Another update, had a massive hassle getting the left side fairing off this morning most of the fairing mounting clips had rusted ... only on the left side, can't quite figure out how that works but meh! i had to break most of them off and did a bit of damage to the fairing by doing so but as i am replacing it soon i wasn't too fussed, when i finally managed to get that off i took the fuel tank, air filter unit and 2 stroke tank out, no problems other than the expected Italian awkwardness, some of the positions for nuts and the like is just preposterous! Then drained the radiator and made a big mess because the exhaust was right in the way off the flow i'm guessing they intended it to be done on the side stand and i had it on an auxiliary! but meh! nothing nasty in the coolant apart from a few tiny metal flakes that I'm hoping are from the radiator and not something more ominous. Then i got to work getting the cylinder head off which proved harder than expected because the nuts were unbelievably tight, to the point where I'm fairly sure somebody put them on with an air gun >lazy ba**ards! Just as i got the cylinder head off i got a call and had to shove it all back together pretty sharpish but did manage to get a quick look at the cylinder and piston and there didn't seem to be any damage!
I've now got a full gasket kit, and crank bearings and seals on the way and I'm taking the bike up to a mates who has an empty garage to dismantle and rebuild the whole thing which, fingers crossed, will sort it out. I will have a proper look over the cylinder and piston / rings then and if they need replacing i will order one so i can stick it on during the rebuild.
Hope to be back on the road by the end of next week if all goes well! and then i can get to work on sprucing the bike up with new shiny things ;D
Geo
