Plugs

   I installed two USB units, one in each fairing pocket and there is controller for the heated grips. The fairings will have to come off again in the future. So I thought worthwhile in investing time to fit electrical connector plugs to make that job easier and it would look smart. The plugs would lead back to a fused distribution board. The fused board would take a feed directly from the battery and let me add more equipment in the future without overloading the factory fit electrical system.

 
I got a box up of 2,4 & 6 way plugs. I had not used these wire connectors before. However I did know that of you push the brass connectors into the plastic housing they are designed to lock in place. It took about twenty minutes of investigation to work out how everything went together. I got the soldering iron ready along with the wire crimps. Crimping the brass connector to the wire should be a sufficiently secure join. I decide a dot of solder would be properly secure the connection. I also had a quantity of heat shrink tubing.

 I decided to tackle the complicated connection first. First up the heated
grips controller. To make this a trial I could not find a wiring diagram for the grip and switch. The grips have three settings. off, warm and hot. I had the presence of mind to take a photo of the original connectors for reference. The live feed had been bodged of  the switched wiring loom. I was able to cut the wire back, removing the bodgery. I slipped the heat shrink sleeve over the wire. I stripped back the old wire and the end of the new wire. They were twisted together and soldered. When cool the heat shrink was put in place and heated with hot air. The join is properly secure and weatherproof.






   The earth wire was quite short. I remove the ring connector bolted through to a fairing bracket. I got a new ring connector a crimped, soldered and heat sleeved to the new length of wire. I went very steadily whilst I worked out now the make the connections into the plug blocks. The first block I tackled, for the heated grips, needed jumpers as well. After a false start the grip heated on demand. I used a little building mastic to weatherproof the back of the blocks.






 Once I had tackled the heated grips x6 plug it was a much more straight forward affair to organise x2 plugs for the two USBs. The extra work that took time was routing the power cable from the tail unit to the USBs in each fairing pockets. I used plenty of heat shrink and mastic. The back of the USBs are in a vunerable place inside the fairing.

See blog the about the accessory power panel click HERE

See blog the about the fitting the USB units click HERE 

Front Suspension refit

   The fork legs were set aside after fitting new seals but not for long. Click HERE to read about the fork seal replacement. I washed the sliders down with degreaser, then rinsed with water. When they were dry I rubbed them down with emery cloth to remove any rough patches. The intention is not to polish the sliders but to provide a key for the paint. I masked up the new seals and chrome stanchion. Then a can of gloss spray enamel paint was sprayed on in thin coats over a few days. The result is smooth and shiney. That should prevent the road dirt sticking and make cleaning easier.

   Whilst the suspension was out I set about cleaning the front brakes. The brakes are linked to the back brake and visa versa. With free access to the brake calipers it was a straight forward job to remove the brake pads then scrub everthing with degreaser. Each caliper had six pistons. Each one was pushed partly out by squeezing the brake levers. Then it was a case of scrubbing the compacted road dirt from the pistons. Easy enough, it just took some time and effort. With the pistons moving easily I turned my attention to the elements of the brake carriers. These just need a good cleaning and greasing where appropriate.

   The rattle can got a shake up and thin coats of enamel were sprayed onto the carriers avoiding the moving elements. With the calipers drying the brake pads were cleaned with brake cleaner and a toothbrush. In due course the pads were fitted to the caliper. A little copper grease was applied to the end of the pad securing pins. The front end was now ready to be reassmbled.

   There is a left and right fork. The dirt deflector was fitted to the top of each slider. Each leg was identified and slide through the bottom yoke and in to the top yoke. The top edge of the stanchion was lined up with the top face of the yoke and the pinch bolts tighened. In the interim the front wheel fender had been cleaned, inside and out. New clips had been fit where necessary. The fender was offered in to its place. a couple of bolts were gently fitted. The front wheel was refitted but the splindle was not completely tightened. The brake assemblies for each leg were refitted ensuring free movement where required and secured where required. The brackets for the brake lines were secured. The remaining bolts were fitted to the fender and the whole finally tightened up. The wheel was spun to ensure it moved freely....It did!

 

Risers

   Having ridden the Pan for nearly a year it seemed to me the handlebars were just a bit far away from me. With that I did not feel completely in control. I knew from forums there were such thoings as handlebar risers. The risers raise the bars a little and moves them back a little. Luckily it did not require the wires and cables need to be extended. Brand new risers are somewhere around £180 to £230. I was luck to find a second hand unit for half the price of new ones.

Middle item is the handle bar damping plate

  
   As with other parts of the bike there was a fair bit of corrosion keeping the nuts and bolts which is probably what you want with handlebars. Fortunately I had sourced the riser before I started the job and the plan was always to tackle the risers whilst the forks were out of the bike. Even with the fairing removed it was still a ticky job. I was unfamiliar with the handlebar fitting. It turned out the handlebars are connect directly to the upper fork yoke. Some BMWs I have this feature. The feature lessens the road vibration to the grips. The handlesbars and decorative cover came off quite quickly, first having been careful to use lots of penetrating oil so as not to strip the heads of the nuts. Drilling out the bolts was to much to contemplate. The handlebars off the damper was visible however the bolts to secure it were under the top yoke. Even with the fairing and forks out of the way it was fiddly to remove the nuts. Once all the original parts were removed I cleaned and polished the top yoke.




   The new riser was put in place. You can see in the picture (left) the riser partly obcures the top the fork leg. This meant I would not fit the risers and handlebars until I had replaced the refurbished fork legs back in place. Fast forward to the fork legs having been fitted. The large bolts that secured the original damping plate fitted straight back through the new riser and were secured with the same set of rubber washers, metal washers, spring washers and nuts, all done upside down were you cannot properly see what you are doing.   



    The last job was to secure the three bolts in each handle bar arm and fit the centre cover. Part of the reason for getting the risers was to have a place to put the sat nav (when I get one). Another job closer to the MOT. 

 

The lights man!

   Not long after I got the bike and before this blog began I got the notion to fit LED day riding lamps (DRL). These lamps replace the indicators are white all the time until you switch on an indicator then the amber lamp flashes, returning to white when the indicator is switched off. More about that in a different blog. In the DRL kit was a pair of LED "bulbs" to replace the side lights next to the headlamps. Once installed LED side lights and the DRLs really showed up the main head lights as milky white instead of the crystal white of the LEDs. Something had to be done about that.

   I bought a set of NovSight N9/7 LED headlights. Note to self, look really hard fo rth einstructions. I did not find them until I had finished the fitting and the instructions had a useful piece of information. More on that later.

   I had replaced the new radiator but had purposely not replaced the forks. This gave me good access to the back of the head lights.

   Removing the existing headlights was not too tricky. Remove the rubber cover and flick out the sprung bulb retainer. One electrical connector would not come free from the back of the bulb and I ended up destroying the existing bulb. The new LEDs better fit now!


   Refitting the LEDs.....ahem. This was a right royal pain in the behind. Usually one would presents the bulb to the front of the rubber dust cover and the pronges of the bulb simply push through the rubber. The flange behind bulb locates into the headlight housing and provides a surface for the retaining clip to press upon. That 's normal bulbs work.


   LEDs, however, have a huge heat sink, fan unit and ballast resistor then the normal locating flange. This means the hole in the dust rubber is to small to for either fan end or the flange end of the LED. The fan end was the smaller of the two ends. I was able to feed the ballast unit through the hole. The fan would just not go through. I also had to be careful not to damage the LEDs. When my patience was worn thin I decide to make a small cut in the hole of the dust rubber. The cut got bigger as the fan was forced throught the hole. In the end the rubber sat correctly but because it was between the fan and flange there was not much room to fit the retaining clip. The bulb located quickly and correctly into the back o fthe headlight housing but it several attempts to get the spring clip located properly because the rubber was inthe way. The rubber seated into it location. The question is will be be weatherproof. Only time will tell. The long tail with the ballast was zip tied to the fairing supports and the electrical connector plugged in. The second side was a bit easier as I had already tackled one side. As usual it was on the left handed side.

   The headlight switch was was flicked......bloody hell they are bright. I was pleasantly surprised to find there was very little lag when selecting on, high, low and flash switches. When I get the bike on its wheels and outside I will have to be careful with aiming the headlights. I could blind someone with those things.
 
  Here's the rub. I found the fitting instructions in a daft place in the presentaton box. Reading the instruction showed the flange could be unscrewed to allow the bulb to slide through the hole in the dust rubber. The flange is then refitted to the LED...doh and doh again. 
          

 

Two tone

This painting element has been a bit of a creeping project. To begin with  I thought I would spruce up the crash bars because they had a bit of rust on them. A wash and rub over with the spinning wire brush,  they looked quite good after a can of paint had been spray over them in a series of coats over a week.



 Then I decided that a colour change was in order. I would have prefered a white Pan but a silver version is what came my way. I have discovered that many Pan owners have issues with the finish on the castings which make it tricky to keep shiney. With that in mind I decided upon a course of action. The silver body panels and major frames elements would remain silver but the engine, forks and swing arm would be painted black. The wheels are already black. The look will be two tone. The tops silver and the bottom black. This was only decided upon after I had painted the crash bars and the front of the engine.


   Whilst I had the body panels off I gave everything a good wash, first with engine degreaser (Jizer) then a power wash. When all was dry I was going to hit the engine with a wire brush. I had done the front of the engine but a problem occurred....the exhaust headers were in the way. I oiled up the jubileee clips connecting the headers to the exhaust silencers. The silencers came off much easier than I expected. I soaked the header bolts in oil and after a few days they came off without damaging anything. There is always the threat the bolts or nuts will strip or damage the threads. The repair is always expensive in time, money and is often a less than perefect repair. Replacement header and silencer gaskets were orders and was stainless steel silencer clips to replace one OEM versions which after 15 years were looking a bit tired.

   The big round wire brush took care of the flatter areas of the engine body and the small pointy wire brush took care of the tight spaces and webbing. A wipe down to remove the dust, a spot of heath Robinson masking and it was time to get the rattle cans busy. I bought high tempreature gloss black paint. Two full cans were applied in coat to the exposed engine. Once dry the the surface of the casing was smooth with paint. It should be much easier to keep clean and it should stop the alloy casing corroding any further. It looks smart too! 

   It was a fiddly job to fit the new header gaskets but once the first one was positioned and the nuts started on the studs it was an easier job the fit the other three. The exhaust header nuts were tightened up.

  The next job was to refit the radiator. See Return of the Radiator. The crash bars were refitted. The refurbished fork legs had been set aside and now it was their turn in the makeshift spray booth for some rattle can action. Another can of paint was applied in thin layers. The finish is smooth. They should not hold the road dirt as much as the standard finish. Any brake lines and brackets got the paint treatment at the same time and for the same reason. When the paint was dry the forks were fitted back onto the bike.




Whilst I was at it I went through the same cleaning and paint process on the side sand and main stand.