My FJ has taken a back seat of late while I’ve been engrossed with sorting out the evil handling Pan European but thankfully that job is now done and I can spend time on the FJ.

I was probably needing a distraction anyway because the mess I found in my degreasing bay today was a reminder – if I needed it – of just how dirty that FJ1100 had been when I stripped the plastics off.

Yes – she was a mess and ofcourse once I had cleaned the muck off I got an idea of just how much paint was missing too.

No doubt being laid up for several years in an old damp woodshed was partly to blame and Mr Yamaha’s paint department certainly hadn’t taken into account the rigours of Dumfries & Galloway winter.

I remember one of my teacher’s at the Berwickshire High School telling me many years ago that D&G was only good for growing grass for dairy farming as it seldom stopped raining.

How right he was – even after several bouts of ‘climate change’ since then – it can still be a damp part of Scotland.

No worries – the old chicken shed gave me an almost waterproof roof over my head as the flurries of rain passed over today and I got stuck into cleaning up the de-greasing equipment.

A mucky job but I got through it.

The amount of de-greasing and preparation prior to painting the frame and motor had only been part of the downside – scrabbling about on the floor while I bolted the thing together hadn’t been much fun for my wonky knees either.

I got through the mess in the dirty corner then bolted the front wheel into the FJ so that I could move the beast onto the cushioned carpet underlay in the next bay where I hope to carry on with the re-build —

Then I got my scissor lift under her and gave her enough air to make a difference to my poor knees —

She’s currently looking better in the flesh than she does in my deliberately fuzzy photos but I doubt if she will ever look as good as this one. It would cost too much to bring her up to ‘factory fresh and the FJ1100 is never going to command the sort of money in return that would justify the required level of outlay.

At least I’m ready to push on with the rebuild – but only on wet days 🙂