Project: Garage Find

[Fotis]

you can get a piston holder to get the pistons out of the caliper. Its not very expensive (around 15GBP) but it will save you a lot of time and you will use it again in the future for sure.
It saved me a lot of time all of these years.
I got something like this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/VS1806-Motorcycle-Piston-Removal-Pliers/dp/B000WZJ7NO

Highly recommended!

As far as the axle nut, you must remove all the powder coating from the wheel where the sprocket carrier sits. Also where the rubbers sit. I had the same problem before. Difficult task to remove the coating but with a dremmel it will take you around 30 minutes.

[Neal]

Did you get the pistons out ? Leave the disc pads in so that they push up against them as they release out , you will have more control over them that way and once they are protruding enough remove one disc pad and they will move further out .

[squirrel_hunter]

Not yet. Just not had the time this week. The plan is to spend some time with the bike tomorrow so we shall see what happens...

[squirrel_hunter]

Back on it after that technical delay. I took the caliper half over to Rolling Art who fitted a Helicoil for me. The nipples that I had from Yambits I didn't like, nothing wrong with them functionally but the nut on them was 7mm and I'm used to 8mm from working on my SV so much. So I logged onto Wemoto and ordered a couple for an SV to use here along with some nipple covers.



With the caliper half back with the repaired thread I wanted to remove the pistons to ensure there was no swarf in there. There was, so I'm happy I went to the trouble of doing it properly. Tried pulling them out with a slide hammer bit and some O-rings but that wasn't happening so I used my additional brake bleeder rig which consists of a spare master cylinder attached to a spare handlebar held in a vice. I joined this caliper half to a spare caliper half and quickly filled and pumped the pistons out of the side I wanted. Cleaned the half up and reassembled.

Now lets carry on as if that didn't happen...



That was what I was starting with. Covered in grease and 20 year old fluid, the leaver was broken presumably in a crash, the pads were contaminated and the paint was coming off.

The first step was to take the master cylinder and strip it down fully. I've never taken a master cylinder piston apart before so it was a learning experience for me. So this is what the internals look like:



The reason I wanted that out was that the paint on the master cylinder had flaked off over the years and looked awful. So I stripped it down including the brake switch that was damaged in removal (replacement sourced from eBay) and sanded the old paint down. I then masked it off and painted it using black spray on Hammerite. This process took a lot longer then I expected as the paint was taking 3 days to cure and would need 3 attempts to cover everything evenly. I thought it was the heat, but I think it was a fault can with a bit to much propellant in it. But in the end it was worth the wait.

[squirrel_hunter]

Once it was all dry I could reassemble the master cylinder using a new rebuild kit from Yambits. Getting the piston out wasn't too bad, once I'd prized the retaining rusted circlip out it really just popped out. So putting it back in should be easy right? Well... First you get the seals onto the piston then you put the spring and its seal in, followed by the piston. Steadying the housing with one hand you push the piston down with the other, and with your third hand you fit the new circlip. Yep bit of a problem there, but perseverance paid off and it was installed. Finally the cover is installed. I could now put that on the bike along with a new genuine leaver and adjuster bolts.



Turning my attention to the caliper I had cleaned up the body and the pistons which were in surprisingly good condition. A new set of seals from Wemoto and they could go back in. The caliper half joining seals came from Yambits. Interestingly Yamaha in the workshop manual says not to disassemble the caliper into its half's and does not list the joining seals, and as such they do not provide torque settings for the joining bolts. So I opted for 35nm as that is what is used on an SV's rear caliper. If anyone would like to offer me a larger number with a reason I'm happy to up it on the caliper.



Now the caliper was assembled with its pistons I could then install a new set of EBC HH front brake pads and Yambits retaining pins. The pad spring and cover was then added and the caliper installed onto the fork.



Finally its a new brake line and HEL Performance took my custom as I use their lines on my SV. I opted for a simple black line to keep a standard, but subtly modified look which fits my brief.



Fluid has been added and the system and bleed, but I've not got pressure at the lever yet, I expect there is just some air trapped in the system as it new. So I've zip tied the lever back and will give it another go tomorrow, not bothered about this at the moment as I'm sure with a little more work it will be fine.



Just need to do the same to the rear brake.

[kneewall49]

Coming along nicely and you are learning a lot.  Do you have pressure in the lever now?

[squirrel_hunter]

Yep got pressure. Just some trapped air as suspected. I will however give it another bleed before use, and so far no leaks...

[jcsnook]

Nice work!  Is that Hammerite paint resistant to brake fluid?  Most master cylinders and calipers I see restored are powder coated.  I tried "Caliper Paint" on my TZR calipers, but have not been overly impressed with it.  I can see it's already coning off.

[squirrel_hunter]

I don't think Hammerite is advertised as brake fluid resistant, but in theory it shouldn't need to be. I've been as careful as I can be to keep it clean and have used brake cleaner to tidy up after myself. The calipers I have left with the original paint. There are some chips on them but I don't think its to bad so I'm happy to leave it as it was and see how it goes after all they are in a very venerable position and this bike is being built to be ridden.

[squirrel_hunter]

Rear brake similar to the front. The master cylinder was in desperate need of some paint so again I stripped it down, but also again as I've never rebuilt a rear master and this is what the internals look like. Interestingly there was little fluid in here but lots of yellowy white powder I presume is dried brake fluid?



At this point I discover no one does a pattern master cylinder kit so Yamaha luckily still makes them, but they are not exactly cheap. But putting new next to old really shows the difference.



The installation of the kit for the rear is the same as the front, put the seals on the piston, put the spring, piston, and lever assembly into the housing and secure with a clip. In writing easy in practice I need a third hand, but once its in it seams so easy I'm left wondering why I managed to fire the piston halfway across the garage on one installation attempt.

Then it was the caliper. Again cleaned up it didn't look to bad, and again Yamaha do not want you to split it so 35nm was what I torqued up the joining bolts to. The original pistons were a little manky so I had some Yamaha NOS ones I bought for a good price and set about installing them.



Which is when I discovered I'd got my part numbers muddled up and it was a pair of front pistons. So they go in the spares box and Yambits provided me a pair of pistons and seals.



These were installed along with a set of new EBC HH pads and some SV nipples for their 8mm bolts.

Finally a rear HEL brake like joined it all up. This was a bit of fun to get the hose the right way round. It was a case of install check and then swap it round. I thought I had it correct and then checking for flex in the line discovered it was a little tight, a quick flip and it was fine.



Not filled the rear up as I don't have any footpeg hangers and thus no rear brake lever. Once I have that then I can fill the rear system. But I have a quandary over that, more later.

However in other news I received a nice little phone call... the crank is ready.

[ybk]

Nice progress! I'm doing the same on my brakes, also thought about the torque on the caliper joining bolts. From googling those kind of bolts generally require >25nm of torque so 35 should suffice. Think I'll opt for that number as well.

[Neal]

Sorry to nit pick , are you going to replate the axle , chain adjusters , bolts etc ? You have done a great job with all the other parts but these small details are detracting from the overall look .

[squirrel_hunter]

Not going to replace the axel as I'm not sure where I'd get a new one from as it will only end up the same. The axel nuts will be replaced with a self locking nut. As for the adjuster bolts and nuts it had crossed my mine, but I'm not sure if they are anything special?

[Neal]

No no not replace , replate them with a zinc coating I think , makes them look new again .

[squirrel_hunter]

Interesting... How do I do that?