Where to start when starting on a rebuild? Ground up or front to back? We might as well start at the front with the front brakes and forks. The condition of the front brakes was pretty poor. It looks like they have not be operational in a long, long time. Maybe the previous owner was using the back brake only? Very scary! So, first thing is to document the configuration of the parts before taking them apart so it makes it easier on re-assembly. Sometimes when you take something apart you find out that you need to order another part for it. If it takes a while to get that part you can forget how it was before you took it apart. Anyway, pictures are great for this purpose. Here are the calipers and rotors before disassembly:
Another shot of the assembly:
One more from the back side:
So I took the calipers apart and the cylinders were very difficult to remove. They had been stuck in there for a very long time. I tried using air pressure to force them out but they were full of gunk and I don't think the air was able to get the surface area it needed to drive them out. So I had to rebuild the master cylinder first in order to provide the pressure to drive the cylinders out. This is what I mean about taking pictures first, I did not plan on rebuilding the master cylinder just yet so I had to order parts for it and wait for them to arrive. Here are the internals of the master cylinder I took apart:
Pretty crusty right? So I ordered a new rebuild kit:
Built the master cylinder and drove the cylinders out of the calipers. Then I took the caliper halves into the blasting cabinet to completely clean them up. Check out the before and afters:
And:
I installed all new seals and rebuilt both calipers then I painted them with a clear satin finish polyurethane spray to keep them from corroding. I cleaned up the wheel and painted it and cleaned up the forks and brackets. I also installed new brake lines. Here is what it looks like now:
So moving on from the front, I will work on the triple clamp and upper forks. Then I will remove the engine to begin that process. Wish me luck!