My 85' 1150E - project.

[Slowhand]

I never would have thought of that Bob, I just assumed the forks were cut. After I had mounted them, just so I could get a rolling chassis, I took off one of the fork caps out of curiosity. The damn spring was so compress in there that the cap nearly blew a whole in my garage roof when it flew off ! I had to use a 6 foot woodworking clamp from the bottom of the tube to the cap so I could compress the spring and cap back down into the tube and re-tighten it back on. I did found another set and bought them, they are clean with no pitting at all on the tubes and they already have progressive springs in them. But I still have those shorty tubes, I will open them, "carefully" and check if they are like yours with the spacers.

So , I found the forks I needed plus new upper and lowers trees as both of my trees twisted out of shape from the accident. Next up , disassemble the front end.

Even though the wiring is simple and coded and I've had the service manual since I bought the bike in 85' , I still used masking tape and numbered each wire behind the headlight. Better to be safe than sorry.

New forks and trees in, I also installed handlebars from an ES model I found on e-bay. I don't know if I'll like the lower position but I'm not worried about that now. They were all I could find for a 'normal' price.

It's getting there !!

 

[Slowhand]

I got lucky with the front rim. I had already bought two , three if I include the yellow crappy one I first bought to get the thing rolling. They both came with the rotors but the rims were pretty beat up. One of them was actually out of round, however I was able to get my money back for that one, and I kept the rim too. The pickings were slim on ebay at the time so I bought the couple that I saw for sale. They weren't expensive.
The guy I bought the forks from had other things for sale as well, I ended up buying a gas tank and all the body panels plus the front fender. They are painted a Brandy Wine color which I'm not thrilled with but he wasn't asking a lot of money so I took them for the hell of it. Then he emailed me back that he had a brand new front rim too. 50 bucks and he'd include rotors also. I paypal-ed him instantly for it ! He had said that he was going to restore an 1150 but then found out the engine case had a crack in it so he was just reselling things he had bought . Whether that was true or not doesn't matter, what does matter, to me, is that brand new front rim !



I pounded out a bearing on my old busted front rim to get the spacer out and bought a new set of bearings. I don't have a press, I have lots of pullers but no press, so I went to Home Depot and got an 8-inch long 1/2 size bolt with a 3/4 size nut and a few big washers, I used a cap from one of my puller sets that was just a hair smaller than the bearing. Greased them up and they pressed on nicely.

Bearings in.

Ready for a tire.

 

[Slowhand]

The crash had broken all three mounting posts inside the instrument cluster. I haven't seen a full cluster in great shape for a reasonable price on ebay yet, and I only want the mounting case anyway, which I can get for around 65 dollar new. So I did a temporary Rube job on mine for the time being. It might only last once around the block, or a week or a month. It should at least hold together for test riding the bike when I get to that point.

Some Gorilla glue around all the cracks. The center mounting post was broken completely off so I drilled a small pilot hole in the plastic case and screwed a sheet metal down in to hold it in place, with some more glue. The right side stud broke off down to a nub, I was lucky to get a speed nut on the few remaining threads. Rube job 101 ! It is just a temp fix.

It should hold for a short time.

 

[cableguy]

Your Maguyverness is awesome. Keep up the good progress!

 

[Slowhand]

" Maguyverness " ...lol, that's funny CG. "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome" USMC

Tires. Other than being good for holding air mine were useless, age cracks all over the side walls. I had Metzler VBS tires on it. So I just went and bought a set of Metzler Lasertec V rated tires. Go with what you know I guess. And I went with the stock sizes 110/90 16 and 130/90 17. The price was right and the shipping was free.
Had the front one mounted and balanced.

Good to go !!

 

[Slowhand]

Next up, the front brakes. Both my calipers, surprisingly , were not that bad for sitting as long as they did, 17 years. I broke them in half and popped out the pistons with my air hose. I found no pitting on the pistons or the cylinder walls. Just a little built up crap in the grooves where the o-rings go. The Dremel with the wire brush cleaned that out nicely. There was a little more crap around the outer rim of the cylinders and I just dremeled that off as well, they are as smooth as a babys butt. I then washed the hell out of them and blew them dry a bunch of times. Installed new K&L rubber and torqued them back together.

 

[Slowhand]

Since I used the lower ES style handlebars I couldn't use my master cylinder because of the angle on the bars so I got an angled MC on e-bay. Don't remember what I paid but it wasn't much. I took it apart and cleaned the hell out of it. Even got the dremel bit down the bore. All the rubber was in fine shape so I reused it. If I find it has a leak anywhere or feels mushy at all then I'll buy the kit and redo the rubber. But, it seems to be fine.
I also reused my brake lines. I took them off my old stem and ran a lot of fluid through them and gently pushed a small rod through them. They seem fine for now as well.

 

[Slowhand]

Next it was put the front back together. I had already installed a new/used right side blinker, then I re-connected everything back into the headlight. Hooked the brake lines back on. Also reconnected and mounted the cluster gauge.
Then installed the new tire/rim and torqued it all in place.

 

[Slowhand]

And now, the brakes. I installed the rebuilt calipers and hooked the lines up. Then bleed them. No leaks anywhere, it took about a day for the pistons to get fully out past the new o-rings. They feel tight and firm now, just the way we like em !!!!

The really good thing is that everything seems and looks straight, I'm feeling better about this now.

 

[SOCKinside]

looking really good, keep it up, are u gonna replace the header pipes ?

 

[Smokinapankake]

If you want to replace the sight glass windows on your master cylinders, I've written up a guide that has served me well multiple times:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...light=Sight+glass+window+replacement+tutorial

Looking very good, by the way!

 

[Slowhand]

Yeah Sock, I have to replace the pipes, their smashed up from the crash. I'm going with stock, I want to keep the bike that way.
Thanks for the glass MC link Smokin' , I will probably replace the one thats in there when I get the chance.



The fronts basically finished so its on to the back end. Removal time ! Off with the wheel, caliper, MC , chain, rails, shifter linkage, brake lever and the exhaust.
First, just some mild mineral spirits to clean all the grease and grim off of everything.

 

[Slowhand]

Mild mineral spirits made quick work of cleaning the grease off of everything, including the sprocket and the chain.

I took all the linkage pieces and brake parts into the basement for cleaning and rebuilding the rear caliper. The bench grinder with a wire wheel cleaned all the rust off and spiffed them up nicely. Then a final coat of wax for a shine.

 

[trevor]

Nice work Slowhand! I have a special interest in your project.

 

[Slowhand]

Thanks Trevor. I went through your thread a couple of days ago. You've come a hell of a long way on yours from what you started with. Real nice work !! I myself have been having a blast trying to bring mine back to life. A lot of hours into it so far, every nut, bolt, washer and part that comes off gets cleaned 3 different ways and run under the bench wire wheel. Much tedious work but very worth it.

 

[Slowhand]

I got the new rear tire mounted and balanced. The bearings in the wheel are fine, so I just took everything off it and cleaned and polished the hell out of it before I had the tire put on. The rim is in good shape paint wise, the Aluminum polished up pretty good too though there is some minor really small oxidation spots that are in it if you look real close at certain angles. I'll probably tackle that over the winter.

 

[Slowhand]

I had no problems with the rear brake caliper, the pistons popped right out with the air hose, they are in fine shape as were the cylinder walls, just needed to clean out the o-ring slots with the Dremel wire bit and also around the outside of the cylinder.

The first problem I ran into so far was the rear master cylinder, I couldn't get the damn piston out ! I tried blowing it out with the air hose at 140psi, no good. I soaked it in PB Blaster for a day and tried again, no good. I then soaked it in Mineral spirits for a couple of days and tried the air hose again, no good. The damn thing wouldn't budge. So I bought another rear M/C from one of the members on here who I won't name because I'm not sure if he would want me to. While I was waiting for it to arrive in the mail I looked at an old piston from my front master cylinder and noticed that I would have plenty of room to drill a small pilot hole down the center of it. So I did, and screwed in a sheet metal screw, put the MC in a vice and some vice grips on the screw and pulled like crazy and the friggen thing popped out !
Long story short, I dremeled the bore, cleaned the whole thing a number of times and put it back together. It works absolutely fine ! The other one came in the mail so I now have a spare if I need it.

 

[Slowhand]

I got lucky with the exhaust system which I want to keep stock. Most of the ones I saw on ebay were beat up and way too much money. Then I found this one , I believe the guy said it was only on his bike for 1000 miles before he went with a header. I think he said it had been in his attic all these years, I'm not sure as I bought it last October/November maybe? Anyway it is in great shape !!!! I paid 210/220 for it and its worth it to me. I just cleaned it up , then used my Meguiars on it. I clayed it, then swirl remover lightly on it and finished it off with #26. It looks almost new, no dents or scratches anywhere.

Before cleaning and wax ....

And after cleaning and waxing. It spiffed up nicely !

 

[trevor]

The exhaust looks geat Slowhand! I would love to get a hold of some for mine but like you said it's hard to find in good shape.

 

[UncleMike]

Wow. Looks like I'll be doing the same to my stock exhaust! You're sure none of that will damage the finish?