Latest update on the Project BadAssMotorScooterFromHELL!!!!™ bike...
I got a few much needed parts last night for the clutch and brake master cylinders and last night I had some time to try to get a couple of things done on the bike. I attempted to do the reverse bleeding and it just wasn't working on the brake side. I discovered that the pressure relief hole seems to be completely blocked even after trying to open it with a pin. I will try again later, but for the time being I used another trick I saw where you pump the brake handle, then open the top banjo nut to let out trapped air. Between a fluid filled tube attached to the bleeder nut and the opening and closing of the banjo nut, I was able to get solid pressure on the brake lines for the first time. I decided that I could then proceed to replace the badly worn front disk brakes.
The calipers came off easy as I had not torqued things down from the tear down and cleaning. I pulled off the calipers and tried to compress the pistons, which of course weren't budging because of the blocked relief hole in the master. I wrapped the top banjo nut in towels and loosened enough to allow pressure to flow and compress the pistons in far enough to get the new pads in and then back onto the rotor. As I do, I hand tightening all the bolts first, then grabbed the socket wrench first to get things snug before the torque wrench. As I started to snug the lowest caliper bolt up, it sheared off right at the base of the mount plate.
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
Pissed at myself and who ever must have over torqued the bolts originally, I buttoned up the things I could and hung the caliper on a bungee for now until I can extract the sheared off bolt from the mount plate. I also just checked online and could not find any at the usual sources and will most likely have to buy the bolts from the dealer, but we shall see.
Taking the knowledge from the brakes and the top banjo nut to bleed things, I started working on the clutch side of things. I was able to bleed it enough to get pressure to the slave cylinder and slowly worked it out enough to pull free. It was pretty nasty inside and I cleaned it out pretty good. I need to replace the slave cylinder gasket and go in there and clean and inspect the clutch push rod, but otherwise the seals on the slave cylinder looked good. Once cleaned out, I worked the air out once more and got pressure on the clutch for the first time. I ran it through the gears up and down and it seemed to be OK. I won't know until I can fire it up to fully check clutch pressure.
Some of the parts I got from V4 Marketplace (www.v4market.com) were a new sight glass replacement kit whic included new master cover screws, new handlebar mount bolts as well as new level pivot bolts and nuts, as well as the sight glass itself. I need to pick up some black RTV to install the new glass, and if i'm careful I can do this without needing to bleed the clutch and brakes again. My boss used to work on old Magnas and Sabers and gave me a tip on cleaning out the pressure relief hole. Unfortunately it means pulling off the hole assembly one more time. Thankfully, I am a master at it at this point.
I also got in the front fork stabilizer plate which I will throw on here soon with some lock-tite on the threads. I need to pickup RTV and lithium grease to hit some of the rub spots on the various levers and push rods that I have been cleaning and such, but otherwise things are looking OK.With my other hobby having a LOT of stuff going on over the next few weeks, I'm not sure how much I will get done for the rest of the month... which sucks because we can coming up on rainy season here which complicates rides.
On a non-Project BadAssMotorScooterFromHELL!!!!(TM) bike front... I got some good ideas for the Jeep to try out but am just trying pennies before towing it to a shop for a diagnostic. Fingers crossed I can find the problem before that or that they don't charge me a ton to find it.
No comments:
Post a Comment