CruxGNZ

All cleaned up and ready for assembly... again.

More pictures to come.

I need to paint the starter again. It looks like crap in that picture. Wondering if I should stick with silver or hit it with gloss black. Hmm...

NZSpokes

Gold, paint it gold.

kenmoore

Stick a JD can on it like I did!

CruxGNZ

Oh yeah!

CruxGNZ

Even the smallest of items aren't getting overlooked on this rebuild.



I have a few items (braced swingarm, Ohlins spring and some brackets) out for powdercoating, so I have to tackle the fork rebuild and to be honest, I have never rebuilt a set of forks. I have replaced the odd leaky seal before, but never a complete rebuild. I found someone that kind of outlined what to do with thier CBR954RR forks and from what I understand, my CBR1000RR forks are pretty much identical. I hope nothing is broken, since one fork sits about 10mm lower than the other.

If anybody has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Here's my workbench at the moment. I need to clean it up in order to get 'r dirty!

VTR1000F

Those doohickies in the top picture are the fluid tensioning apparatus from your forks.

Hope this helps.

CruxGNZ

The fork rebuild went smashingly well. I kinda broke that white, totally tubular looking doohickey (more on that below). So, that required yet another parts order from Partzilla.com. Speaking of which, I was curious how much I spent there since I bought my bike. I wish I had never looked.



The fork seals are all installed and all done without having to buy any special tools. No "bullet" and no seal driver. You honestly do not even need them. After reading many, MANY threads of guys doing a fork service/rebuild and watching several YouTube videos, I was confident I could do it myself. And it was very easy. You just have to keep track of all your parts and keep them in order. Oh, and clean everything, which should be a given.
To get the seals off and on, you simply use electrical tape at the end of the tube. To set the seal, I used a chunk of plastic that was the same thickness as the seal itself. Placed the lock ring on top of the seal, and the plastic on top of that and lightly tapped all the way around the fork. And when it stops, the lock ring is set in the groove. Simple. I was suprised it went in that easy. I expected more of an issue, since you're supposed to use a seal driver.

I should see that white, spring topper doohickey in the mail by Saturday, and then I can get the one fork sealed up.

Also, I think I may have figured out why one fork was 10mm taller than the other one. When I unscrewed the top of the fork, the spring was not inside the white plastic doohickey. It was kind of jammed to the side. I'm really hoping that was the issue, because I didn't find anything else wrong with either of the fork internals.

The reason the plastic doohickey broke, was my fault. I made my own spring compressor and the points that go inside the holes of the plastic should've been a little smaller. Since they weren't small enough, it kind of ripped out and did the damage seen in the picture above. Oops. At least it's not a very expensive mistake.

All cleaned up with new seals, awaiting the dang parts.



One more "doohickey" to make Steve laugh.

VTR1000F

Look, if my help's not welcome around here...

ren

Don't ask questions you surely don't want the answer to at least that's what I tell myself

NZSpokes

Forks are way easier than folk think. Seen people rebuild motors but scared to open a fork.

Some forks you need a seal driver. Even then its tough,

CruxGNZ

That was me. I assumed that once open, parts and valves would fall out and roll across the floor. After watching someone else do it, that made me more comfortable in tackling it myself.

I have a set of '98 Superhawk forks that need a rebuild. I want to tackle those to get the experience with regular forks. Then sell them here or use them for my Materium project.

CruxGNZ

JE high compression pistons are in.

The parts I ordered for the forks will be here tomorrow, so those will get finished this weekend.

kenmoore

Good work mate,

Be good to have your bike back on the road.

ren

Haha nice biohaz bag

Looks like a standard "holds your pee cup" urine sample one

CruxGNZ

Haha, well sort of. My wife was in the hospital recently, so I helped myself to a couple dozen biohazard baggies that were in a cabinet in the room. They are nice too. Made of thick material and they have a slot to put a piece of paper.

The baggies kept the timing chains from flopping around when I rotated the engine on the stand and possibly chipping the new paint on the engine. Speaking of which, I am now working on the heads since the fork parts didn't arrive today. I'm lapping the valves and cleaning up the ports a little better.

ren

Rule for biohaz bags is 3mm thick minimum so yes they will be better than regular bags. Hope everything is well!

CruxGNZ

Thanks. She is doing alright now. The sack around her heart was enlarged and literally squeezing her heart, causing some issues. From what we understand, it was caused by a virus. Apparently anyone can get it, but it's extremely rare.

RoadManiac

Looks good man !!, biohazard bag looks familair haha

but being the most curious person here why did the engine need to come apart ? it sounds like deja vu for me haha

i did buy an 1000 gsxr engine thinking some valve seats where making noise, had the whole head done then put everything together and when i was cleaning my oil pan i found copper pieces so it can some apart

CruxGNZ

After getting my first pair of reading glasses, I realized that I can see things a lot better (like duh!). I honestly didn't know how bad my eyes were. The point of this is I put the engine together before I had my reading glasses and after getting my new glasses and looking at a brand new set of Honda pistons rings, I realized that there was a very small chance that I might have put one or possibly two of the piston rings upside down. The brand new piston rings have some scuffs or light scratches on them that I may have mistaken for the "R" or "RN". It pissed me off, but for the cost of a couple connecting rod bolts, some gaskets, and a little time, I could make sure everything was correctly installed. Turns out everything was installed correctly, but it makes me feel so much better knowing for a fact it was done right. Lesson learned. Sucks loosing your vision.

On the positive side, I am getting very good at building these engines!

thedeatons

Nice work!

Also i use plastic (Saran) wrap around the top of the forks before sliding seals on. Thinner than electrical tape so it doesn't expand the seals as much, and i've never had the plastic wrap rip on me... I just put a little fork oil on the plastic wrap and the seal slides right on.

James

CruxGNZ

Saran wrap! That would work nicely as well. I will try that on the Superhawk forks with the parts you are sending me James. Thanks for the heads up on that!

CruxGNZ

This project isn't moving as fast as I was hoping. We have fantastic weather here and I really want to ride! The Ohlins spring, braced swingarm and some other little bits aren't done from powdercoating yet. It's okay I guess, since I don't have the heads even cleaned up yet. The heads are bare and waiting for the port & polish work. I should be able to get the heads done and bolted onto the block before the weekend is over. At least, that's my goal.



Here's something I really need some help with. I have the '07 CBR1000RR front end with stock brakes and rotors. I don't think the stock Superhawk master cylinder will be right for the new calipers. I did a quick look for brake upgrades for the CBR front end, and all I get is Brembo this and Brembo that. I know Brembo makes good stuff, but that can't be the only brake upgrade. Besides, the Brembo master cylinder is ~$250 used!

The point of this, is I need to get a new master cylinder, so why buy a stock CBR master cylinder? I wish I wasn't brake master cylinder number illiterate. Would another master cylinder from another bike be better than the stock one from the CBR? I don't care if it's an axial or radial master cylinder.

Any help with the master cylinder issue is appreciated. If all else, I'll just get a stock '07 CBR master cylinder (~$40) and be done with it.

Stephan

Newer yamaha and honda superbikes are known to have very good brake master and the whole brake setup. Normally there is no need to swap for aftermarket ones. I would pick stock honda brake master.