Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Thanks

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Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

OK folks, let's take it another step forward:

I had to source an original Takasago rear rim instead of the (very nice) Borrani alloy. I managed to find one in Sweden, just hour in car from where I live ( yes, you guessed it, there a brigde btw. Denmark and Sweden)
As a bonus it got a complete rear wheel, meaning that i now had surplus brake drum, meaning 2 to choose from.
I chose the best of course, and after a little spit n' polishing:


The hub for the rear sprocket:


I just LOVE the vent on the rear brake:

... anyone ever wondered why the rear - and not the front brake is vented ?

With 2 rims, and a lot of other parts ready, I could send the first batch away for re-chrome:


Some of the parts to be zinc plated:

_________________
Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

Summer's almost gone, and while I'm still waiting for last parts to return from re-chrome (he does a good job) it's time to give the front fork some attention:

Thanks to a fellow member at the Swedish triples forum, my attention was drawn to Ralf Gille in Germany, who offers these fine bushes:


With bushes from Ralf and new tubes bought from Diablo Cycles, we have almost everything it takes to rebuild the front fork.
The fork is a very simple design. Kawasaki made some marketing pitch and labelled them as "Ceriani-type" but to me they seem very similar to older english forks, like the ones from 1950-ies Nortons.
The forks are easily dismantled, but take care when you unscrew the top of the fork-legs (where the seals are located) If you have no better tool but a big wrench, these parts are easily scratched.

_________________
Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

Here are the old forks dismantled - pretty simple stuff, yeah:


Here are the new tubes as they came from Diablo Cycles:

as you can see the top bushes comes along, but not the bottom ones - which I had to buy from Ralf.

It's of course essential to clean the parts to be reused, especially the outer / bottom tubes can be a little tricky to clean. I used a stiff brush on a long stick, like the ones used for bottles.

After cleaning of the outer tubes, they were send away for re-chrome, and while waiting, I started working on the inner tubes...

_________________
Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

... the old inner tube are seen here:


note the dark colour at bottom end of tube (picture shows tube upside-down) which indicates where the oil level was, and that it has been standing still for many years

Inner tubes are tapered where the bush sits and there is a thin shim which must be reused on the new tubes, and so must the stop ring, which fits in a machined slot on the inner tube. Maybe it's easy to see on next picture:

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Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

Therefore we need to drill out the 2 "rivets" which holds the lower bushes in place:


Here I punch a mark, so I can place the drill in center. No big deal here, as neither the bush nor the inner tube are reused, but you can just as well pratice doing it right. My 2 cents

A vertical drill makes it an easy task:


Loose:


This was the easy part!

Now we need to remove the 2 stop rings from their groove in the inner tube. The rings are pretty stiff and made of spring-steel, but it can be managed, and you can slide them the short way down the inner tube You need to reuse these 2 on the new tubes...

_________________
Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

excellent work

Gary T

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Wine for my men we ride at dawn

Thanks Gary Let take this a bit further..


Just to recap - It's import that you preserve these 2 washers for the new tubes:


same goes for the stop rings:


A couple of notes about the stop rings:
1)
You have to overcome the spring force by inserting a pair of suitable pliers, and then slide the stop on the tube surface.
This will for sure leave two scrathes on the surfaceof the tube. No big deal, if you plan bin the old tubes, but otherwise take care and do apply some tape on the tubes to avoid the scratches. This is even MORE important when you re-apply the stop rings onto the new tubes!!

2)
When removed, you will probably see or feel, that the gap ends of the stop rings are pretty sharp (see picture with 2 red arrows) and not chamfered in any way - at least mine were not.
I strongly advise you to chamfer the gaps a bit, before you re-apply the rings. I managed to do this with an ordinary coarse file.
After chamfering the gap ends, I practiced re-applying them on the OLD tubes, until I was sure I could manage without scratching the tube surface.
At last, I applied some tapes to the tubes to cover the distance the stop rings have to travel when applied on the new tubes.

Sorry, but I don't have any pics on these 2 particular task.

No rocket science here, just take your time and work in an unrushed manner

With the stop rings re-applied onto the the new tubes, we can go on with the new bushes...

_________________
Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

The lower bushes comes with pre drilled holes and 4 mm countersunk unbraco screws, remember:



The screws are made pointed at the end touching the inner tube, as if they can just be tightened and press againts the inner tube, but I took the decision to drill a hole through the inner tube and to cut a thread all the way through but bushes and inner tube - see below



... and by the way, don't expect the pre-drilled holes in new bushes to match with the ones in the tubes, as they come from different vendors.

When you finally assemble, remember that bushes must be mounted with small oil escape holes facing the top of the fork and facing the small shim carried over from old tube:



Last step is to screw in the small unbraco screws. I applied a drop of LockTite (the red one) Better safe than sorry

Inner tubes are now finished, and ready to be mounted into outer tube, which are back from re-croming, very convenient

Obviously, the right amount of oil must be added (I use factory specs + 5%) This makes the damping a bit firmer, but don't overdo it, as too much oil will put more pressure on the oil seals (which are new of course)

The top bushes comes with the new inner tubes from Diablo Cycles, and it's pretty straightforward to assemble the bits:

Top bushes can be seen pointing out on the fork legs nearest camera.

Almost there:


The new oil seals must of course be pressed into the outer tube nut before the nut is mounted. The presence of the oilseal will add to the resistance when tightening the outher tube nut which has just been re-chromed, and we don't wanna spoil the chrome, so I advise you to clean the thread carefully - both inner - and outer, and then apply some oil to the thread.

I wrapped some layers of thick rubber tube around the outer tube nut when tightening, and I only worked on the top end of the tube nut, because this end will be covered by the big rubber dust shield.

Looking sharp - right

_________________
Peter says:
Keep the revs up !

Bikes:
H1 Candy Red, 1970
Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000, 1992

Very nice! And that looks like a lot of work....no wonder I'm procrastinating!