Down under, an idiot and a 400F

Top bearing being loose isn't normal but it does happen.
Get some Loctite 'bearing fit', may have to order it?
Don't use it until your ready to assemble front end that way you can have correct pressure to seat bearing
There isn't anything retaining stem except friction/pressure from interference fit.
I made plug so you could beat it in, guess that didn't work?
When you use press, the stem doesn't sit flush, there is at least 1mm sticking out (maybe a little more)
Don't try and get it flush underneath, something will break
For the calipers, tape around the NISSIN and use a flat wood block to sand tops of lettering

Cheers gents!

I beat the shit out of that plug you made PJ and it made bugger all difference. At least I know its not going anywhere when I get it in there

I'm an idiot for not thinking about masking up the calipers! Thanks for a beautifully simple solution.

I think they're here PJ

Rock and Roll ;D
Have to get stem pressed ready for front end mock up 8)
Don't know why they said heavy, it's under 18lbs

crazypj said:

Rock and Roll ;D
Have to get stem pressed ready for front end mock up 8)
Don't know why they said heavy, it's under 18lbs

Click to expand...

Haven't sorted the stem yet, going to try and find someone tomorrow morning so can at least mock it up

I think mr postman got a bit tick crazy as it is apparently a heavy letter that may need two people to move it????

Bugger, when I saw you had posted I thought maybe you had the forks
Maybe it swam over and got waterlogged? ;D
Sorry about the stem, dismantled was cheapest way to ship.
Any back street garages near you?

Nah not yet, thinking about sneaking out of office early so I can cuddle them tonight

No issues with the stem, made them super easy to paint anyway. I will see if any garages locally can pop it in for a few dollars tomorrow morning.

Make sure they have a tube or stack of washers that will fit onto flat where bearing seats, if they press with it sitting on ends it WILL bend

No problemo PJ. Assume you mean sitting on the fork clamp holes. Turn it into a nicely painted banana clamp.

Yep, you got it.

Stem is pressed into the clamp! Local shop did it and had a great chat to them about tyres too which has confirmed my sizing on the rear: 120 x 80 x 18

It was surprisingly wide in the low profile 80 and looks great in a modern tread pattern. This is great news as it now means I don't have to do any crazy reworking of the swingarm or rear sprocket and also is in line with the recommendations of those in the know.

I took the time to polish back the NISSIN logo on the calipers, looks a million times better, however I have noticed some parts where I haven't hit the calipers with enough paint. What should I do here???? Strip them back and repaint them or just get another can and go over the top with another coat of paint?



Also picked up the most exciting part of the build so far (from PJ) at the post office:





They are in great shape and will clean up really nicely. I love the gold colour, almost silver and it should go nicely with the final colour scheme. I will be breaking them down this weekend to give them a proper clean and also make sure the seals are good. Then back together with some fresh oil, anyone got recommendations on weights for GSX-R forks and also oil heights?

The excitement was too great not to have a go at putting them on the bike, so I put together the triple clamps, working out which spacer to use and came across something. With the small spacer the clearance at the bottom is perfect, about 0.5 - 1mm out the bottom of the stem and sits really nicely on the bearing surface of the triple clamp. When I put the top bearing in and snug it all down I don't have room for the washer and the top nut, only the top nut and even this is only showing about 5-7 threads. Does this sound right?

I am happy to find a thin washer for the top nut to run on but want to make sure 5-7 or so threads is safe enough to clamp down the top triple clamp. I will get pics once I put the bearing on the stem and put it back together again.

Either way I thought I would mock it all up and I have to say the results are very "midrift stirring", is that worrying???

Of course I took some piccies:





PJ I have questions on the spacers. Can you tell me again why they are not the same width? I want to make sure I get them all lined up correctly so that I can make the caliper carriers with enough offset to centre the calipers on the discs. What should I be using as the guide? Should I be centering the middle of the hub in the middle of the forks?

front end looks killer hardcore mate

Whacked the triples in the freezer and popped the bearing in the oven on 60c and to my surprise it dropped straight down:



Greased both bearings up, dropped the top race in with some red Loctite on it and the front end was together for the first time in about 6 months.

Here is the amount of thread left:





Not much eh! It snugs down fine without the washer. Just need to find a thinner washer so I can torque the nut down without scratching the paint.

Also worked on a template for the caliper carrier. Need to make it from 7mm material to get the correct offset for the discs, or I might look at 6mm and some spacing washers as I'm not sure if both sides are the same. It's ugly so I might look at getting something made by a engineering shop in SS that I don't mind it being on show:



Something on a CNC would look amazing. Ultimately the aim was to get the brake pads sitting square on the discs, there isn't much room for error as its about 1-2mm from touching the back of the caliper. I think these should work though.

New position of caliper with carrier:

Great, you not only got them but mocked front end 8)

Did we measure the steering head length?
Probably should have made stem slightly longer as taper bearings are about 3~4mm taller than original ball bearings
The clearance at bottom between yoke and steering head is around 0.5~1.00mm?

Spacers lengths are different because hub is different.
The rotor side of hub is wider (to locate rotor) the speedo drive side is 'flat as drive plate bolts onto it, then speedo drive
You will need to use the small spacer on rotor side of hub (or did I make an alloy one?)
You don't use anything on speedo side of hub except the spacer/ speedo eliminator
You should be able to set spoke flanges 'centered' and the spacers should be more or less flush with outside edge of fork.
Have you tried a washer behind caliper mount to move them in slightly?
I would center fixed mount 'groove' on rotor.
It's going to be much easier to set up with a hub compared to complete wheel
I'll see if I have info on forks, PM me with year, I've forgotten already :-[

That's one serious front end!

Crazy

Hey PJ, forks are 2002. I put the spacer in the wheel which made a difference, the wheel is dead centre and the parts you made sit perfectly flush with outside of fork leg, I still get giddy looking at them... they're beautifully engineered!

The gap to the rotors is 7mm (if I centralise the caliper groove on the disc. I cannot use the original bolt hole either as this leaves one corner of the pads sitting off the disc. So I dropped the lower mount and brought it in a bit which sets the calipers at 3pm almost and means they sit the pads perfectly in the wear marks.

Did I do it right?

Edit: oh and my question was about the difference in rotor spacers not the axel spacers. Doesn't really matter I was just asking why they were slightly different.

Sounds like you got it all sorted, not sure if I told you about the left side spacer?
Originally the second set of rotor spacers were identical, it just didn't work so I had to modify them
I still have a pair of CBR rotor to CB350, 360, 350f/400f hub adapters for use with stock forks if anyone 'needs' some

Anyone got recommendations on what front master cylinder to use on my twin disc setup.

Haven't done the sums yet but it sounds complicated. Don't want wooden feel that causes lockup without any feel or indeed not enough stopping power.

I'm sure something like this has a 12-14mm piston, would that work or should I be looking at something like a GSX-R front brake MC setup?

http://bit.ly/NSTMIS

You want at least a 14mm MC. That one you listed doesn't have a stated size, but they say it's for "125 to 400cc sports bike" so I'd be thinking it's for a single disc and probably about 11mm.


Any newer twin disc sports bike will have the one you're after (R1/6, ZX6/9, GSXR1000/750/600, CBR1000rr, etc). Just get a billet reservoir and a set of cheapie shorty levers and you'll be good to go.