My bike, restoration update, fluids

This week I started by bleeding the front brake system with DOT 4, filled the cooling system and filled the gearbox with oil (0.9l).

With the brakes, to save mess (DOT 4 is highly corrosive) I used a hose and a syringe on the caliper bleeding nipple, when the syringe fills you can just re-cycle the fluid back in to its container. You also need a clear hose so you can see any air bubbles that come out. For those who have never bleed a brake before its quite simple.

1/ fill reservoir and pump lever.

2/ pull and hold brake lever

3/ open bleed nipple (8mm spanner)

4/ close bleed nipple

5/ pump lever as this re-fills the lever piston.

6/ repeat until no bubbles come out of the bleed hose and the lever firms up.

*** you can reverse step 2 and 3 (it doesn't matter) but you have to close the bleed nipple before releasing the lever or it will suck the expelled air back in.

Next I fitted the fuel tap and filler cap to the fuel tank, fitted the tank mounting rubbers and re-fitted the fuel tank, side panels and seat. Unfortunately I don't have a fuel hose otherwise I would of ran the bike, so this will have to wait another week. Running the bike is also important to properly circulate the coolant, which needs to be re-checked after.

its me! 

My bike, restoration update, wiring loom, brakes and the MB8

This week’s updated started with installing the battery and adding power to the bike for the first time in about 4 years, after doing this I turned the ignition on and some weird stuff happened! Firstly the oil and neutral lights were around the wrong way, easily fixed, then when I indicated right the tail light came on. Next came a lot of studying the wiring diagram and head scratching, Japanese bikes tend to be really easy to follow, for example a black and white wire will always connect to a black and white wire, in the end it came down to the two six pin plugs reversed, even these are colour coded so it was my stupid mistake. Now we have power and working electrics. 

I also fitted the rear brake light switch and spring, front brake lever and front brake light switch, clutch cover hood and finished the brake calipers with the small sliding pin boot. The brake calipers were then fitted to the forks and the brake lines installed.

Lastly I re-fitted the headlight to make the front look tidy.

MB8 – update, one thing that bothered me with the MB was the tear in the seat cover. The replacement cover came from the M Shop along with some MBX spares and using a heavy duty staple gun I re-fitted the cover. Its by no means perfect, but 100% better to what was there before.

my bike, restoration update, front brake part 2

The front brake has proved to be quite time consuming and I would categorise the refurb of it as one of the more major jobs on the bike.

Strip down; most jobs are relatively simple nuts and bolt removal with the exception of the caliper pistons. The manual tells you to drain all fluids and pop the pistons out with air, my home made solution was using a bicycle pump (track pump), a home made adaptor to fit in to the banjo hole and a bicycle puncture patch as a gasket so I could get as much air in to the brake as possible. Not shown in the picture but you need to leave the bleed nipple in the caliper or air will escape.

note: leave the bleed nipple in to plug that hole!

Once all the parts, bolts and seals were removed all parts were scrubbed in a parts washer to de-grease and the surfaces scrubbed ready for paint.

Using VHT caliper paint I then gave everything 3 coats and left to dry for a good 6hrs. Following the instructions I then oven backed at 200 degrees for 1 hour to properly cure and this final process makes the paint chemical resistant.

This presented another problem, it completely ruined the sight glass window in the reservoir. fortunately replacements are available on ebay so a new one was promptly ordered. The replacement is a press fit which isn't as alarming as it sounds. The reservoir only has to deal with fluid expansion and is under no real pressure as brake systems only have pressure between the lever piston and the caliper piston.

My Bike, brake parts and picture updates

This week I manged to get a few things for the front brake rebuild including a caliper and master cylinder rebuild kits. I also found a microfiche for the FWD which I thought would be a nice thing for the archive but I would also like to scan it/ read it, so if anybody has any suggestions here please leave in the comments bellow.

I also took a few photos to show where the bike is a the moment!

My Bike, Restoration update front brake part 1

When looking at the front brake assembly of my MBX80 it quickly became apparent the spare parts may not be as easy to come by as the double front brake set up of the UK specific FWDD model.

The front brake of the FWDD has a different master cylinder as it has to push a different ratio of fluid compared to the single disc model. The brake calipers are single piston sliding calipers (LH and RH) opposed to a single twin piston caliper. Obviously there are three hoses opposed to one and also a splitter unit.

Here are the parts diagrams from CMS

So the first task was to find replacement brake hoses, which if you want to use steel braided brake lines is actually easy as everybody seems to list the FWDD and will sell you a set. However as this bike is meant to be factory spec build I needed to find replacement rubber OEM style hoses.
Looking online on CMS and also speaking to David Silver Spares at the Stafford Classic Bike Show only one hose is now available as a spare part so I needed to find an aftermarket supplier.

Google unearthed Brake Quip rubber hoses via Proflex hoses so I sent a speculative e-mail to see if this is something they did, the reply came back and they said they could make them no problem and would just need the original hoses as patterns. I posted my hoses and they made a replica set for me and also supplied all the bolts and copper washers. The price is comparable to the braided hose kit, so if you want a set for your restoration give them a shout and say I sent you!

Old hoses on the left, new on the right