As soon as a rewards card gets here, I'm ordering a frame for my SIII 88" Daily driver whose frame is in BAD shape. So bad that I'm driving my GF's scooter to work 20mi RT because of how scared I am to drive it. I fishplated a complete clean all-the-way-through crack near the front shackle of driver's side rear about a month ago and that's holding nicely, but the corrosion near pass. side rear shackle of the front spring is profound, as well as on the main x-member. I thought I had a year or so left, but no way. Bad bad bad.
Anyway, I can only afford the frame and maybe another $1K spend. I'll be re-doing all of the brake lines in cunifer. And I'll be checking and resealing the transmission, and likely regasket the lower half of the motor to get leaks back under control. And I have a hidden little coolant leak somewhere, that if I can find, I'll try to tackle (if it's a head gasket I can do that later). Might reseal the axles/balls (not enough cash for new balls), but those can be done afterwards pretty easily, if I need it back together.
Assuming a 2 week delivery, and I order this week, meaning I get the frame sometime by July 22, I can probably have it off the road for as long as until August 19. I'm on vacation for two weeks after that, and I'd rather not come back from that having no daily driver (this is my only four wheeled vehicle). An additional factor, is that I will be working outside - shadetree, indeed. I may spring for some kind of cover, for mildly inclement weather, but no plan for that yet. But even with all those factors, I still think that should be a reasonable of time. I can work on it, probably a minimum of 3 hours on 3 weeknights per week, and will conservatively average 14 or more hours on the weekends. Which is a little under 100 hours total. Assuming the main task - just the frame swap - is about 40 hours, that should leave time for extras (brake lines, tranny) and some other things to crop up. Thoughts?
So questions:
Any tips or tricks on the general frame swap itself?
Any things that are MUST DOs when doing a frame swap, that are significantly aided by that process? (I have 2 year old rear parabolics and brand new fronts waiting to go on)
Any specific tips for brakeline routing? Improvements to original routing (I'm the opposite of a purist).
Any tips on assessing the condition of the transmission?
I'd like to use as much SS hardware as possible. Anyone have a list of likely sizes and quantities, or a sense of what sizes predominate?
Are there any unknown unknowns that you guys know of?
Anyway, I can only afford the frame and maybe another $1K spend. I'll be re-doing all of the brake lines in cunifer. And I'll be checking and resealing the transmission, and likely regasket the lower half of the motor to get leaks back under control. And I have a hidden little coolant leak somewhere, that if I can find, I'll try to tackle (if it's a head gasket I can do that later). Might reseal the axles/balls (not enough cash for new balls), but those can be done afterwards pretty easily, if I need it back together.
Assuming a 2 week delivery, and I order this week, meaning I get the frame sometime by July 22, I can probably have it off the road for as long as until August 19. I'm on vacation for two weeks after that, and I'd rather not come back from that having no daily driver (this is my only four wheeled vehicle). An additional factor, is that I will be working outside - shadetree, indeed. I may spring for some kind of cover, for mildly inclement weather, but no plan for that yet. But even with all those factors, I still think that should be a reasonable of time. I can work on it, probably a minimum of 3 hours on 3 weeknights per week, and will conservatively average 14 or more hours on the weekends. Which is a little under 100 hours total. Assuming the main task - just the frame swap - is about 40 hours, that should leave time for extras (brake lines, tranny) and some other things to crop up. Thoughts?
So questions:
Any tips or tricks on the general frame swap itself?
Any things that are MUST DOs when doing a frame swap, that are significantly aided by that process? (I have 2 year old rear parabolics and brand new fronts waiting to go on)
Any specific tips for brakeline routing? Improvements to original routing (I'm the opposite of a purist).
Any tips on assessing the condition of the transmission?
I'd like to use as much SS hardware as possible. Anyone have a list of likely sizes and quantities, or a sense of what sizes predominate?
Are there any unknown unknowns that you guys know of?
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