Nelsonmd's Build Thread

[Nelsonmd]

Finished!

Well I left work at 1 to finish, and on the way detoured the long way around Boston to stop by the only dealer in the state that had The LBJ bolt in stock that I lost. Ate at Qboda on the way, mmmmm. Anyway, it was a nice long ride on the motorcycle. I got home around 2:30 or so and got to work with the last few finishing touches.

Mounted the tires - I found that the tundra rotor was alot thicker at the hub than the 4runner ones, and there wasn't nearly as much stud sticking out, and the wheel didn't sit as far back on the hub as it did with the 4runner rotors.

Bled the brakes - Pretty easy with spEed bleeders. Used most of a big bottle of fluid.

Did a tape measure alignment - I pulled out of the driveway without aligning, but it didn't feel very good and I could see some wicked toe so I pulled back in and did the tape measure alignment.

With all that done, I headed of to NTB for a proper alignment. I watched the guy do the alignment. They had brand new optical alignment machine that was pretty slick. I forgot to get the printout, but my camber was dead center, and my toe was only .1 deg out of spec. Not bad for the tape measure alignment!

For the final shot...

Purty and clean...

Sheila feels like a new car now. The steering is a little stiff, but I suspect that will relax as the TRE's are pretty stiff out of the box. Well see how it feels after my commute this week, but WOW, feels amazing.

Here are some gratuitous shots of my other ride, since she was also vital to me in getting this project done; many trips to the parts stores, and a long trek around Boston for that pesky LBJ bolt.

 

[4-Ripcord]

Nice work!

What kind of bike is that? Sure in nice.

 

[Nelsonmd]

Nice work!

What kind of bike is that? Sure in nice.

Thanks. It's a 1992 XJ600S, converted to an XJN (fairing removal). Here the link to my build thread on the motorcycle forum:

NelsonMD's XJ600 Build Thread

As a great description of my life, I finished my big 4runner improvement project today, and this very day, in the mail arrived the front forks, brakes, and wheel from an FZR600. I am going to build a hybrid fork of the XJ and FZR components in order to convert my XJ to have dual front brakes. I might even pull calipers from an R6 instead of the FZR calipers. I also want to crack open the cylinder head and re-shim the valves, but I may let that one slide for a while.

I don't know what is next for the 4runner. Hopefully I don't need anything for a while.

 

[Nelsonmd]

Hey Nelson. I remember that you put on your ironman coils about the same time I installed my PP coils. Now that youve had those on for a while, how is the ride? And also how are the 906's in the rear? I know theyre suppose to give around 2" lift, and I believe theyre suppose to ride a bit softer than the other rear set ups.

I have been thinking about this a it more, and I think I am going to downgrade my review of the Ironman front strut/coils to mediocre. As I mentioned before, one of he boots ripped right along one of the bellows, and now both are ripped in half. I have done nothing but street driving since putting them on, so they really havn't been pushed at all, just shoddy.

Also, if you look closely in this picture:

You can see some rubber coming out of the lower shock mount. This is the rubber bushing that came with the shocks erupting out of the joint. I have no idea why it would be doing this, I properly torqued everything when I installed, so it isn't just getting squeezed out from overtorqueing.

Anyway, I assume I will eventually have to rip out those shock bushings and put something new in, and I have non-functional boots now, so Ironman has not really impressed me so far. They ride fine, which is the most important thing, but that may be short lived when the bushings fail...


As for the 906's, they gave me right around 2" of lift, and they are pretty stiff (not sure if it's the springs or shocks giving the stiffness), so hitting speedbumps launches everything in the back.

 

[1985taylor1925]

I have been thinking about this a it more, and I think I am going to downgrade my review of the Ironman front strut/coils to mediocre. As I mentioned before, one of he boots ripped right along one of the bellows, and now both are ripped in half. I have done nothing but street driving since putting them on, so they really havn't been pushed at all, just shoddy.

Also, if you look closely in this picture:


You can see some rubber coming out of the lower shock mount. This is the rubber bushing that came with the shocks erupting out of the joint. I have no idea why it would be doing this, I properly torqued everything when I installed, so it isn't just getting squeezed out from overtorqueing.

Anyway, I assume I will eventually have to rip out those shock bushings and put something new in, and I have non-functional boots now, so Ironman has not really impressed me so far. They ride fine, which is the most important thing, but that may be short lived when the bushings fail...


As for the 906's, they gave me right around 2" of lift, and they are pretty stiff (not sure if it's the springs or shocks giving the stiffness), so hitting speedbumps launches everything in the back.

Well in that case . . . I was thinking of swaping my LC 7.75s for OME 906s, but I dont want a harsh ride. The LCs arent too harsh, but there just sooo tall. Thats my only gripe about them. I figured they would settle and sit at around 3" of lift. After three months, one month of hauling around 500 +lbs of bricks to settle them, and then after that hauling logs every week, they havent settled any. Im still lifted around 4.5" in the back. And I think sitting that high causes an issue with the shocks. Im running the oem LC shock, which were brand new when I installed them. Because of the lift the shocks are sitting toward the top of their extension. Im fairly sure they are valved to be the least stiff when fully extended, while getting stiffer as they are compressed. This would make sense cause the more weight riding on them, the more they are compressed and the stiffer they need to be to control rebound. The problem this causes is that being they are almost fully extended with the 4.5" lift, the rebound control is weak so I have too much springback. Makes the rear end really bouncy. When I have weight in the back they feel fantastic

 

[1985taylor1925]

I like the Yamaha by the way. Before I bough my bike I was seriously considering getting one of those. Theyre not that easy to find.

I kinda did the same thing on my Suzuki that you did. Mine was an S model, which meant it had the front fairing originally. The previous owner took off the fairing to give it the naked look, and he put on this garbage aftermarket headlight. It looked terrible and was worthless for light output. So I bought the brackets and parts and intalled the oem suzuki headlight for the naked version of my bike. Then I modified the brackets so the headlight would be a little lower and further inset to make it resemble a ducati monster.

Heres my 2000 Suzuki SV650

 

[Nelsonmd]

I like the Yamaha by the way. Before I bough my bike I was seriously considering getting one of those. Theyre not that easy to find.

I kinda did the same thing on my Suzuki that you did. Mine was an S model, which meant it had the front fairing originally. The previous owner took off the fairing to give it the naked look, and he put on this garbage aftermarket headlight. It looked terrible and was worthless for light output. So I bought the brackets and parts and intalled the oem suzuki headlight for the naked version of my bike. Then I modified the brackets so the headlight would be a little lower and further inset to make it resemble a ducati monster.

Heres my 2000 Suzuki SV650

Yeah, they are not exciting bikes, but they are pretty bulletproof, have a really nice classic look, and are very comfortable (and cheap).

Those SV's are quite popular, I have seen a couple in the parking lot here at work. They are great, attractive bikes. I have thought about getting one if I were to get rid of mine. I think I will go more the cruiser route though, purely for comfort purposes. That headlight looks great though. I love the naked look.

You could really make it look like a Ducati by painting everything black and silver, and the frame red. I have actually had alot of people ask me if mine is a Ducati, even though it says "YAMAHA" right across the gas tank.

BTW, get a can of flame proof flat black paint and clean up that exhaust!

 

[1985taylor1925]

Yeah, they are not exciting bikes, but they are pretty bulletproof, have a really nice classic look, and are very comfortable (and cheap).

Those SV's are quite popular, I have seen a couple in the parking lot here at work. They are great, attractive bikes. I have thought about getting one if I were to get rid of mine. I think I will go more the cruiser route though, purely for comfort purposes. That headlight looks great though. I love the naked look.

You could really make it look like a Ducati by painting everything black and silver, and the frame red. I have actually had alot of people ask me if mine is a Ducati, even though it says "YAMAHA" right across the gas tank.

BTW, get a can of flame proof flat black paint and clean up that exhaust!

Ya the exhaust pipe is pretty ugly. I'll probably do that pretty soon. Ive been thinking about painting it, and the ducati colors are one option im considering. I really want to go pearl white with a red or black frame though. Not many bikes have that combo and Ive always likes pearl white.

The naked sv models are actually pretty comfortable. The pegs are lower to give more leg room, and the bars are pushed back some. It's sort of a crossover between a sport bike and touring bike as far as the seating stance.

 

[cbferguson]

Grill

What did you use for the actual grill insert? And where did u get it?

 

[JBurt]

Just resurrecting this thread. Are you still around? Haven't seen any activity or good advice in a long time.