What summer?

Another damp and cold summer, now with added wind for September and the damp garage has become the 'bloody soaking wet' garage due to several holes in the roof. The roof is cheap rubbish and it is old but I think it has taken some impacts from the tree that shadows it. One day TDG will be a nice brick built job with a slate roof but for now I'm going to splodge some roof mastic on and try to get to 2012.

As for the 500 it's been a phase of investment. Some nice bits and pieces plus the star of the show - nova gearbox.

Let's start with the motor.
Engine painted with PJ1 and new gaskets and stuff from Crooks Suzuki and I started the reassembly.

Fitting the nova box is well explained on the website and the version they sell looks a lot nicer than the cast thing shown on line. Gears are gears but they look nice.




All top quality kit and even I can figure out that the original ratios are hopeless.
Not so good is the fact that you have to reuse a bush on the primary gear and also use the Suzuki clutch arm / shaft. Not only that but there is NO warranty. As a customer I probably want too much but for over £3k I don't think a simple steel bush and a nice CNC arm is a lot to expect.
Sadly this dampened the nova fitting party experience for me a bit and it got worse when I fitted the clutch case to the engine and the anodising fell off. To be fair to Nova they don't do the anodising and anyone who has been involved with manufacture will know you are only as good as your suppliers. Nova know the anodising has issues and have offered to sort it (as you would expect) so let's see what I end up with. I sent both covers to them as they were different shades of black, I want them to match. Silver might look nicer.




The top end is still with Stan Stevens. He has had a bit of a health scare so obviously not working to his full capacity but it will be done mid September. Stan identified that one of my induction rotors was from a gamma 400 so this is getting sorted at the same time as the tune.
I'm going to run it without touching the crank. Risky? Maybe but I think its all good, in as much as you can tell. I will do the crank next year when I've got some £££ back in my account and will look to what is available to improve the original setup.

Frame
I got an ohlins unit from an old CBR600. It is 295 eye length which is shorter than the Gsxr unit I tried but I feel the back end was a little too high when I built it in the house and this is due to the larger wheel diameter from the 5.5 180 tyre. I have fitted the ohlins using a VJ21 upper shock mount as it is a little shorter and therefore raises the back a little so this compensates for the shorter shock length. The result is that the back end is around the same as before, maybe 1/2 inch lower. The new shock has a remote reservoir which will help not to get in the way of the two rear chambers.



Wheel alignment is done, well it is at least measured and straight.
An afternoon with some steel rulers, vernier callipers and string got the rear wheel straight and in line with the front. The rear wheel is going to need machining to get the sprocket pushed in and the chain will end up nearly touching the tyre - done this before on my yamma gamma without any issues.









It's nice that this being done on my wooden bench.

Finally I tried a seat unit on from a fireblade. Sick!








It's going to be good i reckon.

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