[jockulousbrown]

Here's where I begin. Bodywork off, carbs out, brake calipers off, end-can off, clocks off .
Front fairing sent off for repair at Racepaint UK
Carbs and petcock sent off for cleaning and refurbishment at Harper's Ultrasonic

To do:

• Strip and refurbing brakes - calipers, master cylinders, new lines
• Remove scratches from end can
• New front indicators
• Replace various blown bulbs in the instrument cluster
• Air filters
• Replace mirror brace
• Replace RH mirror
• New screen
• Spark plugs
• New tyres - they're 11 years old.
• Speedo reads KPH - hmm, I could just leave it and do the maths...
• Any other critical stuff that I find along the way.

The front suspension is pretty baggy, but perhaps that's for next year. First thing I should do is check how it's dialled in - maybe a good set up will mitigate the fact that the oil inside the forks is the same as when it rolled of the production line in Japan 26 years ago.

Jock

 

[jockulousbrown]

First job - brakes. Riding the bike required careful planning... as in you had to plan well ahead if you wanted to stop in time. The brakes worked, just in a very leisurely fashion.

The calipers didn't look too bad on the outside, and everything came apart without too much drama, although the pistons were a little reluctant to come out. Should have pushed them 80% out with the brake lever before I disconnected them. The little channel between the two halves of the calipers was full of brown jelly... which might go some way to explaining the brake problem.

And here are some of the fruits of today's labours...

There's minor corrosion in the grooves the seals sit in - the picture makes it look worse than it actually is, but it's there. Any thoughts on the best way to deal with it?

Jock

 

[TwistedMister]

dremmel polishing wheel, light liquid compound

 

[Archaicguy]

Nice project! I'm subscribing to keep updated.

 

[jockulousbrown]

dremmel polishing wheel, light liquid compound

Good call - a Dremel is definitely on my wish list. Unfortunately, I can't buy any more tools for a couple of months if I want to continue to be married. In the end I went with Solvol Autosol, a brass brush, and a lot of elbow grease. Did a reasonable job. Still, that Dremel...

 

[jockulousbrown]

The bike came with this rather interesting stainless steel end-can.

Well, I say interesting, because I'd never heard of the company before. I assume the end can is of the period, but the company (based in France) are still going: Nikko Racing échappements motos & G-Pack

The exhaust in pretty good nick, but has the usual scratches and is looking a little tired. Started with 240 grit wet and dry to take out some of the scoring, then up through the grits to 1200, and then on to my new grinder / polisher which I got here: Bench Grinder Polisher Metal Polishing Machine From Metal Polishing Supplies UK Ltd

I didn't go for a full mirror finish, but it came up pretty nicely.

Jock

 

[jockulousbrown]

Rear caliper rebuilt with a TRK kit and SBS pads. Could someone please confirm that I have installed those two spring clips correctly? Not the R clips that hold in the pins, the ones that hook over the pads. They clamp the pads down onto the pins, which seems a bit counterintuitive - I thought the idea is that the pads move freely on the pins?

Jock

 

[sradmad600]

Rear caliper rebuilt with a TRK kit and SBS pads. Could someone please confirm that I have installed those two spring clips correctly? Not the R clips that hold in the pins, the ones that hook over the pads. They clamp the pads down onto the pins, which seems a bit counterintuitive - I thought the idea is that the pads move freely on the pins?

View attachment 575010

Jock

Looks good to me, below for reference.

Suzuki Motorcycle OEM Parts Catalog - Alpha Sports

Welcome to Alpha Sports Suzuki Parts Catalog. Search our Online Store for parts and accessories. We have one of the largest inventories on the Web. Authorized Dealer for Arctic Cat, Suzuki and AlphaSports. Motorcycles Snowmobiles and Atv's. Where putting you first is our Maine Busines

alpha-sports.com

 

[Bufftester]

Rear caliper rebuilt with a TRK kit and SBS pads. Could someone please confirm that I have installed those two spring clips correctly? Not the R clips that hold in the pins, the ones that hook over the pads. They clamp the pads down onto the pins, which seems a bit counterintuitive - I thought the idea is that the pads move freely on the pins?

View attachment 575010

Jock

Yes, you have the anti-rattle springs and shims installed correctly.

 

[craigfer63]

The parts Fisch, here, can help when you forget how things go together. 1995 Suzuki GSX-R750WS Rear Caliper (Model R/S) | Ron Ayers

 

[jockulousbrown]

Many thanks for the replies and (@craigfer63) the link to the parts fiche.
@sradmad600 - that picture shows in the springs in the other way round, with the little loops pointing inwards, not outwards. I've seen it being done both ways, but the fiche makes it look like it should be outwards:

 

[jockulousbrown]

Lack of parts prevents progress on the front calipers - I'm waiting for a new piston to come in to replace one that had a bit of pitting. I could have probably got away with refitting it, but...

So I decided to tackle a job I've been dreading - changing the spark plugs. I know it's just a routine piece of maintenance, but I've been scarred for life by the experience of stripping out the cylinder head thread the last time I did this... about 27 years ago on a CB250N (RIP).

For the WS model, the plug is the NGK CR9E; earlier W models take the CR9EK. Access to plugs 1 & 4 is easy from the sides, 3 is good from the top. 2 is a little bit more restricted because the thermostat housing is in the way, but not too bad.

In the end it all went smoothly - the bike came with the original toolkit, so I have the knuckle-joint plug socket, which makes life a lot easier. The key to reinstallation, unknown to my much younger self, is to put the plugs all the way back in finger tight. If you can't, there's a problem, and that problem won't be solved with a wrench.

I watched a bunch of videos of people tightening them up - opinions ranged from finger tight + 1/8 turn, through to finger tight + 1/2 turn. The instructions on the spark plug packaging suggest + 1/4. By the time I was at 1/8, it already felt like it was tightening up, so I gave it a tiny bit more and called it good - probably a bit less than 1/4.

Here are the plugs that came out, cylinders 1-4, left to right. These look pretty sooty I think? Rich? (The brown stuff on the threads is anti-seize.)

 

[craigfer63]

11 N/m / 8 Ft/lb for spark plugs. Beware EK plugs are very different.

Identifying Spark Plugs

Identifying Spark Plugs - The Green Spark Plug Company

www.gsparkplug.com

 

[Bufftester]

Cylinder 3 looks to be a bit leaner than the rest. Have you checked compression, and/or valve clearances?

 

[jockulousbrown]

Cylinder 3 looks to be a bit leaner than the rest. Have you checked compression, and/or valve clearances?

Thanks @Bufftester - no not yet. The bike came with gummed up carbs (Mystery goo) so I think that's the first thing to sort, then we'll see what the plugs look like after that's fixed. It is due a valve check though, but I figure the first thing is to fix the stuff that I know for sure is a problem, and then see how it runs.

 

[jockulousbrown]

At some point, I'll (hopefully) put something together. For now, I'm mostly taking things apart. Here is the exploded front master cylinder. It's in very good shape, although the rubber boot (far left) had failed, letting in water.

In order to do this job, I had to buy myself a set of circlip pliers. Ebay is full of four-piece sets priced between £10 (unbranded) and £35 (branded Draper), but having studied the pictures, I came to the conclusion that they are all identical - I expect there's an enormous factory in Guangzhou churning out 90% of the world's circlip pliers. The quality is fine for occasional use. However, the tips of the pliers are too big to fit into the holes of the smaller of the two circlips (far left, above). In the end, I walked the circlip out with a pick. So that I can refit it, I have ground down the tip of the pliers with my bench grinder (requires a fair bit of care not to end up with a flat spot on the tip or to demolish it completely - the lightest of touches does it). Job's a good un.

I have A Tourmax rebuild kit waiting to go into the master cylinder. Note, however, that the rebuild kits don't come with the rubber o-ring (pictured immediately below the main housing above), which is a bit tight given the price. Mine looks in excellent shape, so I will just reuse it (unless someone tells me that's a terrible idea).
Jock

 

[jockulousbrown]

My replacement piston came in, which allowed me to crack on with the front calipers. The TRK rebuild kit contains the 14 rubber seals, copper washers, stainless nipple and cover, and a pot with a smear of red rubber grease - which I take to be indicative of how little you need. After all, the idea is that the seal seats tight around the piston, so any excess is just going to get squeezed out.

I've had good results with SBS pads on my track bike (CBR600RR), so they're now my default choice. They take a bit of time to bed in though, and can chatter a bit when you first fit them. A hundred miles and a couple of good hard stops and they settle down and provide good stopping power.

 

[Bufftester]

Looks like you're making headway!

 

[jockulousbrown]

Thanks @Bufftester - yeah, I'm making a bit of progress, helped by an understanding wife who has tolerated me bringing an increasing pile of bike bits into the dining room to tinker with. Here in the UK it's cold - too cold to be mucking about in an unheated garage. This week's little job - rear master cylinder disassembly. Well, nearly. To pull apart that last bit of the linkage, and get the boot off, I need to put it in the vice... and the vice is in the garage!

Again, I have a rebuild kit for this, and again, the kit does not include the O-ring. I've watched quite a few videos of people assembling these, and whereas people often use red rubber grease for the calipers, everyone seems to use brake fluid to assembly-lubricate the master cylinders. Given that it might be a while before I put the whole braking system back together, I'll leave the assembly until I'm ready to use it - no point letting the brake fluid dry out and go crusty.
Jock

 

[jockulousbrown]

While I wait for the temperature outside to get back to something more tolerable, I'm looking around for other bits and bobs to do. So, onwards to the clocks. The bike is from Holland so the speedo is of course in KPH. Here in the UK, it's increasingly important to know how fast you're going with a reasonable degree of accuracy - (average) speed cameras and camera vans are everywhere, and the 60mph national speed limit seems to be in the process of being replaced, as if by stealth, with 50mph limits.

Option 1: replace the clocks. As far as I can tell from the parts fiche, the speedo drive is the same for all models, so a UK set of clocks should go straight on. Ebay suggests that the going rate is between £90 and £120 for decidedly used-looking clocks though. Hmm.

Option 2: fit a convertor - £30. Anybody tried one of these? KPH-MPH Top Cable Mount Converter | M&P Direct

Option 3: There's a seller on ebay called sticky business who does a set of speedo stickers - £3.50. Okay, it might seem a lot for a couple of small pieces of sticky paper, but I will say that it's a nice touch that they supply you with two sets, in case you mess up.

They go on easy enough, and I'm pretty happy with the result. Time will tell if they survive the weather and repeated bike washing.