When I get the Sprint sold and a suitable 'daily rider'/tourer purchased, I intend to take the XT off the road for a few months. It's getting very tired, and a lot of things are needing attention - new tyres, chain & sprox, clutch, brakes, wiring - and the frame is getting rather rusty. I want to bring it back to good, useable, reliable condition. I'm tempted to try a full restoration back to factory, just for a laugh, but I think that could be too much expense and bother. I have never ever seen another green/lilac one, so I imagine getting body parts would be a nightmare.

Anyway, I have a few questions buzzing around in my head, and I would love to have input from anyone who has experience of this stuff (or a view on it). I am reasonably OK mechanically (do all my own maintenance) but I have no experience at all of restoration work. Here's a couple of queries, and there will be more ...

1. I intend to powdercoat the frame, swingarm, fork sliders and hubs. I'd also like to powdercoat the engine, but I would be worried how the coating would take the heat. I've heard of it being done, but not how it turned out. OK to coat the cases, perhaps, but not the cylinder and head? I'm confident I could get a reasonable result with rattle cans doing it myself, but that wouldn't be as durable as powdercoating, right?

2. Shot/gritblasting, bead, vapour, or one of these new things that uses crushed walnut shells and the like? Is it worth getting a small home grit machine, or is it just a heartbreak waiting to happen? I did some bead blasting many years ago using borrowed equipment and I got on fine with it, but that was pro kit, not the sort of backyard DIY kit that I could afford today.

3. Tank scoops are missing, and the other plastics are pretty scratched and scabby. Are these still available from Yamaha dealers? I haven't seen much on eBay, and for the age of the bike (1994) it's unlikely that any secondhand parts will be sound enough to use. Failing that, what's the success rate for sanding, filling and repainting the originals? Any pointers on products to use (i.e. paint and primer that will be OK with flexible plastics)?

4. Wiring. The existing loom is more bodge than original (the PO seemed to do everything with scissors and gaffer tape). I've searched for an OEM loom on the web, and the price was frightening, but for reliability I reckon a new loom is essential. I could make it myself from bought-in components, but I want it to be better (i.e. more reliable) than the crimped terminals I usually use. I can follow a wiring diagram, and I have seen that Vehicle Wiring Products sell a 'pro' kit for making terminals - any views on this? I'd quite like to redesign the electrics so that not everything depended on one 20A fuse, but that would need a bit of thought. Faulty electrics are the only problems I have had with the bike, and I would like to get it right for the long term.

Bike is a 3TB from 1994, UK spec. Did anyone else see the 'overlander' XT600 built by David Lambert in TBM a couple of years ago? I'd like to aim for something like that, really.

Feel free to poke fun at the idea, make suggestions, scoff, advise, whatever. Anything to help me crystallise my thoughts. Basically, the bike is at the point where anyone rational would class it as not worth spending money on. But in terms of that 'connection' you have with a bike, it's one that I want to make good again and ride for the next 20 years. I will never sell it, but letting it continue to deteriorate would be criminal. I don't have much spare cash, but I reckon if I spread it out over a time it will be doable.

Sorry for the long post. Over to you guys.

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2006 XT660R daily ride, 1994 XT600E about to be reborn, Blog: http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/