2009 February 05: Assembly (2.50 hours)

Updated: 2009 February 05

Fit intake manifolds to the heads, complete with new stainless fasteners and freshly powder-coated knee guards with cleaned original rubber pads.
Fit swing arm to frame, coated splines with Amsoil 5th Wheel lubricant, fitted a new rubber boot and reused existed clamps. The swing arm had already received new bearings/races/seals, but I was sure to coat the pivot pins with grease and the pivot pin threads with anti-seize lubricant. I reused the original jam nuts.
Secure the lower frame rails in place with new stainless fasteners. For now I am forgoing the front crash bars. I may fit them later, but I've chosen to leave them off so they don't get in the way during assembly.
Fit the oil cooler bracket to the front of the frame with new stainless fasteners.
Removed powder coat from the upper shock mounting studs on the frame and fit the left shock absorber in place just to keep the swing arm in place. I used a strip of cloth-backed sandpaper. In order to protect the surrounding paint, I first applied blue painters tape to the immediately surrounding areas. Then, I took a flat piece of plastic (from some packaging) and cut a hole in the middle of it with a hole punch. The hole just fit around the stud and the plastic protected the surrounding paint. It is important to use painters tape behind the plastic as the plastic will move a bit and rub marks will be seen in the paint if you don't. This method worked very well.