The winter is almost over and I'm waking up as my *** is defrosting slowly.
So I figured I could tear the bike down, I went to buy a few lost sockets and beer. A few beers later the bike looked like a major wreck...


My forks really sucked and I almost killed myself last summer from a tankslapper so I got on it I took out these crappy stockers pig tails.


The fluid on the first fork looked pretty good


But the second looked like black dust on it and had a real bad look




I think safety when I choose a place to put my gas tank, I can trip on it while drunk.



Got to bring the rear slug to TDC


Lookin good




Then I attacked the valves inspection...and it failed, on the rear head I had 0,011 and 0,013 on the kyoto side witch is good, but on the intake, I measured 0,002 on both specs are 0,006 +-0,001


So I had to pull the cams, I had to make some custom CCT holder tool from a 1 buck SD


Pulling the lifters, quite easy with a magnet


I could not read all the numbers on all the shims, so I guess I will need to get a caliper to measure them, then I'll be able to order the right ones


I hate to mix lifters, they tend to make a specific wear pattern


That was the easy one, let's do the funniest one


The rear bolts of the front cover are a real PITA, got to loosen all therads and oil cooler to get them



A quick check to the chain and even if it looks good the links are too stiff and it's junk (32000 km on it witch is not too bad)


What is causing the fork oil to turn this silly color, Water ??

 

Second post reserved

 

Excellent work

 

busy day! is that small scissor jack really all that is supporting the front end?

 

Yeah lol I have to think of it not to wrench too hard or the gravity will claim it's due
It's resting on the sidestand and the jack replace the front wheel
Without the forks and wheels weight, it's pretty stable

 

Yep... water, heat and a lot of compressions... usually it smells kinda funky to... like rotten eggs... With oil like that I'd say swap every possible seal you can find...

 

If you haven't all ready, give the forks a good rinse or two with kerosene as there's more gunk in them.

Love the tank safety shot. Would have been better with a cigarette jutting into the edge of the picture! LOL

 

I absolutely loved that post, i wish I knew how to do what you did! Awesome

 

GBoezio,

Great post - very well done work to share with us. My bird is an '01 with 24,150 miles on her. I purchased it a year and a half ago with 16,600 miles on it and the previous owner did not have the 16k valve lash check performed. I've heard people who have gone awhile with their Superhawk's and the valve lash being within spec' beyond 16k...
So my questions are, how many miles are on your bike? How many miles have gone by since the last valve check/adjustment? And how many miles are on your fork fluid since its last check/change?

 

Little update, bad tools bit me ***, but on the positive side I realized it before tearing apart the front cams, I figured that my 0.0025 feeler gauge was waaay thinner than the 0.004 and that 0.006 was also thicker than the 0.007, I found it dumb not to include 0.003 and 0.005.... You see me coming don't ya
The were so well stuck together that I had to ditch this piece of crap after screwing up the end of it with a box cutter to try to pry them apart to no avail... 0.007 no go then 0.006 (+0.005) no go then 0.004 (+0.003) no go of course, then the 0.0025 will go in wrote that down...0.0025
Bought a Gray tools new feeler gauge so It won't be happening again.

Final results after 32000 km (20k mi), I ended up replacing only a 0.004 intake shim that I would leave in there, but I had my cams taken out so it's done.
all exhaust within specs 13, 11, 11,11 Intakes 5, 5, 5, 4 /1000 in

My torque wrench is too big for the cams holder and too cheap for comfort and too due for a calibration, so I ordered a new 3/8 10-100 lb/pi TQ wrench
Just finished to order my 0.85 Racetech springs and stock replacement chain set.
Now sipping coffee, working my *** off and waiting.
I bought a electronic caliper too, but these are tools that I wanted for a long time and That cheap *** feeler gauge at least gave me a reason to buy them

Fork fluid was stock, I never touched the bike except the carbs last year.

 

I was kind of waiting for that. I didn't think your intakes would have closed up that much.

That workstand makes me nervous! Can't you strap that thing up to the ceiling??

 

I received my RT springs, here they are by the rubbish originals





Since they are longer I had to cut the spacers





YEAH BABY !! It seem that I remembered where all this stuff goes





So I went for a spin, god damn I should have done this before, it's like a sportbike, now I can ride without fear to hit a bump and fly off the road.
Greatest mod to date.
Incoming summer

 

Very nice! How much did you have to cut off of the spacers for the .85's?

 

I appreciate your comments about the "new" bike because it really is once you get the bike's suspension to work with you and not against you.

I also really liked the "safe place" photo of the gas tank on the heater. You could take "block party" to a whole new level with that one!

Thanks for another one of your award-winning photo documentaries. Your Europe trip last year was great. This one is equally good. Happy trails!

 

The stockers were 100mm, My calculations were 74,3mm well 75 is good enough, I have a good 1" of front SAG, adjustments are pretty far, like 80 % in, someone could use 5mm longer spacer, I'm 160 lbs

Work against me you say, the damn thing tried to eject me last fall
I wrote this thread last fall, https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=13040
Nothing in broken in there, just bad springs from the start.
Thanks for comment, as I always say; if someone takes the time to read it, it was worth the time to write it