Fast From The Past — Awesome Place!

While perusing the internet the other day for a Paulo Tarozzi fork brace I, quite luckily, happened across this place — Fast From The Past. 

And I found they are an absolute goldmine for old race bikes, cafe racers etc. because they carry those quality parts that are hard to find. Often you find a shop that only carries certain items for a few bikes, and my GSX often comes up lacking.
But here, a fork brace for the GSX750ES is just one of hundreds of different types available, all at realistic prices. And, once ordered, it was delivered to me in Australia in around a week. Nicely done.

How retro is that box? Love it!

Petrol Tanks, Filling Dents, Priming... Meh!

Unskilled.
Not my favourite job if I'm honest. I spent ten months prepping cars for paintwork a long time ago, but I think the very little I actually learnt has slipped away to oblivion. The guys I worked with made it look so easy. 

I'd spend hours applying filler, rubbing it back, going too low and having to start again. They seemed to be able to perfect it in minutes. But, alas, the tank I wanted to keep in bare metal has just too many dents and marks for me to be happy with it. So, I decided to break out the filler. 

First job was to get the bottom ready for primer. Once painted I can refit the fuel gauge sender and tap, and double check for leaks before spending hours on the top.

Flatted with 360 grit paper, it was soon good enough for some filler primer. 

Lowering Conventional Forks - The Art Of Height Reduction.

I'll be honest... I looked up how to do this on the internet, and what a simple idea!

One pair of standard length, conventional forks.

Here's why.
The GSX750ES has a clip-on style handlebar with one major issue - it's mounted above the top yoke/triple clamp. If you're going to lose this awful looking tiller, you're left with about 30mm of stanchion stuck above the yoke. This, in itself, looks crap. I've seen lowered cafe racers with that done to them, but it's not really the look I want.
So I need to shorten the forks themselves. Now apparently you can get shortened stanchions from someone in the States, but that'll no doubt prove expensive and probably come with its own set of problems. But by fitting a spacer inside the forks themselves, you can actually reduce the working range of the forks. You'll need to cut the main spring too, but then the fork can be dropped through the clamps, maintaining the bike's original height if need be, and cleaning up the top yoke area.

Here's how.
First, strip the forks. Make a start by slackening the top nut/preload adjuster. I used an airgun to cheat/make it easy. If you're taking them out of the bike first, slacken the top clamps only, and use a tight fitting socket to undo the nut. The lower clamp will prevent the fork from turning.

I then removed the four bolts holding the anti-dive unit on to the bottom of the fork leg. That way I can drain all the oil quickly - strewth, what a state! These forks haven't seen a service in years, maybe never.

This is the back of the ant-dive unit. That'll be stripped, cleaned and checked in another post.

With the dust cover already removed, the circlip is now visible above the washer and oil seal. A right-angled circlip pliers makes this job easy. It's corroded and takes a bit of moving to free up.

The next job is to remove the bottom bolt holding the damper assembly into the bottom of the fork leg. Again I'm cheating. Usually a tool is needed to prevent the damper spinning inside the stanchion while unscrewing the bolt. If you use an airgun, it will normally whip it out before the damper has chance to turn. Happy days.

Next I grab the stanchion and pull it up hard against the seal. It takes a few smacks, but eventually pops up through with the top bush. The seal is now easily removed to reveal the carnage inside. Man, this oil is crappy!

Oil with this amount of metal suspended in it just wears the internals away. Changing it regularly prevents wear, and gives a much better ride.

The damper assembly pulls apart and the rod and top-out spring are removed through the top of the stanchion. Now it's time to degrease every component.

This is the damper rod and top-out spring, and this is what I'm altering. Simply placing a spacer above the spring prevents the fork from extending fully, and fork height is reduced. As luck would have it, a piece removed from the frame is a perfect fit on the tube. I cut a couple of pieces just slightly short of the oil bleed holes (don't want to block those). 
Damn, I miss having a lathe sometimes - hacksaw and file it is then.

And that's it!
Reassembly will commence when the sliders have been painted, and I've acquired new stanchions. Watch this space.

It Really Doesn't Take Long...

To Strip Down A Bike.
Within a couple of hours you can reduce most bikes to their individual components. But be methodical, don't rush and use plenty of WD40 on the rusted bits (even heat if necessary). You want everything to come to pieces without being trashed. 



A rusted bolt probably needs a little assistance so don't just use your biggest spanner and round off the head, strip the thread or, worse still, shear it off completely. Take your time now and it'll make it easier, and cheaper, when it's rebuild time.

She ain't winning no beauty contests, but once all this scaffolding is removed she should be a lot lighter. Wrong clocks fitted though. Probably changed when it passed the millionth km.

Suzuki GSX750 ESD Stripdown.

I'd owned it a week, time to get it apart.
Stroll on, this bike has had a hard life! The forks are bent and pitted, the rear suspension hasn't seen grease since it left the Suzuki factory, and the swingarm pivot (16mm thick!) was actually sheared off. 

But that's enough about the good points!

Time to get the camera out and start ripping it to bits.