The Blue Beastie is Back

Today I spent most of the day getting the Blue Genesis ready to be sold. This included hoovering it out, refitting the passenger seat, and replacing the hydraulic brake light switch. I've been having to hit the brakes harder and harder before the warning lights come on so I thought the switch was failing. As this involves unscrewing it from the brake lines I then had to bleed the rear brakes, all of which took most of the morning. The brake lights work just fine now.

However, I have to say the the Blue Genesis is looking simply stunning and I'm hoping for a quick sale, although I shall be heartbroken to see her sold. High Res Pictures of her are here
It's also very nice to have both cars in the garage again, this is a very nice photo which I might have to print off as a reminder of the time that I actually owned two Genesii.

However (back to the racer) I did manage to remove the NS front upright so that I can swap it over for the new one.
Removal was a pretty straight forward process, as I am now quite practiced at it, and using an air ratchet really speeds things up. However removing the hub from the upright's bearings was a bit more difficult. The hub had corroded slightly and outer ball race of the bearing was jammed on. In fact the bearing was torn apart as I drifted the hub out of the upright. You can just see the curved surface of the ball race at the base of the splined section of the hub.

This was a bit of a problem to remove, but WD40, blowlamp heat and some 'gentle' persuasion with a cold chisel soon ensured it's removal. As with the OS hub I tack welded the wheel studs in place to prevent them from moving. I then assembled the hub to the new upright and refitted it to the car.


Now that the old upright was free from the car I could have a good look at the crack which prompted it's replacement. I had been concerned that it looked perilously close to the circlip groove which retains the hub bearing. A bit of very gently poking around in the crack with a screw driver illustrated that the choice to replace to uprights was totally vindicated.


The two parts of the casting on either side of the crack simply peeled away and as can be seen from this final pic nearly 50% of the casting had failed and it was at the circlip groove. You can actually see the circlip.
Now as the bearings are pressed into the hub it's unlikely that the wheels would have fallen off my chariot, but even so I wouldn't like to have risked it.
Yet another case of "For the want of a nail"
I've also ordered a new sump gasket from my local Kawasaki dealer which should arrive next Tuesday, so hopefully I can start fitting my nice new dry sump then. In preparation I've sprayed up the engine mounting frame and brackets.