....by Beelzebub, aged 42 and 3/4... Didn't get to bed last night till after 1am - awoken at around half five this morn, with the sound of munching. Switched on light to find little cat with big rabbit... Off into town by half seven, having disposed of said rabbit, getting my odds and sods, including oil and filter for the R6. Home, changed and sleeves rolled up to commence the fettling. First problem was that the sidestand switch was remaining on, so every time I tried to put it in gear, it stalled. Some muttering whilst I poked away at the gunky mess. Finally, got that sorted, so took the bike down the few yards to outside my house. Felt like crap - suspect tyres are a little soft, but that can wait :-) Whilst it was running (was running up to get the oil warm), I noticed that there was water dripping from the pipe/can join for the exhaust and even when it got up to temp, the output from the exhaust was still visible and a little whiteish. Upon looking at the rather yellowy looking oil, I had a horrible feeling, so sought some advice. Advice was to call Loz :-) He reckoned it was more likely to be just huge amounts of condensation from it sitting for about 2 years and told me what to do to check. Yaaayyyy, looks like head gasket ok. That bit over, I then started the fettling proper. Got the fairing off relatively painlessly and started draining the oil. Now onto the oil filter, so I got both my three-finger filter remover and the chain type. Could I get either of them into the space available? Could I hell! Couldn't undo it by hand, plus even my skinny fingers were too chubby. Even tried a jar opener. Nada! After some time, I went down the screwdriver route - this would've been fine but for the fact I only had space to turn the bloody thing a sixteenth of a turn each time. Oh, and 'hand-tight', my arse! Eventually all was drained, sump bolt back in, new filter on and new oil in the bike. Then it was onto the brakes, as they tend to seize for a pastime - Loz will be so proud of me ;-) Cleaned up all the calipers/pistons, pushed the pistons back in and copper-slipped everything meant to be slippery. Finally, whipped off the tank and got the air filter out to make sure it's bone dry. Tomorrow is putting back together, starting up and (all being well) cleaning day. MOT is booked for Friday, unless I can get it into my preferred place before then. Mucho thanks to Loz for his advice - helped immensely. God, I'm knackered!
