We all know that the front end of the stock 82 is in dire need of improvement in the braking category. A few ROV’rs have upgraded their front ends with parts scavenged off of parted out 83’s. I have taken it upon myself to do just that to YellowJacket! And along the way, photograph and document the procedure.
Here’s some of the parts laid out:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0125.jpg)
I came across an 83 front end on ebay and bid on and won it. As it turns out however, the situation was complicated by the fact that it came off a wrecked bike and the fork tubes were bent. No biggie though since the 82 tubes will work just as well. I just had to do the extra work of disassembling my 82’s, which I hadn’t planned on.
I’m also including a section on the new electronic gauges that I got and installed.
Gauges:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0147.jpg)
I started out by jacking up and securing Yellowjacket! To remove the front end. It’s a pretty simple task of loosening 8 (4 on each side) handlebar hex nuts and two pinch bolts on the lower triple tree. Before I loosened them though, I used the extra leverage provided by the assembly to remove the fork tube caps. Its much harder to do when the forks are off the bike, so I suggest loosening them before you remove the forks.
Up on Blocks:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0136.jpg)
At this point, I also removed my fork brace and my front fender as well as my Shark Fairing. I left the shark fairing mounts on and took some pictures for those of you interested in seeing how it mounts.
Fork Brace:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0135.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0138.jpg)
Shark Fairing Mounts:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0134.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0133.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0132.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0131.jpg)
Once the fork brace and fender were removed, I disconnected the speedo cable and unbolted the brake caliper. I’ll be using the caliper later so I just wrapped it up and tied it hack out of the way until reassembly. After the speedo cable and caliper were removed, I took the front wheel assembly off.
Spedo Cable: (For Electronic Gauges)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0129.jpg)
To do a dual brake setup on the 82, you’ll have to remove the plastic cover off the right side of the wheel. Its just held on by friction and comes off pretty easily. After removing the plastic cover, I flipped the wheel assembly over and removed the 82 Disc. The 83 discs are smaller and vented so the 82 is not compatible with the 83 front end and had to go.
OK, done with that. This is a good time to clean things up a bit and prep them for final assembly. I cleaned all the bolts for the disc assembly and used POR-15 Metal Ready to remove the rust from the disc bolt retaining clips. Since they were still useable but kind of cruddy looking, I gave them a goat of “aluminum†spray paint. I also polished the exposed metal on the wheel. (darn, that means I’ll have to do the rear one as well)
With a bunch of help from Lucky, we got the 83 Fork Tubes disassembled. I’ll also be replacing the oil and dust seals on this project since the “new†forks were leaking. Both sets of seals were pretty cruddy. (thanks Lucky for the seals too)
We had to make a special tool to remove the damper bolt from the fork tubes. It consisted of 2â€X3/4 bolt, two ¾†nuts and some electrical tape. You screw the two nuts onto the bolt and then tape it onto a ¾â€socket and insert the socket into the fork tube. It fits into the top of the damper rod and holds it in place while you loosen the 8mm hex nut at the bottom of the fork. Once the 8mm hex bolt is removed, the fork tubes and the damper rod assembly slide apart.
Tool:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0162.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0163.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0164.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0166.jpg)
Since I’m replacing all my seals, I gently pried out the dust seals with a strong flat blade screwdriver. After removing the dust seals, I could visualize the oil seals and the retaining clip…its sort of like a wire with bends in it to allow it to expand in the notch in the lower tube to hold the oil seal in place. I very carefully removed the clips, cleaned them and set them aside for re-use.
I also cleaned the sludge from inside the tubes (uppers and lowers) and it was at this point that I discovered that the upper tubes were bowed….CRAP!
Since the lowers were all scratched up, I borrowed an idea that I saw in Brian Moffet’s “Vision Rising†post. I used some chemical stripper called Tal-Strip (the stuff I used on my tank) to remove the old scratched black paint. It made very easy work of the job and all the paint and crud was completely and quite easily removed from both forks in about an hour. After the chemical process was done, I rinsed the tubes off with water and thoroughly dried them inside and out.
Removing paint:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0153-3.jpg)
Shiny:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0155.jpg)
Next, I painted the tubes like Brian did with black “appliance epoxyâ€. It went on quite well and took a couple hours to dry to tackiness (instructions recommend a full 24 hour dry time before reassembly). As usual, on damn curious fly had to land on one of the tubes and get stuck, so I had to gently pick it off and touch it up. They turned out REALLY nice…..I think I’m going to end up doing more “appearance work†on the rest of the bike next.
Painted:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0159.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0161.jpg)
While I was waiting for the lower tubes to dry I installed the rotors on the front wheel.
To Be Continued…… ;D 8)
David
Don't forget to tap the threads before reassembly! :)
(fender mounting holes)
Nice paint job. Appliance paint: creative idea.
Lou
Now that it's too late, QBS had a great idea for the fork lowers. He glued a piece of bicycle tire innertube around the front half of each lower. It helps prevent chips and is barely noticeable. Not sure exactly how he did it - maybe he'll post the procedure.
The fork lowers look teriffic! I've been considering stripping mine down & then going with some of that fake anodized paint that's available. Not likely very durable, but it could look pretty cool. May try some of that clear adhesive auto bra material as final protection.
H2O
Quote from: louthepou on July 24, 2007, 07:54:29 PM
Don't forget to tap the threads before reassembly! :)
(fender mounting holes)
** Thanks...Wasn't thinking about that but I will Do it
Nice paint job. Appliance paint: creative idea.
**The Creativity Award goes to Brian Moffit/DeadDirtyVision/Vision Rising ;D
Lou
QuoteAs usual, on damn curious fly had to land on one of the tubes and get stuck, so I had to gently pick it off and touch it up.
What is it about forks and that paint. I had to repaint one of mine 3 times because of various problems (the bracket I was to hold it collapsed and it fell over, etc...)
Looks good Dave!
Brian
Nice article Dave, it takes a bit of work and planning to post these kind of articles. I'm learning and hope to do a nice job on whatever future article I may do-well I guess I am working on a 25th anniversary ride article-hopefully I will have it out by September.
If someone wants to do a nice article on valve adjustment please do so, that's one of my next major projects (when the riding season is over).
Quote from: don_vanecek on July 25, 2007, 09:46:47 AM
Nice article Dave, it takes a bit of work and planning to post these kind of articles. I'm learning and hope to do a nice job on whatever future article I may do-well I guess I am working on a 25th anniversary ride article-hopefully I will have it out by September.
If someone wants to do a nice article on valve adjustment please do so, that's one of my next major projects (when the riding season is over).
I have a MS Word document dedicated to the job. I type as I go and editi it before posting it. Then I just cut and paste into the forum.
David
Quote from: DaveTN on July 24, 2007, 08:21:10 PM
**The Creativity Award goes to Brian Moffet/DeadDirtyVision/Vision Rising ;D
Pretty much my entire frame is painted in that stuff now... I'll let people know how well it holds up... Spaghetti sauce seems to clean off it nicely :o ;D
Brian
Those epoxy spray cans are my favorite too, I sometimes use silver Their easy to spray, with ok results
Is it the humidity or does it really take a long time to dry? It has been 24 hours now and it still feels slightly tacky.
David
it's not the fastest drying, I don't have humidity here.. maybe set it next to a lamp
Here's the tip that H2O was alluding to. Perpose of the exercise is to keep rock chips from ruining the appearance our lower fork tubes. Works best with black forks. Acquire an old ten speed tire inner tube. Cut a section out of it that is about as long as the distance from the bottom of the front of the fork tube to right below the double grooved area of the top of the fork tube. Cut the section lengthwise along its inside curve. Dry fit wrap the inner tube rubber around the front of the fork tube and make final cut for length. Cut clearance areas as needed around the raised fender mount areas. Do a really careful good job here. It makes a big difference in the final appearance. Do one more dry fit for appearance. Make a mental note of exactly where the rubber will be attached to the fork tube. Clean inside of tube rubber with soap and water. Get it really clean. Do the same for the front of the fork tube. Do several practice attachment runs. Coat the inside of the rubber with rubber contact cement. Carefully apply the same cement to the area of the fork tube that the rubber will be attached to. Allow both cement areas to dry to a non tacky touch.
Now comes the tricky part. Once any area of contact cement comes into contact with another cement area the bond is instant, immobile and permanent. So, act carefully. Starting at the top, carefully place the inner tube rubber onto the fork tube. Don't worry about the curvature of the inner tube rubber causing wrinkles when its placed in contact with the flat surface of the fork tube. The cement is very strong and the inner tube rubber is thin and pliable. Trim off excess at the bottom as necessary.
Use sand paper to remove "flash" rubber from the inner tube rubber for a nice finished appearance. Paint the entire fork tube(rubber and all) your favorite shade of high gloss black. Let throughly dry and declare victory. Now, when rocks hit your fork tubes, they will hit the rubber instead of the aluminum. Even if they do remove paint at the point of contact, all that will be revealed is black rubber. The damage will be virtually invisible. All the Best.
what's a ten speed?
Quote from: kwells on July 26, 2007, 11:39:54 AM
what's a ten speed?
I have two of them hanging in my garage if you want to actually SEE what a ten speed is! ;D
For those of you too young to remember, ten speeds were bicycles. Designed for road use (mountain bikes hadn't been invented yet). They had 2 chain rings in front and 5 sprockets on the rear axle. The seat was normally hard & skinny. The one on my Raleigh Record was leather - no padding & no springs.
H
2O
ha..
yeah I actually had a 10speed Jr. when I was about 12. I used to ride it around while listening to my walkman tape player with U2 Joshua Tree playing....
...still haven't found...what Im looking for.... :P
When the 5-10-15 speed bikes came out with the click-it shifter, oh what, about the late 80's early 90's, gee did they ever become more user friendly!
Quote from: DaveTN on July 24, 2007, 06:25:06 PM
As usual, on damn curious fly had to land on one of the tubes and get stuck, so I had to gently pick it off and touch it up.
What kind of paint job that fly have on it, did ya have to buff it too? ;D
dave,, under the close supervision of vision guru and v-zen master lucky, you have become one with your bike. ahhh ...it is time for you to buy another and move into the world of modifications as yet unknown to man-- by the way, i still have your oil cooler ,and no place to mail it to!
I had some free time Saturday and decided to do some work on YJ's front end.
Second Coat of paint is dry on the fork lowers and I started reassembling the forks. I noticed something different between the 82 and 83 forks though. the 83 springs are shorter and the spacer is longer than that of the 82. Once assembled, it all adds up to the same length but I was wondering, since I have 83 lowers but 82 uppers, should I use the 82 springs and spacers or the 83 springs and dampers. I gould also go with the longer 82 springs and longer 83 spacers for a tighter ride. (I weigh about 190). I'm also going to go with the Mobil1 0W30 oil in the forks after reading all the past posts, it seems to be the best choice. I'll go with the fill specs for the 83.
The forks turned out beautiful. The appliance paint looks really really good which means I'll be taking apart the bike again and repainting it...probably this winter. :o
I'll have some pics of the forks a little later.
David
if you need 83 spacers, let me know, I have a set you can have.
YellowJacket! Is back on her feet again but she’s not quite ready to run yet.
I finished some schoolwork early today and decided to go out into the oven, um sauna…I mean garage and work on YellowJacket!’s front end some more.
I had reassembled the lowers last weekend but didn’t get a chance to take any pictures. Basically, everything was in reverse order. I replaced the oil seals with the ones Lucky gave me, replaced the dust seals with some I got online and then slid the damper assembly into the upper tube and bolted it back together. You will still need the nut and bolt tool as previously described to hold the damping rod in place while you tighten the hex nut. I clamped the lower assembly into my workmate vise and had my son hold the damper rod tool in place while I cranked it down tight. I repeated the process for the other tube.
Today, I finished the job by adding the fork oil, spring, cap, spacer and air valve cap and then putting everything back on the bike.
I started by measuring out 9 ounces of fork oil (for the 83 shocks).
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0167.jpg)
And added to oil to the tube…minus the spring and associated hardware.
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0172.jpg)
For the 83 shocks, the manual states to fill to within 5†of the top of the tube. I made a little cardboard dipstick to measure the distance and was pretty much right on. Note: I made the measurement after pumping the tube a few times to get the bubbles out.
Here’s my dipstick:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0173.jpg)
After that, I installed the spring, spring cap and spacer.
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0174.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0175.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0169.jpg)
And then placed the Air cap/shrader valve back on and tightened it down good.
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0170.jpg)
I repeated the process for the other fork. Note to self: remember to replace the drain plug and washer on the bottom of the fork otherwise you’ll end up with a mess on the garage floor. ;D
After cleaning up the shock pee from the floor, it was time to move on to the bike.
I installed each fork into its respective mounting point and lightly tightened the nuts down to make sure my alignment was correct. Here’s where you have to remember that the Vision has a TRAILING front axle and not a Leading one. In other words, make sure you have them on the right sides.
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0181.jpg)
Tighten it all down good:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0178.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0180.jpg)
And, after a little touchup work, I was able to remove the jack and the wooden blocks, and YellowJacket! stood up on her own feet for the first time in over a month!
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0183.jpg)
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0184.jpg)
Here’s a pic of the air valves too:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l299/xz550rj/DSCF0185.jpg)
Next, I have to find a working right side caliper since the one that came with the front end is toast. I’ll also have to get another SS brake line as well. I hope to have everything in order in a few more weeks and be able to ride again. ;D
David
Quote from: kwells on July 26, 2007, 11:39:54 AM
what's a ten speed?
What you really need to do is head to your local bicycle shop, and ask for a used 27 inch or 700c tube, width and stem won't matter. Tube changes are a regular item in bicycle repair, and they should have one that they were going to throw away, you can get it for nothing. One 27x1.25 or 700x25 tube should be enough to cover both sides of the fork lowers... :)
Or, we can just hang out until KIA gets his shop running and builds up a stock of Vision fork lower bras... 8)
Actually, the clear plastic stick-on front end bra material would be easier to work with - it was discussed in a different thread.
H2O
I went the other way, when I got my 83 fork lowers . They were black and the paint was chipped up , so I applied paint stripper and after all was gone, proceeded to apply lots of mothers , with a sheep's wool buffing pad in an electric drill. It looked so good that I stripped the engine outer cases and buffed them too. I do them every spring and they have stayed very bright.
I don't like all the black paint on modern motorcycles. To my eyes it looks like they were too cheap to finish the bike off and just slapped black paint on everything . I guess I come from an era when chrome and polished aluminum were king . :D
ah...those were the days
Here you go wilson...lots of pictures
David
Found the thread ;D. David, the manual explicitly states that the air caps be facing forward. Not sure why. Maybe if the covers pop off they wont hit you in the gut???
My 83 is way too soft and it bottoms out a lot, Can i put in the the spring and the spacer from my 82 forks?
Does it help in firming up the ride at all?
:) The springs in '82 and '83 forks are, in most cases, the same...However, some will have progressive springs that will stiffen things up with no need for air assist. You can always buy a new set of progressive springs... 8)
Also check that the spacers you have are the same/different length... ;) You can make a set of longer spacers from ABS pipe for pennies...
8).......TIGER....... 8)
My 83 front end is VERY stiff with the progressives. I may have a little too much shock oil in them too. I'm running neutral air pressure since going with the progressives. I used the spacers for the 83 along with my new springs but may go with some PVC pipe just a bit shorter. I may also have to check JUST to make sure I didn't use the 82 spacers which, I think are a bit longer.
David
Looked up the part numbers for the spring and spacers for 82 vs 83. They seem to be different. I will try the swap today. Thanks for the tip abt the PVC
EDIT: thanks for the quick reply guys
i am very jealous of your bike.... so clean !
Quote from: Kiwi on April 03, 2010, 02:20:03 AM
i am very jealous of your bike.... so clean !
Looks can be deceiving. The pictures look good and overall, most of the bike is clean but there are two things I'm not happy with. The fairing paint job is passable. Looks good from a distance but up close you can tell that I'm not too experienced with painting.
The motor: One day mine will look almost as good as 67GTO's does. His looks absolutely gorgeous.
Anyway, thank you very much for the complement. 8)
David
Dave,
Thanks for spending the time to document and take pictures of your fork upgrade. I love reading threads like this. They're quite helpful and like all the other help threads add value to the site.
Did your wife see her Pyrex measuring cup full of fork oil? ;D
Quote from: VFan on April 04, 2010, 03:14:18 PM
Dave,
Thanks for spending the time to document and take pictures of your fork upgrade. I love reading threads like this. They're quite helpful and like all the other help threads add value to the site.
Did your wife see her Pyrex measuring cup full of fork oil? ;D
VFan,
Glad you like it and glad I could help.
Yep, she saw the pyrex measuring cup and I paid dearly for using it. Fortunately it was only fork oil and cleaned up nicely. 8)
David
Quote from: Rick G on November 11, 2007, 06:01:21 PM
I went the other way, when I got my 83 fork lowers . They were black and the paint was chipped up , so I applied paint stripper and after all was gone, proceeded to apply lots of mothers , with a sheep's wool buffing pad in an electric drill. It looked so good that I stripped the engine outer cases and buffed them too. I do them every spring and they have stayed very bright.
I don't like all the black paint on modern motorcycles. To my eyes it looks like they were too cheap to finish the bike off and just slapped black paint on everything . I guess I come from an era when chrome and polished aluminum were king . :D
I did that on my Seca a couple years back, except instead of polishing them, I used a scotch-brite pad to give them a brushed aluminum look and clear-coated over everything. It's very neat to look at, almost reflective because of the bright aluminum underneath a flat coating of clear.
Digging up those pictures really brings back memories :)
I'm not a fan of clear coat at all. it gets scratched up and turns yellow . If I go to all the trouble to get the paint and clear coat off, I'm sure not going to put it back on . As I said I come from and era when chrome and polished alloy were king.
Ilikethesilverwheelsaretheystandardordidyoupaintthem.
Iain
NZ
I sandblasted the wheels and gave them a coat of "Sterling Silver" from POR-15. Apparently I did a poor job of it, it required an abnormal amount of weight to balance the wheels.