[92xjunker]

For example http://m.ebay.com/itm/201236936339?nav=SEARCH

[Slofuze]

For example http://m.ebay.com/itm/201236936339?nav=SEARCH

Basically what I have on my current ride....

[Morgion]

Hey, those aren't half bad, actually, although I think the post indicators may offer a little better visibility. If I can't get the post indicators to look right, I'll probably go with something like those.



Back to the regular episodes of If I Had a Wife She'd Hate Me:

All the fairings are disassembled and washed apart from the lower fairing halves. The two screws holding the halves together have stripped and rusted solid to the nuts on the inside. I'll have to cut the screws off before painting. Neatly arranged on my livingroom floor:




I removed the wheels and the exhaust(s), god bless the centerstand!
This is her quite sorry state right now:


(Sorry for the poor pic, I had bare minutes of daylight left.)


The wheels in the shower:




And the exhaust(s) on the bathroom floor:




Yes, as you can see, some previous owner has cut the exhaust halves apart from each other and capped the ends.
This made the removal ridiculously easy. A close-up on the welded-on caps:





How (if at all) do you think separating the exhaust affects the performance of the engine?
I'm not an expert when it comes to backpressure and flow dynamics so I really can't say, but my common sense says you wouldn't notice.

[92xjunker]

You wouldn't. I think it's there for support mostly.

[Morgion]

Yeah, structural integrity is what I had in mind as well but it sure as hell does make the removal a breeze. Just five bolts and you can take one pipe off and then switch to the other side.

Off to washing the wheels and exhausts, this is gonna be dirty...

EDIT:
And dirty it was!

Observations:

• The right exhaust (cyl #3 and #4) has a leaking weld
• Of the 10 hex bolts holding the front brake rotors on, 2 on each side are stuck and the ends stripped
• It took 45g to balance the front wheel and 20g to balance the rear
• Whoever invented soapy steel wool is a scholar and a gentleman
• According to the scratches on the exhaust covers, the bike has been dropped twice to the right and once to the left

[Morgion]

Ahh, Christmas, the time of happiness and giving and shoplifters. Which means I'm at work all the time.

Anyway, good news and bad news.

Good news is that I got the two halves of bottom fairing separate from each other, although that required sacrificing the J-shaped bracket the bolts holding the pieces together attach to. The bolts were literally rusted solid with the bracket and snapped when I applied torque despite being soaked with penetrating oil. Fortunately I can just fabricate my own bracket or re-drill the holes in the existing one.

The bad news is that I can't for the life of me get the front brake discs off. There are now 3 allen bolts in total holding the brake discs in place and it seems they have fused with the wheel itself. Or maybe some previous owner went nuts with the Loctite.

I started by trying to hammer the shit out of them with an impact driver after soaking them in penetrating oil from both sides (none of the three bolts are in opposite spots, fortunately). I merely managed to round the sockets completely. Failing that, I then took an angle grinder and cut slots into the heads of the bolts to try again with the impact driver and a flat screwdriver head. I merely managed to smooth the edges of the slots I cut.

I have now exhausted pretty much all my tools and the bolts won't budge. I will try to re-cut the slots once more and try again. If that fails, I'm stumped. Should I drill them out? Eugh...

Some pics:

Two of the three bolts holding the brake discs. The other side obviously has one. Duh.




And a close-up on the damage I managed to do.

[shpielers]

Bummer, that sucks. Maybe time to drill the heads. If you're going to try the impact gun once more, try hitting the bolts with a blowtorch, hair dryer, or heat gun. That will help loosen up the locktite. Be careful with a torch though, I'm not sure if that amount of heat would wrap the rotor, but it might be possible.

[Morgion]

I think I have a heat gun laying around somewhere, I'll try that out, too. Drilling is pretty much my last option though, I'd rather go to someplace with welding equipment and ask them to weld nuts on the heads of the bolts. I don't want to damage the threads.

The bolt heads still have some material left so carefully cutting the slots deeper and then going to town with the impact driver after heating the bolts up could still work.

We'll see...

[shpielers]

Good luck!

Why are you trying to remove the rotors in the first place? I scanned the rest of the thread, didnt see a reason, sorry if I missed it.

[Morgion]

I'm painting the rims along with the rest of the bike.

[Kreylyn]

ALL OEM installed rotor bolts were installed with Loctite.


Use heat to release.


Krey

[muttstang]

Ouch. Definitely take some heat to it. Loctite will let go nicely when cooked

[zuma]

I thought Nino was saying bullshit to bachelorhood. Guess I was wrong. I dig the bike.

[ygolohcysp]

On the mini I've raced, I've broken off a few rotor/sprocket bolts in the wheels. Carefully drilled them, tapped an extractor in, then used a torch to heat the aluminum of the wheel until I could easily turn the extractor by hand. Considering your's aren't snapped off, you might be able to get away with heating and using the impact driver, possibly with cutting new slots. Another trick I've used for rounded out allen sockets is to find a variety of metric allen/standard allen/torq 1/4 bits, and find one that will just barely fit into the rounded hole if persuaded by a hammer. Then heat it up, and unthread the bolt.

Remember to use loctite when installing new bolts to hold the rotors on.

[Morgion]

Pardon my French, but I fucking hate allen bolts.

Should I heat the bolt or should I heat the wheel?

I swear to replace every allen bolt I come across with a hex bolt.

Also thanks for the Loctite tip.