[WRXer]

Some guys have all the fun

 

[RaYzerman]

Oh my, I see a couple of FZ750's and KZ750's fer reasonable... I'm biting my hand like Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove..... down boy!

 

[Oldjeep]

Ugg - cleaned up all the carbs yesterday and dropped one. Snapped one of the float towers off of the body. Can't really see a reasonable sound way of fixing it - so off to ebay for a $45 replacement body.

 

[Oldjeep]

Got a few things done this week after I dropped the bike. New rear tire, chain, rear brakes rebuilt, new rear master cylinder. Started tearing down the seized clutch Mc for rebuild.

 

[joespeed]

you must really enjoy working on old bikes, to put that much work into them. The amount of effort expended in resurrecting that old bike has to be either love or you enjoy the challenge, 'cause counting your labor, you aren't going to be making any money on flipping that. As I've gotten older, I seem to have lost interest in doing much work on my bikes..& I used to enjoy spending time working on them. Fortunately most the bikes I own don't require that much work.

by the way, any idea where I could find a replacement front caliper for an '84 XL-600 ?

 

[Oldjeep]

I definitely don't make money if you count labor - just fun getting them functional and riding them for a bit. It isn't really all that much work. Changing tires, chains and rebuilding brake stuff is simple. Carbs I can pretty much do in my sleep.

In terms of the caliper - ebay should have what you need. Do you not have a caliper? If you do, brakecrafters should have you covered for gasket seal kits and pistons if you actually need them. K&L kits are good too.

 

[joespeed]

Thanks, Chuck.. I do have the oem caliper, but it's got a piston stuck..& Honda used plastic pistons! ..at least on this model..It's a dual piston caliper, got 1 piston out, but tried a variety of methods & unable to budge the other one...( of course, I pushed it all the way into the caliper)

do you order brake stuff directly from brakecrafters / K&L , or do you have to order them from an online retailer ?

 

[Oldjeep]

Thanks, Chuck.. I do have the oem caliper, but it's got a piston stuck..& Honda used plastic pistons! ..at least on this model..It's a dual piston caliper, got 1 piston out, but tried a variety of methods & unable to budge the other one...( of course, I pushed it all the way into the caliper)

do you order brake stuff directly from brakecrafters / K&L , or do you have to order them from an online retailer ?

Brake crafters I typically get off eBay, they sell there. K&l eBay or Amazon - wherever it is cheaper.

As for the piston - just break it up and get a new one.

 

[joespeed]

You might find this funny, as a C.O. B., I threaded a screw into the piston & tried pulling it out..didn't work. Used epoxy to fill the hole, sanded it flat..good as new ( if it wasn't still stuck in the caliper)

 

[RaYzerman]

I'd lean towards another caliper if available...... have heard of some who removed pistons by using a grease gun... which would require some kind of adapter for the banjo bolt and re-installing the other piston....

 

[Oldjeep]

Compressed air is how I remove them, just need to be careful where you aim. Headed out to sport wheels this morning to see if I can find anything in the fairing piles

 

[joespeed]

tried compressed air, & a bunch of other things.. was going to put other piston in the caliper, then try using the brake system, by blocking the removable piston..thinking the hydraulic pressure from the m/c might force the stuck piston out. After deciding this, I couldn't find where I'd put the caliper..

I recently found the caliper in a box, while I was looking for something else...

 

[Oldjeep]

Finished with the carbs, changed the plugs and spun it on the lift so I can start doing forks, tire,brakes on front.
Tried to fire it up and it seems like it wants to run. Definitely have a big rusty hole in a mid pipe.

 

[Oldjeep]

Runs nice now that it shot the mouse nests out of the exhaust.

 

[BigOgre]

Look underneath your box for a wide-eyed mouse going "WTF?!?"

 

[Oldjeep]

Done for the day. It's nice out and there is a food truck event at the end of the block. Need to do some cleaning, Install new bearings/tire and then drop the forks out

 

[joespeed]

Congrats ! you're making great progress, nice to see an old bike brought back to usefulness.
I have an old '86 Aspencade (1200cc 4 cyl.) I putt 50k + miles on it commuting to work & riding cross country, a few times. It's a dinosaur compared to a new bike, but @ almost 40 y/o, it still works very well.

 

[Oldjeep]

Got the forks cleaned up and resealed today. Had to resort to a dirty old hoe (handle) to get one of the cartridges tight. If I do another one of these, I ll build the super long huge hex wrench needed to make the job easier.
@natsmada4fjr stopped by to set me up with some more berrymans, now I can dip 2 carbs at a time.

 

[Oldjeep]

Lot of little cleanup things today. Finished cleaning the tank. Reinstalled level sender and new petcock. Was pleased to see that the seat was in good shape under the cowl. Spent an hour cleaning blue paint transfer off it. Cleaned up front calipers and put on new pads. Just waiting on clutch and brake lines to show up Monday. After that, just a lot of decisions on the body/paint
work.

 

[Oldjeep]

Took it out for a quick spin around the neighborhood yesterday. Clutch is good, brakes just need a final bleed. I used some buy by length brake lines off eBay - cheap, same or better quality as Galfer but not quite as nice as FrenTubo. Starts right up. Cyl 1&4 are running pretty cold. Need to see if it is just a balance issue or something else. Runs strong when you get rpms up. Gear shift is crazy high, even with my adv boots. Slight oil drip from either drain or oil filter housing.