Given I have a bit of spare time on my hands, I've been giving the VFR a really thorough going over this week, doing all the jobs one normally neglects to do etc. You know, things like stripping down the rear suspension linkage and cleaning and regreasing all the bearings etc. So far, with a degree of success I've: * Acquired a 2k model stainless collector box and downpipes, decatted it (1) then re-finished the pipe in a nice heat resistant black and fitted a rather spiffing Staintune high level stainless can with removable 'DB Killer' bung. * Fitted a Power Commander 2 and set the mapping up for the aforementioned pipe. * Removed the exhaust studs which snapped as I removed the old collector box. * Changed the rear shock for a longer, low mileage EMC one, plus of course the work on the linkage as detailed above. * Plug, oil and filter change, together with lobbing out the standard air filter and replaced it with a K & N flat panel. * Realised the head races were knocking, so dropped them down, noted they were a bit dry but not worn so cleaned them and repacked them with grease. All of the above had gone quite well, so when it came to the ineffective back brake which I decided to tackle today, I was expecting this to go reasonably smoothly despite the fact it has, due to the linked brakes, a total of *five* bleed nipples you need to bleed in a set order if you expect it to work again. Anyway, rear wheel off, caliper off, no problem at all. Getting the pistons to pop out was a bit of a challenge, even in the face of me doing all this in a bonafide workshop with on tap compressed airlines, the lot, but no matter, they came out eventually. Cleaned all caliper itself off in an industrial steam cleaner and polished up the pistons on an wire wheel, then fitted new piston seals (2) and reassembled the caliper, jobs a good un. Caliper placed on the rear disc but facing the other way as per both the factory and Haynes workshop manuals, check. Cap removed from fluid reservoir, and commence bleeding... which seems to be going ok initially, albeit I'm not very impressed with the fluid flow rate and starting to wonder if the rear brake has another issue which was why it didn't work too well in the first place. And then I'm finding no flow at all from the third of the five bleed nipples... not even a hissing of air when the nipple is loosened whilst the rest of the system is under pressure, and the fluid, having happily dropped initially, isn't dropping any more. So I come to the conclusion it must be a defective 'PCV Valve' (3), and go home to fetch both this and the spare rear pedal cylinder I've also got, just in case. Get back to the workshop and decide what would actually would be better would be to drill a hole in the cap of the spare reservoir, and then use this orifice to pressurise the system slightly when bleeding it, in the hope that the fluid being forced down the lines would then displace the air that *must* be trapped in the system and stopping the fluid from flowing through. And it's at this point I removed the cap from the spare reservoir, and noticed that, when I removed it, not only did the cap come away in my hand, but so did a big rubber membrane with white plastic collar, cunningly fashioned from the same colour plastic as the reservoir itself. Turns out I'd been topping up the upper side of said rubber membrane with fluid, and the level was 'going down' on the initial attempts at bleeding, due to the level below it dropping and sucking it down inside. I are, given the time spent scratching my head on this one... a TC. Anyway, hopefully, given it's a basic 'bolt it all back together' session tomorrow, I shouldn't encounter any other 'difficulties' of this nature! (1) My bike is a 98 model, ergo it's not supposed to have a cat anyway before anyone starts muttering about me ruining the environment - the fuelling is already set up for a non-cat system and running cats in a system like this will end up destroying them anyway. (2) If anyone from Honda UK is reading this, £21 for six, what are essentially squared off o-rings no bigger than an inch diameter, is taking the fecking piss even by your standards. (3) This is the valve which sits midway on the bike and regulates the split of fluid flow between the front and rear brakes when you apply the rear. -- JackH 98 Honda VFR800FiW 05 Sachs Madass 03 VW Passat TDI Sport 89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl
Google URL? -- JackH 98 Honda VFR800FiW 05 Sachs Madass 03 VW Passat TDI Sport 89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl
<snip: all good stuff> the fluid from flowing through. *Top* work Sir! #should have gone to Specsavers...# JB
Hahaha... I'll take a picture of it tomorrow and then maybe you'll see why it took me so long to work out. -- JackH 98 Honda VFR800FiW 05 Sachs Madass 03 VW Passat TDI Sport 89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl
No need. BTDT, although it took me about 10mins of very confused looking/prodding/poking to _finally_ suss it out. Why they didn't make the damn membrane in fluo yellow or something is beyond me. <"Aaaah Toyo San. How we **** with Round Eye's brain today?" <"No probrem. We make all mating parts real close tolerance and...<snigger>...all same fucking colour!" "Gajin monkey him on beer most of time so not spot difference for aaaaaages. We **** him good this time"> <Aaaah. Reckon Round Eye go postal and say many rude words about Honda when he find out...."> JB
Go on then... remind me why it was such a good thing not to have kept the ZX9R I had recently... -- JackH 98 Honda VFR800FiW 05 Sachs Madass 03 VW Passat TDI Sport 89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl
Feck! Mind you, I've not had to touch the front calipers... thank **** by looks of it. -- JackH 98 Honda VFR800FiW 05 Sachs Madass 03 VW Passat TDI Sport 89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl
Good idea. Yes, that's about the size of what happened this afternoon. ;-) -- JackH 98 Honda VFR800FiW 05 Sachs Madass 03 VW Passat TDI Sport 89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl
It's far easier to source some 4 pots from a Gixer 600 or TLS and fit those instead. I have heard some Nissin calipers go straight on, but haven't checked for myself. Nissin calipers are anodised where the seals sit, so don't corrode at all.
