Day 5 and today brought some surprises and more progress. I had a friend call me up who wanted to help and spend the morning just catching up as we had not seen each other in awhile. (This will come in later).
With yesterdays minor set back of the broken oil filler tube, I decided today I would get some bigger things done. On tap for today is removal of the front suspension, remove the drivers side radiator, replace the fuel filter, replace front swaybar bushings, build struts and then clean up components.
First up was to remove the under panels to access the fuel filter. I am sure that there was a good reason to bury the fuel filter where they did. This is an easy job, but it does require some patients as you need to be careful in working around the plumbing.
Spend the time looking at all the attachment points. In particular are the clips that hold the front panel. If you look at the clip you will find there is a tapered section that you can put a straight screw driver and pop one side of it off. This will allow the clip to hang free and in some cases it might drop off.
Once you remove the covers you are presented with this:
In the last picture above, the bracket you see with the two bolts...this is where the fuel filter is located. You will need to remove a few parts to access. There is a foam piece and a bracket that will need to be removed and then a compression fitting that holds the filter in place.
Note: have a bucket and rags ready when you remove the filter as you will get about a pint of fuel that will come out of your filter. I thought I had prepared with enough stuff to catch everything...not...as I had about a half cup of fuel pour on my head. Doh! This burns and I am glad I don't have to do this every year. After the burning sensation stopped and I had the old filter in a bucket, the new one was installed and back in place I was ready to start draining coolant.
OK earlier I said I had a friend who wanted to come help and spend some time catching up. While he is not a car buff, we have built enough bikes together that this would be fun. Yes and no. I asked him to pull the main radiator lines and drain out as much as he could. Well, this seemed to go well as he got the catchment unit out and things seemed to be going well....then...