frame/suspension

Right engine cover & subframe painted, reservoir in

Progress Sunday

Wirebrushed, sanded, primed, and painted the right engine cover. Used DupliColor black gloss engine paint. Hung in the cooler, lower humidity sunroom to ensure good drying and hardening. It was 90deg F, 80% humidity outside.

Progress today

Cleaned old gasket off of engine crankcase with a small, sharp wood chisel, having covered the internal components with shop towels to keep dirt/debris out of the clutch and gears. Installed new gasket on the locating dowel pins.

Nudged cover over the pins and starter drive pin/bush (which had fallen out when I took the cover off).

Bolted up the cover with new stainless bolts and washers (M6x25, M6x30 hex head) from Lowe’s, except for one original bolt at top holding pulser wiring clip. Looks very nice now. More of a semigloss finish, which goes well with other black bike parts.

Sanded, degreased and masked off the upper part of the rear subframe. It had some rusty patches and scrapes in the steel. Painted the subframe, using the same Rustoleum metallic matte nickel color.

Ran a 6mm bolt through the right upper fairing mounting bracket a few times and freed the formerly jammed threads. I was lucky it worked. Installed my hand-made “frankenstein bolts” on each side.

Reinstalled the new coolant reservoir bottle with existing cap and hoses.

All 3 Brake Calipers Installed

Progress today

New(er) front caliper assembly

Drained and disassembled new-to-me right front brake caliper. Cleaned/polished interior, piston edges, exterior, hanger pin, etc.

Right caliper mostly apart

Checked existing pads. Found them to be EBC HH in very good condition. They measure same thickness as new pads. Scrubbed braking surfaces and reinstalled the pads in the caliper. Reassembled caliper and installed on the fork leg with polished bolts.

Completed same process for the left front caliper, but found extra part at the end.

Pad spring and otherwise assembled left caliper

Disassembled again, assembled with all parts, and installed on the fork.

Removed rear brake assembly including pedal/peg/master cylinder unit, fluid reservoir, and caliper with hoses. Disassembled new to me rear brake caliper. As for the fronts, found EBC HH pads with little wear.

While the rear was naked, scrubbed and wirebrushed the swingarm, hub, sprocket, brake disc, and brackets. Polished brake mounting bolts. Reassembled rear brake caliper and installed on the bike.

Forks and Front Wheel On

Posted updated checklist [V7]

Progress today

Touched up black paint on front and rear rims – mostly scratches near edges. Some historical, and some from damage I did with tire spoons.

Reassembled right fork leg with new seals and oil. Found new stainless 8mm x 30 bolt was a bit too long to seat, leaked. Reused original (good) brass bolt and it sealed well.

The custom 41mm seal driving tool worked well. Pounded on a wood block from the top to seat both the upper bush and oil seals.

Bought a new stainless 8mm x 25 bolt for the left leg. Completed reassembly of left fork with new seals.

Reinstalled both forks on the bike. Reinstalled both clip-ons.

Installed front wheel. Found the new stainless left fork bolt protruded very slightly into axle space – its head longer than the original Showa bolt’s. Next time we’ll buy OEMs. Filed it down and polished surfaces and axle to fit.

Reminder: Will need torque wrench to verify all fasteners installed today are correctly tightened.

Wirewheeled and polished heads of the 4 rear wheel lug nuts.

before and after

Right fork leg apart

Progress last night

Painted brake pedal in the new right peg assembly. Nice match – in color and texture/sheen – for original anodized surfaces on the bike. Used Rustoleum automotive gray primer and Rustoleum metallic matte nickel paint. Will also use for lower fork legs and probably other bike parts as we go.

Progress today

Disassembled right fork leg. Cleaned parts. Sanded, degreased, primed, and painted right fork lower. Re-painted left lower to match.

Will reassemble both forks after paint has 48hrs to harden. Also need to slot a 2′ length of 1.5″ pvc pipe to fit tubes to use as a bush/seal driver.

Left fork apart, spark plugs changed

Posted updated checklist [V6]

Progress today

Pulled stripped fork bottom bolt from right fork leg with fluted screw extractor (EX3 size). Very tight, apparently seized. Started to bend the tap handle, so switched to crescent wrench. Scary and slow, and the extractor twisted a little sideways, but finally pulled it.

Attempted to fit new seal and upper bush in left leg. Green seal driver did not work, at least not well. Need better clamp and maybe thicker plastic tube/pipe. Also I caused inner (threaded) part of damper assembly to ride up so lower bolt wouldn’t reach. So …

Completed disassembly of left fork leg.

Then able to push inner damper down to end.

Cleaned parts. Left leg ready for reassembly. Also enables more thorough oil fill/measure routine.

Drained coolant at water pump. It was surprisingly green as opposed to brown and rusty. Hope that means it did a good job preserving internals.

Disconnected both radiator hoses and pivoted radiator up to access front spark plug holes. Replaced spark plugs in all 4 cylinders.

Reassembled radiator hoses and installed radiator bracket (apparently off for years – bolt partway in hole).

Front wheel, forks off

Posted an updated checklist (V5)

Progress today

Removed front wheel. Wirebrushed/cleaned axle, spacers. Washed wheel and disks. Polished disk with scotchbrite, brake cleaner and fine sandpaper to clean all braking surfaces.

front wheel (before)

front wheel (after)

Fabricated wheel balancing stand from flange and iron pipe on workbench leg. Tested. Looking good.

Made seal and bushing driver out of vet pill bottle. Cut off the bottom and added two hose clamps. Fits perfectly on stanchion tubes. Will see how it works on re-assembly.

Removed clip-ons from forks, then fork legs from the bike.



forks fresh off the bike

Cleaned outside of forks, scrubbed with scotchbrite pad. Removed stickers, degreased and sanded lowers (sliders) in prep for prime and paint.

Pulled bottom bolt from left fork, but couldn’t break the right one loose. Starting to strip the hex head. May need to do bolt extraction.

Disassembled left fork leg: pumped oil out of bottom hole. Pulled out rotten dust seal. Found retaining ring a little corroded. Oil seal significantly deteriorated with solid crud crust. Took considerable slide-hammering to remove it and the bushing. Both bushings in good shape with no scoring or noticeable wear.



left leg parts (before)

Cleaned inside slider tube and pried off fork protector. Did final scuff sanding and degrease on slider, then primed and painted it.

left slider after paint

Polished both stanchion tubes to flatten rust pits. Used (000/0000) steel wool and WD40. Used fine file with no pressure to clear the larger spots. Not perfect, but they are very smooth to the touch with no raised edges to catch rubber seals or score the bushing.

stanchion tubes after polishing

Subframe clean

Progress today

Noticed that fuel pump was hanging loose. Found rubber mounts split. Clamped rubber to pump body and assembly to mounting ears with zip ties. Is very firm, and still rubber-isolated from frame. New rubber mount is OEM part# 16711-MZ7-000 ($16.95 at BikeBandit).

Cleaned up rear sub-frame area. Cleaned parts, wire runs, fender assy, metal bits. Removed dirt, dead bugs, leaves, other dust. Lubed seat latch and helmet lock parts.

Built prop on dolly to support front end of bike off the ground. Installed. Ready to remove front brakes, front wheel and fork legs.

Remove brake calipers. Remove front wheel. Remove, polish fork legs.