Kickstart

As an aside, I have just started doing some work to reassemble the FZ750. Only minor things so far. I have some parts on order. I have even ordered a tool for putting steering head bearings into the frame (I hate doing steering head bearings, as I NEVER get them them right first time). Also ordered a stock of bolts. The bodywork around the rear light is 3D printed. This is just the first attempt and it needs some tweeks, but pretty close. I have ordered a replacement battery box. The one on the bike is not bad, but one bolt is very stuck with a nut in it - if the bolt wasn't there the nut would slide out! But drilling it out would be a pain as I would need to avoid it getting too hot (melting the plastic). The coolant header tank looked awful. It is currently soaking in water with washing powder and this is doing a very good job of cleaning it up. Just need a suitable bottle brush to dislodge the lumps on the inside (they are no longer that well stuck - just a bit too much to come off from shaking with water inside). I cleaned the clocks up, taking them as far to pieces as I can. There are 3 long self tapping screws that hold the idiot lights and temperature gauge, which are corroded and quite obvious. No longer available from Yamaha. And looks like while there are standards for self tapping screws, it appears there is also a Japanese standard for self tapping screws which I suspect these are. I have ordered some normal self tappers which look like a close match, but if not then I will have to try and clean up the old ones and replate them. Just gentle work so far. I made a major screw up on the CBR250RR a fortnight ago and I still beating myself about it. So need to recover some self confidence again. All the best Katy

I am jealous. I need to rebuild the brakes on the FZ750. At first glance the pistons didn't look bad. Having cleaned them up, every single piston has some pitting - could be used but when I am going to this much effort it seems a shame. But 6 brake pistons double the cost of rebuilding the calipers. All the best Katy

When I first moved back from NI, with an NI registered bike (WIJ243) I was pulled up one night by an agressive copper who accused me of making up the numberplate All the best Katy

Tayna are good for supplies of batteries, with a good selection of different ones and fast delivery. Gel battery will be fine. Note that as of a few years ago they can't supply the acid to the general public (you need a "licence" to buy it), so batteries are supplied pre filled with acid. This has resulted in sealed and gel type batteries being the default. All the best Katy

In the unlikely event of spare money, lot 749 (YSR80 gag bike), 754 (RG400) and 798 (Ducati 888) for me All the best Katy

UK cars needed cats from 1992 onwards. Fairly sure the FTO would have had a cat as standard (and need one for an MOT) Sometimes.... A lot of modern cars have the easily visible panels well rust protected, but the important structural bits underneath have a lot less rust protection (both subframe and frame rails, etc). The Jaguar X Type we had looked fine generally for rust, but open the front doors and look at the A pillars and you could see rust getting quite nasty. Mercedes around 2000 had major rust issues. All the best Katy

Hiya The FZ750 frame, etc, are away being powder coated. So I switched to fiddling with the CBR250RR over Easter. This is a 250cc 4 cylinder bike, with a 19000rpm red line. The bike is tiny. Brakes stripped and new seals fitted. New brake line fitted. New tyres fitted. Looks like there is a fork seal I need to replace. Carbs are stripped down to clean out and replace the needle valve and seals (the carbs are tiny), plus the intake rubbers (the ones on there are rock had and starting to crack). Getting the carbs off was harder than it should be. Also, removed the immobilizor. Don't trust it and too likely to kill the battery. Hopefully have it back together next weekend. All the best Katy

Hiya i gave an old Humbrol airbrush, probably 1980s but possibly older. It used cans of compressed air. It is going to a friend as a quick first try. However, I am not sure what size paint bottles it should take. The ones I have are all bigger. Anyone know? All the best Katy

Only one I recall ever seeing on the road back then was an unmarked police car in Northern Ireland that I saw regularly. Hardly a good idea to use such an unusual car as an unmarked police car during the troubles! All the best Katy

Seems pretty much the usual failure mode. Although nothing like having the engine make doubly sure that the oil supply is disrupted by having 2 simultanious points of failure! All the best Katy

Want to get a few other things done before I take it to pieces. Won't take long when I get to it All the best Katy

Well, last week I MOTed the Freccia. Minor hassle with the rear brake so a quick retest. Engine seized on the way back. Not sure if the bike is upset at having been off the road for 18 months, or upset at having its rest disturbed. Seems to have used a load of coolant but it wasn't overheating. My guess is it has drawn water in through the head gasket (an O ring on these engines). Probably need to check carefully that the head is flat All the best Katy

Not sure I would touch a Ford with a wet belt engine (and a wet belt would really put me off touching any other car). Our current Focus is a 1.6 (from just before they switched to the Ecoboom engines - we test drove an Ecoboom at the time). It has now done about 160k. If it were an Ecoboom it would probably have required at least 1 engine replacement, and a good chance of 2. As I understand it the latest versions of that engine have moved from a wet timing belt but still use a wet belt to drive the oil pump. All the best Katy

Finding decent fuel hose is hard enough ! I have bought hose that lasted about a week, and even some of the quality hose now can be very thick walled (which us hard to route on some bikes for example) Fuel hose is something that gets to me, as it is something that needs replacing occasionally (especially on bikes where the tank needs to come off far more often, disturbing the connections more often - plus fuel hose hardening with exposure to some fuels is more of a pain when you need to remove it more often). And I am dubious about paying a premium for something that I have no idea whether it is actually better than the stuff that lasts a week All the best Katy

Caliper, disks and pads are service items, and fairly likely to need replacing on any car at some point. If the chassis and sill repairs were done decently then that is the car sorted and lasting a while. And the car would be worth more than the repair costs. Now he has another car as transport, possibly put the MX5 to one side to repair himself as time allows. All the best Katy