Breaking it down, the oil tank separates with two hidden bolts, the airbox halves and the inlet cover removed, it was clear it would fit, but with a lot of shaving, grinding and cutting.
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| Some of the mounting tabs had to go, one at a time, until it squeezed in. |
Once in place, I realized the oil tank would not now fit (not to mention a PE250 OE Exhaust I had acquired, which goes over the cylinder head and cross the frame to exit on the opposite side to a TS250, crossing where my new Airbox was sitting) Luckily, the tank just needed moving forward 25mm, easily achieved by re-drilling the mounting holes (the old ones are hidden from view) and I needed to form a bracket to mount the whole lot on the frame.
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| Frame tidied up |
Once the original bracket had been consigned to the scrap box, it was an easy task to cut, from a card template, and weld on some sheet metal.
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| The new oil tank mount holes needed to be elongated to enable me to slide the tank back, level with the frame |
As the original air inlet was not to used, the hole saw came back out of the toolbox.
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| Holes and mesh = FAST, it just does! |
I've now started to make an alloy "side panel" to tidy up one side, but I'm still working on a final design. I'm so tempted on the other side to leave the oil tank as it is, add a bit of patina (cant believe I just said that)
This little exercise has now taken up over 40 man hours - most of which has been putting the airbox in the frame, measuring up, removing, modifying and putting it back in - and with only a few spare hours each week it's dragging on. But, there a light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm happy with it so far.
