VX800 Refurb

I thought I would do a write up of the refurb as I know a few guys have previously owned one of these bikes, see attached pic.


I took my '90 model VX800 off the road December 2012 due to a badly rusted tank.... I felt a wet patch on my left knee and the distinct odour of fuel while travelling home one night. Upon inspection the tank had rusted clean through and it was only the paint & clear coat holding back the fuel. When I got home I tapped on the pin hole leak and my finger went through the tank!  I tried patching the tank with a inner lining paint but it was just too far gone.
I decided to retire the old girl but vowed to put her back on the road once she reached 25years so rego would be cheaper on red plates.
I have been keeping my eye out for a tank ever since, found one last month on eBay from Germany delivered for $320, took a risk and bought it.
The tank had very little rust on the inside & displayed some minor surface rust in several places but someone had painted over the original purple tank with matt black spray cans.
I started with the tank, using KBS coatings products to prep surfaces, neutralise rust & line the inside of the tank.
I also used their PaintStripper product to strip the outside of the tank back to bare metal, it is very aggresive and ate through the varnish and layers of paint in no time. I just brushed it on and within 5 minutes scrape bubbling paint off then hose down.
Once I wire brushed a few heavily rusted spots I washed the surface with AquaKleen and then used RustBlast to neutralise rust and prep surface for Fusion etch primer in a spray can.
Two coats of etch primer then it was time for the colour. I decided to use Rustoleum 2x spray cans from Bunnings, someone recommended this brad as the spray nozzles are really good and you can use the can upside down if you wish. I am using these because I will clear coat everything with a chemical resistant top coat. The product is also from KBS called Diamond Finish Clear Coat, my son has used it on his HQ and it is super tough. Here are a couple of pics of the tank and side covers, not yet clear coated due to weather.

That's good , painting tanks isn't easy at home .

Good job.

coming up good 

Looking real good for a rattle can job mate

Well done, I would have considered keeping my VX when I bought the Bandit if SA hadn't changed the rules, a number of years ago they changed from "must be 25 years old" to "must be 30 years old", that I could have lived with, as I also could with the no modifications etc.

I bought mine as a previously unregistered demo with 600km on it in Dec 1990 and sold it in Jan 2012, by then I knew the rule changes were coming in at the end of the year.

At the end of 2012 they changed the rules again to stop anything built after December 1978 being eligible for historic registration, the only exemption is vehicles that were already registered in the historic scheme that were built between Jan 1979 & December 1982.

The no mod rules (cars, bikes etc) include, no extra chrome on engine unless it was a option for that model (not just year, actual model variant), colour must have been a option, wheels must have been a factory option for that model, no LHD to RHD conversions even if they are otherwise original etc etc etc etc

A bloke at work has a SR500 that is stock and is a member of the SR club of Australia, they administer historic SR's all around Australia. he can't put his on the SA scheme by being a member of the SR club alone as it is not a SA based club with office bearers in this state, his only option is to pay membership for a club he has no interest in and that has no real interest in his SR............................or go on the VIC scheme through his club


From the DPTI web site

An historic vehicle:

• is a vehicle manufactured before 1 January 1979 that has not been modified from its original design to any significant extent.
  
  

OR

• is a vehicle manufactured on or after 1 January 1979 but before 1 January 1983 that has not been modified from its original design to any significant extent and has been registered under the conditional registration scheme in South Australia at some time prior to 1 July 2012.
  
  

The other anomaly that doesn't happen interstate, LHD vehicle can only be registered under Historic conditions, must be standard, built before Jan 1979 etc

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, I will post some more progress pics later.

Chook - That's a real shame about the rules in SA, I am sure it keeps a lot of worthwhile bikes off the road.
It's crazy that a LHD / RHD conversion is enough to stop you from getting historic rego.
There are rule changes in the wind here too, but for the moment they are focusing on cars due to the high number of drivers abusing the system.
Also, you wont believe the tight arses, they are planning to come out with a tamper-proof log book (so rego costs will rise). Some idiots are opening the staples and replacing pages so they can get more than 45 or 90 days on the road. 
Currently there are no plans to alter the 25yr rule for bikes, but I'm getting mine back on the road before something changes, I hope in early Feb.
I am a member of the Classic Motor Cycle Club, one guy there has 13 bikes and 2 cars on club rego. He just takes a different bike to work each day, if it rains he takes a car!

More progress, plastic skirts, front mudguard stripped back & painted .


Swingarm & Final Drive casing


I can't believe how little wear there is on all the drive shaft splines and looks like the original universal joint too.
Odo shows 23,000km but I am sure it has been around once as engine does burn a little oil.
Now I know someone will say the uni may have been replaced but that still does not explain splines & bevel gears looking almost brand new



Still no chance to apply clear coat, looking like rain again today

Photos inserted by admin

Finally finished top coat, re-did the tank 3 times, sick of sanding back, diamond coat is a bitch to spray, dropped tank once so had to bog a corner & respray... anyways here she is in all her glory. Took her out for 200km run today to tune, old school way by side of road with basic hand tools. Take care, heaps of jacks on the road today.
https://i.servimg.com/u/f39/18/81/58/73/20141214.jpg
https://i.servimg.com/u/f39/18/81/58/73/20141215.jpg

coming up nicely spanna 

Looking good. Needs a pinstripe and some Suzuki stickers

Thanks Paul.

Going for the cleanskin look reddog, its not true suzuki colour either.
I would have needed 5 sets of stickers because they are best applied before clear-coat.... I have clear coated the tank so many times now.
The KBS Diamond finish clear coat is amazing once you get multiple coats on correctly, but that's hard to achieve in an outdoor environment.
It relies on air moisture to cure so if its too humid you need to add more xylene thinner, a black art!
1 hr drying time between coats at 25'C & xx humidity, if not dry enough tiny air bubbles appear in next coat as the previous coat is still trying to suck moisture to cure.

Keep it going spanna.  Looking forward to seeing you grinning next to the beast on a panoramic landscape! 

Well I have had a real time of it over the last 2 weeks, very hard to get a roadworthy with non factory fitted exhaust.
I totally modified the twin megaphone exhaust to a 2 into 1 job & fitted a Honda VFR800 can. This kept the RW guy happy, it actually has a nice tone so I don't mind it so much.
My world is also now constantly in balance ... the Honda (exhaust) is always behind my mighty Suzuki !
Next drama was getting registered, 1st try knocked back as compliance plate stamped 06/90. VicRoads argued bike not 25years old, I explained compliance date is not build date to no avail.  Thats OK, 2nd try at Carlton VR with amended paperwork with no month shown, no worries walked out with my red plate rego!

I have attached pic of the finished bike showing exhaust mod.
https://i.servimg.com/u/f38/18/81/58/73/vx800_10.jpg

Looks great mate.

spanna wrote: 1st try knocked back as compliance plate stamped 06/90. VicRoads argued bike not 25years old, I explained compliance date is not build date to no avail.

Vic roads list age of vehicles by compliance date, whereas in SA it is recorded by the actual build date.

The Victorian way is so crazy we often see vehicle that entered Australia as 2nd hand imports with the age of the vehicle recorded as the compliance date, the worst case I've seen was a 2000 Lancer Evo recorded as a 2014 car.

BTW, how did you determine build date on the VX? (I think you might have conned VR   )
As far as I'm aware the only bikes that have a built date on them are Harleys. I know they were only released in Australia in about mid 1990 so yours must have been a real early one, mine was pretty early at 9/90 compliance. As Jap bikes aren't imported fully assembled, unless the is a actual build date on the bike we use the compliance date here.

:)compliance date 06/90
not required to put month on paperwork, so I didn't, also didn't put on previously registered or rego number so they don't do a search to find all details.
They only search different system for VIN to see if stolen.
10th digit in VIN stamped on frame is build year  N = 90, M = 91

I thought I posted the finished pic, doesn't look like I did, see below
[img][/img]

spanna wrote::)compliance date 06/90
not required to put month on paperwork, so I didn't, also didn't put on previously registered or rego number so they don't do a search to find all details.
They only search different system for VIN to see if stolen.
10th digit in VIN stamped on frame is build year  N = 90, M = 91

You are lucky their system and policies are so slack then, explains why we cant find a lot of ex VIC stuff on the national data base though

Well done Spanna.  I looked hard at one of those when they were a new thing.  They always made a lot of sense to me, but I was flat out at the time paying bills and keeping people fed.  It was not to be.  I have a friend who had one for many years.  It was a very well made bike. The spline wear, or lack thereof, may be normal for a bike that has been well maintained. 

Thanks for sharing that.

spanna wrote:
I can't believe how little wear there is on all the drive shaft splines and looks like the original universal joint too.
Odo shows 23,000km but I am sure it has been around once as engine does burn a little oil.
Now I know someone will say the uni may have been replaced but that still does not explain splines & bevel gears looking almost brand new

When I sold mine it had over 100,000km on it, none of the drive line had been replaced, the uni's and splines showed no signs of wear but the final drive was starting to get a little backlash. That could have been because I had been slack and only changed the oil back there 3 or 4 times in 21 years

jstava wrote:I looked hard at one of those when they were a new thing.  They always made a lot of sense to me, but I was flat out at the time paying bills and keeping people fed.  It was not to be.  

I was lucky when they came out in 1990, still single, pre mortgage and kids and for someone looking at changing from Trail/Enduro bikes to a road bike it was perfect, $7200 on the road for a demo with 600km on it, nice set of after market cans that made it sound like a V twin and it was sold, a few months later and I bought the genuine bikini fairing, $300 was a lot of money for a steel bracket, a few bolts and a bit of fibreglass and perspex in 1991 but it looked the part and made the trips I was doing to Melbourne a hell of a lot easier.

I only planned on keeping it for 4 years then upgrading to a ST1100, by then I was as you said "I was flat out at the time paying bills and keeping people fed" so the VX kept me on 2 wheels for another 17 years