Diary of an SV Restorer

2006 - A new face makes it's first appearance on this site. I thought long and hard about what bike I should buy to replace my 1999 SV650s. I read tests, listened to other peoples opinions but the train of thought still came back to the SV. All the reasons why I bought the mk1 SV were still valid as my requirements were the same. So the hunt started for a mk2 SV650s. In October 2006 I purchased a mint condition blue SV650s in 2004 spec. It had already covered 4.5k miles and was quite clean, although there is the odd nasty. I rode the bike up to the first week in January and then put her in the garage for the annual de-grime, de-grease and de-rust. I also had a few mods to makes as well.
Winter 2005-2006
I've never liked the design of the rev counter face, it always looked cheap to me. Much prefer the mk1 version. So when I saw the Clockworx face, I had to get it. Here's how it fitted. First remove fairing and instrument dash. This leaves the gauge unit in the frame Remove the mulitplug and then the two bolts and the unit removes easily
Put the guage on something soft to protect it and remove the 5 cross head screw from the rear
And your left looking at this. Remove the circuit board and turn over
Prise off the black cap in the centre of the needle The prise off the needle. Be very careful as the needle shaft is quite thin and can easily bend. The instruction advise using two teaspoons as levers, one on each side pivoting on the two black screw heads. This will apply equal pressure on both side as you depress the spoons. Remove the two black screws and the face can be lifted away.
Remove the needle stop (black pin) from the old clock face. The hole for this pin on the new face was slightly too small, but a quick widening with a drill bit (by hand) soon sorted that. The new face was dropped into position and the screws re-fitted.
Being and electronic rev counter, there isn't the usual spring loaded return on the needle, so whilst messing around I had moved the needle before removal. The question now was what was it pointing at before, so I could put it in the same position? Also it may not be spring loaded but the needle did move by itself on occasion. I put the needle back where I thought it was and put the unit back together again. I help the curcuit board face up dropped into the two plastic pins that operate the reset and select buttons and also a piece of black trim that goes around the LCD. Put on the top and then turned over and placed on the back and re-fitted screw. I then connected to the bike and watched with amusement as the bike idled at 5000 rpm. I think the needle is in the wrong place!
So I took it all apart again and refitted to the bikes curcuit as shown in the photo. At this point the needle wasn't pushed fully home. So once the bike was running and at idle speed. I popped off the needle and refitted it at 1000 rpm. I then put everything back together properly and this is how the finished unit looks
Next job was to fit the Pyramid fenda extenda. I cleaned up the inside of the mudguard and then roughened up the contact areas. Applied a liberal coating of Aradite and clamped the guard and extenda together and left overnight.
This gave me a chance to check the front end out for problems. Didn't take too long to notice the surface rust on the bottom yoke. Note also the small plastic guard. I can only assume that the shortness of the front mudguard has caused this problem. I assume the plastic gaurd is also there for the same reason as the rubber flap under the radiator, to keep water away from the front spark plug. Why not fit a proper mudguard in the first place. Classic case of style over function. I was going to dismantle the forks so I could clean and spray this part. I hit a snag at this point. The front axle has a hex head instead of the usual bolt head. This looks neat but I don't have a 12mm Allen key. I thought there must be one in the supplied toolkit, for puncture use, even the owners manual shows you how to remove the front wheel, so it's considered a novice job. No Allen key in the toolkit! I dug out the manual and referred to the wheel removal section and it quoted "special Suzuki tool required". For Pete's sake..... What a stupid decision. How much would it cost to include a 12mm key in the toolkit. So it's off the tool shop on Monday.
Next job was to fit the Powerbronze hugger. I bought this on Ebay even though it was listed for a naked mk2 SV. I couldn't see that there would be any differences on the rear end of the SV. Apparently there are. Naked SV's have two brake hose brackets on the right side of the swingarm, The SV's has one. The hugger comes with a bracket that locates on these two holes, so I had to modify it slighty. See photo for the butchery performed. I just shortened it and drilled a new hole where required.
Hugger and bracket were then fitted. I also removed the original bracket, which was looking furry and fitted a stainless steel P clamp as shown. Enough for the first weekend.
The following week.
The following weekend, Started on the front-end. I managed to buy a 12mm hex key for the front axle, so the first job was to remove the front wheel. The hex socket is a Draper item and comes with a number of size bits, very useful.
I then stripped the entire front end and was left with this. It's not as complicated as it looks, but scares the life out of my wife.
In case you wondering what's holding the bike up. It's the patented 'fence post stand' that got mangled when my old SV got knocked over in July 2005. I've fitted new L brackets and it now has out-riggers to stop the bike rolling off if nudged. More details here
Removing the top yoke was easy enough except when it came to removing the ignition lock. This is held in place with two special security bolts, basically a Torx bolt with a pin in the middle. I had a set of security sockets already (this set cost about £5) so it was just a case of applying elbow grease as these bolts also have loads of locktite on them.
The reason for stripping was to get at the bottom yoke and introduce it to the concept of a decent coat of paint.
A good wire brushing and cleaning with a Dremel gave me a good base to apply some coats of smooth Hammerite
Whilst the forks where missing, it gave me a chance to look at the state of the oil cooler and exhaust header. Not a pretty site.
The oil rad cover was pretty trashed as you can see. I've bought a stainless steel item from Beowulf to replace it at £22.50. I did prefer the Hamicad version, as this wraps around the sides, but this is only sold together with the water rad cover at around £79, which was too rich for me.
The left side of the oil rad was also suffering, paint was peeling and bubbling, so another attack with the Dremel and a quick touch up spray with PJ1 engine paint improved things. At some point in the future the whole lot will have to be replaced, perhaps with a nice Earl item?
The top york needed a tidy up too. The paint was scuffed around the ignition lock and elsewhere. I tried just a quick coverup coat of satin black acrylic but it didn't take properly, so I had to strip to bare metal and repaint.
Prising out the badge mangled it a bit, so a new one is on order, but this looks tidier.

The next bit of rot to deal with was the small brackets on the left fork leg. This is how the looked in October when I got the bike.
I could have sprayed them with silver Hammerite, but I decided to use a different approach this time. I bought a tin of plastic dip from Frosts restorers. Just clean up the parts to be coated and dip. Sounded ideal. Note the cleaned parts in the foreground.
Seemed simple enough despite the bad Italian to English instructions. I used a thin wire paperclip to hold the items and just slowly lowered them into the paint tin and slowly removed. Allowed them to drip and then left them to dry. The paint has the consistency of tar so one dip was enough. You can see in this shot that the hole has filled. Once dry the thickness of the coat seen here does reduce a lot. A second experiment using a cotton thread was better, just stretch the thread tight horizontally to ensure minimum contact. Don't try and remove the thread just cut it close the to item.
The next day I tried to remove the wire. This proved tricky as it was well attached. I had to use a sharp blade to cut it away. If I'd just pulled then the coating would have ripped. I then opened up the hole using the tip of an soldering iron. This made the hole bigger without exposing metal. I then placed back on the bike with some stainless steel button screws.
The finish is not as refined as a good coat of paint, but it looks neat enough. The coating feels more like a rubber than plastic, so should take knocks in it's stride. We'll see how it lasts.
Just like my Mk1 SV the front exhaust clamp is made of crap metal. I have a spare Mikalor that will fit this nicely. The pipe is 45mm so order the 43-47 item, mine is the marine grade item. Still spotless on my mk1 SV.
That's better. The pipe has a small lug on the underside that locates the old bracket in position. I filed that off and fitted the Mikalor. Whilst sat in front of the pipe, I removed the two hex bolts clamping the pipe to the header. They were stiff and corroded as I expected. I had to re-tap the thread (to clean it up) and then replaced the bolts after a good spray of antiseize.
I also remove the cosmetic exhaust plate as I suspect that too would be corroded. The plate itself wasn't too bad but the screws were rotting away. I cleaned up the plate and threw away the screws in favour of stainless steel items.
I then attacked the brown header pipe with Solvol Autosol and some fine wire wool. It's not perfect, but it a darn sight better than it was. Note the fender extender and the oil rad cover (also attached with a stainless steel screw.
At this point I took a look at the electrical connections for the starter motor and oil pressure switch. The oil pressure switch was fine, but I still coated it in grease before replacing the protective rubber boot. I can't say the same for the starter motor. Some rust and white powdery corrosion was evident. So I took the motor out. Easy enough to do, just remove the two bolts and the electrical connection and give a very gentle tap from the other side. Care must be taken not to break the thin wire going to the oil pressure switch. You will loose a bit of oil so has a drip tray handy.
As you can see the motor was is a poor state, so I cleaned it up and produced another of my home made devices, a starter motor cover, made from a plastic drain pipe. I've had this fitted to my mk1 SV for 5 years or so and it makes cleaning a breeze and can cope with the heat from the engine. See Diary of a MK1 SV Restorer for details
The motor was then replaced, screws coated in antiseize and electrical connections greased. The boot covering this connection is very poor compared to the MK1 SV, maybe I'll buy one of those and replace it. I'll clean the grease off later.
It's not so obvious as on the MK1 SV but it'll give some protection from the elements.
The following week.
Time to turn my attention to the other end of the bike. I'd already noticed that the brake carrier was looking furry. Removing the rear wheel confirmed the rot.
There's no point in polishing this item. It's pain to get at once back on the bike and it would just return to this state in no time. So I removed the dirt and grease and then used a wire brush to get back to clean bright metal. Then a few coats of smooth silver Hammerite. A big improvement.
For some reason, probably to get back access to the rear wheel, I removed the number plate and noted the rust on the carrier underneath. Again I took this down to bare metal. I did think of painting it with black Hammerite but decided instead to use the plastic dip. I knew I wouldn't get as good as finish but as it's manly hidden from view and I thought the plastic coat would last a lot longer.
The rear footpegs are another area where corrosion sets in. These used to stick and jam on the old SV, plus the pin in the middle rusts along with the circlip. So a good strip down and clean. The ball bearing and spring were covered in grease. The peg was reassembled and the centre pin was coated in anti-seize. I use both copperslip and Mr Fastner anti-seize when working. In this case I used the Mr fastner version which is a spray on aluminium based product. Goes on like silver grey paint. Is doesn't dry completely, but being silver blends in with the rest of the footpegs. The main use for this type of anti-seize is when applying stainless steel bolts into an aluminium casting. You could use copperslip to stop the corrosion, but the copper reacts with the aluminium and stainless steel with an electrolytic effect.
The rear axle bolt and side plates were looking shabby too. So I dug out the wire wool and then the polishing kit to at least put a bit of a shine back on things. Here's a before and after shot.
I've already mentioned that the hugger was intended for a naked SV. I think it was also designed for the '03 model as the tool box is very close to the hugger. I've improved things slightly buy adding this small lug to the back of the hugger. This pushes the plastic in by a few mm giving a better clearance.
Another shot here
Time to start putting things back together again. Brake carrier. The rear caliper was cleaned and greased. The banjo fittings were corroded, so these were cleaned up with a Dremel and wire brush. They were then painted with clear nail varnish to project them
Number plate carrier. Finish isn't great but it ain't going to rot no more.
Axle head and side plate. Also coated in clear nail varnish.
At this point I dragged the bike back into the drive. Looks quite cool with the cut-off exhaust.
A night time shot of the new clock face.
And the next day it did this. Blasted weather.
Later that year, I noticed while fitting the tyre that the hugger is doing a pretty poor job of keeping chain oil off the underside of the bodywork. You can soon see why when you look straight down from the pillion seat, the guard doesn't extend far enough over the chain. I've since added an extension piece made out of an old DVD case and glued into place. Another top bodge.
That's about it for this year. I have ordered some more Milalor clamps for the end can. The bolts were rusting and was clear that these were the cheaper version (w2). The replacements will be marine quality (w4) and completely stainless.
Winter 2006 -2007
The lovely respray I did on the top yoke last year didn't last long, in fact I noticed a small chip within weeks of completing. Because of this I didn't fit the new badge. The paint gradually flaked, especially around the stem bolt and looked a right mess in the end. So here's a shot of it after the paint stripper got it.
Next job was the front brakes. I gave them a mid year service in the summer and noticed that one piston was reluctant to move on the left hand caliper. It wasn't jammed but there did seem more resistance. This was combined with a feeling that the brakes were a bit wooden, still had plenty of power but lacked feeling. I decided it was a job that could wait until the winter hibernation. So here we are in winter. This is not a job I relish. Servicing brakes is a serious business, so do not read this as a comprehensive guide, proceed at your own risk. I removed the brake pipes and let the fluid drain into a container. I then removed the calipers. I use compressed air to remove the pistons. I do this with a normal car foot pump. Most foot pumps come with a cone shaped adapter for using on inflatables. I just cut this a bit shorter and screw it into the opening where the brake pipe connects. I then attach a foot pump and pump. This is a little trickier on calipers with twin pistons. One piston will pop out before the other if you're not careful. I found that laying a small spanner inside the caliper lets the pistons move out almost completely, so if one moves easily it can only go so far without popping out and releasing the air pressure. The other will eventually move (unless you're unlucky). Once they're both level with the spanner, remove it and a you can either pull them out by hand or a final pump should see them fly out. BE WARNED they can come out with a bang, especially if they are sticking.
You can see in this photo a before and after photo of the pistons. You can see the accumulated muck on the top of the piston that is exposed. In this case it's mainly rubber grease and dirt and is easily removed. If you have corrosion, buy new pistons. In the caliper photo. you can see the piston chambers. These should be nice and clean. There are two rubber rings inserted. The outmost one, is a dust seal, the inner the main fluid seal. In the photo you can see that the dust seal is removed in the chamber furthest away. You need to check that the dust seal is in good order and that the metal between the dust seal and fluid seal is free from corrosion. If there is some corrosion, then remove both seals and remove the corrosion with some wire wool but be careful! In my case there was no corrosion and the seals looked in good order, I just gave them a good clean with a brake cleaning fluid and replaced. If you have any doubts then buy new items. I then coated the pistons in clean brake fluid and re-inserted them. Rubber grease was then coated on the exposed part of the pistons, pads inserted and the retaining pin cleaned and coated in copper-slip. The calipers refitted and new brake fluid used and system bled.
Next job was to dismantle the forks so I could replace the oil. Had a lot of trouble removing the small screws that clamp the speedo cable and brake pipe. Looks like I forgot to squirt some anti-seize on them before installing and some corrosion crept in. It took a Dremel tool to cut a cross head slot into this allen headed bolt and then a few healthy thumps from an impact driver to get the thing out.
One year on after last years experiment with plastic coating. A resounding success I think, still looks good. The small pock marks are the downside to this process, but you only seem them up real close.
The smaller clip suffered somewhat when I had to remove the stuck screw mentioned above.
The painted forks on the mk2 seem to fair far better than the lacquered mk1 forks. Although you can see some damage in this photo and the one below.
I don't consider them bad enough to strip and repaint this year.
The following weekend I re-assembled the front end and re-bleed the brakes. I tried to re-dip the fixture shown just above using 'Plasti-dip'. The problem I had is that the plastic dip has gone a little thick over the year and was the consistancy of thick tar. Apparently you can thin it with Nahptha, but that's a little hard to come by, so I went back to Frosts restorers and bought some dedicated thinners. The part was dipped and left to cure.
The weekend after I looked at the back end of the bike and gave the rear brake caliper a service. Not a lot wrong, just gave it a good clean and flushed some new brake fluid through. I then took the bike outside to give it a good clean. I'd already stripped the paint off the footrest guards and simply polished using some Solvol. They looked a lot better all ready. I decided to remove the bolts in the right hand guard to get into their recesses for further cleaning polishing. These bolts hold on the rear brake cylinder. Top one came all right but the lower was stuck and the allen head soon rounded off. I had to drill the top off the bolt, as you can see in this photo. I then had to remove the shank of the bolt from the cylinder itself. A pair of molegrips managed to budge it eventually.
I found some spare stainless steel screws to temporarily replace the originals, not pretty but they'll do until I order something better. It's hard to see the polished finish in these photos. It's not up to chrome level, but it looks nice and should be easy to keep this way.
The other side looks nice too. That's as far as I've got, what with the interruptions of my sons football and the constant rain showers. Next job is the the front exhaust down pipe is a nice shade of brown.
Winter 2007-2008
I didn't get the SV in the garage until mid January this year. This was partly due to the mid weather and my reluctance to get stuck into some of the jobs that awaited me. Procrastination! I knew that there wasn't a lot to do this year, so I shouldn't have been so lazy. The biggest blot on the landscape was the paint wearing off the frame. The paint is incredibly thin in this area so it doesn't take much effort to remove. When I first noticed this blemish I was quite taken aback. I not aware of my leg rubbing this area but I can't think of any other explanation of it. Re-spraying a section of the frame didn't bother me overly except that I know that silver comes in many different shades. None of the major bike paint suppliers could help and it's not listed by Suzuki either. Anyone who's read these artilces before will know favourite silver paint is smooth Hammerite, but it was obvious that this would not be a good match. I didn't plan to spray the entire frame so a good match was important. I took a few trips to Halfords and bought various silvers that looked close. I sprayed spare bits of metal and placed them on the frame to compare with the original colour. I found that Halfords Aluminium Silver was the closest match (or so I thought).
First job is preparation. Some light rubbing with wet and dry made the frame look worse but you need something for the paint to grip to. If you have to apply fresh paint to an existing colour it's best to find some boundary for one to finish and the other to start. Car sprayers usually spray an entire panel for this reason. I decided to spray between the welds on the headstock and swingarm mount. Where the top beam joins the lower beam I masked up to corner where the the change of angle would hide the change of tone. I also planned to 'feather' in the transition to blend one colour to the next rather than have a hard line, so I lifted the masking tape in those areas a few mm.
It's not a good idea to spray in low temperatures. I have a butane heater in my garage so that got fired up beforehand and all paint aerosols were placed in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes or so. Work progressed well and the frame was looking good after a number of coats. I then peeled back a bit of masking tape to reveal that not all was well. I can't say with hand on heart that the match looked as good as it did with the test piece. The aluminium colour was a bit too grey, so that had to go. Time for some more testing. I eventually settled on Ford Stratos Silver. It's pretty good, probably about 99% and you'd be hard pushed to notice any difference from the untouched parts of the frame. I left this a few days to harden and then used some rubbing compound to give a smoother more polished look. I did consider using some clear lacquer to add further protection but I thought this would look odd as it would give the frame a glazed look, which the rest of the frame doesn't have.
Next area for attention was the forks. One dust seal had cracked and the internal metal spring was leaking rust. Easy and cheap job to fix, so I ordered some new seal.
Whilst stripping things down. I noticed that the pitting on the forks had got a lot worse over the last year. Should I re-spray or strip and polish? I chose re-spray. The forks are a another shade of silver from the frame and wheels. I did consider Hammrite again but decided that the same colour as the frame would be fine.
The forks were rubbed down, cleaned to remove any grease or oil. Dust seals and guards were removed too. Newspaper was wrapped about the legs to keep paint to the areas I wanted. Primer was applied and the a good few coats of Ford Stratos. Again I wasn't happy with the result. Far brighter than the original silver and a bit to 'blingy' for me. I decided that I'd like the forks the same colour as the engine, a grey-silver, so back to Halfords...
This is Vauxhall Steel Grey. A bit darker that I intended but I like it. I've since noticed that most of the Hondas in the bike shop next to my office have grey fork legs, so I'm not a trend setter after all.
Whilst I was at it, I gave the top yoke a quick blast of paint too. I used Hamerite satin black for this. Looks horrible in this photo as the paint was still wet when I took it.
Time to re-assemble
A close up of the finished item
Work Completed. Except for a damn good clean and a polish. I need to get some wet n dry on that down pipe too.



(or what the editor gets up to during winter hibernation)