Classic TT Build - Just About Breaking Me

From Friday before last, till last Friday... between work and sleep, I have spent every minute on the build. Every night till 11 or midnight... just getting stuff right. Lots of little things that take time, time, time. I'm well into the '20' of the 80/20 principle... and it's almost breaking me.

With only 1 pair of hands, getting the final fitment of the bodywork has been a royal pain n the ass...

 

I normally use vinyl for the number boards, but with a few curvy bits on the tail and those air intakes on the nose, I decided to go for paint... after consulting loads of WSBK pics to find the shape I felt looked best while still keeping it period looking, I masked the seat and nose up and sanded them down. Took me ages to get the embossed 'desmoquattro' out of the seat unit.

 

My 2-pac spay friend has just moved workshops and hasn't setup his spray-booth yet. So it would be a rattle-can job. Couldn't find matt or satin white in normal auto pain so went for an enamel. It turned out ivory/cream. Not what I wanted... so out with the gloss white...

 

... and flat it with 800 wet-paper. Not quite the finish I want, and hope it's going to be tough enough to put up with the hail of stones it's gonna go through on the Isle. We'll see. It'll look fine at 100mph.

 

The tank pivot I made to fit Steve B's rears ubframe wasn't quite right. Was struggling to get the riv-not to grip the pivot properly... and had taken away too much ally for my liking trying to get it right. Popped down to my mate Steve Mann for a solution. He was super-busy, so gave me a 3 minute crash course in using his lathe and milling machine. I'd never used either before. 45 minutes later and I had turned out my a neat little gizmo in stainless. It works an absolute treat... and is only 35 grams heavier than the ally it replaces :-)

 

Here's the beauty fitted. With my new carbon-neutral shocker just underneath. All of the suspension was sent off to Maxton for a service, spring check and setup. They were fantastic and turned it around in a day. Rear spring was way too hard, replaced with a softer one and new seals mean no more leaks :-)

 

Sexy suspenders! Front fork seals were 50 quid a pop. Ouch! Not sure about the purple spring though. Might get a yellow Ohlins one in the winter...

 

Belly-pan is an issue. They didn't exist in 1991... but mandatory now. So I found an 996 piece that I'd used on my old Aprilia for years. It was hacked up and a bit rough... but would do the job. A lot of guesswork and imagination was used because RedMax Steve was getting the side fairings liveried...

 

 A bit of cut-n-shut. I like fibre-glassing... man, it smells goooooood!

 

 

All cleaned up, half respectable and ready for a guess fitment.

 

 

I'd broken the back of it... and with the great news from the dyno-room on Friday, I took the weekend off for a more important engagement and a little rest. I'll be back at it tonight and the next few nights finishing her off. Still got to test a few things and sort those brake bleed nipples. Midday on Friday we head up to Liverpool... I cant wait!