FJowners.com

General Category => FJ Project Writeups => Topic started by: Davo231481 on October 29, 2016, 05:11:55 AM

Title: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on October 29, 2016, 05:11:55 AM
So I picked up my new 1988 fj1200 in midnight blue today. I've given it a tub and started detailing it as well as writing the to do list. First up will be an oil change then slave cylinder kit. After that will be regluing the speedo needle back on and then a test ride. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on October 30, 2016, 03:11:54 AM
David Innes Considering it was windy enough to blow a dog off a chain here I spent a very productive day in the shed. Dropped oil. Changed oil filter, Inspected air filter....needs a new one, bled clutch, and started cleaning the old black paint off those lovely staino headers. Found a massive crack on the top of rear tail cover where gear sack rack had been rubbing and started thinking about laminating a carbon fibre patch (that should look like it belongs )to put over it so my saddle bags won't make it worse as I doubt a panel shop may have a bit off trouble matching the colour like OEM if I got it welded.. Pumped up front tyre. Inspected chain -it's still got a little bit of life left in it. Had a go at cleaning off the brake dust on front rim and will try a few products to see what lifts it easiest. Found a ton of built up oil stains from leaking cam cover gasket All over front and top of engine. Frame is in good nick and will benefit from a touch up here and there. Foot peg aluminium brackets are starting to lose the clear coat so I'm tempted to remove it and polish whilst I've got the exhaust off. I've gone through a couple of cans of the shit repco spray degreaser and its not really worth a pinch of shit. No wonder they sell them 6 for 10$. anyway it's past beer o'clock and I've earned it today. Sorry no pics as I was having too much fun
Like · Reply · Just now
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: oldktmdude on October 30, 2016, 05:25:21 AM
   G'day Davo, glad to see you're making some progress on your new acquisition. Most things on the FJ are easy to work on.
Just in case you have missed the post, there is an FJ Manshed weekend planned for the last weekend in November. It's being held down at Bermagui, which is a very pleasant ride from the ACT/Cooma region. If you don't have it on the road by then, feel free to trailer it down and meet up with some of the great FJ members that are attending. Plenty of accommodation, either camping or beds, still available. If you need a valve clearance check, the Manshed gathering is a great time to get somebody to show you how to do it, shims are available to get it done on the day. Let me know if you're interested and we'll get something organised.
   Regards, Pete.   :drinks:
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: ribbert on October 30, 2016, 08:15:29 AM
Quote from: Davo231481 on October 30, 2016, 03:11:54 AM
....and started cleaning the old black paint off those lovely staino headers.
Like · Reply · Just now

Sounds like you earned that beer Davo, that's a solid days work.

You'll love the headers when they're done.

These are mine tonight after a post trip clean up, they look great polished up.

(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5779/30361301620_97607b1cb9_c.jpg)

Have you got a compressor?

Noel
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on October 31, 2016, 05:06:26 AM
Quote from: oldktmdude on October 30, 2016, 05:25:21 AM
  G'day Davo, glad to see you're making some progress on your new acquisition. Most things on the FJ are easy to work on.
Just in case you have missed the post, there is an FJ Manshed weekend planned for the last weekend in November. It's being held down at Bermagui, which is a very pleasant ride from the ACT/Cooma region. If you don't have it on the road by then, feel free to trailer it down and meet up with some of the great FJ members that are attending. Plenty of accommodation, either camping or beds, still available. If you need a valve clearance check, the Manshed gathering is a great time to get somebody to show you how to do it, shims are available to get it done on the day. Let me know if you're interested and we'll get something organised.
  Regards, Pete.   :drinks:
Hopefully I'll be able to get down there for a run.not sure if Fuji will be sea worthy by then. If not I might ride my lil gpz. My list of bits has grown somewhat since I got it. Looks like the valve cover is leaking so I'll be sourcing a new OEM gasket as well as the grommets as they're probs shagged as well. Since I've got the exhaust off I'll need to get some new gaskets for that as well. I may as well do a plug change but sticking with ngk copper. Might even do the coil upgrade with relay thingy. I also found the speedo needle has decided to have a lay down and is no longer sitting on the centre of the dial and is at the bottom of the dash,so I'll have to remove the fairing to get to the speedo to repair it.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on October 31, 2016, 05:13:09 AM
Quote from: ribbert on October 30, 2016, 08:15:29 AM
Quote from: Davo231481 on October 30, 2016, 03:11:54 AM
....and started cleaning the old black paint off those lovely staino headers.
Like · Reply · Just now

Sounds like you earned that beer Davo, that's a solid days work.

You'll love the headers when they're done.

These are mine tonight after a post trip clean up, they look great polished up.

(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5779/30361301620_97607b1cb9_c.jpg)

Have you got a compressor?

Noel
Those headers look great. I think the polished metal will look good with the dark blue colour scheme. I've got a compressor but it nearly as old as me and I turned up when astronaut John glen returned to earth. How well do the auxiliary lights work. If it's dark it must be beer o'clock for me as there's just too many Roos on the roads trying to kill me here.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: ribbert on October 31, 2016, 10:23:17 PM
Quote from: Davo231481 on October 31, 2016, 05:13:09 AM
...... and I turned up when astronaut John glen returned to earth. How well do the auxiliary lights work. If it's dark it must be beer o'clock for me as there's just too many Roos on the roads trying to kill me here.

Haha, that makes you a young fella.

The lights are good, 3600 lumens each. I too never plan to ride at night for the same reason but get caught out often enough to justify them. I have previously (before fitting these) had trips where depending on the terrain, traffic and moonlight, I have simply turned the headlight off for hours of riding at night for much better vision, just turning them on for the occasional oncoming vehicle. The standard FJ headlight illuminates nothing and throws just enough light for your eyes to see nothing outside the dull puddle, casting everything outside it into the shadows.


Not being a dedicated night rider I opted for wide beam lights rather than pencil beams that throw miles down the road. It's like riding in a brilliant ball of light and is much better suited to curves and undulating country than narrow beam lights. If I was a night rider, I'd have a set of each. Having said that though and the risk of animals aside, they do throw enough light to comfortably ride an unfamiliar, non signed road at 120kph which isn't too bad.
You can also take corners smoothly and quickly at night because you can see all the way around them.

The reason I asked about the compressor is one of these, a kero gun.

(http://media.supercheapauto.com.au/sca/images/156475.jpg)

(This one is available at Supercheapauto)

They're  cheap, and can be bought at any auto accessory store.  Kero at 120psi does a great job, particularly if you can follow up with a high pressure cleaner.

Noel
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on November 01, 2016, 02:00:28 AM
So I got home and straight into the shed to remove the fairing and tackle the speedo issue. As I'm removing the screws from the fairing I'm finding a few cracks in the plastics. These are clean cracks .Any suggestions on suitable glues so I won't need to respray.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: fudge12 on November 01, 2016, 09:11:33 PM
Pipe ABS adhesive from the backside. If it's on a fairly flat section, you can cut a chunk from a sheet of ABS to act as a patch. I get both from Amazon for small money. If the section is less than totally flat you can heat the ABS patch with a heat gun and form it to the shape.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Russfjr1 on November 02, 2016, 06:41:09 AM
Quote from: Davo231481 on November 01, 2016, 02:00:28 AM
So I got home and straight into the shed to remove the fairing and tackle the speedo issue. As I'm removing the screws from the fairing I'm finding a few cracks in the plastics. These are clean cracks .Any suggestions on suitable glues so I won't need to respray.

Weld the plastic from the back, I have done this many times the favorite weapon of choice not the hot air welding gun normally used on plastic but a soldering iron, the type you can adjust the heat on set to low just enough to melt the workpiece using a flat blade about 4mm wide and a wet sponge. Check the thickness of the plastic and put the wet sponge over the crack on the painted side this will provide some protection for the paint, plunge in accordingly with the iron on the back side work quickly and your paint will be fine.  If you have any old fairing parts or side panels even going to a scrap yard and buying some scrap plastics (they might even donate them) practice on them until you get it right. If you need to use a filler rod you can find them on ebay or if it's the same plastic cut up a bit of old side panel or something.  Give it a try   Russ
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on November 04, 2016, 02:20:27 AM
Thanks for that tip Russ about the sponge on back side. I'll give that a try tomorrow. But now I've discovered why speedo wasn't happy
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on November 04, 2016, 02:23:58 AM
So my next question is does anyone have a speedo for sale?
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on November 21, 2016, 03:31:23 AM
Finally got top end rubbers ( valve cover gasket and rubber grommets for hold down bolts) to stop oil oozing out. I'm fitting them up tomorrow but since I've had a change in work situation I'm going to button it all back up after getting those cracks repaired. Just waiting on my newer speedo to turn up and she'll be sweet for rego.  :yahoo:
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on November 21, 2016, 03:58:50 AM
heres a photo on the day I picked it up
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: aviationfred on November 21, 2016, 10:48:05 AM
For some ABS repair methods. Here is a couple of videos on youtube doing plastic repairs using Paper clips, A soldering iron, Legos and Acetone. The directions are in French, but you can grasp the idea from watching.

Video #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBS7LCXocxY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBS7LCXocxY)

Video #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_4msJ6uLPE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_4msJ6uLPE)


Fred
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on November 27, 2016, 03:05:49 AM
Hi all. I've been promoted and need to move so the pressure is on to get this bike ready for rego. I got a bit of work done today. Repainted headers , I know I was going to polish them but I'm on the clock and its ticking loudly so I'll save the polishing until winter. Repaired collector where the outlet had cracked and disappeared. Refitted  exhaust  with new OEM gaskets. Replaced valve cover gasket and hold done bolt rubbers....no more oil leaks woohoo. I got these as genuine and price wasn't bad. Changed brake fluids. Replaced oil with new filter. Just waiting on speedo and I can register it.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on December 05, 2016, 04:16:10 AM
With the fairing off I thought I'd swap the dash lights over to led ones. Here's what happened: night instrument lights worked but headlight stopped so swapped over h4 with a spare I had sitting there being careful not to touch bulb. replace parking bulb whilst at it. Tried it again headlight worked and high beam indicator worked as well.turned on rh indicators. flasher unit ticked a couple of times then stopped but no indicators flashed. Bugger .. so I swapped led around in case it was polarity. Flasher did same thing but no lights or dash indication. Swapped led back to original polarity. now no flasher unit ticking. Checked globes , all good. I have neutral light and low fuel light working but no oil pressure light. Could LEDs buggered flasher unit if the instrument lights were around wrong way originally? Headlight globe Hi and Lo stopped working but it was old to start with.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: FJmonkey on December 05, 2016, 09:08:51 AM
I doubt the LEDs will damage your flash unit/circuit. You don't want to change the Low Fuel light to LED or it will stay on all the time. The circuit needs a normal bulb to operate properly. How or why the headlamp stopped working is a mystery, it should not be affected by the dash lights circuit. I would put all the lights back before you did the LED swap and verify all is working properly. Then change one at a time and test. With so many changes all at once it is hard to tell what is causing the issue(s).
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on December 29, 2016, 03:27:09 AM
I sorted out the lights issue. A bad contact in switch gear and a dodgy wire. All good now but in preparation for rego I thought I'd adjust the chain as it seemed very slack. After a quick look i could see it was at the end of its service life and massively slack except for one bit where it was tight as. Ordered new chain and sprockets today and should have them tomorrow.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: FJmonkey on December 29, 2016, 08:43:48 AM
Good catch on the chain. A chain at the end of life is easier to break and that tends to destroy the case.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: aviationfred on December 29, 2016, 11:43:47 AM
How is the speedo performing?


Fred
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on December 30, 2016, 04:12:20 AM
Hi Fred . Can't comment on the speedo just yet as I've only done a few laps of the backyard but odometer is working well.ill let you know how the old girl travels after it passes rego and I get to see its potential. Chainset should be here tomorrow hopefully.

Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on December 31, 2016, 02:25:01 AM
A really productive day for the Fuji maru. A brand new chain and sprockets installed and 30 years of chain lube removed. That must've reduced its weight by a couple of kilos. I'm still amazed at how over engineered the bike is with bolts and screws hidden everywhere. Some pics to come tomorrow.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on December 31, 2016, 10:14:13 PM
Here's a few quick shots of the fujimaru
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: ribbert on January 01, 2017, 06:45:45 AM
Quote from: Davo231481 on December 31, 2016, 10:14:13 PM
Here's a few quick shots of the fujimaru


That's a really nice looking bike Davo, should fly through rego. Could do with a bit of QL dust on it March though.

For you interest, my bike came with the same Staintunes. It also came with the receipt for them in '94 - a whopping $1400 back then !!!!!

Noel
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on January 01, 2017, 02:57:00 PM
I'd love to get that northern sun and dust on it but I'm already booked in for Vjmc national rally at Tamworth. However if I save my pennies I might be able to get there as its only a couple of hours north of where I'll be. I'm moving to Maclean so if your coming up the coast road drop me a line. Thanks for the positive comments and heads up on the staintune bill. Always knew they were dear but that's out of the ball park for 90's money.
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on January 03, 2017, 05:08:07 AM
Woohoo. I got my bike registered today. Problem now is that this its first excursion with me and I have noticed a few maintenance issues. Leaking fork seal. Shithouse shock. Handlebars could do with a rise to reduce tingly hands although that could be my jacket cutting off circulation. Getting use to reading mph again as well as kph( all good Fred, speedo works like a treat) some vibes cropping up here and there. Need to replace brake lines as no 1 priority when I get my pennies together. Get some new earplugs to reduce wind noise
Title: Re: Battle cruiser Fuji
Post by: Davo231481 on January 10, 2017, 05:11:41 AM
So in a quiet moment I took my son for a easy cruise around some back roads near home, nimmitabel to a do and back to Cooma via broccoli wind farm. Along the way I wondered why the brakes took some time to slow the speed and found it odd that that the rear brake had better braking compared to the front. Call me crazy but when I saw the dripping fork oil I understood why. Thankfully the lbs had a set of seals but had to wait a couple of days for new pads as the old ones on closer inspection were well and truly rooted.