My Puma 1.7, more than a year on (A works in progress)

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Robyorks said:
[post]366021[/post] Have you actually seen that shed James? I think Barry knows something we don't ;)

I know. He could sell it to the South Korea as nuke protection!
 
Well, not done much on the Puma lately apart from the usual fortnightly start and run procedure just to keep everything working but now my garage is getting emptier I found the ST170 rear hub bearing covers which I'd not re-fitted due to damaging them taking them off. On the ST170 there is nowhere to get a screwdriver in to lever the caps off so I managed to remove one with a few dents but the other one I had to stab a hole in it to get it off. Not wanting to go through that again I decided to repair the damaged one and then weld an 12mm nut on so I could twist the caps off with a spanner or socket.

041220173568 by barry wilson, on Flickr

And here's the caps in place.

041220173569 by barry wilson, on Flickr

I also managed to get my Aprilia petrol tank repaired using the Ethanol proof Phenol Novolac resin from Caswells UK using the stuff below

201020173555 by barry wilson, on Flickr

The two part resin,chemists spoon and a beaker and some play doh.
I levelled up the tank so the fuel pump flange, which had distorted was horizontal, used some thick tape around the hole into the tank to act as formwork for the resin and then the play doh on the outside of the flange

251020173558 by barry wilson, on Flickr

To stop the resin flooding into the captive threads I used some Puma washer tube over the threads of the fuel pump bolts and tightened them down and then mixed and poured the resin between the tape and the play doh.

261020173559 by barry wilson, on Flickr

This is the nearly finished result and you can see the thickness of the added resin but I also did the inside of the flange as well so it's probably over twice as thick as it was. It's all sanded down and assembled on the bike now but I put a "T" piece on the fuel return line and fitted a drain so I can empty the tank when I'm not using the bike so the Ethanol problem shouldn't be an issue now.
A bit back one of my friends came through on his latest V4 Tuono. What a bike but it's too small for me. He's just had it remapped and it now makes 172 bhp at the back wheel!!!!!

010920173534 by barry wilson, on Flickr
 


I finally got around to doing another small but annoying fault on my Puma this week, the smeared sticky steering wheel. The left side of the wheel was ok but the right side had badly smeared as on the photo above. I did have a good spare off my Thunder but I decided to do the repair in situ on my existing wheel using the furniture clinic kit I'd used to recolour my Recaro seats.
First off is to remove the existing sealant and paint using Acetone and a Scotchbrite cloth (or similar). I didn't have any Acetone to hand so I used nail varnish remover. I also masked off the start of the next panel on the wheel with some masking tape. I also had to re-perforate virtually every hole on the panel to be painted as the holes had filled in with the smeared paint.



I also had to re-order the paint sealant as I had used it all doing the seats but fortunately you can order single items from Furniture clinic.



And here's the nearly finished wheel with just one coat of sealant on with another two coats to go.



Let's hope this lasts!
 
You should have said Barry, I’ve got loads left!

My wheel is still good three years on, and I coloured it too
 
Nice job on that steering wheel.

Sadly mine is beyond that state but i am trying to find a better one even if it needs some work. With that process it looks good as new.
 
Hi Guys
Cheers Sinisa :)
James I didn't know you'd done yours already but great to know that the sealant is up to the job.
Lee, I hope spares are plentiful and cheap for you in Portugal as they are for us in the UK.
Barry
 
Hi Lee
That's a shame, could you buy a 1.7 in the UK and drive it back to Portugal without a shed load of tax?
Barry
 
tuonokid said:
Hi Lee
That's a shame, could you buy a 1.7 in the UK and drive it back to Portugal without a shed load of tax?
Barry

Yes. But just for taking apart. And with a lot of RHD specific parts and probably some rusty panels. Not so worthy really.

The thing is ... what is hard and expensive to get here is the powertrain. And a pallet from UK to PT is not so expensive. So i am now waiting an engine from uk to get my car back on the road.
 
These arrived from AVO last week but the weather hasn't been good enough to fit them till today. They need to be fitted at the right height then I'll have to take them off again to get some suitable gaiters to protect the damper rods.



And here's the first one on the car.



And here's the rear ride height maxed out.



I'm so glad it's high as I can't take it any higher but it can go substantially lower. The problem I had before I fitted these was the lowering springs were overwhelming the dampers and making it bouncy on the motorway which led to my tyres catching the top mudflap mount. I could have stopped the catching by losing the mudflaps or the axle spacers but I liked the stance of the car as it was and I also think the factory mudflaps suit the red car. So I'll keep on lowering it now to get it as it was and then when I get it back on the road in April I'll adjust the damping to suit. So at last that's the suspension sorted now. Next to get the wheels powder coated.
 
Hi Barry

Those are damper adjustable too? If so how does that work? It looks like there is an adjusting knob? Simply turn either way for +/- damping..?
 
Hi Tony
Yes the fronts have the adjusters at the top of the damper rod and the rears have the adjuster at the bottom next to the lower mount and just turn one way for + and the other way for- (They have a click on them as well).
 
AT last the weather's improved enough to complete the fitting of my AVO rear dampers. I wanted something to protect the damper rods from road dirt but when I asked AVO they had nothing for the rears even though the fronts came with rubber bellows. So thinking outside the box I went down to my local shop to look for some produce in a suitable container and found this;



Cheap lemonade at 39p a bottle and it fits perfectly when I cut down the threaded bottle to suit the length of the brass bush on the damper shown below.



And this is how it looks on the car.



I also de-rusted the rear discs and re-set the pistons in the calipers ready for the MOT.



And lastly re-set the rear ride height as it was too high before. It looks better now but there's still room to drop it some more as long as the rear tyres don't catch the top mudflap fasteners.

 
Looking good as always....and that is most definitely the best use ever for any sugar free drink (please tell me you did not actually drink the stuff first) :grin:
 
Hi Zinc
I did try it and it was fekking horrible as most sugar/fat/etc free products are so it went straight down the kitchen sink :eek:
 
Looking good mate, I may go down that route with the dampers, frp set up very expensive and hard to get. I'm pm 'd you.
 

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