Frame repair……..

[tigcraft]

I have never seen such bad factory workmanship in my life!! Finding a ‘zero’ point was impossible as this thing has never been ‘square’ from leaving the factory. There’s no two welds the same and the tolerances are so far off the scale I would have said it was made in India!! Luckily I used to repair accident damaged vehicles so I’m skilled in that but I still struggled.

Look at these ‘riv’ nuts, one side is square with the other then swap over and it’s nothing like. Usually things go ‘diamond’ shape and can always be brought back but if it wasn’t ever square then it’s a no man’s land job.

[Uncle Bob]

Well done for that! Impressed - I think I'd have just put back on Ebay with "Carbs just need cleaning!"

I think you have earned your "Magic Maker" moniker

[tigcraft]

Yes it’s should go back on eBay but it’s cute and very unusual. I’ll give it a chance before I shoot it down. The thing is that whoever buys it next will probably also come on here and that’s more moaning so best sort it first!

[Smallkat]

Christ! You and JohnD would make a formidable pair!

[tigcraft]

After straightening the subframe section it went for blasting as it truly was a scruffy thing. The nooks and crannies make it a terrible design full of areas for rust. I got it back last night and etch primed then I’ve ‘base’ painted it epoxy silver/grey so I can work with it. If I don’t do that now I’ll struggle to get in all the crevices as I’ve decided a bit back it’s a engine in frame restoration.

I’ll just weld the subframe back on and then just localise paint and blend in.

[tigcraft]

Weeks later and finally back on the task…. Rear subframe back on, foot rest triangles played about with and also lightly tacked on. I’ve thrown the tape measure away and just done this by the rack of the eye as Suzuki took piss when they assembled this frame!! I’ve got the foot rests where they’ll sit level by dropping a long 16mm threaded bar through both sides. My bashing managed to get them straighter than expected so that was a plus. It feels like I’m making progress now thank goodness.

[Smallkat]

Now that the triangles are straight, do they hit the swingarm? Suzuki do seem to have knocked these frames out in a rush.

When I visited the factory in Hamamatsu, they had imported some ethnically Japanese Brazillians in to do the frame welding. Perhaps they were having a bad day/week/month/life. It seems that no-one wanted to do frame welding, particularly of alloy frames.

[tigcraft]

You can say that again!! I’ve just primed the joining areas now and I’m still amazed in the shit Suzuki produced as the foot rest triangles onto the lower main frame are actually mounted at two different heights, the lhs is 20mm higher than the right. I mean it’s not 1 or even 2mm but nearly an inch difference and that’s from the factory!

[tigcraft]

Making progress!

[Uncle Bob]

Looking nice that.