spencermarkd's I had a 2nd gen (now 4G T4R) but mostly just spend all my money on motorcycles thread

Fingers crossed this sunday we're doing some updates to the 4Runner. Fiance will be out of town and I have a bunch of new parts inbound:

- UCAs
- tie rods
- CVs
- front 2.5" spacers on the coilovers (i know, i know..i replaced the coilovers when I bought the car and don't want to replace them again after only 7 months)
- rear coils (Ironman 4x4 1.5" light duty "comfort" coils)

The ass end is sagging real bad, so I'm hoping to fix that a bit and improve the ride quality back there. Plus a new stance, whoop whoop. Also hoping tie rod ends help tighten up steering, but I'm only doing the outers. If I need to do the inners I'm debating just replacing the full steering rack instead. At 186K miles I have to assume it'll be due for it soon anyway.

 

Didn't manage to make it all the way through my T4R list, BUT I did get a lot done: UCA's, front spacers, and rear coils. Should be 1.5" in the rear and 2.5" in front, forgot to do before/after measurements so who knows what it ended up being.

The front spacer is much more of a lift than I was expecting, but I like it. I'm sliiightly nervous I won't be able to get it fully aligned, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I figured I'd save the CV's and tie rods for another day, they both get installed best when removing the LCA instead of the UCA and I just didn't feel like pulling the whole knuckle off, although that might have been an easier way to get the struts back in haha

Stance pic as it was getting dark after my quick neighborhood test ride:

 

Oh, and I should probably post up that I bought a new bike on Friday

2022 Honda Navi with .5 miles on the odometer, pretty excited about it as a goofy around town bike.


Quickly found out it can fit 24 cans of beer in the storage


Glamor shots:

 

Nice!

I almost said ebike, but it's not... That's a cute scoot.

 

I like what you did with the old CT, cool old bikes. I had 3 at the same time for a couple years then traded them off....I have a love for 500cc big bore two strokes mostly but lover of all 2 wheeled rides.
I have a 90' Ktm 540 I bought in 07' all clapped out with a melted piston for $300 and spent more money and time on it then I care to admit...finished in 09' and sits in my warm storage with all of 3 hrs on it.

Then along comes an 82' Ktm 495 dual plug I bought non running without a piston installed, a head just sitting on top and fried crank bearings. Guy advertised it as a ktm 465 which I knew didn't exist....I knew what it was.
The 495 was made in 1981-1984 and is a rare one indeed, the Great White they call it. I spent a good amount of money and time on it bringing it back to life but vowed to ride this one regularly which I have. Even splurged and had Lectron make me a custom carb to replace the old Bing 55. This one's a mean one.. the ass end is either darting left and right, throwing the front end up in the air or all the above at the same time. Strange wicked powerband.

Then came the 1981 Ktm 495 I worked 2 years to get from another that didn't know what they had. It's original and will pop off 1st or 2nd kick everytime. This one is arguably the most valuable big bore today...81' again was the 1st of the 4 year production run and is different from the rest by way of a piston port design instead of a Reed valve and is a twin shocker, the 2 biggest differences.
In 1981 Rod Bush took this same yr/model and set the land speed record on the Salt Flats for fastest stock dirtbike (gearing changes were allowed) at 123.75mph. Still holds that record today...I won't restore it, it will stay original. Only downfall on it is somebody trimmed the rear fender/number plate sometime in its life.

This one is next to be restored after I finish a 96' Ktm250exc for my Grandson.
A 1989 Atk406, if your familiar then you know the oddities on this bike. If not you'll see a couple by looking at the pics (tail section). Excited to do this one and it's partially torn down to diagnose currently.

This is what I'm going for when it's done....(pic off the net)

These 2 are awaiting there turn for a restore...both are 1987. One the most sought after years in each model, 87' Kx500 and 87' Cr500. It will be fun doing up this pair.

Of course I feel I deserve a modern ride so my 2021 Te300i Husky keeps them company when I'm not perched on top.

For the street I have a 1975 Honda Cb400 SuperSport with period correct road racing goodies on it including 1 of only 5 Don Vesco full racing fairing and matching tail section. The wave headers are a thing of beauty and four 100cc cylinders singing through it are an undescribable form of music. I love going for jaunts around town, heads turn and questions get asked from all the kids on the litre bikes.

Then my main street ride. 1981 Suzuki Gs1100e, Superbike of the year 81 82,83 and first bike you could buy off the showroom floor that could break into the 10's in the 1/4 mile....guys are still using this platform for drag bikes, almost indestructable bottom ends.
So, I found this bike at an old homestead here in Anchorage Alaska. Last time it was tagged/rode/started was 2005 and I bought it in 2020 with 19k on the odometer. Owner said he changed the oil back then and rode it where it immediately developed a terrible bottom end rattle that a mechanic friend told him was a crank bearing. I know how legendary the bottom end was so I tool a chance and got him to agree to selling it for $300 to me.
I got it running fairly easy and and the noise was as he said, absolutely horrible. I hoped for it to be clutch rattle and started removing bolts...clutch was fine. Jumped to the other side and found one of the 3 bolts on the starter clutch had sheared and was rattling around under the cover. It did 0 damage to anything and was a blessing to find.
It was left outside all them years under a tattered blue tarp but with him riding it with valve covers that leaked so badly everything was coated in oil and grease preserving it from rust...tank was topped off with gas and crystal clean inside.
I spent about $1600 on parts and rebuilt every system on it giving it the attention it needed. The bike is just a pleasure to ride, so comfy and quick for what it is. Easily hovers the front off the pavement for as far as I wish to carry it or is very happy puttering along with the Wife on back cruising around. No new streetbike for me needed.

I'm pleased to come across this thread, I love bikes so much it's always so much fun to see others that do as well.
I'm so obsessed that when I rebuilt my garage a few years back I made a second floor above and built myself an elevator to keep the rides in a warm dry place (as well as out of site of the Wife).

 

Man I have so many thoughts! You absolutely love those 500 thumpers haha those are some quality restorations, nicely done! 123mph on a dirt bike sounds sketchy as all holy hell.

Loving the CB400SS, and even better with the history on the fairing, that's real cool.

Cool story on the GS1100, too! that's amazing it didn't bounce up and damage the crank at all.

Welcome to TW, by the way! If you haven't seen it yet, there's a motorcycle BS thread with a bunch of good guys, too, you should introduce yourself over there: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/motorcycles-bs-thread-2-0.420753/page-1407 All sorts of bikes going on in that thread.

 

Update since I haven't posted in forever:

CB750 - ridden it a couple times, found out the front brake caliper is wrong, fucked, and downright dangerous. TBD on how I repair it

BMW - not much has happened to it.. sold the hard cases, bought some adventure spec magadan soft panniers, upped to a 17 tooth front sprocket and she loves the highway now, life is good.


Navi - holy crap ive done a lot. Two tail tidies, LED's all around, relay and diodes to make it work, variator weights, adv af front led pod, changed out some decals, hand guards, yadda yadda yadda


CT-90 - this is what i came to post about today. Had my first truly free saturday in a couple months and decided to finally install the oil cooler I bought around the same time I did the engine swap. Welded the bracket onto the front of the skid plate, which I don't think looks awful. Welds were shit, but grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't. Got everything plumbed in and it leaks from juuuust about everywhere tightened up banjos, screws, everything as much as I felt I could without stripping anything and put it away for the day. Just really didn't feel like dealing with that many leaks. Next time I pull it out I'll either get some new hardware or just remove it entirely and yeet it into the garbage can.



When I mean it was leaking everywhere, I mean everywhere. Even this little threads on the inside from when they assembled it. Ugh. This is what I get for buying the cheapest ebay kit hahaha

 

Does it even need a oil cooler? Or are you just doing it for the stylish points?

 

What can you tell me about this old Honda I saw?

 

The place I bought the engine from has a tech page saying they're "REQUIRED!!!" but it's been running fine without it so far so It runs really hot during the summer, so it'd probably benefit from it, but also I'm never really running it long enough that I've worried about damage. I had it on hand and figured what the hell, new challenge, throw it on.

 

Well thats certainly unique.

Looks like a CT90 or 110 that they pulled the seat/gas tank off of, move to rear sets where the passenger pegs would be, put on a body kit, and possibly changed the front end to a different honda (CB125, maybe?). Engine does not appear to be the stock honda, from what I can tell. Also, with that tiny rear sprocket and all the aero I'm guessing they made it for CC limited top speed runs?

Super cool.

 

Little thing yesterday and today: I repainted my roof rack. It was faded and started to peel/rust in a few spots. Weirdly happy with how it turned out for a rattle can job.


Also 3d printed a socket to fit the knobs on the mounts for the rack. They're not hard to turn, they're just really long and a PITA to do 8 of them each time I take it on/off. Put the garage computer to use modeling it and then keeping an eye on the print via Octopi.


Really happy with how it turned out, the thing is skookum AF. Only had to do a tiny bit of chamfering the corners with a rat file to fit the radius of the knobs. Who the hell decides to make their knobs 7 sided, anyway.



While it was printing I also removed my water softener that hasn't been ran in 3 years, didn't have any salt in it from the clueless previous owner for the 3 years before that, and is originally from 1996. Hellooooo more storage room.

Fingers crossed the last caliper gets here tomorrow to do the 5th gen 4runner brake upgrade on my 4th gen. Larger rotors with bigger calipers with bigger pistons. Direct bolt-on upgrade, whoop whoop.

 

Well... haven't updated this is a while


Uh let's see. Did the 5th gen brake upgrade, looks great, mild difference in power. Mostly just a piece of mind thing. I still need to do the rears. Went a bit bougie and painted them red for shits and gigs.


I also just ordered some JBA UCA's in high caster version because I have to drive across the state in a few weeks and I'm sick of fighting the tracking to stay straight and need extra caster lol. Hopefully install those in a few weekends.

 

On the bike side of things:

I bought a 2023 Honda Grom ABS, and almost immediately started tearing into it.

Here it was the day I took it home:

Since then I've done a bunch of videos that are on my youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDiWVGefxHEVPqKPcnxdDMXkILhqdJn8W

 

No, no, no... you can't just pop back in w/o more back story or photos. Six months and "I bought a Grom" just doesn't do the trick. UPDATE: ok, the YouTube playlist suffices--Grom shenanigans always please the crowd.

 

Hahaha I'll pay the grom tax and get some pictures here in a bit.

 

So, here she is completely stock in SP form:


And this is what she looks like a few weeks go.


I think since that photo I've swapped the bars, grips, rear shock and front springs, rear chain adjusters, and gone to a 14T 428 sprocket/gold chain. I took some new photos this weekend but used a real camera and the SD card is at home.

Also placed an order for OEM Monkey peg mounts that are black and remove the passenger pegs and associated bits and pieces, a ZooM high mount exhaust, and a DHM ecu with a stage 1.1 intake/exhaust tune. Fingers crossed in a month or so the thing will really rip.

I still need to figure out the tail tidy, I have rear turn signals I need to install already. And then do some clutch work, fab up a belly pan/skid plate, and maaaaybe do Monkey fork guards, remove the fender, and put on the OEM headlight beak for a bit of a scrambler vibe. We'll see.

 

JBA UCA's for the 4runner came in today, opened them up and was smacked in the face by Jesus. Wut. Definitely not what I expected when I opened the box. Arms look stout AF though! On the Grom side of things the ECU arrived along with most of the Monkey parts. I'm just waiting on a backordered fork guard, but got all the pieces to swap out the side peg holders, which was the important part of the order. Exhaust should be here Monday at the latest, whoop whoop.




I’m really thinking after the exhaust my next mod will be a skid plate/belly pan. I have an image in my head that I don’t think will be too hard to do and within my KSAs.

 

So, does that mean they're blessed... or you're going to need him later?? Either way, its distracting.

 

Fingers crossed they're blessed and don't get visited by squeak demons