This isn't as good as some peoples on here but it's been pretty interesting sorting it out.
I had an 03 DT R back in 2009, loved it but sold it to get a car - big mistake
Anyway a few years later I got enough money to afford a bike and a car (well two cars now) so bought it back. Forgot how sought after DTs are after several near viewings with them selling by the time I was free (on the same day...) I even drove for an hour for the seller to say he can't get insured on his new bike so it isn't for sale.
After a couple of months of looking every day I got this for £950, it needed an MOT so just planned to get it through then maybe tidy it up a bit as the months went by but soon realised it needed quite a lot of work doing. Just decided to go all out and strip it down.
What it looked like when I got it
Wish I took some more pictures, the thing was covered in crap I couldn't even work out how some parts came off without spending 15 minutes with a wire brush to see the fixings.
Started stripping it down
First thing to do was get the swing arm powdercoated, someone obviously thought black hammerite with a brush would look good
More stripping
Replaced the clutch cover gasket as it was leaking, didn't work so I later re did it with gasket glue bas well still waiting to see if it has worked...
More stripped, this is as far as I went didn't really need to get anything else out engine was running fine and not totally OCD about dirt it's going to get used quite a lot anyway so as long as it doesn't look completely crap.
Got some renthal bars.
Got a new suspension linkage (mine had play) and painted it up.
Also sanded down and painted the rear of the frame which had gone completely rusty.
The dep pipe on it was completely mashed, I don't have any pictures but the whole bottom of it next to the head was completely smashed, no idea how it's even possible but the last owner had welded it back together. Did the job but didn't sit right and hit the coolant pipe as well as melting the rear plastic. I managed to get a second hand pipe but pretty much brand new for £80 was well happy with it.
Got the swing arm back from powdercoating and fitted new bearings.
Fitted new head bearings and started building it back up, cleaning parts and making it look a hell of a lot better as I went along.
Last issue really was the spokes were loose, I cleaned the rims and hubs and then tried tightening them. Only to find the nipples had rusted to the spokes... so they have gone to get re done going to take a few weeks bit annoying as it is all that is needed before I could put it in for the mot (I think)
Got a smaller number plate and made up an L plate bracket, going to trim down the bits sticking out of the plate soon.
Got some acerbis vented handguards, not sure on them really
Got the plastics back on, this is how it stands now.. just waiting to get wheels back.
After a petrol tank now and some plastics to get it looking up to scratch, looking forward to riding it :)
Wanted to do an SM conversion but after spending so much on getting the wheels fixed I don't really want to anymore haha.
Just realised reading through there were a few things fitted I forgot to mention but most of it is there.
-- Edited by Harry on Friday 4th of May 2012 07:39:28 PM
-- Edited by Harry on Tuesday 15th of May 2012 07:11:33 PM
-- Edited by Harry on Thursday 4th of October 2012 05:19:25 PM
-- Edited by Harry on Thursday 6th of December 2012 08:05:30 PM
I personally like those hand guards. Love the graphics as well. That stroke me as soon as I switched to this page. I think you're doing a great job. When you're ready you should look to buy a few little extra's here and there.
Acerbis Tailtidy, New fork socks possible neopryne or other. Keep this thread posted.
Only thing I wasn't too keen on the hand guards were how much the white stands out but with the graphics it looks ok.
Tail tidy, usd were the things I wanted to do next but I have spent so much on cars over the last few years - still do funding a track car is stupidly pricey just find myself spending hundreds on pads, tyres etc things that get worn down every few months
Really wish I took more pictures though it looks far better than it looks in the first few photos I remember you couldn't see the suspension linkage or half of the shock lol
Will keep it updated with things here and there, sure when I get riding it I will start to spend way more than I should on it
I love blue ones, I saw quite a few black ones but I waited out a few months to get this :)
Yeah the hubs clean up nice, I have feeling this dt wasn't exactly cared for as well so I'm pretty surprised how good condition most of the parts were when cleaned up
Everything is done now just waiting to get the wheels back.. rear is getting a complete re spoke and front is just getting straightened probably another two weeks
Well the company that were re building my wheels were taking weeks and every time I phoned the eta seemed to go up by another week so told them to stuff it.
Got some WRX wheels and a good price, also the forks and caliper so it was pretty much a straight forward swap.
Swapped the sprockets over this thing is going to have a terrible top end speed
Pictures just before I put it into MOT, ignore the headlight it wasn't cut that well only keeping it for spares as the other headlight I have won't pass.
As long as it passes (should be done tomorrow) I can start getting some decent direction with it. Going to ditch all the decals, cut the rear side panels, fit a new headlight and sort out rear fender / tail tidy
I think I bloody do it kept stalling when ever I put it into gear, and although that problem is sorted it loves to stall when coming to a stop even when the clutch is fully in, checked it all over but think it just needs a bit of a thrash to get it reliable again didn't really have any problems when I first had it.
My gixxer is doing the exact same mate! i have to smash it into neutral before stopping or it just rolls forward and stalls! new clutch for me is £30 tho so bang on! think it just needs some new plates and it will sort the job out mate!
Ah not too bad then, yeah that's what I was doing haha. I haven't had oil in it for a few weeks so maybe it dried out? Mot station is pretty close so didn't get chance to try and see if it improved
Yeah might be the oil, one of the guys said it might just be the oil not coating the clutch good enough and try switching it out! good luck getting it passed today lad!
Aw mate she is looking SEXY! Did you say you're ditching the graphics!!! WHY! I love those graphics on that. Your bike mind so do as you please. Personally I think it looks wicked!
Only reason I don't want them anymore is because I managed to put a hole in the tank, got the one at the moment of Norfe but D&D won't sell me the tank decals separately and I think it looks odd just having the rad scoops like that
Going to be a while before that can happen
Had an eventful day...
Bike didn't pass MOT, rear lamp wasn't working and front bulb was scattered wrong and aligned wrong.
Took it back home, bike cuts out sometimes if I get to a junction and don't rev it, and it's managed to cut out twice completely bogging down and not starting for a minute - pretty scary in bad traffic :(
So fixed it (I thought) but apprantly the light although is now aligned it isn't the right beam pattern (wtf?) and the front lever wasn't activating the brake light - and the rear lamp still wasn't working.
Took it home AGAIN bought new bulbs all round, got a H4 3 pin bulb from halfords and one for the rear lamp for good measures. Fixed the front lever by spraying some electrical cleaner into the plug.
Fitted the bulb, made sure it was fitted perfectly (I think something is missing or wrong with my lamp as it takes a long time to get it positioned correctly. Made sure that the dipped beam was pointing at the ground main beam was straight ahead.
Took it back to him, he didn't think the rear lamp was working so I started argueing and he eventually agreed that it was working - it's not my fault for some reason it's not very bright on sidelight the brake light was fine.
Apprantely the front bulb is still scattering (again, wtf?) it's the correct lamp and the correct bulb... he's pretty confident it's the incorrect bulb but obviously isn't he ended by saying he would ring yamaha tomorrow and check that it's supposed to be halogen (?) you are probably thinking what I am thinking..
I will give him tomorrow, at least that way I can say I have researched it and made sure it is the correct bulb, even though the only bulb that will go into a 3 pin h4 socket is guess what... a 3 pin h4 bulb.
So no MOT as of yet.. sorry for the rant it's been a busy, hot and stressful day.
Was thinking about taking somewhere else, but having to book it and have a whole new re test is over the top easier just to sort this one out hopefully.
any news on this bud really liking this thread done some nice touches chap , im in yourr boat hagging for another dt but gotta wait
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my bikes aprillia af1 125 (striped down project ) , honda mt 50 : h100 engine rebuilt all by me along with the crank !, supermoto wheels , motorhispna swing arm , usds forks , geneli pipe , more stuff planned looking to get another dtr soon though !
Yes it's all done and good now, best just to wait ages unless you don't mind which one you want to get. Took me over two months looking everyday to get a blue pre 04 at a good price that was close to me and not sold but glad I waited
Went back to the MOT garage and got it through, had haynes manual and pictures to prove it was the right bulb but he didn't really seem to mind, was a bit weird.
Went for a ride up Cannock Chase with my mate on his dt, nice weather for it!
Only issue is it cuts out and needs the throttle cable adjusting, expect the bolt sheered so got another one on order now.
Also the oil drain bolt stripped the thread in the crank case, luckily the thread goes deeper so got a longer bolt and it's all been good.
^ agree with camel toe! looks lovely mate, the Chase route is f'in amazing roads too did it on the DRZ even tho it ran out of puff down the down hill straight it was a great blast!
Cheers boys :) admittedly it does look better in the photos than in person
Love the dep want to stop it rusting haha sounds like a beast too
Sad to hear cal, hate ****ing thieves
Chase is good didn't do any green laning though, not too keen on these tyres - go up on my mountain bike every few weeks though some of the trails are absolutely sick
Got a few things coming in the post and other styling stuff so will update this when it's sorted
Thanks yeah that's one of the next things planned but just want to get it running correctly first
Throttle cable broke so had to replace it, the bike is idling low (just under 1k) and cuts out all the time so managed to adjust the throttle cable it seems like a bodge way to make it idle better but seems to just about work
Also bogs after 8k revs - can't get above it
Whilst I had the carb out I checked the needle and that it was all clean but didn't sort it
Going to replace the spark plug and remove the snorkle / whole air box to see if it's better as it has been up jetted
Well it's pretty much done now, got a throttle tube coming as mine is cracked but apart from that probably won't buy anything for a while.
Got this headlight for around £12 off ebay, just had to buy the wiring for it as it came with non.
Don't really like it to be honest so will be changing it soon
Got some bar end mirrors but put them on the bars, dead happy with them can hardly see them from the front much nicer than having the standard ones stick out like mad.
Bike was bogging around 8k so took off the airbox and it seemed to fix it, so opened up the intake a bit more runs spot on now. Isn't pretty but does the job.
The rear dep pipe had also been cut (wtf?) so the previous owner held it together with a rubber sleeve but completely burned away. So I got some stainless tubing and made my own.
Also put some red rim tape on, this is how it stands now :)