Well, the saga of the 1989/90 FZR600 is over. Like, I’m seriously done with it. Countless hours, far more dollars than I’ll ever see again, many tears of frustration spilled on the shed floor, but it’s done.
The rebuild the second time around was far less stressful. A big part of this was getting the good lads at Yamaha World to do the crankcase for me and sort the trickiest bit of the whole thing, leaving me to assemble the top end, clutch, starter clutch, stator and so on. Slotting it back in with some all-new engine covers (NOS affairs sourced from the USA at great expense to the establishment) to make it look schmick. Starting it up for the first time kinda sounded like a tractor, but I was expecting this after my ham-fisted efforts at tuning the carbs, so once again, on the trailer and off to Yam World…
While it was there, a new front tyre to replace the old, hard one, and a quick fork rebuild to make it feel somewhat less like a pogo stick.
Of course this wasn’t quite the end of it, as hunting for some pesky oil leaks had be doing my usual freakout thinking that maybe I’d stuffed up something major, but once again with the help of Yam World (common theme here) they worked out that it was nothing more than a valve cover gasket that needed replacing (probably because I had chewed it out with my all-thumbs approach to getting it properly seated in the first place). With this, the final addition of a few last minute bits (like the super rare and impossible to find original indicator surrounds) and a new chain and sprocket (down one on the front, up one on the back, much more poke in the suburbs), I now declare the project finished. Like, I’m done with it. Can’t be bothered stripping it back to a bare frame resto since I’ve already overcapitalised by probably a factor of four if I count all the work done (and not including my time), so it’s time to draw a line under this one.
The end result? Pretty damned good though for a first go at a restoration.
So now what? Firstly, sit back and just enjoy the stable. Prepare to move house. Think about starting the 400 project. Get some track days under the belt – not on this one but on Billy Ray and the latest addition to the family, a 2007 R6 with 14000km on the clock (Amy). The last two years working on Hammer have been an incredible learning experience, but I reckon I need a bit of a break before I tackle the next one.
Thanks again to all who helped me along the way.
