Project Virago

Your a clever man Doc 

You spend as much time making tools, as doing work on the bike 

As always a good write up and tips,well done Nigel.

What a great write up Doc, very interesting as always. One thing I love about your thread is we never know what we will find next and you give us ideas of how things can be done 

Good work

Nice to see the way you think Doc, brilliant stuff.

Have always had a fascination for making tools that will make life easier, still have many of them from years ago, would like to have some of the alloy parts anodized so had a look on you tube and hadn,t realised how easy it was so will be doing it myself, the first video is quite high tech although the guy is doing it at home, the seconf one is more low tech but still does the same job...








So recap
1... Prepping the surface, this can be a Flap wheel, steel wool, wet and dry or a buffing wheel

2... Degreasing,,, normally hot soapy water

3... A good rinse in distilled water plus wiring the part to be anodized

4... First stage of anodizing, This is the electrolytic stage and basically makes the alloy  porous to accept the dye, a lot of the the people on you tube recommend using a fish tank pump and bubble stone or two to agitate the water and help remove the hydrogen bubbles from the alloy part

5... The part is then removed and washed in distilled water again

6... Then comes the hot dye bath, the depth of colour will vary with the length of immersion time. 

7 ,,,This is the sealing stage... the part is immersed in boiling water for one hour to seal the alloy pores, some people use a specialist chemical mix but just as many use plain distilled water and still get excellent results

Good Luck Guys and Gals 

Found this video for recovering a bike seat which will come in handy for when I do mine, really well explained and filmed

Interesting vids Doc, Thanks for sharing 

The wife will be doing hers in PINK this weekend, thanks.! pics too follow

Good vids Nigel,well worth watching.

Love it Nigel, I know where to go when I want my seat recovering & my small petal parts anodizing. 
Seems like any plonka could do the anodizing, so maybe I will try it some time.

Have just ordered the black dye for Anodising, on holiday next week so will be having a go then, full write up will follow,     

Bloody hell Doc is there anything you cant do    Will you move in next to me please 

Thanks Crash, there are plenty of things I can,t do but have been doing these sort of things since I was about six years old, my mother and father were both very intelligent and good teachers plus I was an avid reader, my father also made me very aware of the dangers of equipment we had around us, did my first electrolysis experiment when I was about nine, this was making Hydrogen and Oxygen from water using an old radio transformer two jam jars and a fish tank ( In my bedroom ) made hydrogen once using diluted acid and zinc battery casings, this was all going well until ignition time with a match, made a great bang, but, Was wearing my new coat and this was pebble dashed by some of the acid droplets that had condensed inside the balloon, tried to neutralize it with a solution of bicarbonate of soda , unfortunately too late, I was then in trouble        

  You crack me up, you always make me think of Dennis the menace from the Beano when you say things about when you were a kid 

Must keep saying it, very interesting thread.

Happy to please Guys, found this Vid, on you tube of an XV 950 cafe racer, this seems like Virago for modern times, especially like the fact it is belt drive,




We have to think ourselves lucky as customising a bike in Gemany is a real pain.

Denmark is even worse, stupid w*****s  
Even though the rest of EU have approved side mounted license plates, and you can buy TUV approved mounting brackets, it is still illegal in Denmark, and the police can write you a ticket if they feel like it.

Love that bike Doc, excellent what  can be done with a little imagination.

Lovely paintwork 

Cant believe they turned the xv950 in to a cafe racer. Looks bloody good tho, real good 

Hi everyone, have been busy lately so the Virago had to take a back seat, but, good news... had it fired up tonight and sounds good, was a bit of a saga getting the carbs sorted but will be putting up photo,s and a video at a near date, regards to you all Doc Cox

Hi Doc, I'll be interested to hear how that zorst sounds 

Wait no longer... have finally managed to put the video on my you tube account, had a bit of a fight but managed eventually, 





As you can see there are a few more things to do but seem to have broken the back of it now, was a bit concerned about the smoke but this is just burning off from inside the pipe after having lived on an unknown two stroke for a while, had a look on the camera after filming and didn,t think it sounded too good but the sound quality is better on the computer, needs a good run to clear its tubes.

Video's set to 'Private' Doc 

I think a seriously big tub of popcorn is needed then, guaranteed he has gone bye byes now. 

I watched it for 10 mins before realizing it wasn't the smoke from the exhaust 

simbo wrote:

I watched it for 10 mins before realizing it wasn't the smoke from the exhaust 

Oh yeah  

simbo wrote:

I watched it for 10 mins before realizing it wasn't the smoke from the exhaust 

Just got home from the bar did you 

Doc Cox wrote:

Wait no longer... have finally managed to put the video on my you tube account, had a bit of a fight but managed eventually, 





As you can see there are a few more things to do but seem to have broken the back of it now, was a bit concerned about the smoke but this is just burning off from inside the pipe after having lived on an unknown two stroke for a while, had a look on the camera after filming and didn,t think it sounded too good but the sound quality is better on the computer, needs a good run to clear its tubes.

Sorted your YouTube account Doc, will watch the video later.

It's starting to come together now Doc!

Looks and sounds good Doc 

Thanks Dave. 

That's cool, your grating there buddy. 

Sounding cool for sure.

Did you try to close the valve a bit for more backpreassure ?

Nice one Doc, you d man 4 sure 

Not yet Kim, still have to make the control cable for it, but thanks for reminding me, will be going to Ebay in a minute to order some, 

Nice to see it all coming together Sir.

Good project showing fruition Nigel well done.

Had the carbs to bits the other week for a clean and sort out, plus a couple of modifications, fired up the bike and it misfired when warm, so, off with the carbs and on went a set off a "96" 750, still no cure, so tried putting another coil on, still no joy    in the end it was a brand new spark plug I had fitted not too long ago   still never mind that,s life, sounds much better now, have fitted another exhaust from Ebay that looks like a Dunstall Decibel copy, sounds a bit more mellow and that is before the sound packaging has been inserted, has a bit of banging when rolling off the throttle but this is down to an air leak in the rear pipe, won,t take too much to sort out, have a listen and see what you think ...

Sounds deeper and more mellow 

That bike is really starting to get there. Having personally listened to it in the garage the other day, I can say the bike is sounding real good. Love that exhaust and glad you found the issue. Well done Doc, the bike will be a credit to you when it's all finished, so crack on.

sounds good Doc!

Nice one Nigel .... & starting to shape up now 

Must be enormously satisfying to rebuild a bike in such a way, well done on your work. More pleasurable to ride almost, when that time eventually comes. Sounds good, like the look of the pipe from the back.

Ooo she is getting there, sounding good 

Believe me he is cracking on with it now, someone put a rocket up his arse and its gone bang.

Have been a bit busy lately, but, the bike has still been worked on and isn,t far off the MOT now, did a bit of playing with LED,s for the rear No. plate and here are some photo,s...


All of these came from various scrap skips round the country from the insides of electric fires, this is the board they were mounted on...




Here they are powered up...



This is them removed from the board, these are surface mounts and require a Buck converter to run efficiently but are very easy to make...




These are a selection of various sizes...







Lithium button batterys are very helpfull when testing normal LED,s...



Here is a 10mm one lit up...




This is it with a white background...



Here it is lighting up the front bike wheel from about 5 feet away...



Shining on a white background you can see how intense the light is...



This is the voltage needed to run this large LED...



The idea is to use this thick Acrylic sheet in front of the number plate and illuminate with LED,s around the edge,,,




First a hole is drilled in from the side...




Insert the LED...



Power it up...


This is the result with a bit of tape over it...


This is with a red LED and the results are much more spectacular...






This is the light from the one white LED in the plate...



This is still work in progress but gives a rough idea of what I am planning to do, regards to you all Doc Cox