rebuilding my Vmax a year after my crash

[oz1961]

As most will know, on August the 5th 2015 I had a motorbike crash that should have killed me.
I was hit on my right by an old man who went through a stop sign.[FONT=ＭＳ Ｐゴシック]　[/FONT]I went forward hitting his windscreen which pushed me forward and across the road landing in the oncoming traffic lane.
Then as I laid unconscious on the road I was hit again by another car.
Thankfully I have no memory of the accident at all.

Now more than a year later, and due to the wonderful help from forums members and especially Sean Morley, I have started to rebuild my beautiful Vmax.

It's been a little emotional at times now that I have started fixing it and remembering things.
But it's also been fantastic and I can't wait to ride it again.

So I want to post pictures and write about the rebuild.

I was fortunate that the car hit my front wheel forward of the frame and engine.

But nearly everything forward of the frame was damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced.

And so please enjoy my posts as I rebuild my 1985 Vmax and bring it back to life!

 

[oz1961]

With most of the front stripped, I wanted to attempt to repair the bent frame first.
If I couldn’t repair it then I would have to do a frame swap and send another email to Sean.
The damage to the frame was on the left hand side upper engine mount, where the wheel had come back and hit it.
I was lucky as the engine housing wasn’t damaged.
The frame was pushed back about 7mm after I took measurements from the right hand side.
The frame was under a huge amount of stress against the engine mount as I couldn’t remove the brace.
I borrowed a porta power from a friend and pushed the frame enough that I was able to release the tension but the bolt end with the nut was bent so I still could not remove the brace.
I gently pushed the on the nut and was able to straighten the bolt and finally remove the brace.
Now I had a perfect measurement of the frame and how far back it was bent
You will see in the picture that the engine has come back into its original position but the front frame is still bent about 4mm after a few pushes with the porta power.
Now with the brace off I was able to push it and get the frame in the exact position and reassemble the brace.

Success!

 

[oz1961]

I hope these photos work this time


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[[email protected]]

Glad to hear you're feeling good and you are fixing up the max.
Nice work so far. Keep posting up the pics of your work and good luck!

 

[caseyjones955]

Thankfully your still here to rebuild. Great project, are you going to restore it to its previous glory or do you have some changes planned? Thanks for sharing this.

 

[oz1961]

Thankfully your still here to rebuild. Great project, are you going to restore it to its previous glory or do you have some changes planned? Thanks for sharing this.

The good thing is that I am not in a hurry to finish it. Winter is coming and I'm still not in perfect condition either.

I only have plans to bring it back to being a fantastic bike again but making modifications as I go.

I will be fitting different parts and upgrades which I will post.

Thanks for your interest and I hope you will enjoy the rebuild and it may help others who have had crashes to fix their bikes too!

 

[oz1961]

Glad to hear you're feeling good and you are fixing up the max.
Nice work so far. Keep posting up the pics of your work and good luck!

Thanks.
It's been really great having the ability to work on my bike again and the desire to fix it and ride again too.

 

[oz1961]

was time to move onto my front brakes.
The front discs and pads were bent in the accident, and the calipers
were all seized after sitting in my garage for a year.

I removed the pads pumped and the brakes till one of the rotors moved. I
then put a spanner between the rotors where the pads usually sit. This
allowed one rotor to push out till it hit the spanner and allowed all
the pressure to then shift to the other side rotor which then moved.

I had to do this to both front calipers.

I removed the calipers and the rotors, cleaned them, fitted new seal
kits and reassembled and painted.
The kit included, seals, bleeding valves and rubber cover, copper
washers and pads.
I’m really happy how they turned out.
The front brake master cylinder was undamaged but after seeing the
rubbish in the calipers and fluid, I will rebuild the master cylinder
too for safety

I have new front discs from Sean Morley but as yet I haven’t fitted them
as I am still waiting for the front wheel fitted with a new Bridgestone
tire to come back from the tire shop.

It’s been nearly a month now and I am still waiting for a tire.
Although the tire shop is a Bridgestone dealership, they offered a
Dunlop Tire which I could have fitted the same day, but I will wait for
the Bridgestone.
I liked the last Bridgestone tire I had when I crashed.
It was very soft and I had excellent breaking and grip.

I still have the old tire with great tread but for safety I don’t want
to refit it.
I have pictures on another device which I will post soon


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[Traumahawk]

Sounds like its coming along.

 

[oz1961]

The front calipers ready to be fitted

 

[one2dmax]

looks good

 

[sdt354]

I'm glad to see you've healed enough to repair the bike Vincent. It looks to be coming along great.

 

[oz1961]

Today I was able to finish repairing the frame that was damaged and get it paintedView attachment 1


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[oz1961]

At last after waiting nearly two months the new front tire arrived and was fitted.
I fitted the new discs and got it ready for the front when it's finished.
I've included a couple of photos of all that was left of the front wheel after the accident.


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[oz1961]

Today I repainted the front guard so that I will be ready to completely assemble the front next. The color is slightly different from the original but close enough for now, especially when it's just a stock color from the local home center.

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[one2dmax]

That's not a stock color (someone had painted it at some point). You can tell because the small tab at the back should be black.

 

[Bill Seward]

But it's a great color! Nice job!

 

[CaptainKyle]

That's not a stock color (someone had painted it at some point). You can tell because the small tab at the back should be black.

I think he means just an in stock color from the local hardware store not a stock Vmax color. I think that fender was black or red when I sent it.

 

[one2dmax]

His original busted up fender was not a stock color is what I was talking about.

 

[caseyjones955]

But it's a great color! Nice job!

Yup, it looks great. It's one of those bikes with enough tude' to wear yellow shamelessly like a Turbo 911. Sweet and really yellow looks great on a max.

When I painted I got about as far from a factory color as I could.