Day 34 - 26-8-10 - The "O" rings came in for the oil transfer pipe so back on went the sump. Bit of a hard job lying on your back, but got there in the end.

Whilst I had the exhaust off I decided to whip the shock out, give it a good clean and re-grease the bearings in the linkages. Not a great deal of grease in the bearings, so the guy who does it at the factory obviously doesn't stand too close! LOL. Shoved that back in and torqued up the bolts.

Next up was the replacement exhaust to go on. It's absolutely standard (I like a stealth approach on the road and I really like the three outlets), just in much better condition (it actually shines) than the original, which will be finding it's way onto eBay in due course. Luckily it came with all the EXUP gubbins as the original wires that attached to the actual valve in the exhaust had corroded into the disc where they attach. Set that up as per the workshop manual, although it does say to plug in the diagnostic equipment to do some checks. Don't have one of those. That was all a pretty quick job.

Now it was time to fit the Street Triple radiator. A second hand buy off eBay so hopefully it works fine with no leaks. I had to fit new hoses to the two lower outlets as the Daytona ones are just about an inch too short. Once fitted I put in a litre of coolant. I hadn't checked how much was needed, but it came to the top of the rad.

I have removed the Daytona expansion bottle for the radiator as it is an ugly white object that is on show with the fairings removed and really spoils the party. I had bought a beautifully made purpose built expansion bottle for project bikes, but it was too big to fit where I wanted it. I went on a hunt for an alternative and came up with one of those aluminium bottles they use in hairdressers to spray water (see pic). It is only a 250ml capacity so I hope that is going to be big enough. I got a black one so it will blend in behind the rad cowls. It's mounted on the left side, just behind the radiator. It attaches to the frame and the lower fluid outlet with a combination of cable ties and jubilee clips. The jubilee clips will get the black paint treatment in due course, once I know the bottle is up to the job (see pic).

I used the original tubing that exited the filler neck and just cut it down to size using the 90 degree bend to make life easy. This tube runs all the way to the bottom of the expansion bottle. The clear tube is the overflow and just drops into the neck of the bottle. This will be replaced for a black rubber one, again once I know the bottle can do the job.

With the radiator fitted I could now put on the radiator grill. This is an Evotech item and beautifully made. It fitted in a couple of minutes and was a dead easy job. I recommend that whatever bike you have you fit a rad guard. I bought a ZX-7R new in 1996 and within 500 miles I had dents in the fins from stones thrown up by the front wheel. I don't know why the factories don't fit them as standard.

Next job was to fill the engine with some new oil. The manual said 3 litres after a full engine strip. Well it pretty much was. That said it still didn't come to the full mark on the dip stick. I read recently that the ParkinGo race team in the World Supersport championship put more oil than recommended in their race bikes. With the oil issues I've read about on this forum and in the bike magazines this may be a good idea, although we obviously don't ride as hard, it might be a good idea.

At this point I realised that there wasn't really much left to do, so I thought it was time to put the bike back together and see if she would fire up. So on with the airbox, put all the fuses and relays in place on the back of the airbox, then fit the tank. I was trying to be as careful as possible with my newly painted tank. Guess what? I still managed to scratch it. Arse! Luckily it was just the lower edge right next to the frame, so you can't really see it. I had a touch up bottle from when I painted my race bike so I put a couple of dabs of that on. I'm still a dickhead though.

I bolted the bikini fairing mount on and attached the speedo, then the lights and bikini fairing. Oh I had also fitted an Evotech tail tidy. Again beautifully made, but not happy with the way it traps the wires against the silencer. Possibility of the wires melting. I was concerned so I've fired off an email to Evotech. No reply yet after two days. I made sure all indicators, lights, etc were connected. Now for the moment of truth. Turn the key and everything lights up and things start whirring. All sounds normal so far. Brace yourself. I thumb the starter. Nothing. My heart sinks. I've been here before, after I modified the loom. I turn it off and then on again. That's what you do with computers, might work. Nothing. Not even a click. Off and on again a couple more times, but still nothing. A few choice four letter expletives. Then it dawns on me. Don't you need to pull the clutch in with these puppies? I pull the clutch in and press the button. BINGO! Fires up straight away. Thank f@&k for that. What a numpty. I've only ridden this bike a few times and that was some months ago, so I'm not conditioned yet to her ways.

The exhaust is a bit smokey and also seems to be spitting out some water. Hmmmm. That's not good. I leave her to tick over as I want to check for any leaks from the cases, sump, oil filter, water hoses and radiator so put some newspaper under the engine to make leaks easier to see. After about 5 minutes the temperature bars are at normal of 5 bars. Then she goes up to 6. The fan kicks in. Nice to see that is working OK. Then she is on 7 bars. That's not good, so I turn her off. Is the Street Triple radiator too small for the job? Hang on, I put in 1 litre of coolant. What if that was not enough? This time I check the manual. She needs 2.4 litres. Yeah, 1 litre isn't enough, duh. Another litre goes in. No room for the final point four though, she's brimmed. I fire her up again. This time she goes as high as 6 bars and the fan cuts in and brings the temperature down to 5 bars. That's more like it.

The smokey exhaust has disappeared so hopefully that was just from the cases, sump and radiator coming off and a bit of oil and water getting in the combustion chamber, which has burnt off. One problem is back though. The rev counter initially sits at the tick over speed of about 1,000rpm, but when you rev it the needle is not smooth in its action and then drops to zero rpm at tick over, even though it clearly isn't. Last time this happened before my shake down runs it seemed to sort itself out so hopefully it will again.

Apart from the rev counter everything seems to be working OK and nothing has leaked from the motor. So far so good.

With the bike back in the garage I attempt to spin the plastic hose that comes out of the master cylinder so I can connect it to the brake fluid reservoir in its new position the same as a Street Triple R. This moves easier than expected, however the rubber hose I have is not long enough for the job. I need to order one, so that will hold things up again. Blast!

If you would like to receive an email update when the next instalment is published then please email me at rubyracing@hotmail.co.uk putting "Project Daytona Street Updates" in the subject box. Don't worry I'm not going to spam you, you will only receive an email whenever I update this site.