How to Improve Your Brakes

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[Major_Grooves]

Right I've been to my local Honda place and ordered more banjo bolts and some seals.

How easy are the seals to work with? Any tips on how to put them in or anything to watch out for? Would blunt ended forceps be okay?

I've bought two more bottles of brake fluid, so I think I will use the first bottle to reassemble the system, then if the pistons are still seizing on, I will use the that fluid to pump the pistons out, then I can clean them properly, replace the seals and use the second bottle to refill the system for the final time.

please work this time!
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About me|@Major_Grooves|My company|Digg|Flickr

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Hi

If the seals have arrived then use them, otherwise you will chuck them in a box and forget about them .

The seals are a fairly hard rubber. On the FZR I used a cocktail stick to get them out carefully. They are fairly easy to work with (just you land up getting horrible brake fluid on your hands), and it should be obvious which seal goes where. Use some fresh fluid on them when putting them into place, same on the pistons.

By the way, do not shake the bottle of brake fluid. It gets air bubbles easily, so if you shake it then it will be a pain to bleed.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Major_Grooves]

Cheers Keith.

[AcIdBuRnZ]

Ok, so I undid the bolts holding on the caliper, and it came free from it's mounting, but now it won't slip away from the disk

I assume this is because the edge of the disk is slightly thicker? Should I just force it off?

I'm kinda worried about how I'm going to put it back on if it is this difficult to get off!

Maybe I should leave this to a garage, but I want to learn this stuff!
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Past: Honda NSR125R >> Kawasaki ER-5a2 >> Kawasaki ZZR-600e1 >> Suzuki GSXR-750Y >> Honda VTR 1000 Firestorm
"Chickity China the Chinese Chicken..."

[Major_Grooves]

I've found it easier to take the pads out first.
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About me|@Major_Grooves|My company|Digg|Flickr

[Kickstart]

Hi

There is often a lip around the edge of the disk (from wear) which makes them a pain to get off. A bit of effort and it should come off. If you clean everything up the pistons will push back more easily, but if you don't then it will be a pig to get back on.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[AcIdBuRnZ]

Thanks Keith, kinda what I was expecting to hear.

I assume it would be even more difficult with new pads, as they would be thicker?

So, basically the pistons should move in further than they are (once cleaned), which will give extra space to get the calipers back on?
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Past: Honda NSR125R >> Kawasaki ER-5a2 >> Kawasaki ZZR-600e1 >> Suzuki GSXR-750Y >> Honda VTR 1000 Firestorm
"Chickity China the Chinese Chicken..."

[Kickstart]

Hi

If you are fitting new pads then the pistons will need to move all the way back into the calipers. If they are a bit stiff then clean them up and they will probably be OK. Very stiff and you will probably have to strip them down.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Major_Grooves]

Well, I think I've got it finished.

It nearly went all wrong though...

Cycled to Barnet on Saturday to pick up the part that were being ordered for me only to find that they had been sent to the Midlands by mistake! I took the one banjo bolt they had as that was the minimum I needed to finish the job.

I fitted one end of the line using the torque wrench (correctly this time). Then I realised that the fittings of only one end, the end that I had attached to the reservoir, were angled and probably supposed to go into the caliper. Not so much of a problem but the washers had been "used" and I only had one spare. Spent an hour walking round my area's garages etc., trying to find a copper or aluminium washer to no avail. In the end, I decided to reuse one of them.

Unfortunately, now I couldn't get the bolt into the thread that I had over-torqued the other day. Presumably I had slightly damaged the thread. Visually it looked okay, but I then used the bolt to re-tap the thread. It ended up okay, but I had to clean some metal crap out of the hole.

Got the line fitted properly then filled the system with fluid. But there was a leak from the caliper banjo bolt! Close to tears was I! Anyway, I had torqued that bolt to the lowest recommended setting, but after I tightened it up it was fine.

Got the system filled and bled, but, the brake lever had loads of travel. This confused me a bit, because the first time I filled the system, just before I sheared the banjo bolt, the lever had been firm straight away. Anyway, I bungeed the lever down overnight and the next day it seemed to be okay.

So, now the brakes seem to working fine. I can't honestly tell if they are better than before I changed the line because it must have been about 10 weeks since I rode it last. Seems to stop okay. No leaks anywhere.

Unfortunately, I have lost one bolt! Sometimes a split-pin is used to secure the bolt holding the brake pads in. On my brakes, instead of a split-pin, there is another short bolt with a screw head that goes on top of the other bolt. Lost it! I am presumming it will be okay for a few days as long as I keep checking the bolt is secure, but I would rather get a replacement before I go to Oxford on Thursday.

Also, if anyone could recommend what torque the bolts holding the caliper onto the forks should be, it would be appreciated.

So, changing your brake lines and cleaning the calipers should take 1-2h for someone competent.

For someone less competent, like me, it took around about 16h in total over several days.
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About me|@Major_Grooves|My company|Digg|Flickr

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