Yamaha IT490: Part Two

With the engine sorted for Guy’s IT490 (see last week’s article here) it was time to get the chassis in order and luckily the one with this bike was in great condition.

The chassis was in good structural condition from the start. 

By now many 490 frames are bent, or have been previously repaired, casting doubt onto the quality and safety using them.

This frame only needing the original stand mount removed, which was then replaced with the bracket from a TY250, which was welded into place. The frame was then bead blasted and powdercoated.

The swingarm likewise was in good condition, requiring only new bearings and bushes, with OEM Yamaha parts going back in. The swingarm was then bead blasted and powdercoated, to match the original colour scheme as closely as possible – in this case silver in contrast to the black frame.

The engine brackets were sprayed so they match the frame. 

Crash bars needed stripping back and powder coating.

The engine itself was assembled and dropped into the frame whole, with plenty of previous practice guiding Guy in how to get it into place without damaging his newly restored frame.

A real blessing for Guy was also finding that the original rims that came with the bike were in perfect condition, without dents or scratches – particularly as they are extremely hard to replace with original offerings!

Getting them into the current condition wasn’t so easy however, “I stripped the wheels and cleaned every part, the spokes were good, but covered in little bit of surface rust,” said Guy.

“I actually recoated the brake drums but the hubs themselves were pretty good. A bit of car polish and they were ready.”

The forks were completely stripped and rebuilt.
 

Lots of freshly restored parts ready to come together to bring the IT490 back to life!

The plastics, which now look like new, had in fact been painted black at some point in the bike’s past and proved quite a challenge to return to original condition.

“The whole bike was complete from America originally,” explained Guy, “and the Yanks seem to have plenty of bits stocked away. They just painted the bikes all black...”

The six-volt dry cell battery in the rear pouch.

The process included plenty of trial and error, including using Brasso, metal polish and a dozen other related products.

Eventually Bunnings yielded a great find, with a metal and plastic polish called Shine, from Germany, finishing off the plastics and leaving them in the current state. Not a bad result!

The shock spring was repainted and the swingarm powdercoated silver.

The assorted parts that were polished or painted.

The tank was an even bigger project, requiring Guy spend hours with varying grit wet and dry, a razor blade and a heat gun. Plenty of polishing followed and the tank came out well but not well enough for Guy’s high standards. “I did many hours work on the original tank,” he explains, “but it wasn’t quite what I wanted.”

As a result, a Clarke fuel tank to suit the IT490 was sourced, while the OEM tank has been set aside as a spare.

Complete restored roller, ready for a fresh engine to go in.

With all the plastics looking shiny and new once again, Guy taped up the side and front plates, before applying an IT Yellow plastic paint to match the bikes original livery, followed by a hard shell polish to help protect the paint.

An aftermarket Clarke fuel tank was used in the end.

The wheels were in good condition but were restored by Guy.

As the bike was imported from America it also came without all the parts required for road registration such as the indicators, horn and a few other bits and pieces. This also necessitated the addition of a six-volt dry cell battery, which sits in the pouch just behind the rider’s seat on the tail. This is the one area where Guy didn’t do all the work himself, as despite fitting the wiring loom he left connecting it all up to a mate who is a sparky, so the aftermarket switch-block could be fitted.

The plastics came up looking like new, an amazing job by Guy.

The plastics were restored after having been painted black! 

With all the road registration requirements met, or so he thought, Guy found he had another issue. “Getting compliance was difficult, the bike had no plates, so I had to do an ID check and then get the decibels down for rego,” he explains. “The standard for vintage bikes is 100db, but the IT was 115db just as it was. I had to borrow a standard pipe from a mate to get it back down for registration!”

With everything now sorted, Guy’s pretty happy with the whole project, admitting the jetting is still being tinkered with and that only a good condition original tank are still on his list – with the tank being more of a possibility than a goal.

The stunning IT gets ridden regularly on the road but not dirt.

“I got the bike registered and ride it to work every now and then.” Guy said. “It’s beautiful to ride but I don’t take it on the dirt, due to the work that would be needed to clean it back up!”

 With this project looking amazing, we managed to wheedle out of Guy that he might be considering an IT465 next!

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