my bike, sprocket carrier updates

This week I decided to re-furbish the sprocket carrier and get a few more parts on the bike, to help with this I ordered a stainless bolt kit of ebay that was listed for the AF1... 

Sprocket carrier: The carrier had previously been (badly) painted and generally looked poor so I first went over with a course and then a fine wet and dry paper to get the worst off. There were lots of paint flakes that came off as the alloy had oxidised in a couple of places lifting the paint. It looked ok, then I dusted it with primer and quite frankly it looked dreadful. The original paint reacted with the primer and listed anything with an edge on it, the only solution was to paint strip it to bare metal and start again.

paint disaster

paint stripped

From here I masked the critical areas and lightly dusted with grey primer, some parts still didn't look great, so these were rubbed down with fine wet and dry and re-painted with the primer. Luckily it was a hot day and the paint dried quickly, so i could afford to go light and slow. 

primed and ready

The next stage is paint, there are a million silvers out there, I chose Porsche silver as it sounds more fancy...

now as fast as a GT3 RS...

Bolt kit: For ease and because its not going to be a full on factory restoration I decided to buy a stainless steel bolt kit off ebay, the dealer had multiple listings with different models in the title, i chose the appropriate one for my bike. Upon arrival of the kit I was slightly annoyed to see it was a more generic bolt kit and for example it had no M8 x 30mm dome head bolts for holding the sub frame on. I checked the listing and rather frustratingly it said 'a selection of common nuts and bolts and not model specific'. I should of read the small print and if i noticed that I wouldn't of ordered, so don't to what I did, read the listing in full before ordering. 
I ordered some M8 x 30's on amazon and had them the next day so I could install the subframe. With the subframe on its tricky to get the airbox fitted. To do so I removed the lid and filter, it also helps getting the connecting hose on to the air box as you can see inside, then refit the filter and lid.

My bike, parts pull down and paint prep

In order to move this project on I have taken the nuclear option and applied to take the AF1 to Stafford in October as there is nothing like a deadline to create motivation!

First thing was to get the rear subframe and swingarm off and get them to the powder coaters. I hit a small hurdle in the fact I don't have the swing arm main pivot lock ring tool, but a screwdriver and hammer moved that. I removed the rear hub, rear shock then main swing arm pivot and then finally the swing arm.

With the swingarm off the chain sliders were removed and the lower one has broken, so replacements will need to be sourced, and the bearings removed for painting. 

Taking the back end off and seeing the wheels also confirmed I need to look at getting these painted also.

Other progress: I ordered the decal kit of e-bay and started to clean a lot of the loose parts.

a few chips on the rim, meaning these need paining 

rear subframe ready for painting

swingarm ready for painting

cleaning up the rear of the engine case and frame mount

rear shock and alloy rocker cleaned

Join the new Facebook Aprilia AF1 group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/apriliaaf1