1982 CB750F...Better Devil

Anyone upgraded their axial front brake master cylinder to a radial one on one of these bikes? I'm thinking to do the upgrade, but will be keeping the stock axial caliper (but with resurfaced rotors and braided lines).
 
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You could but its terrible overkill. Before the miniscule benifits could be exploited you need a completely different bike. Even on a brand new supersport these advantages could only be exploited in extreme braking circumstances like on a road track. IMHO its not worth the expense, you can get a brand new Brembo plain jane MC that will be more than adequate for $110. if you are looking to upgrade your braking abilities I would look at lightweight floating rotors or fork upgrades to remove brake dive.
 
Thanks for the insight and advice Doc. I'm pretty easily convinced about the benefits of this upgrade and that upgrade but clearly lack the experience in knowing what may be valid and what less so. Brakes are absolutely no exception! I got myself worked up into a froth over whether to stick to my original plan of an axial Nissin or a (much more) expensive radial model. You just saved me a bunch of hard-earned and I get to keep the vibe I wanted too. Good man.
 
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Replaced the bearing on the steering stem today, now need to MacGuyver a way to get the races out of the frame neck. Anyone got a tried and true method? Any pointers on how to install the new races would be aces too.
 
I just use a big assed flat blade screw driver, slide it down or up the neck till you feel the lip,then wack it with a decent hammer. Work around it in quarters till it pops out sometimes the lip will be flush with the neck but you can always feel the join...To fit new ones I use the old races or a suitable socket...place the new races in the freezer for a few hrs that will help them tap in rather than hammer home :)
 
Cheers Wozza, that sounds totally doable. I think I was overthinking it (like most things) - freezing the race before the install is a great idea
 
Np..... do the top one first as it tends to be easier, it also gives you a slightly sharper angle on the lower one
 
I do like wozza described, but I use a wood block to tap them in. The cutoff handle end from a baseball bat is a good tool for this exercise. I hit with the end of the bat to the race. That said, I've also done this with a chunk of 2x4, harwood plywood and a piece of 4x4.
 
for races I use the same thing as Irk, chunk of wood that's at hand and then it's really hard to damage them. you don't want the metal to get dinged at all or you ruin the race.
 
Nothing to it. Definitely over-thought that one, thanks for the tips gents. The top race came out with a few well-aimed hits with the drive (moving in ¼'s around the circumference), but I couldn't get an angle on the lower one. Used an angled pry tool and that worked a charm -

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Shoved the new races in the snowbank outside my garage for a few hours, and figured heating up the frame neck couldn't hurt either. That part is highly technical but essentially the set up looks like this -

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and involves a bunch of 2x4's and a sketchily propped up shop fan. While that was heating up I ground down the edges of the old races - plan being I'll use them to cushion the new races against the hammer but don't want them to get stuck in the neck along with the new races -

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Cold new races had shrunk enough to get them started and in position, so used the old races as a cushion and hammered them in until a very satisfying and solid "tink" as they seated.

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Job's a good'un.
 
The few parts I needed for the fork rebuild (seals, bushings, slides and washers) all arrived so that was this weekend taken care of. I'd already cleaned up the lower fork tubes over the summer, but a final polish with some new polish I was recently told about (Simichrome) really did them proud. Hard to see in this pic maybe but a PO had sandblasted (I think) and poorly painted the tubes for whatever reason - once I'd bead blasted them clean and polished them they came out pretty nice with a great texture that I like -

RKmC1HVl.jpg


- and you can also see the aftermarket dust seal in that pic too. Reassembly was no drama, helped in no small way by this picture I found on the All Balls website showing which way to install the damn seal -

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Every vid or fork rebuild explanation said install the seal with the "spring towards the oil". Thing is, these seals had springs on both sides so that but the kibosh on that. Above pic to the rescue. Installed the triple tree, and now the bike has front suspension. Felt good - finally some visible progress on the bike...

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Now back to working on the *&^%ing comstars.
 
LOL, nice work Jim, I hope to try that polish this weekend coming. I think I have all the other crap done I needed to do before getting to the GL.
 
It's great stuff Mike. Seems much finer than Autosol (which is saying a lot) - I used it with a soft buffing wheel and it came up aces. To be honest I couldn't get the small rust pits out of the upper tube (I tried simichrome with 0000 wire wool, also with WD40) but no joy. The pits are pretty small though and hardly noticeable. Still, maybe I'll try again some day when this thing is finished and I'm looking for small jobs to do. That day may come along in hey, I dunno, 3 years at this rate.
 
Ha, I'm hoping to shine up and remove pitting on my Chrome(neglected) pipes. They aren't that bad yet and I hope it refreshes and protects them for the coming season. Going to polish a few of the alloy bits and hit them with the shark hyde you sent me, if it doesn't keep em shiny they are all going to get sanded and painted.
 
Let me know how you get on with Shark Hide mate, it's good stuff. Just wipe it on and you're done. It won't hold up against gas etc but otherwise it'll protect your metal for sure. If you ever need to reapply, just wipe some more on. Couldn't be easier.
 
Yep, that's what I read and what Kiley said. I'll know how it works after the first ride in rain. I spent days over one winter polishing the valve and belt covers only to have them look like utter shit right after the first ride I got caught in rain. They went so chalky it was going to take days to get them shiny again. I hope to keep the shine with the hide and re-apply a few times over the season.
 
Oh for sure, this stuff is made for the marine industry (protecting pontoons, metal-hulled boats etc) from water damage (salt and fresh). For a product that's so easy to use it's tough as boots. I used it on the engine covers for my old CB750 and it held up great.
 
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