Brakes vs me, almost 40 years of crud.....

     So, now everything is back to normal, I decided to get back on the cafe racer pony and recommence the restoration.

     Stripped more of the bike, this thing must have kept Home Depot profits up high. All of the ancillaries are now off the front end, just the handle bars remain for moving in and out of my garage. Space is at a premium, oh for a home workshop. 2 more years then I will have my one in Scotland back, maybe in time for my next build (a Z1 or if it's a basket case a MFP Z1, mmmm).

     With that done, found another great resource for OEM parts, Z1 Enterprises. A complete set of seals for a front caliper are $31.00, cheaper than e-Bay. I then returned to my brakes, decided to disassemble completely, all the way down - then repaint, new seals, lines and the new pads that were in the calipers. Brakes were a mess, before and after the clean below. The seals and diaphragms were all gelatinous, sticky and everywhere. A solid combination of elbow grease, acetone and WD-40 aided the clean-up before a thorough de-greasing ready for paint and re-assembly. To totally de-grease and clean the calipers, they may have a visit to the parts washer in the kitchen (don't tell the missus.).

 To get the pistons out, I was a little creative. I do not own a compressor as yet, but have acquired a lathe and milling machine. I also ride push bikes so i have a stirrup air pump for bike tyres. So a few measurements and about 20 minutes on my lathe and i came up with a bike pump to caliper part. Designed as follows - 7 mm thread for the caliper body, 3/8 inch main body (to fit the foot pump) and knurled. A 4 mm hole through the body completes the part:

     Screwed the part into my calipers, blocked the brake line hose with a 10 mm bolt and a bit of 5 mm workshop rubber glove to seal. The one slow compression of the pump eased the piston from the caliper body. I was a pleased as a gypsies dog with 2 dicks. I think the last lot of fluid was water! A there was a lot of rust coloured fluids ejected (see the dirty piston in pic).

     It has to be said, that each caliper took 3 to 4 hours of leisurely work before paint. So all 3 calipers will take around a day and a half of work, yes it could have been cheaper to buy NOS and go from there, but this way I am trying to keep the cafe racer ethos alive, restoring and using as much as i can of the bike, changing what i must for safety and want to for the look. Besides that, NOS Calipers are expensive, eBay was one of the only places to find one, at $285.00! Used ones start at around the ton, and would need a strip down anyways.

     So to the costs:
1. Strip and clean -           $0.00
2. Brake caliper paint -     $9.00
3. Front seal kit x 2 -        $62.00      Total for both caliper refurb = $71.00
4. Master cylinder kit -     $20.00
5. Steel Lines -                 $35.00

     All in all, for the total front end brake referb - not a bad expenditure: lever to pad = $126.00. Am happy with that, and expect a similar result for the rear, once the wheels are out and I can remove the rear caliper.

     The finished calipers will be blogged in around 3 or 4 days (probably a week then).