It’s been a while since our last work blog update.
We’ve had an unusually long gap of about a week. With December here, we’ve had more visitors and longer conversations, which means work gets delayed. *This is my way of saying it’s not my fault.
Everyone, we’re running low on coffee beans, so we’d be happy if you could bring some as a gift. *Please bring coffee beans, not ground (*´ω｀*)
The key to single-piston calipers is keeping the slide as smooth as possible. The rubber tube had swollen and was significantly hindering movement. It’s very effective to replace the rubber parts at the same time as pad replacement on single-piston calipers.
Also, when you wash a single-piston caliper, be careful about water getting into the slide area where grease remains. *It will rust and become stiff.
We also inspect the oil seal and reuse the piston. The single-piston caliper overhaul is now complete.
The bolts are sourced from Honda and look a bit more masculine, don’t they? The bleeder nipple is forcibly titanium.
The customer wanted a brake master replacement, but it was tight on budget, so we decided to overhaul it instead.
The old parts are donated to my junk collection. The master’s cup had also shrunk and become mushy.
After overhauling both the caliper and master, even with standard hose, the feel is rock solid. After overhaul, bleeding goes smoothly and quickly.
Let’s overhaul the rear caliper
It’s got a nice aged patina. With about 80,000 kilometers and never overhauled before, I’m quite looking forward to this.
Because fluid replacement and caliper cleaning maintenance were done regularly, the condition is excellent. While it looks dirty visually, “there are no crystals forming, so it’s in good shape.” That’s what matters.
We finished it off nicely with a wet blast (*´ω｀*)
We thoroughly high-pressure wash it and dry the moisture in an oven before assembly.
The rear caliper overhaul is now complete. Pad pins and springs are forcibly replaced.
The bleeder is forcibly titanium.
Let’s overhaul the rear brake master
While it’s discontinued for domestic GSX1100S models, older models still have parts available.
This rear master seems like it might have been overhauled once before, but it was surprisingly worn.
It’s best to run a micro drill through the return port to verify it. Even if crystals appear to have passed through, there might be partial blockage.
If the return port gets clogged, the applied pressure can’t fully release and the brake might drag. So be careful.
So the photos are a bit out of order, but it’s complete.
A relic from the past? Converting the angle cam chain tensioner to manual
This L-shaped cam chain tensioner is used on a lot of older bikes. If you’ve ever disassembled one and seen how it works, “it’s a somewhat—or quite—concerning design.”
Personally, I’d like to remove them all forcibly. It’s okay right after you adjust the cam chain, but as you rack up more miles, it gets noisier and noisier with that rattling sound.
I think a cam chain tensioner that the technician can adjust manually is better. Recent “serrated-type cam chain tensioners can also be adjusted, though only in tooth increments,” so those are nice.
THE Takai Manufacturing GS1000/GSX1100S Manual Cam Chain Tensioner
I thought switching to manual type would be better, but I had the equation manual type = APE stuck in my head. When I actually looked into it properly, “Takai Manufacturing” was making and selling them.
The lock nut area has an O-ring, which is reassuring. The quality feels premium and you can adjust the cam chain with confidence.
Z-series bikes and such—if you’re already pulling the carbs, you might as well swap out the tensioner.
Even with a stock carb, you can install it very cleanly like this. However, the manual cam chain tensioner requires a bit of practice to adjust.
Like with drive chains, “too tight or too loose is no good.” “Too tight is especially bad.” That’s the rule. The cam chain itself doesn’t stretch evenly around its entire circumference. Checking the entire cam chain circumference by rotating it forward and backward with the plug out while adjusting is the safest approach.
The rattle-rattle-rattle sound disappeared and it got surprisingly quiet.
The main ground—you can only remove it at times like this. Once you remove it and polish it thoroughly before reinstalling, the bike might run 1% better. *It’s the thought that counts.
Engine starts rough.
Lately I’ve had a feeling the gasoline isn’t great. It gets pretty bad after just a few months of not riding, or maybe carb bikes just don’t mix well with it.
Usually, rough cold starts are due to the pilot circuit being out of tune. If you pull the carb and give the pilot area a quick wipe, it should rev up smoothly.
Even the Katana, which is quite large, can have this happen, so it’s not surprising that a Bandit 1200 would experience it frequently.
It’s easy since we’re not disassembling all four carbs. Keeping everything as clean as possible lets the technician savor the work.
Then we start the engine and synchronize the carbs, and the carb work is done. The idle is incredibly stable and the sound is quiet—it’s perfect. I wish my GPZ would get this quiet too.
The stock clamps are a bit flimsy, so we swapped them for Norma ones. We used 32-50mm and 50-70mm sizes.
The intake manifold side is a bit tight, so watch out. You get much more secure clamping, so secondary air concerns are greatly reduced. So it’s almost done—we’ll finish it tomorrow (*´ω｀*)
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