My Superfour

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craigs23
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Re: My Superfour

Post by craigs23 » Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:20 pm

In regards to the brakes - I cheated. Rather than strip down the calipers, add new seals, etc, I sourced some barely-used CBF600 items of Ebay - which were not only almost-new, but also the gold colour I'd wanted to emphasise the spot-gold used in my chosen paintwork design.

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They bolted straight on with new fluids, pads and a good condition Hornet 600 master cylinder. I decided against braided lines for the time being though, preferring the added feel an OE setup gives.

The seat was recovered by a local upholsters, near to where I work - they had also covered my NC30's seat, I wanted a consistent theme between the two bikes, so seemed a natural choice to use them again.

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reddeviljp
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Re: My Superfour

Post by reddeviljp » Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:25 pm

Craig - excellent work going on with the engine. I'm presuming that the two photo's are a 'before' and 'after'?

So, once you've had a look at it is the first stage to clean the engine with a good brush, some paraffin and degreaser?

Next stage is the spraying of the engine - what did you use? Is it the matt black heat resistant paint I've seen or something else?

Looking at what I'm going to be working with (tomorrow, touch wood) is there a special method for removing and cleaning up the brake units and wheels or is it worth sending them somewhere to be refurbished, renovated or whatever?

Appreciate you taking the time with this, mate.

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craigs23
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Re: My Superfour

Post by craigs23 » Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:58 pm

No worries, happy to help.

First stage is to get the bike mechanically sound - decide upon what needs replacing, what needs restoring, or what's good enough as is.

With mine, that was front and rear suspension plus head race bearings. The engine was sound, just needed a service, new fluids, plugs, cables, etc. Tyres needed changing, brakes were okay but could have done with just new fluids/pads. The electrics were fine, although I did put a new battery in it after winter as a treat.

Yep, then start with a decent clean and degrease to see what's lurking under any muck/ingrained dirt. Most of it will shift, and those more stubborn areas are those that are likely to be corroded. That may call for the wire brushes to come out, or, if budget allows, a bead blast/re-coating. Or if it's metal, a bit of elbow grease and patience to get it all nice and bling again.

Paraffin is a great degreaser - pretty strong stuff which is aluminium friendly and plentiful at any DIT/Auto store. I pour a bit into a metal tray, cover the garage in newspaper, and brush away. I don't tend to apply too much effort at first - just see how much dirt comes away with a little agitation. Keep rinsing and re-applying until you start seeing the original finish. Removing as many parts as possible (wheels, chain guard, sprocket cover, bodywork, etc), will make things a lot easier to get in all the knooks and crannies and areas that wouldn't have been given attention in normal weekly washing.

For the brakes - depends what you're looking at to begin with (as with anything really). A decent clean using Brake Cleaner (Halfords sell this quite cheaply in aerosol form), cleaning the pistons of ingrained dirt (once the pads are out the way and the caliper is free from its mounting) should get them working pretty well. If the oil is mucky or spongy, give the system a bleed too. Areas such as these tend not to be too bike-specific, and there are numerous online guides for maintenance work such as this (or if you can source a service manual for the bike).

I used a graphite metallic bodywork spray paint for the engine covers - I'll have a hunt around the garage when I can to find the exact name - again from Halfords for next to nothing, and then finished off the engine with a light dusting of a petrol resistant laquer. In terms of restoring the engine (before and after shots shown on the previous page), it was a matter of adding to what was left of the original finish after scrubbing it up, rather than removing the old finish completely. The good thing I've found with high metallic based paints is they have a knack of covering up tiny imperfections - and on items such as engine covers and what not, no one expects a bodywork-level of finish anyway, so the end result tends to look like the bike came off the production line. I did have to get creative with the masking though, even with so many parts out the way.


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