XT600E 1991 Ex Aust Army Project

[Danjet600]

now that the can location and bracket are all sorted i made a start stripping the bike down



removed air box, carbs and all plastics, found a few bits i'll have to replace
rubber between carb and donk came apart when i was trying to remove carb

clutch cable worn through

bunch of wires hiding under the headlight shroud





tape everywhere, wires that go nowhere its a bit of a mess

handle bar end scraped on bitumen at some stage, looks like i've got to go out and buy some new bars what a bugger eh


carb b4 and after
ok got the carb off and decided to give the baking soda blaster trick a go, B4


and after


the diaphram cover was starting to corrode so i sand blasted it and gave it a coat of paint

[Danjet600]

i got mail
got a delivery today, stainless steel bolts for the beast


where from= ebay seller called boltmeup does packs up for bikes and it cost 17.98GBP or $31.22 aussie delivered
Assorted Stainless Steel Button Head Bolts
Allen Key head
+ Matching Full Nuts & Nylon Insert Locking Nuts
+ Matching Washers

280 Pieces in total
70 Bolts
70 full Nuts
70 Nyloc Locknut (worth 5 pounds alone)
70 Washers
The following sizes are included:

M5 x 12, M5 x 16, M5 x 20, M5 x 25,
M6 x 12, M6 x 20, M6 x 30
mate x 20, mate x 30,

more stuff
got a sticker kit off ebay



the air box needed some TLC the lower mounting bolt had seized and while trying to undo it i split the plastic




so i cut off the broken bracket and made one from steel to replace it




and the top of the box the plastic is split down both sides



so i got the good old soldering iron out, used a zippy tie for filler and plastic welded the seams back together




wires!!!!
after some cursing and swearing and then some labeling of wires i finally removed the harness from the frame



i took my time with this and took some photo's of where wires run, 1 little trick i used was to engrave numbers on the plastic plugs.
the army wiring is messy and i think for reliability reasons i'll remove it and simplify the wiring back to standard



speedo


crack in the back of the speedo



may have to chase up a replacment

[Danjet600]

head light bracket is bent but nothing too bad, is other wise in good nick i will fit a brighter aftermarket bulb



fiddly bits
got the headlight brackets off, little bit of a touch up with a small hammer, and gave em a sand blast



bit of undercoat


got some gloss black and


stripper!
got some paint stripper today and couldn't resist giving it a go


so i got a bit carried away and did the forks and front rim and clamps
they came up pretty bloody good

[Danjet600]

blasted
front brake caliper before


after



a bit of paint

[Danjet600]

got carried away with the paint stripper again
so there's the tank in its original colour, its has plenty of sun damage



hit it with some 400 wet sand paper and tried some cut and polish



hope to restore tank to original if i can't i'll have to paint it
spent a few hours today sanding with 400 wet removed alot of the white powdery stuff



after hours of sanding started with 240grit dry cut paper in hindsight was too rough and left many scratches, then hit it with 400grit wet much better should have started with it, then moved on to 800 wet and finally a quick rub with 1000 wet and end up like this



following yamahaman's advice used the heat gun to "blue" the plastic and it brings back the shine after sanding, it's a long process every time you heat it any sun damaged plastic you havn't sanded off sort of stands up and then you have to get the sand paper out again


then i gave it a go over with cut and polish and some car wax

thanks again yamahaman i owe you a cold 1or 3

[mjoneill82]

wow, like a brand knew one as we say, so are you keeping it green danny

[Danjet600]

i stripped the last of the little bits off the bike, and drained the oil ready to drop the donk
pulled the starter motor and dismantled, checked and assembled, the brushes are in good nick just need to get some new o-rings for it, still needs a clean up on the outside may paint it too



starter motor = stripped it down took it to a local hoses and seals shop got 4 o-rings 2 different thicknesses cost $3.80
cleaned the armature up ect then
cleaned up the starter ready for some paint


there it is with the you beaut wrinkle finish, thanks to Daz the aussie via Mezo for putting me onto this paint its good stuff

[Danjet600]

wow, like a brand knew one as we say, so are you keeping it green danny

yep i've decided to restore it back to it's original army colors and i have been told that the Acerbis plastic tanks breath the fuel vapors through the plastic, so paint and even stickers don't stay on for too long

[Danjet600]

Mail
i got my tt600 shock OK some pics



had a look at the tt600 shock, sat it next to the original (still in frame)
looks much longer however the shock body itself is 10mm shorter and it has 2 slots to move the top spring mount so overall looks good, the bottom mount is a straight fit but the top is wider by approx 12mm but it does look like an easy mod to make it fit



got a side by side pics of the shocks the tt600 shock has adjustable rebound only, but better than nothing like the original, also found that the spring wire on the tt600 shock is 10mm and the xt is 12mm so might have to swap the springs over, and checked the top mount on the frame it requires a little bit of love to make it fit, the bottom mount into the swing arm linkage looks like an easy fit, just press in the xt600 bushes into the tt600 shock



fitting the tt600 shock required a few mods
the top of the shock is 8mm wider so had to cut the spacer used 1 of my favorite tools AIR HACKSAW



hard steel to cut went through a few saw blades

its fits

a few more bits, its a tight fit and wouldn't move through its arc very well so had to make a little more room


filed off the casting ridges

thats all that was needed to get clearance
now the bottom
this small bracket is not required


then i checked the lower ID of both shocks and found that they are the same so pressed the bushes out and swapped in the original XT bush done




more shocking mods
got out in the shed decided to sort out the rear shock
anyway got the home made spring compressors out and removed the springs from both shocks





differences tt600 spring (red) 10mm wire xt600 (black) 12mm pretty much the same length



the xt600 shock is stuffed no wonder the bike felt so soft
the tt600 shock is in good nick works great the rebound adjuster makes a huge difference
side by side shot they measure tt600=420mm xt600=380mm



the tt600 shock has 3 different positions for the spring seat

next problem knowing the tt spring will be too soft i wanted to fit the xt spring (58mm ID) to the tt shock (64mm OD on the spring seat) so not wanting to spend cash on a spring that might not be right, so i got the die grinder out and opened up the lower coils by 6mm



now it fits


fitted a new bump stop, fingers crossed it works out ok

[Danjet600]

fiddly bits
decided to give the switch gear the once over

pulled apart cleaned up all the contacts


used a bit of 800grit sand paper polished all the contacts put a smear of lanolin grease on them, put in back together and hit it with some car polish

also gave the starter button the once over, Before

after