Have I Purchased the Correct Calipers for Upgrade?

[Kev L]

You record the size of peoples feet??? I didn't realise Mr Mon had smaller than average boots! You live and learn.

And maybe a page for you

Xxxxx

[thunderbolt]

I will NOW try to bring this thread back to a bit of sanity.

I have seen on various threads on fitting the better style of calipers, 600RR variants, 954, SP1, etc that different approaches have been used to remove material so the calipers would fit ok. Some remove all the material from the fork legs, other take a bit from caliper and fork leg. I decided to remove all the necessary material from the caliper using home made milling machine. My "old" pedestal drill with cutter fitted. The cutter I used was only a small diameter so I had to take little bites out of the caliper to gain the clearance I needed. A bit like a mouse nibbling at a block of cheese.

First I figured out how to mount the caliper to a mount to hold it secure while the milling was done. See below:



I cut a piece of 7-ply wood the correct width to fit inside the caliper and held it in place by countersunk wood screws. This was then clamped to the pedestal drill table.





The following pictures show the nibbling effect of the cutter on the caliper and clearance provided. I'll admit it does not look as good as using a cutter with a larger circumference to have just one long curve, but my drill didn't have the power to run a larger cutter. It's not that visible anyway.





Pictures below show the finished product:





Picture below shows both calipers fitted and the new allen bolts in stainless 316 make them look a lot better than the rusty torx bolts that were in there before.



All that is left to do now is to clean the pistons up and wait on the seal kits to arrive and then reassemble it all.

I have alloy "shorty" levers on my VTR which look really good and feel great to use. I suspect the one on the brake side will not swap over onto the 954 M/C. Does anybody know for sure?

Thanks

[agentpineapple]

looking good fella, I use an sp2 setup, and the brake lever is completely different.
if you go to the ron ayers website, check the part number for a 954 brake lever, then check it against a storm lever, i'm guessing they'll be different fella.
looks the same as an sp lever
cbr954 lever part numbers......53170-MCF-006........53170-MCJ-751
sp lever.......53170-MCF-006.......... .53170-MCJ-751
as I thought the cbr954 and sp are the same
firestorm lever part number............53170-MBW-006

[thunderbolt]

looking good fella, I use an sp2 setup, and the brake lever is completely different.
if you go to the ron ayers website, check the part number for a 954 brake lever, then check it against a storm lever, i'm guessing they'll be different fella.

Yes I think you may be right. I think the 954 brake lever would be thicker where it slides into the "U" shaped part of the mounting piece that attaches to the handlebar.

[thunderbolt]

Can anyone help with how best to connect the VTR fluid reservoir to the 954RR M/C inlet using the small rubber distance piece. The M/C inlet is in a different position to the one on the VTR and the VTR fluid reservoir mounts in a different position to the CBR954.

Maybe someone who has done it on their bike.

[thunderbolt]

I found some scoring on the bore of the M/C, not really bad but thought I would address it while it was disassembled. I took it to my brake place to be honed. He said Honda advise against honing the bore of the master cylinder. So it was sent away and had a stainless steel sleeve inserted and then the new kit fitted that I had purchased from Honda.

You wouldn't believe how smooth the action is now as the piston slides in and out of the cylinder. It also alleviates the issue where people say don't over extend the piston being pushed to the end of the bore which can damage the seal, because this is an unused part of the bore usually.

[thunderbolt]

Almost there



I have connected up the brake lines after fitting the cbr calipers to the fork legs. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to fit the brake lines to the new 954 calipers. They were exactly the right length - no problems with them being too short or too long. It was like they were made to fit. The bottom banjos fitted hard up against the stopper just as the 954 and vtr does. This supports the banjo while the bolt is torqued up tight.

I was also surprised to see that Honda do not use the conventional crush washers - made from copper or aluminium stock. They are made from steel. They are the same washers as first used on the CB750 in 1969 and all disc brake Hondas since then have used these same (crush!!) washers. Middle three digits being 300 - this shows up in ALL the part numbers on the parts diagrams. Hoping they seal ok, but I guess they will seeing as the banjo bolts are tightened to 25 lb/ft on my bike.

My plan is to reverse bleed the system, pushing the fluid from the caliper nipples up to the M/C. I will push the fluid up using a syringe and stop when it appears at the top of each respective brake line and then attach them to the M/C and finish off the bleeding process that way. I first have to make a few brackets to mount the fluid reservoir so it doesn't interfer with the fairing on full lock -- slowly getting there.

BTW I have also placed two wraps of pink sealing tape around the bleed nipples and run it into the threads with my fingernail to prevent any air being drawn in during the bleeding process.