Bouncy Stuff

Over the last few weeks I have mainly been concentrating on the bolt on gear in so far as cleaning and re-coating. The rear shock and links along with the front fork bottoms and top yoke needed a lick of paint. The front forks have a new set of seals and 10W oil. Where possible the bolts, nuts and washers have been replaced with stainless steel.

R Caliper rebuild

After an initial coat of primer, 3 coats of red and 3 coats of clear lacquer the rebuild of the rear caliper is finished. New seals and pads are added after a full clean out of the internals and pistons.
The mounting bracket has also been cleaned up, polished and coated with ACF50. The bolts, washers and lock nut have also been replaced with Stainless Steel units. The threads have been coated with CRC SP400 corosion inhibitor and finally torqued ready to go.

Here is a quick link back to the original state of the Caliper >
http://2strokelover.blogspot.com/2012/01/rear-caliper.html

Rear Caliper Masking

Before masking off the joining surfaces of the 2 halves I decided to check out the pistons to make sure they were still ok . . .and sure enough with aid of an old brake line and a bicycle pump the pistons popped out and they are great, no rust or marks on the surfaces and the internals of the caliper are like new, great I can now go ahead and recover the caliper in the original bright red finish.

Rear Caliper breakdown

Following on from the post below http://2strokelover.blogspot.com/2012/01/rear-caliper.html I attacked the rear caliper with the Dremil and stainless steel wire brush. I took roughly 90 minutes to remove all the paint and oxidization. I had to use some 220 grade wet and dry sand paper to get into the deeper crevices.

Bling Bling #2

The frame was the first part I cleaned and polished immediately followed  by the swing-arm. This one was donated and was in better condition than the original with less corrosion. I must admit I spend less time sanding and polishing this and under the studio light more of the heavy sanding marks can be seen, again this is coated with  ACF50 for protection against oxidation/corrosion.

Bling Bling #1

After approximately 18 hours of sanding and polishing the frame is finally at a stage that I am happy with. With more time and effort the result could have been better but I was just not willing to put that into it.

I started with a rough 180 grade paper on a sanding mouse to get the heavy pitting out, I then moved onto a finer 240 grade on the mouse and some hand sanding. From there I used the wet and dry paper starting with 400 grade through 800, 1000 and finishing with 2000.
After the sanding I attacked the frame with polishing mops, course and medium. I started off with the cutting compound and ended with autosol paste. Pitting can still be seen and some fine sanding marks but again I gave it enough time at 18 hours. It is a big change from the state it was in at the start.

Just to finish off I coated it with ACF50 which dulls the metal slightly.

These images were taken with a Canon 7D and Sigma 12-24.

Rear Caliper

While concentrating on the rear section of the bike in preperation of the rebuild I attacked the rear brake system. I managed to release the 2 M8 bolts holding it together. The piston dust seals are totally perished and need replacing.
The exterior of the caliper is in bad shape too, again a lot of corrosion and paint loss.

 

What lies beneath

After polishing the hell out of the Frame, Swing Arm & Hangers [Images to follow] I made a start on the rear wheel. I have the old Tyre off and attempted to remove the brake disc, to no avail. 2 of the studs are corroded in place. 3 of the 5 I removed with an Impact driver but the driver has just damaged the allen head of the studs.

There is also a lot of work ahead in stripping the paint from the wheel and removing the corrosion underneath and then recovering . . . and the same with the front also.