Turpakäräjät @ Ullan Pakari - 30th of September 2020 - Riihimäki, Finland

 Next up photos from week 40 😎 Take a look!

Chevrolet 3100

Turpakäräjät @ Ullan Pakari - 23rd of September 2020 - Riihimäki, Finland

 Here's throwback to meet from week 39! Take a look 😀

Turpakäräjät @ Ullan Pakari - 16th of September 2020 - Riihimäki, Finland

 Let's continue with photos from week 38! Check them out 😎 

Ford Mustang 2+2 Fastback

'73 Suzuki GT250 - Part 15 - Sidestand

Once I got my GT250 on its wheels it was time to fabricate a sidestand for it which allowed me to not keep it on a mechanic stand all the time. I wanted to use bar and spring from a sidestand I had kept from one of previous my bikes and utilize stock mount on the GT250 frame. This way I only needed to fabricate a bracket in between them. 

Assembly of sidestand bracket

Dimensions for plate

Dimensions for blank

Piece of flat bar bent with a press brake

Bolt holes drilled and edge trimmed

Holes for pin and bar drilled and profile of edge cut

Dimensions for pin

I didn't have 10 mm round bar so I utilized a piece
from a long enough M10 bolt to make the pin

Pin welded to the plate

Dimensions for support plate

Support plate tacked to the plate

First mock up

Bar was bit too long so it had to be shortened

I also reinforced stock sidestand mount on the frame which I had previously hacked after cutting unnecessary parts from the frame such as stock footpeg mounts.

Starting point

Unnecessary pieces cut off

Piece of square tube...

...tacked..

...and welded to stock sidestand mount

Bottom side ground flat and edge profiled

Lahti Cruising @ Ace Cafe Lahti - 12th of September 2020 - Lahti, Finland

Here's a throwback to Lahti Cruising held last month. It was rather rainy and windy day and I ended getting soaked while travelling and shooting. Luckily there were still attendance despite the not so good weather so I could capture bit of it. Take a look! 😊 

Turpakäräjät @ Ullan Pakari - 9th of September 2020 - Riihimäki, Finland

Here are first photos from a local car meet which I've been visiting for the past month after my summer holiday. Bit of a shame that I haven't done that before but it has been nice to test out more my new camera after a long break of events due to Covid-19. Meet is organized each Wednesday at a local bakery and cafe/restaurant called Ulla's Pakari. I have plenty of photos from past few meets which I'll be sharing in upcoming months 😎

Autot ja Viihde 2019 - 28th of September - Lahti, Finland - Part 1/4 - Yankee Car Show

Here is final set of photos from last year's Autot ja Viihde car show. Please check out also my other photos from the event from list below 😎 Next it's time to start going through newer content!

Part 2/4 - Yankee Car Show

Part 3/4 - X-treme Car Show

Part 4/4 - Hobbyist car park

2019 Ghost of 7

Autot ja Viihde 2019 - 28th of September - Lahti, Finland - Part 2/4 - Yankee Car Show

And here's first part of Yankee Car Show photos from Autot ja Viihde 2019. Cars were divided into several halls so there was a lot to see and I ended taking quite a lot of photos too. Take a look!

Ferrari 275 GTB 6785

Autot ja Viihde 2019 - 28th of September - Lahti, Finland - Part 3/4 - X-treme Car Show

Let's continue with few photos from X-treme Car Show. It was held side by side Yankee Car Show in convention center of Lahti which I will cover on next part 😊

Nissan 200SX S14 with Rocket Bunny Boss Aero Kit @k0ijjari

Autot ja Viihde 2019 - 28th of September - Lahti, Finland - Part 4/4 - Hobbyist car park

Here's a throwback to hobbyist car park of last year's Autot ja Viihde (eng. Cars and Entertainment) car show held at the end of September in Lahti, Finland. I will post more photos from inside bit later! Stay tuned 😎

'73 Suzuki GT250 - Part 14 - GT550 front fork swap - 2/2 - Refurbishing top and bottom yokes

I decided to get bottom yoke painted with same color than front and rear wheel so I started by prepping it properly. First thing was to pull out lower steering head bearing and remove fasteners and old steering lock. I only covered axle with masking tape and then got lower part of yoke sand blasted. While it was getting painted I sourced new bearings, steering lock and fasteners for both yokes. M10 bolts used to tighten stanchions had to have fine threads. Those I managed to find through eBay.

Sand blasted bottom yoke

New fasteners for top and bottom yokes

Nut for steering stem (#51631-28000)

Neiman GKS steering lock for Suzuki GT550

Pyramid Parts steering head bearings kit (#BR21)...

...which included new bearings, dust seals and tube of lubricant

Upper (25x48x15) and lower (27x48x14) steering head bearings

Refurbished bottom yoke/steering stem

Now that I got bottom yoke back together with new bearings I tested how it fit to the head of the frame which still had old bearing races on. It turned out that in GT550 bottom yoke bearings are tiny bit more further apart from each other than in GT250. Due to that I couldn't get the steering stem nut (#51631-28000) tightened all the way. 

To fix issue with bearings I designed a 1 mm thick shim plate which I put underneath lower steering head bearing race while I replaced both races. Shim plate was laser cut out of stainless steel sheet. 

Since I don't own special tools to replace steering head bearing races I just used Dremel with a grinding stone and a punch to remove them. By taking my time I managed get them out without damaging bearing houses on the head. 36 mm socket turned out to be just the right size to gently hammer new races in. Counter part of steering lock in frame will still require bit of modification since lock is positioned differently in GT550 bottom yoke. That I will handle later.

Lower race had more space to fit a 1 mm shim plate underneath it

Dimensions of shim plate

Shim plates were laser cut out of stainless steel sheet

Dremel with a grinding stone together with a punch
were used to remove old steering head bearing races...

...and 36 mm socket to hammer new ones in place

New lower race with shim plate

New upper race

Unluckily GT550 front fork I bought had a broken top yoke which I didn't notice until later when I took it apart. I had to replace it with another one since it was unrepairable. I decided to use one out of GT250 which I already had and modify it to fit. 

Only difference between GT250 and GT550 top yokes is bigger bore for stanchions in GT550. GT550 comes with 35 mm and GT250 with 32 mm thick stanchions. I used a milling machine with adjustable boring tool to oversize holes on my GT250 top yoke. 

GT550 fork fork had a broken top yoke

GT550 and GT250 top yokes

Spacer and chock used for fixing top yoke to table of milling machine 

Finding center point of hole with centering device

Adjustable boring tool

Measuring hole diameter with a micrometer

Other side machined as well

I wanted to use a fatbar handlebar I lying around so I got a clamp kit made by Magura which fit perfectly to GT250 top yoke. I ended up polishing top yoke, clamps and handlebar. I assembled front fork and mocked it up with engine, swingarm and wheels. 

Next I will focus on fabricating kickstand and parts for rear brake. After those are done frame mods are almost complete and it might be time to start cleaning in it up for paint 😎

Magura X-line Offroad Clamp kit 28,6 mm (#0720474)

Polished top yoke, clamps and handlebar

Refurbished Suzuki GT550 front fork

Mock up