"Dago" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Keep it rockin ronnie mate 8) gave it a shot at welding myself on this project gonna try gettin a small second hand lathe so i can knock up some of me own bits n pieces on my next project steep learnin curves but ace when ya get something ya done yaself under ya belt ;D keep it goin chief look forward to more pics n threads

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Yea, welding isn't hard. My dad taught me out at our boatyard. Tig, mig, stick.. I'm pretty good at those. I'm no expert but I can make clean strong welds. Now machine work is out of my zone haha, my dad does it. Used to own a machine shop before the boatyard. Good luck to you there! But yeah, nothing like doing things yourself if you can.

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Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Well I ended up getting one complete fork done. After having to drill more holes in the rods, then having to braze the rebound holes closed, I got one fork done(or so I hope) here's pictures from the day prior to my progressively worse evening.

First two are why I had to drill more holes. The oil lock covers the bottom two the directions tell you to cut. Second two are the rebound holes fix.

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Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

And this is my cutting the spacers for preload. Race Tech said for the GSX600 and they're valves and springs minimum is 10mm for street use. So I cut them to 10mm. I hope that's right in the end. Also when I filled the one up I filled to 118 from top of inner tube. Race Tech said 115mm and the rebuild tutorial I got from katriders forum said the guy used 127mm. So we'll see how that works. Seems to be a lot of air in there....

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Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

You're probably right on the money. Have to leave room for compression in there. Too much and it'll be rock hard.

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Yea, I hope so.. its just there is so much variation. The spring directions from RT said street use is 15-20mm minimum. I mean I can't change it now, I don't have extra spacers laying around and Im not taking that fork apart. I have other things to take care of, which brings me to my next topic.

The day was pretty good with the final completion of one fork, but some other things went south. One, I screwed up the finish on the fork lowers with laquer thinner(while cleaning out the tubes to remove dust and old oil) so it has cloudy looking runs. Most of them are on the inside of the forks, but I'm hoping I can buff them out somehow when its all said and done. I honestly thought powder coat was more resistant than that. So that bummed me a good bit since I just paid for them to get done. I kept on going with a good attitude and I was putting the second fork together and the oil drain screw on the bottom of the fork stripped out. So not only does this mean I have to take the seal out for the third time(i forgot to put the guide spacer between the guide and seal) and undo the damper rod bolt again, but I have to either A) put a bigger size bolt in it after drilling and tapping or B) I put a helicoil in it after taping it. Either way sucks cause its just a pain in the ass haha! But I can't do B until Wed because CarQuest doesn't open on Mardi Gras tomorrow. It was going so smoothly too...... Next bike will be no older than 6 years old haha!

Lucky for me, my clutch nut socket came in from DCC, so I guess I'll be doing engine work tomorrow.. Or I get dusty doing soda blasting on parts, which needs to be done too. Until then..

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Ronnie, you can cut and buff powder just like paint. Sand it down with 800-1000 and then hit it with some 3m buffing compound and a mechanical buffer and it will look great, no worries. And just re tap your drain screw to the next size up metric and use a new copper crush washer and you're golden. No worries man, just some minor stuff. And powder is tough, but some things will still eat it. You'll be good with gas and oil, etc.

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Kanticoy said:

Ronnie, you can cut and buff powder just like paint. Sand it down with 800-1000 and then hit it with some 3m buffing compound and a mechanical buffer and it will look great, no worries. And just re tap your drain screw to the next size up metric and use a new copper crush washer and you're golden. No worries man, just some minor stuff. And powder is tough, but some things will still eat it. You'll be good with gas and oil, etc.

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Thanks, Kiley.. I'll do that once they are all said an done. I have the paper and compound. No sense of doing it before I finish the forks. Yea, its minor stuff, I was just like damnit I wanted to get these done today cause it was a rainy day haha. Yea, I will have to see, it will have to wait till Wed anyways. I think it is supposed to rain agian tomorrow so I might just do some soda blasting. Thanks again for the advice man.

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Ronnie, why are the rebound holes brazed closed? The extra holes in the bottom of the damper rod are to let the emulators do the compression damping, but it still needs rebound holes. Or did I miss a step earlier?

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

I didn't think those little holes would have mattered. But I called up RT and the service guy said I needed to plug them up or they wont let the valve to it's thing correctly. The valve replaces both the compression and rebound dampening holes/adjustment. so there is no need for the rebound holes as the rebound is regulated by the valves adjustment. I'm still trying to understand it myself, Teazer. The valves sit on top of the rods so those holes are on the same side as the 5/16" holes I drilled at the bottom. Do you think it wasn't necessary? They guy said if I was local he would have brazed them up free of charge.. At this point, I'm just hoping they work like they should.. better than stock.

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Ronnie,
That doesn't gel with their web site unless they changed the design. I have fitted a few sets and have had to adjust the rebound damping holes by welding them up and re-drilling but never fully welded them.

http://www.racetech.com/page/title/Emulators-How%20They%20Work

It's possible they have a new design that I'm unaware of though.

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

teazer said:

Ronnie,
That doesn't gel with their web site unless they changed the design. I have fitted a few sets and have had to adjust the rebound damping holes by welding them up and re-drilling but never fully welded them.

http://www.racetech.com/page/title/Emulators-How%20They%20Work

It's possible they have a new design that I'm unaware of though.

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I called them back up Teazer, I spoke to a guy that did the exact thing I'm doing on the exact bike. He was explaining to me that the reason you braze them closed is that if left open you will rebound too quickly. In the stock setup, you have 3 holes to choose from on the selector on the fork cap, but only one is used at any given time. So technically he said you could leave the smallest one open but its not necessary. He was also explaining to me that the valves are made with bleeder holes so the rebound action is technically there. That and there is a check valve at the bottom of the inner tubes that allows oil to pass through.

But he said that if I push the fork down and they come up two slow then I can put thinner oil in it. (I currently have some "Pro Honda SS19 fork oil" from a cycle dealer here in town. He recommended 15w, we both don't know what SS19 means haha but i think it feels like a steering fluid in viscosity) And if thinner oil doesn't help then I would ahve to drill out one of those holes. So we shall see.

Hope that clears it up from you. I'm not the best regurgitator.

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Quick update, got my hub and rim soda blasted. Most of the oxidation came off but the rust stains from the old spokes are still on there.. Will be getting a pneumatic die grinder with some pads and will brush/polish them up. Got my lower triple clamp paint with jet Black awlgrip. Great stuff, use it on boats at the marina. It was left over from my dad painting a torpedo for his vet association. It will be a memorial in new Orleans some where.

Will test fit the triples on the frame when I get back from delivering said torpedo. I have a feeling the stem will be too long.

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Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Look at that fucking thing.... Awesome!

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

ronnie said:

I called them back up Teazer, I spoke to a guy that did the exact thing I'm doing on the exact bike. He was explaining to me that the reason you braze them closed is that if left open you will rebound too quickly. In the stock setup, you have 3 holes to choose from on the selector on the fork cap, but only one is used at any given time. So technically he said you could leave the smallest one open but its not necessary. He was also explaining to me that the valves are made with bleeder holes so the rebound action is technically there. That and there is a check valve at the bottom of the inner tubes that allows oil to pass through.

But he said that if I push the fork down and they come up two slow then I can put thinner oil in it. (I currently have some "Pro Honda SS19 fork oil" from a cycle dealer here in town. He recommended 15w, we both don't know what SS19 means haha but i think it feels like a steering fluid in viscosity) And if thinner oil doesn't help then I would have to drill out one of those holes. So we shall see.

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Those forks come with adjustable damping stock IIRC, so maybe that's the issue. Is there a third set of holes that I didn't notice that are still open?

And who keeps a torpedo in their garage? .................. Looks very shiny for sure.

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Doomsday planner?

Re: Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

teazer said:

Those forks come with adjustable damping stock IIRC, so maybe that's the issue. Is there a third set of holes that I didn't notice that are still open?

And who keeps a torpedo in their garage? .................. Looks very shiny for sure.

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No, just two sets(damper holes on bottom and rebound near the top). That's at my dad's boatyard..

clem said:

Doomsday planner?

Click to expand...

Haha maybe?

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Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Well I tapped both oil drain plugs last night with 1/4 - 20 ss bolts as I had the tap for them. Hooked everything together for photos and now it goes on the side. Until I get my wheel finished and I get the stem lathe down to size as it's too long for the neck.

So I found out where that 20t sprocket goes.. Bad news is I have to split the case cause it goes on the primary shaft...... And I'm going to need help putting all the shifter arms back in place. The book doesn't give a good description of how they connect places.

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Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

Oh yeah there lookin 8) Ronnie mate well worth the hassle ime sure ??? you know more than ya think mate : keep it goin man she gonna be so cool

Re: "Dago Roller" Resurrecting a 350F gently

ronnie said:

No, just two sets(damper holes on bottom and rebound near the top).

Click to expand...

Have you filled the legs with oil and tried them yet? I test each leg to make sure that they both feel the same and it's interesting how often they are different in compression or rebound. It's not exactly scientifically objective, but it works. That's when I realized I had made an error of judgement on the last set I converted. They are almost solid. Fortunately I tested before the bike ran up the street, so not much to pull off to fix it.

Do the adjusters still do anything and if so what are they connected to?