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, more brakes, indicators and stuff!

A solid weekend in the garage this weekend saw the bike take another big step forward.

Firstly I had the indicators turn up from www.cmnsl.com which I assembled mid-week.

Next some more parts from the M Shop  which meant I could crack on with the brakes, however It soon became apparent that one of the boots for the sliding pin part of the caliper was wrong so these were ordered from ebay for speed. I also put the lever together but I am waiting on the inspection window.

Next the speedo cable went on and the cable guide plus the clutch cable. I also took a little time over cable routing and getting the loom tidy at the front of the bike. Front and rear indicators were fitted and wired in, as was a new horn.

Next I was planning on fitting the NOS headlight but soon realised it was wrong. Size wise it is perfect but had no provision for a side light, so I need another. Fortunately fellow M Club member on facebook Skungheeney Harrison offered me a genuine Honda part he had as a spare which I swiftly took him up on.

Lastly I fitted the NOS belly pan, fitting kit and radiator cover and its really starting to look good!

Update, I now have all the missing brake parts and a battery, next job is get the front brake on and bleed and get the battery on to check if I have it wired up correctly!

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.