#1 Thread starter
tongue.gif Yes, dangerous for me to be just lounging in the garage admiring the bike.
I've just gotten my handlebars and upper triple clamp refitted and they look stunning all in black.
Then, I get to thinking about how I've been changing black things to silver (wheels) and silver things to black (rads, triple clamp, handlebars).
Then inspiration struck! The fuel cap! Yessss! How sweet it would look if it were anodized black! user posted image
I know that outfits like Vortex make racing style fuel caps that look all blingy in a million colours, but the're not lockable and that's a quality I don't want to give up. Too many idjits around who could potentially mess with the bike, or remove the cap and chuck it in the sewer just to be an ar$ehole. So I want to keep the OE cap, just make it all purdy. Besides, it was starting to show some wear anyhow. All the justification this crazy modder needs!
Should be easy to remove, only 6 bolts. OK, that's part's in the bag, but now how to separate the lock mechanism from the outer ring and lid? user posted image
Well, there's a gold-coloured stamped steel ring that retains the rubber sealing gasket in place, you can see that clearly when you open the cap. I thought it might be a bear to remove, and was prepared to give up if it wouldn't budge, but with a small amount of very gentle prying, it immediately began to ease out. Hey, looking good!
Removing the retaining ring allowed the rubber gasket to come free, and once that is out, there's a flat steel ring beneath that is just loose and slips right over the 2 "ears" of the locking mechanism.
Lo and behold, 3 phillips screws hold the lock to the topmost part of the cap. Out they come like a bad tooth. The lock is no longer a problem. Now we're looking at just the outer ring, the lid itself and the t-shirt shaped little key flap cover thingy that my kids like to "Poiiiiing" up and down, up and down, ad nauseum. Oh well, whatever keeps them amused I guess! user posted image
So there's 3 parts still stuck together, and they need to be separated for the stripping and anodizing process.
The T-shirt key flap thingy is easy enough. There's U-shaped piece of spring steel underneath that serves to make "Poiiinging" the flap so fun for my kids, held in place by a couple of phillips head screws. A steel pin simply slides out of the pivot and that's that.
Now for the hard part. Separating the cap from the outer ring. The parts are held fast by a standard roll pin, or spring pin if you prefer. It needs to be driven from it's bore but there's a catch! The hole that it was inserted into is one-way only. The other end is closed. There's a machined little run on the underside of the cap that facilitated the install of the roll pin at the factory, and the other end is solid. user posted image
A few minutes at the drill press carefully removing material to create an exit channel for the pin to slide through worked perfectly. Now, to drill the exit hole. Tricky, as you are shooting to be centered on the roll pin bore and completely square with the world. A steady hand was required, but the material is very soft and after about 4mm or so, I could feel breakthrough to the pin bore, Stop, check, OK, a little further, there's the end of the pin that hasn't seen daylight since 1998 or so!
A long punch drove the roll pin out and now we have our three separate pieces ready to be dipped, stripped, polished and anodized a lovely shade of black. I'll take it to the city on Friday the 13th to get the work done. Morticia herself would be proud! biggrin.gif
As for reassembly, that will be a piece of cake, I just need a new roll pin for the cap as the one that was removed got a tad mangled. 15 cents and I should be good.
user posted image Sorry for the lack of pictures, the Digicam is in Saskatchewan right now doing 2nd Christmas duty with the family visiting the outlaws. I will get some "after" pics for sure. fing02.gif
I've just gotten my handlebars and upper triple clamp refitted and they look stunning all in black.
Then, I get to thinking about how I've been changing black things to silver (wheels) and silver things to black (rads, triple clamp, handlebars).
Then inspiration struck! The fuel cap! Yessss! How sweet it would look if it were anodized black! user posted image
I know that outfits like Vortex make racing style fuel caps that look all blingy in a million colours, but the're not lockable and that's a quality I don't want to give up. Too many idjits around who could potentially mess with the bike, or remove the cap and chuck it in the sewer just to be an ar$ehole. So I want to keep the OE cap, just make it all purdy. Besides, it was starting to show some wear anyhow. All the justification this crazy modder needs!
Should be easy to remove, only 6 bolts. OK, that's part's in the bag, but now how to separate the lock mechanism from the outer ring and lid? user posted image
Well, there's a gold-coloured stamped steel ring that retains the rubber sealing gasket in place, you can see that clearly when you open the cap. I thought it might be a bear to remove, and was prepared to give up if it wouldn't budge, but with a small amount of very gentle prying, it immediately began to ease out. Hey, looking good!
Removing the retaining ring allowed the rubber gasket to come free, and once that is out, there's a flat steel ring beneath that is just loose and slips right over the 2 "ears" of the locking mechanism.
Lo and behold, 3 phillips screws hold the lock to the topmost part of the cap. Out they come like a bad tooth. The lock is no longer a problem. Now we're looking at just the outer ring, the lid itself and the t-shirt shaped little key flap cover thingy that my kids like to "Poiiiiing" up and down, up and down, ad nauseum. Oh well, whatever keeps them amused I guess! user posted image
So there's 3 parts still stuck together, and they need to be separated for the stripping and anodizing process.
The T-shirt key flap thingy is easy enough. There's U-shaped piece of spring steel underneath that serves to make "Poiiinging" the flap so fun for my kids, held in place by a couple of phillips head screws. A steel pin simply slides out of the pivot and that's that.
Now for the hard part. Separating the cap from the outer ring. The parts are held fast by a standard roll pin, or spring pin if you prefer. It needs to be driven from it's bore but there's a catch! The hole that it was inserted into is one-way only. The other end is closed. There's a machined little run on the underside of the cap that facilitated the install of the roll pin at the factory, and the other end is solid. user posted image
A few minutes at the drill press carefully removing material to create an exit channel for the pin to slide through worked perfectly. Now, to drill the exit hole. Tricky, as you are shooting to be centered on the roll pin bore and completely square with the world. A steady hand was required, but the material is very soft and after about 4mm or so, I could feel breakthrough to the pin bore, Stop, check, OK, a little further, there's the end of the pin that hasn't seen daylight since 1998 or so!
A long punch drove the roll pin out and now we have our three separate pieces ready to be dipped, stripped, polished and anodized a lovely shade of black. I'll take it to the city on Friday the 13th to get the work done. Morticia herself would be proud! biggrin.gif
As for reassembly, that will be a piece of cake, I just need a new roll pin for the cap as the one that was removed got a tad mangled. 15 cents and I should be good.
user posted image Sorry for the lack of pictures, the Digicam is in Saskatchewan right now doing 2nd Christmas duty with the family visiting the outlaws. I will get some "after" pics for sure. fing02.gif