Jennifer's Makeover

[Flyboy]

Hey all, was looking at the calender ad it has been a month over a year ago I started on the road to restore Jennifer back to her former glory, and as those that have taken the time to stop by and have a look at my little thread will know, for all of that year and a month, it has been nothing but stripping, cleaning, refurbishing, painting and prep work, not a single bolt or nut has gone back together yet.......Jeeezzzz, apart from Pete, that has to be some kind of record.
Anyway, last weekend that all changed and I turned the corner, when I drove the new bearings into the steering stem and bolted in the triple clamps. :dancing:
I must have looked like a right tool, just sitting there on the back wheel, beer in hand with this goofy look on my face just staring at and admiring this bare frame with a set of triple clamps mounted to it.. ah, but all was good with the world so I don't give a rats azz....:lol:

Of course that just lit tha fire under me to get Jennifer back on her wheels ASAP, so after a final bit of shopping for one or two things, today I got the forks together.
With that said, the pics are not eye candy, but we like pics, so......
I am going to post what seems like quite a few pics for a relatively simple job, but one which I see questions on qute often in the forum, so maybe a step by step blow might help some one in the future who may be unsure and has never put forks back together again, or needs clarity, nothing like a picture being a thousand words.....I hope so.
Ok, enough yadda yadda, herewith the pics..........

Layed everything out before assenbly, to check that everything had been cleaned and no pieces had gone AWOL......yep, looks like we have a game.

Some new seals, new circlips to replace those stupid, dodgy wire retainers Suzuki used, some shiny new hardware for the cups that carry the axle, a litre of 15w fork oil (1000G is heavy and I am a big boy) and a nice big syringe to measure it.

Poor man's special tool to hold the damper while tightning the bottom allen bolt, simple piece of threaded rod and two 19mm nuts, I guess you could build it for $2

You did take pics and draw a pic of how it all goes back together when you stripped it right.......right????

First thing I did was lay everything out in order of assembly, consult your picture/pics....you drew a picture / took pics....right????

Top End

Bottom End

 

[Flyboy]

Notice tightly wound coils of the spring go to the top of the fork.

First thing to do was place the small spring onto the damper rod and drop the damper rod into the upper stanchion sanchion only goes into the lower one way.

Damper rod inside stanchion

Then fit little aluminium widget thingy to bottom of damper rod, and slide the whole shooting match into the fork lower leg.

Now you get to use your $2 special tool
Slide it down the inside of the stanchion like so

And it will locate in the top of the damper rod like so.........

Fit bottom allen bolt

And tighten, holding threaded rod with vice grips
Here is what it looks like

 

[Matchless]

Looking good! Nice clean and shiny parts!
Remember myself being there not so long ago!
Enjoy!

 

[Flyboy]

Time to drive the seal in

I used a small hammer and a soft drift with a flat point
I guess yu could also fit the seal before securing the stanchion in the fork lower, use a piece of PVC pipe with a diameter slightly smaller than the OD of the seal to drive it home.

Make sure the seal is all the way home, and fit circlip

Fit dust boot.

Making sure the fork is all the wat down, measure and add oil

241cc or 140mm from the top of the fork stanchion
Simple measuring tool.

Finally, drop the spring into the fork, fit washer, then pre-load spacer and tighten the cap down, call it done.

And of course..............

 

[Flyboy]

And my parts from the States hit the water today...............yeeeeeeha

 

[Rover]

Good job,appreciate the pics and instructions.Your helping many "lurkers".

 

[rustybronco]

Don't mean to be a spoil sport, but where's the copper gasket that seals the allen bolt?

 

[Flyboy]

Too sharp Dale, no worries, it is in there, brand new as well, I just hadn't scratched it out of its packet yet, you will notice there are oly 3 spring washers fror the cups at the bottom as well, the fourth one is in hiding, a cat would loose her kittens in my garage right now, man, I need to clean up in the worst kind of way.

 

[Guest]

Great work Flyboy... have done this myself (again) this weekend, but it's still nice to see someone else's pics of the process...

 

[Flyboy]

Thanks man, yeah, I just thought that a bunch of picks may help someone some day, I know I need to have pictures drawn for me, 'cause me not too bright.......:-s

 

[rustybronco]

a cat would loose her kittens in my garage right now, man, I need to clean up in the worst kind of way.

As you have seen a picture of my garage, that would make both of us needing to tidy up a bit.

Nice work on the polishing! it makes the pain of bloodied fingers worth while.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Now THAT'S progress! She's looking good and wonderful attention to detail.

 

[Guest]

Nice work Stan! Started on my Ikon springs tonight after all that ranting... haha

You gotta be happy to see that front end coming together... get a wheel on there and a rear wheel on and you'll be doing the "vroom vroom" sounds before you know it!

 

[2BRacing]

Fantastic work, Flyboy! Really nice tutorial of fork rebuild. Jennifer is going to be one sexy lady when done!

Are you keeping record of where you bought all your parts? Something like that will be handy to know here, where sources are getting scarce - although I think you will have more available up there than we do down here!

What's all in the box? Can't wait to see!

Keep up the steady progress.

 

[Flyboy]

Thanks for the kind words guys, slowly slowly I will eventually get it done, just wish I had more time to work on her.

Ya, I am compiling a full resource where I got everything from, not so simple as it used to be, 20years ago you just walked down Main St. in JHB and there were 100 bike shops where you could get anything under the sun, no more I am afraid.
I can't wait for the box either, lots of good stuff in there, off the top of my head, a stator cover from Nessim, a rear fender from Chef, and a whole bunch of good stuff from Rustybronco who has been kind enough to pack it all up and send it to me, should be here in 3 weeks if all goes well.:dancing:

 

[Guest]

I hear ya on the time thing Stan, loud and clear!

I apparently have a box on the way from Boulevard at the moment too, it's always nice to arrive home to a box on the dining room table that you know will contain wonderful bits and pieces...

 

[Flyboy]

This morning I took a ride down to the post office to clear the post box and check for post, and guess what I found................................................................................................................. A box from across the water

Wooooo Hoooo Wooooo Hoooo Wooooo Hoooo

packed full of nice goodies

Rear fender from Chef
Stator Cover and emblem from Nessim
And all the other goodies from RustyBronco......many, many thanks Dale.

So tomorrow, I may even get the front end onto Jennifer, as was waiting for the Chrome trim that goes over the lower triple before I could bolt the forks in, I can't wait, unfortunatly today is out, girlfriends birthday, so I guess taking her out for dinner is in order....oh well only one more sleep.

 

[rustybronco]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! two weeks door to door!!!! I never would have guessed it would be that quick.

I suspect you feel like a kid on Christmas morning?

at first glance how do things look? good I hope!

Tell your Girlfriend I said happy birthday. she's like what 29 or so?

 

[Flyboy]

All looks good Dale, many thanks, will have to spend some time on the fender, but not the end of the world, I am just wondering why I don't have a trim piece for the triple and had to get this one, since I have owned the bike for most of it's life, only thing I can think is that at some point I took it off to mount the S fairing, will have to revisit it and see if it interfers with the fairing or not, as I would like to mount the S fairing back on.
Everything else looks great, can't wait to get her on her wheels now, and I know exactly where those felt covers are going...........

Not too sure how old :-$

 

[rustybronco]

I didn't know if you could make the felt work or not, so I sent them along just in case you could. the two o-rings in the package with the aftermarket cylinder o-rings probably won't fit, but again, like the felt, they were light enough not to matter. it all comes down to shipping those things you miss the first time. that tends to get a bit costly if you miss a thing or two. I think it best to send out more than not.... especially on your dime!

I straightened the headlight ears as best I could. there still is a little bit of wave to the metal on one of them, so you may have to put and extra coat of primer before you block them out prior to painting.

the base gasket is a extra I had gotten from nessism (Ed) and the foot pegs are from Sedelen (Steve). we like to have a bit of the USA on bikes in the RSA when we can get away with it.