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XV750 / 1100 mongrel finished

832 views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  faffi 
#1 ·
Hi!

I presume this very nice place on the World Wide Web have become enriched with many new members since my last post. No need to tire you with my absence, but it has all to do with life, and nothing to do with this site or its members.

Since I was last here, I have spent every moment available to completely strip and redo my Mongrel; a 1982 XV750 Virago fitted with a 1990 XV1100 Virago engine. I performed a less involved resto-mod back in 2016, then rode it through the 2017/18 winter, with lots of salt on the roads - and never washed it. Until this fall. The result was that rust had eaten into just about every part of the bike, from stands up through the exhaust and frame and into the fenders.

As it was, looking surprisingly good - after its first clean in 6 years - consider the amount of corrosion it suffered


This detail picture of the frame is pretty representative for the state of the metalwork on the bike


I finished it up today. This is how it looks now, sorry about the messy background


For those with nothing to do, I will include a list below the pictures of what I have done to get to this stage. At least what I can remember of it - there have been so many minor things it could fill a book.

Fuel tank from the top, my own design and paint. I won't take offence if you do not like it, as I know it is not run of the mill


Showing more of my messy shop


Even more clutter


New self-made wiring harness hooked up


Testing the wiring/function before taping up and running it inside the frame, note new "brain"


Oxford heated grips


One-off bracket holds non-stock Mosfet R/R


SUMMARY
Stripped bike completely other than engine, which remained mostly intact, but lifted out of the frame.
Stripped frame and stands and fork lowers and grab rail and rear fender and triple tree and front engine mount and swingarm of paint and rust/corrosion
Painted frame and stands black
Painted lower triple tree silver
Lightly polished fork lowers and upper triple tree
Polished very dirty and rusty front header pipe and "new" second hand mufflers
Lightly cleaned and polished wheel rims
Overhauled the brake system with new pistons and seals
Fitted brake disc off a Seca 750, saving about 2 pounds of unsprung weight
Fitted front fender off a Seca 750, requiring mods of the brake line bracket
Fixed inaccurate rev counter by replacing seven capacitors
Drew up totally new wiring harness and built it, omitting all but one relay (for starter) and all safety gadgets
Ordered and fitted new TCI (brain) made to order in the Netherlands
No room for the TCI on the Gen I frame, so I had to make place through an inverted box inside the pillion portion of the seat
Fitted new bearing spacer and end seals for the swingarm
Seat had already been fully reshaped by me in 2016, but made a new cover for it
Fitted new tires, 130/80-18 rear (Seca wheel) and 100/90-19 front
Fitted handlebars off my in parts NT650V Deauville
Fitted two-way throttle so I could use both cables (open / shut) like you find on the later carbs
Fitted Oxford heated grips, with mount for control pod requiring mods to fit on the right since the old clutch lever holder is held with a single bolt clamp
Cleaned, stripped and zinc-plated lots of bolts and bracket
Stripped and ultra-sonically cleaned the carbs, zinc plated all steel parts
Made a new front for the RHS sidecover, as I had earlier cut that off to fit a number plate. Used bits off the Deauville fairing, reshaping it and welding it in place with soldering iron
Removed, stripped, cleaned, fixed and remounted the starter motor - much more pain that it should have been due to the ¤&¤%#& starter system design
Made a new tail-light fit the fender
Made a bracket for the R/R
Fitted new YSS shock absorber
Modified fork damper rods and fitted YSS emulator valves
Painted tank, fenders, head light and sidecovers and covered with 2K clear - orange match my helmet that I painted a couple of years back
Of course, new oils and filter and battery and lots other small stuff you tend to forget about

Engine fired instantly after all this, which was a relief - I was afraid I had messed up the starter system and/or the wiring, but all is good. So far, at least. Tomorrow is our "4th of July", but I hope to take it for its inaugural pre-resto ride on Thursday.
 
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#2 ·
Wow, that looks great, fantastic work Really nice to see you posting again. Hopefully life will allow you to stick around.
 
#5 ·
You are too kind, but thank you! Initially, I wanted to mimic the paint scheme of the R5 and several other Yamahas of the early 70s, but I have never painted with two colors or pinstripes before, and I chickened out - getting the shapes right was beyond my abilities, especially since you have a fairly short window between laying the primary base color followed by the accent color before the 2K clear must be applied.

This is the pattern that I wanted


But I am pretty happy with what I ended up with, especially since it was something I came up with on the fly when I realized I could not get my preferred pattern right.
 
#6 ·
I always feel like a copied theme either HAS to be IMMACULATE or it looks cheap and $hitty. Original work is SO MUCH COOLER!! Great color combo and working with the lines and features of your bike. I personally don’t think anything could have come together better! Cheers to you and your creativity!! 🍻
 
#7 ·
Faffi, glad your back.
Not too long ago I was wondering about you since it seemed like a long time since we heard from you.
For awhile, I was thinking you might have ridden too far north and fallen off the edge of the earth. OR
I was also thinking maybe you got trapped under an avalanche since it's getting warmer and you were just able to crawl out.

Anyway glad to see you here again.
 
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