Ok, here we go, time to talk about yesterday's work.
First, I put a sling under the front of the bike to get the triple trees high enough in the air to install the replacement forks; as I first went to slide in the forks I noticed that the top triple tree bracket had rotated relative to the bottom one. Sigh, find a BAW (big ass wrench), loosen the stem nut, line everything up, install forks.
Oh crap, I forgot to install the clutch side clip on before I slid the fork on. Take fork out, install clip on, rinse, repeat.
Ah, that's more like it!
Ok, replacement brake rotor installed on the wheel, time to install the wheel on the forks! Axle goes in like this, and like that and WTF? There's too much axle? Huh?
Well fuck, I bought an axle off a '95 CBR900RR, and it is slightly longer:
'93 and '94 had mechanical speedometers, '95 on had electrical speedometers. Sigh. I'm not going to let that stop me, however!
With this ring, I thee ride!
That's more like it! I'll get the proper axle ordered up and installed, but this is good enough to get the bike mobile.
Time to get the calipers installed!
This is the point where I realize I routed the throttle cables wrong when I installed the throttle clip on. Rather than pull the wheel and forks off again, I decided to disconnect the cables from the carbs and route them that way.
I also noticed the metal cable guides had been bent in the accident. I straightened them out, and the throttle became much "snappier", actually snapping shut when the throttle was released. That's a good thing, I think!
Cables properly routed between forks, under top triple tree, and over the frame to the carbs. The factory service manual is wonderful for showing where every little wire and cable routes. Worth every penny of its $25!
Here's the airbox reinstalled on the carbs. It turns out the airbox rubber boots weren't seated properly on the carbs, and I discovered this when I removed the airbox to deal with the throttle cable routing. Some WD40 and some pushing and the boots and airbox reinstalled fine.
Man, this is a huge airbox!
Broke brake bracket breplaced. This turned out to be important, as the front brakes weren't bleeding right.
Fuel tank and seat reinstalled
I turned on the fuel, pulled out the choke, and she fired up after just a few seconds of cranking. I turned the idle down to about 1200 RPMs and was able to putter around in first. This is a powerful bike. Even at 5 mph in first, I could feel how stupid fast it is. Transmission shifted very precisely, which is good. Steering is very sensitive. I think this bike is getting a steering damper. Sneezing while riding could result in being in oncoming traffic!