- if you cant see the filament they usually black out pretty well so you know they are bad. The donor cluster was an ebay special with over 92,000 miles on it according to the pictures in the listing. I relisted it on ebay after I plucked the buttons (noting they were missing) & resold it & after fees & shipping both ways the buttons ended up costing about $20.

 

[WRXer]

Recall I acquired the bike mid-late November 2019. It is now late February 2020---we were just hearing about this "coronavirus" in China.....

Only two wire repairs on the entire bike.
The first... on the power wire output jumper between the electric windshield brain box & the lift motor, there was a tiny bit of chew thru the insulation. Wires were not broken or corroded so I just brushed with liquid electrical tape, de-pinned the connector & put some heat shrink around each wire individually, then another piece over both wires & reinstalled the connector. Only way to get this jumper is to buy the whole lift motor on Ebay & I had no such intention.

The second...on the replacement main harness, some ham fist pulled one spade connector off one horn by the wire instead of the connector so a few strands pulled out of the connector. I nipped it off a few inches back from the connector & grafted one on from the original harness. Soldered & heat shrink of course.

 

[WRXer]

As I mentioned before...intakes are Charmin clean, just as I found them. In real life can see the backs of the vavles & they are spotless, pics make look dark.

 

[WRXer]

Finished up the upper fairing support & associated wiring. Replaced the headlight harness. Lubed the throttle cables. Installed the AIS. One of the spring return lever arms that guides the adjustable windshield was dirty/corroded to the point it would not even move. Disassembled, cleaned, removed corrosion & moves smooth now. All the hoses & wiring from the cylinder head forward are now done--big milestone. The apparent pace should quicken now. Before an hour or two of work could be lost just routing & verifying wire/hose placement & every part had to be tediously scrubbed before install. Now the remaining work will result in parts being bolted back on & I took advantage of some decent weather to pre-clean almost all the remaining parts.

The bike came with up & back heli-bars. I took them out for now, want to see what it is like as Yamaha intended it.

The tail the bike came with had a tiny amount of mouse chew & about a 1" long hairline crack near one trunk mount. I bought this replacement near the beginning of the project. That was a long time ago. My definition of "good enough" & "clean enough" has evolved. The original tail would not of fazed me now.

 

[WRXer]

Still plodding along...seems I only get an hour to an hour & a half at a time here & there. New face in the garage:
I buffed it by hand a bit but it has some deep down funk you can see at certain angles & if the light is right..kind like water spots.

Installed the subframe, side case mounts, tail light & the replacement rear fender, tail cowl, tail wiring harness, & tool tray. Allowed me to finish up the elec at the rear by installing all the remaining elec bits & at long last the ECU. Since this is a replacement tail it has no such funk from years in a barn. This used to be ground zero of the mouse damage & mess. Other than some corrosion on the aluminum sub frame no evidence exists round here.

Remember what this looked like? Now all wires go in.

You may ask why I'm bothering with heads & tails instead of getting this running....1) needed to install all the rear elec & ECU, 2) as of right now I don't have a fuel pump that isnt filled with rust, & 3) as I mentioned before a fully disassembled FJR (not to mention all the replacements/extras) will occupy all free space on your property. My #1 goal is to consolidate as many pieces back on this bike as possible & reclaim some semblance of order in my garage & beyond.

Current issue---bought two sets of grips & cant find any long enough for this thing. 125mm is too short. The OEM ones are too expensive. I would hate to wrap my fingers around those old pigeon shit covered ones.

 

[WRXer]

Cleaned up the throttle bodies & replaced the injector harness. I didn't get carried away here. Just hit them with the usual cleaner & toothbrush then followed up with some MAF senor cleaner (its label read as not harmful to plastic etc.) The vacuum passages were clear. The enricher passages from the rear to front of the throttle bodies that interact with the coolant activated enricher circuit were clear. The passages with the air screws were clear. The bottoms of the 4 hole injectors looked clean. Figured there was the opportunity for more harm than good so I didn't touch the air screws, TPS, FPR, etc. I think it will be fine. I'll run a bottle FI system cleaner thru it once its running. The exposed throttle adjustment screw lead bothered me (mice chewed the cover off) so after I took the pic I removed it & put some heat shrink tubing over it.

Mounted the replacement airbox. PITA to get all 4 boots on the backs of the throttle bodies but I finally got it cussed into place.

The donor airbox came with its own filter but look at it--that is not a shadow or camera trick--that is how it looks in person; half the filter is clean & half is dirty. The intake tube must not evenly distribute the air to the filter. Put a new replacement in.

 

[WRXer]

Now with all the senors & electronics installed I figured I had a chance of powering it up without setting every DTC in the book so I installed a new battery. Didn't get a pic. Its black, rectangular, looks like a battery. AGM type. Turned the key & got a full needle sweep. Both horns work. Gauge back lights work. Electric windshield goes up & down (sans windshield at this time). Had some bad filaments in the tail/brake lights but had extra bulbs from the bonus tail light that came with the tail light harness so eventually got the tail, brake, & rear turns working. The replacement speedo buttons & all aspects of the display work fine. Hit the starter & engine turned over nice without any bad noises. The best part is I finally got to see how many miles were on it to know if all this has been in vein or not. Seller told me "10 to 20".

 

[wczimmerman]

🍿

Enjoying this story very much...

 

[maximrebel]

Dude, I just finally saw this and all I can say is BRAVO. Love the passion for restoring it, you will inspire others to do the same. Even got me thinking of doing some restoring again, even knowing how much effort and time (AND MONEY) it takes. Thanks for sharing this journey.