The new pump arrived for the SRAD 600, I wasn’t expecting it for quite some time but it arrived just 2 days after ordering, which was nice. I tested it on a battery before installing it and it buzzed away merrily so in it went.
I had to solder a wire on to the fuel level sensor, I noticed when I came off that it was broken so I attended to that while it was all in bits.
Fitting was pretty simple, just one thing to note is that the holes in the reinforcing plate are offset – it has to be the right way round or it won’t fit.
The pump came with a new intake filter so the old one was discarded and the new one popped on – it’s just a push fit.
With the pump back in the tank I connected up the fuel pipe, vacuum pipe for the tap and the electrical connector and checked that the pump came on when the ignition was turned on – it did, I need to get some petrol for it now.
As I had some time on my hands I thought I would remove the rear sub frame as I have a complete replacement coming soon. What should have been a very simple job ended up being a nightmare as it appears somebody had super glued the bolts in place. Even my most brutal windy gun wouldn’t touch 2 of them s they had to be cut off. When it came off I got to have a better look at the tubes that had been cut when some adventurous DIY nob end had decided to cut off the luggage loops.
This is why I like to go over every inch of a bike if I am selling it on, you never know what previous owners may have done, particularly on modified bikes.
It looks pretty bare without the bits attached, I have removed the battery, regulator, solenoid, footpegs and all other bits ready to go on the replacement sub frame. I have a light on order as well so I think I have everything I need to put it back how it should be.
The one annoying thing on the SRAD was leaky oil seals on the forks, a job that isn’t too bad on a naked bike but one that can take a fair while on a faired bike such as this little beauty. I have seen videos of people using a thing called a seal buddy to clean out the seals, some had enjoyed success so I ordered one to see what it would do – I’m good to you lot, really.
It came today so I had a look at it – it’s just a piece of stiff but very thin plastic with a sort of hook shape at one end.
The idea is that sometimes when seals leak it’s just because they have got small pieces of sand or whatever stuck in the lip of the seal and it stops the seal from doing it’s job. The hook on the seal buddy catches it and allows it to be removed without damaging the seal.
Now obviously it can’t repair a knackered seal so if your seals are really old or have any obvious signs of distress you would be wasting your time. Mine looked quite fresh and were not leaking very much so I figured it was worth a go. First thing to do is to prise off the dust seals and move them up to the top of the stanchions – you just want them out the way.
I then used clean absorbent cloth to soak up all the oil residue on the stanchions and around the seals. I then bounced the bike up and down a good few times to verify that both seals were leaking – they were. Not badly but definitely enough to build up a thin film.
I dried both thoroughly and then applied the Sealbuddy and inspected it upon removal.
There was definitely some small bit of detritus came out, I did this four times, on the fourth occasion it came out clean. I dried it all off carefully and then compressed the forks again several times – they were now coming up dry. It looks like it had done it’s job far cheaply and more easily than a seal replacement job. I will monitor it for a while and see how it looks but it certainly seems like the fiver I invested has been repaid handsomely. It looks like it should last a good few uses as well, which is a bonus.
Quite pleased really, it would have taken quarter of an hour to get the fairings off and maybe 30-45 minutes per side, plus the cost of the seals and the replacement oil so if it has sorted it that’s quite a saving. I would stress that my leaks were only very slight, if yours are pissing out it’s much more likely the seals are shot and no amount of cleaning is going to fix that.
You can see on my right hand stanchion that there is some surface scoring of the chrome. It is actually very fine – you can’t feel it with finger nail or anything. The seal is now working perfectly with no sign of seeping.
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
