Sunmaster 14 - part 2

It's been 2 weeks since I got the frame back from the powder coating shop. I was left very upset, since they managed to literally fuck it up TWICE.
The first time they didn't prep it properly, leaving some grease on it, which after reacting with the powder coat, turned into an ugly tumor. Sending it back to get sand blasted and coated again, resulted in a better color on one hand, but left me in dispair when I noticed that all the external threads (engine oil outlets and rear shocks) were completely stripped naked. An overzealous sand blaster perhaps...

After no apology nor an offer to make things right seemed forthcoming (Thai style), I decided to sort it out myself, well...sort of. I drove 250km to meet up with Mr Mangoon, my aluminium tank supplier, who I trust and had faith in to do a proper job.

After explainig to him what the problem was, he and his team went straight to work. What I thought would be a fiddly and lenghty job, consisting of cutting off the 2 unusuable threads (top and bottom) that deliver oil to the engine, turned out to be relatively easy. The top thread broke off almost by itself and in 5 minutes they welded on a new one. The bottom one is actually a piece that is screwed into the frame and has the thread on the outside and a filter on the inside. Once we unscrewed this part we noticed that there wasn't any filter attached to it. In fact, all that was left of it was just a lot of dust and debris!
Now I don't know if the filter was like that before it got to the powder coating shop, or if it was a result of the powder coating process. In the end I have to consider myself lucky that we discovered it. God knows what would have happened if all that crap had found its way to the engine innards! Luckily, they had a replacement bit at the shop, so that got sorted out quickly.

To fix the rear shock mounts took a bit longer. We cut off the old thread, drilled new holes through the mounts, made new threads inside, so that I could use new bolts to hold the shocks in place.

As if all this good luck wasn't enough, Mr. Mangoon (Dragon in Thai) refused to take any money for his help. On the contrary, he gave me a new megaphone exhaust pipe that they made in his shop. Beautiful and lightweight, made of stainless steel with the rear cone made of machined aluminium, it will soon find its way to the Omega Racer website and be available to all.

Now I'm back on track with my project, so stay tuned for more ups and downs that will inevitably arise!