Help Reminiscing About My Old Balius

As covered earlier, when I got the Balius out of storage last week I was very dismayed with the condition of the bike. There had obviously been way too much moisture in the shed that the bike was stored in, and there was rust and corrosion on almost every metal surface.

I don’t have the skills or motivation to completely dismantle the bike and rebuild it, so it wasn’t looking promising for this bike’s future.

I was aware of a business called Clean Ride, which specialises in detailing motorbikes. I had read various positive reviews on web sites, but could not see how this bike could be brought back to a suitable condition without spending dozens of hours pulling it apart.

I took the bike to Clean Ride, expecting the proprietor (Roberto) to shake his head at this one. No, he said to leave it with him and he would getting it looking good again. I could not see how this was possible, but figured that if anyone could, he could.

He quoted me $249 to detail the bike. As much as I hate spending money, I figured I’d go along with it. I could not see any other way of getting the bike back to anywhere near how I wanted to be, so agreed with Roberto having a go at it.

I did not expect what I got back. His work has far exceeded my expectations, and now I know that I can get this bike back into proper running order again.

I’m also aware that I well and truly got my money’s worth. There are still many parts on the bike that require attention, but $249 will only get a certain number of hours. To improve the bike’s appearance further will require the physical removal and restoration of numerous parts. This is time consuming, and is something that I’ll be doing at home.

To show how good a job Roberto has done, I’ve tried to recreate some of the photos that I took last week.

Before:


Major differences:
- End of the muffler has been polished.
- Exhaust pipe before muffler has been polished.
- Passenger footpeg bracket.
- Rear brake master cylinder bracket (ie above footpeg).

I’ll remove that rusty washer on the muffler mount and clean it myself later, as well as the two bolts for the master cylinder bracket.

After:


Before:


There’s still the same rust around the frame steering stem, but that’s to be expected. If I’m feeling ambitious some day then I’ll remove the forks and triple clamps, and then spray that area with a spray can.

I was very surprised to see how much better the forks are. I expected that the rust on the chrome tubes was going to require them to be removed and re-plated.

After:


Before:


There’s not much different around the swingarm and rear sprocket area. The swingarm is a bit cleaner. The chain isn’t worth trying to save - the o-rings in the links have all decayed.

After:


Before:


The indicators all came back looking like new. A new problem came about when taking these photos - now that there were shiny reflective surfaces all over the place it was impossible to take photos without my reflection in them.

I was expecting that if I wanted indicators looking that good then I’d have to replace them with new ones.

After:


Before:


The speedo cluster was another area where I was expecting to spend a bunch of time and money replacing parts (ie the speedo cluster housing). Check out how new it looks.

The top triple clamp, steering stem nut and handlebar mounts are better but will need more work. This will involve removing those parts from the bike and getting them soda blasted. The steering stem nut will need to be re-chromed.

After:


Before:


The rider’s view of the controls area is now how it should be.

After:


Before:


I was extremely surprised with how well the mirrors improved. There’s still minor traces of rust at each end of the stalk, but it’s nothing like what it was before. I didn’t think that the mirrors could be saved.

After:


Before:


After:


The killswitch and mirror mount came back looking like new.



Before:


Have a look at:
- the speedo cluster housing
- the chrome surround on the headlight
- the black plastic headlight casing
- the front indicator

After:


Before:


I thought that the front brake master cylinder would at least require repainting. Instead, it came back looking like it was new.

You can also see the difference in the fork tube - the rust was successfully removed.

After:


Before:


The wheels were one area where no amount of detailing was going to make a difference. They are too pitted, and will require stripping and either repainting or polishing.

After:


Before:


The LH fork tube now looks like it should. I’ll keep an eye on that fork seal once the bike is on the road, and replace the seal if required.

After:


Before:


The front brake area looks similar. The fork tube looks much better, and the front brake caliper is a bit shinier.

After:


Before:


The rusted area on the removable frame section was always going to require stripping and repainting. The rust had eaten into the paint too much. However, that part is easy to remove, and will get repainted if I ever get around to respraying the frame steering stem area.

Also notice how much surface corrosion was removed from the cylinder head cooling fins.

After:


Before:


This is where we start to see a massive difference - the engine area.
- The radiator scoop has been polished.
- The cylinder head restored much better than I thought it would.
- The engine side cover polished up well.
- I was especially pleased with how much rust was removed from the coolant tube.

After:


Before:


The right side of the engine restored well, particularly the engine side cover.

After:


Before:


The engine left sidecover now has its original shine back again. The water pump cover has also lost the surface corrosion and is looking much better.

After:


Before:


The engine side cover turned out much better than I expected.

I didn’t expect for the rust on the coolant pipe to come off - it’s almost all gone. I was expecting that pipe to be added to the lengthy list of things that were going to require removal and soda blasting another time.

After:


Before:


All the gunk around the front sprocket area is gone. Notice how clean it is around the gear lever shaft.

After:


Before:


The header pipes cleaned up fairly well.

After:


Before:


The RH side of the engine is looking much better.

After:


Before:


After:


Overall, the bike is now looking like it was when I bought it back in 2008.

When I got the bike out of storage last week I thought all hope was lost. I could not see how the bike could be restored back to useable condition without having to dismantle the bike and restore it piece by piece.

I was very discouraged by what I originally saw, but after Clean Ride’s efforts this bike will once again be suitable for general use.



Ready to go home and start on the mechanical work that’s required to get the Balius running again.

 

Thursday, 28th April, 2016

Tonight I wanted to get the engine running, but knew that I had to make sure that there was fresh oil in it first.



A couple of years ago I bought this AmPro T75871 Cup Type Oil Filter Wrench Set to use on cars. I figured that one of them might even fit the existing oil filter.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/AMPRO-T75871-Filter-Wrench-14-Piece/dp/B00A4AKTR0



It turned out that none of the AmPro caps fitted the standard Kawasaki oil filter that was on the bike. I ended up using a claw tool, and even that took some effort.

The claw tightens as pressure is applied, and you can see how it has pushed in the sides of the old oil filter before it finally rotated loose.

To remove the oil drain bolt I used a 17mm impact socket. This is a 6-sided socket, which ensured that the bolt wouldn’t get stripped if it was too tight.

A new HiFlo HF303 oil filter was then fitted to the bike.



One of the AmPro caps fitted the HiFlo filter perfectly.



The cap that I used was the 65/67-14F cap, which is available separately as the AmPro T70405.



The old oil was just about black, and well overdue for replacing.



I had previously tried to undo the fuel cap but the lock was jammed. I use Wurth Rost Off Plus on seized bolts, so figured I’d spray some of that into the lock and see if made a difference.

A few minutes later the lock turned, and the fuel cap opened.



Underneath the fuel cap was covered in surface corrosion. I bought a battery-powered Dremel 8220 a while ago, and figured it was time to use my new toy.

I used the Dremel with a small wire brush to clean off the corrosion.



A close-up of the fuel cap. The corrosion was also one of the reasons why the fuel cap wouldn’t open earlier.



It only took a few minutes with the Dremel to make the fuel cap look like new again.

I used some an aerosol brake cleaner to clean the resulting dust off, and then let the fuel cap dry.



This is where things started to get interesting, and started to confirm that getting the Balius running again wasn’t going to happen tonight.

There was plenty of rust in the filler hole of the fuel tank.



Once again, a minute or two with the Dremel and the rust was gone.



However, there is heaps of rust inside the fuel tank. I’m going to have to get this cleaned out properly.



Remembering that I had drained the old oil but not replaced it, I figured that I’d better put some new oil so that I didn’t forget before eventually getting the engine running.

I’ve had a 4L bottle of Motul 5100 10w40 sitting around for a while, so put in 2 litres of that. I looked around and couldn’t find the oil level window, so figured that 2 litres would do for now. I later found the oil sight window at the very bottom of the engine.



The work scene.



It was time to start removing parts (ie fuel tank and air filter). The seat came off first.

The plastic sidecovers clip into the rubber mounts. When removing the sidecovers there is always the chance that the plastic stalks on the sidecovers will break. I’m going to put some lubricant in those rubber bushes later on, possibly silicon spray.



The fuel tank came off easily enough, revealing the airbox.



The fuel tank looks perfect on the outside. It’s a shame that it’s such a mess on the inside.



There was still a few litres of petrol in the tank so I shook it around for a while. I was pleased to see that a lot of the rust had already shaken loose.



Then I removed the air filter. It was in much better condition than I anticipated - I was expecting that it would fall apart as I pulled it out.

I was expecting to have to replace the air filter, but I was starting to think that maybe I could re-use this one after all.



I didn’t bother to check the label, and used methylated spirits instead of mineral turpentine.



However, this didn’t matter. As soon as I started to squeeze the air filter it fell to pieces.

Yep, I’m definitely going to have to buy a new air filter. There are very few choices - apart from Kawasaki, the only other option that I can find so far is the Uni Filter NU3306.



Before going to Clean Ride the throttle was jammed and wouldn’t rotate at all. Since getting the bike back, the throttle rotates, but it’s stiff and doesn’t return quickly.

I started by removing the kill switch, so that the throttle tube would slide off the handlebars.



As usual, the screw heads got the Dremel and wire brush treatment.



I used some aerosol brake cleaner to ensure that the handlebar end was perfectly clean. Then I poured some graphic powder onto the handlebar end.

Graphite powder is a dry lubricant. Unlike liquid lubricants, it won’t turn to goo later on.

Graphite powder is also useful for loosening up door locks, ignition switches, etc (ie anything that uses a key).



Being thorough, I also poured some graphic powder down the throttle tube.



I remember years ago regularly having trouble with Philips head screws on master cylinders on bikes. They would jam up and I would have trouble loosening the screws (ie heads would strip).

I vaguely recall promising myself to replace the screws with new ones whenever I bought a bike in the future, which would have included replacing the two screws on this bike

Right now this was a very, very, very good thing. Both screws came loose quite easily.



I quickly cleaned the head of each screw with the Dremel and put the screws back in. I didn’t do a thorough enough job on the left one.

You can also see how good a job Clean Ride has done - that cylinder cap was extremely faded before, but now looks new.



In my hurry to put the rear wheel back on (after getting the tyres changed) I left out a spacer that goes between the sprocket carrier and rest of the wheel hub.

I removed the wheel to put that spacer back in. While I was at it, I cleaned the rust off the sprocket bolts and nuts.



The rear axle washer before the Dremel and wire brush.



And after.



The rear axle nut before. That nut requires a 24mm socket or spanner.



And after. Only a minor difference but I’m sick of staring at brown rust spots on this bike.



I used a cordless drill and wire brush to clean the rear axle.



I checked the rear wheel bearings and they were all good. That rear one is an NTN 6203LU. As NTN make good quality bearings, I’ll be leaving them as they are.



I then removed the rear disc rotor.

I bought that set of allen key/hex head sockets at a pawnbroker about a year ago for $25, thinking that although I didn’t have an immediate requirement for it, it might come in handy some day.

Since then I’ve been using them heaps, and wonder how I survived without them. I used to use a set of t-bar allen keys that I’ve got.

As I was expecting the bolts to be tight, I used an extendable ratchet that would give me extra leverage if required. It took a bit of force, but the bolts came loose reasonably easy.



I used the Dremel to clean off the thread locking compound off each bolt.



The inside of the disc rotor had a lot of rust on it, which wasn’t accessible when the bike was being detailed. Now that the disc was off the bike I could have a proper go at it.



A few minutes with the cordless drill and wire brush had the disc looking much better.



I put some Loctite 222 on each bolt. The 222 is a good all-rounder threadlocker.



I’m used to working on a particular model of car that is known for brake shudder. One of the ways that I prevent brake shudder is by using a torque wrench to ensure that each wheel nut is done up to the same torque level.

I figured I’d be careful here and do the same thing. Not having a service manual to refer to, I figured that 40Nm felt tight enough, but then went to 45Nm to be sure.

Here in Australia things tend to be a lot more expensive than in the US. Our exchange is fairly crap at the moment, but was good a few years ago. I’m grateful these days that I bought a lot of specialised tools back then, such as this Snap-On TECH3FR100 digital torque wrench. I bought it in almost-new condition cheaply on eBay. As it approaches the pre-set torque level it vibrates, and then beeps when it his the preset.



The rust on the inside the of the rear disc rotor was something that had caught my attention several times. Now the rust is gone.



The work area. The driveway is on a slight angle, hence the chock under the front wheel to prevent the bike from rolling forward and off the rear stand.



When I put the front wheel back in after getting the tyres changed I was unable to push the brake pads apart.

I figured that the pistons were seized, and removed the caliper to have a look.

On this caliper, the pads are removed by removing the split-pin that goes through the pin on the bottom of the caliper. The pin then slides out, which allows the brake pads to come out.

I put the split-pin aside so that I wouldn’t lose it. It took a bit of arguing with the rod and a pair of multi-grip pliers, but the pin came out eventually.



It was obvious that the front caliper was going to need work, so I removed it. I used a 12mm impact socket - being 6-sided there would be no risk of stripping the banjo bolt head.



And sure enough, the front caliper will need cleaning up and reconditioning. The rust on the pistons meant that they couldn’t retract back into the caliper previously.



One of the piston seals was also partly hanging out.

I’ll take the callper to a place that does bead blasting, get it cleaned up and put new seals in. Hopefully the pistons will clean up and can be re-used, but will be replaced if required.



The pitting on the front wheel is pretty bad. Nothing I can do about that for now.



There wasn’t much more I could do for the night so knocked off.

 

Friday, 29th April, 2016

This is the bolt that attaches the muffler to the passenger footpeg bracket. I wanted to see if the Dremel would remove the rust.



Much better.



The muffler bolt, back in place. I also went over the passenger footpeg with the Dremel.



Another area with a lot of rust is the radiator guard. There are two screws that hold it in place - one on each side. One them was extremely difficult to remove - I ended up using a combination of a screwdriver and multi-grip pliers. I pushed the screwdriver in with one hand and used the multi-grip pliers with the other hand to get enough leverage to rotate the screwdriver. That was a job for an impact driver, but I don’t have one.

I had a go at the radiator guard with the drill and wire brush, but there was only a minimal improvement. If I want to get that one clean then it’s going to have to be acid-dipped.



While poking around I finally found the oil sight window, near the bottom of the engine on the right hand side.



Looking for things to do, I washed the airbox lid. There was a bit of oily gunk in the top so I used CT14 instead of the usual CT18. CT14 works better on oily build-ups.



I had a go at getting rid of the rust on the gear change linkage.



Once again, the Dremel did well. This was getting easy.



The front sprocket was covered in rust, but cleaned up well. I’ll go shopping for a replacement chain soon.



I drained the coolant so that I could check the coolant impeller.



One of the problems with the Balius is how the side covers clip into place. The mounts on the sidecover have broken off and stayed stuck in the rubber grommets.



The inside of the sidecover. I’ll get the mounting plastic welded back on another time.



I couldn’t get the pipe to separate from the water pump cover, so it had to move outward with the water pump cover.



The impeller was in good condition. I’ll have to remove that cover another time and replace the gasket.



There were still patches of rust in places that couldn’t be reached unless parts of the bike were removed. The top of each fork leg had rust that I wanted gone, as well as the steering stem nut.

Removing the handlebar mount gave me access to the spots of rust that I wanted gone.



No more rust spots in the upper triple clamp area.



The work area. From this distance, the camera flash makes the bike look a lot better than what it actually is. But photos taken up close with the flash exaggerate the imperfections.

However, after getting it detailed by Clean Ride, plus my removing parts and cleaning them individually, the bike is looking vastly different to how it was a week ago.



That pipe that runs between the radiator hose and water pump was covered in rust last week. After being detailed almost all the rust was gone.

Removing that pipe early gave me access to it with the drill and wire brush. That pipe is now almost completely free of rust.



Time to knock off for the night.

 

Monday, 2nd May, 2016

Time to start on cleaning the rust out of the fuel tank. This bike also has a fuel level gauge in the speedo cluster, so that also meant removing the sender unit from the bottom of the tank.

That hose in the middle connects to a tube that runs through to the top of the fuel tank. It’s purpose is to remove water from around the fuel cap recess - there’s a hole in the top of the tank in the fuel cap area. Water can get through that hole and is then drained through the hose onto the ground.



I removed the fuel tap and poured out the old petrol. It looked nothing like normal petrol.



There was a lot of rust left inside the fuel tank.



I filled the tank with water and poured that out. When I poked my hand through the water pouring out there was plenty of rust.



Once I flushed the tank out with water a few times I was relieved to see that the inside wasn’t too bad after all.



To remove the rest of the rust I wanted to try using electrolysis. This involves using electric current to create a chemical reaction that removes the rust from the steel inside of the fuel tank. I’ve never done this before, so had a look at a few web sites.

I needed to create what is called a “sacrificial anode”. This can be anything made of steel, which is then left inside the fuel tank.

I figured that that I’d use a bolt and an aerosol can lid. I only had one nut to fit that bolt, so used a large zip tie to go on one side of the aerosol can lid.



I drilled a hole through the aerosol can lid for the bolt to go through. Then I put the zip tie on the bolt.

The bolt was galvanised, so I used a drill and wire brush to strip it back to steel.



I fed the bolt through the hole and then tightened the nut.



I had to figure out how to block the hole for the fuel gauge sender unit. I tried using duct tape but it wouldn’t stick properly to the cold metal. I used a heat gun to heat the fuel tank metal.



This actually worked, and the duct tape stuck the the warmed up metal well.



I checked to see if my “sacrificial anode” contraption would fit. It fitted perfectly.



This is how the bolt (ie sacrificial anode) sits inside the tank.



The diameter of the aerosol can lid was just the right size to fit in the fuel cap recess.



The scene. I had to work out how to keep the fuel tank level, so used some car wheel chocks. I use these whenever I’ve got the back of a car jacked up, as the driveway is on an angle and cars roll forward once the rear wheels are off the ground (ie handbrake).

This meant that I also had to find something else to put under the front wheel of the bike, so I just grabbed a rag and jammed it under there.



I bought some washing soda from a supermarket for the price of around $4.

The ratio is one tablespoon of washing soda per 4 litres of water. As the Balius tank is 15 litres, this meant four tablespoons of washing soda.



I wanted to make sure that it was mixed in with the water before putting it in the fuel tank, so I used some boiled water from the kettle. I then used a kitchen mixer to make sure that the washing soda dissolved into the water.



I poured the contents of the bucket into the fuel tank, and then used the garden hose to fill it up.

To get the level right I used a 60mL syringe to drain out any extra water. You can get such a syringe from most veterinary surgeries - a syringe that size is used for horses. I also use those syringes for draining the brake fluid out of car brake fluid reservoirs when I am flushing brake fluid.



I had to put the negative lead on some bare metal. I didn’t want to remove any paint from the tank, but then I realised that where the tank mounts on the bike was already rubbed back.



Everything in place. The negative lead is clipped on underneath the tank, and the positive lead is connected to the bolt.



However, with 15 litres of water in the tank it was pushing past the duct tape that I had put over the fuel tap hole. I used some car brake pads and a small towel to try and support the duct tape.



Everything in place.

In the photo is the cordless drill and wire brush that I used to clean the bolt.

This is where things started to get confusing. There was meant to be bubbling in the water but there wasn’t. I tried using my jumpstarter pack but also didn’t get bubbling.



I moved on to cleaning the fuel gauge sender and fuel tap.



The base of the fuel tap.



The base of the fuel gauge sender unit.



I cleaned up the base of the fuel tap with my Dremel and wire brush. This was a mistake - I didn’t realise that the two tubes were plastic. The wire brush cut into the filtration material. I should have used a toothbrush and something like kerosene instead.

I’ll be replacing the o-ring seal on the fuel tap. That seal is used on most Kawasakis - the part number is 92055-1112 and isn’t expensive.



I’m going to disassemble the fuel tap later on, but did a quick lap of the face with the Dremel and wire brush.



The base of the fuel gauge sender cleaned up well.

 

Tuesday, 3rd May, 2016

After leaving the electrolysis setup running for a day I returned the next night to find that that most of the water had drained out. My attempt at blocking the fuel tap hole with duct tape had been unsuccessful.



During the day I also bought an eye-hook bolt with two matching nuts and washers to use on my second attempt.



But then I found that the eye wouldn’t fit through the fuel tank opening.



I’ve got a hydraulic press at home so pressed the eye narrower so that it would fit through the fuel tank opening.



The eye-hook bolt was much longer than the bolt that I used last night night, and reached the bottom of the tank. As it is a requirement of electrolysis that the bolt (ie sacrificial anode) not touch the fuel tank I was able to adjust the nuts and washers to change how far into the tank the bolt extended.



I used the drill and wire brush to remove the galvanise coating. The Dremel removed the coating on the inside of the eye.



I needed to figure out how to block the fuel tap hole. I had a go at cutting some plastic out of a fast food container.



But this still leaked.



I then cut up an ice cream container and found that the stiffer plastic made a seal.



I connected the charger and left it for the night.



During the day I also picked up the front caliper after it was bead blasted. Apparently the pistons were quite difficult to remove.



You can see one of the piston seals in place. Above each piston seal is normally a dust seal.



On the left is one of the piston seals and on the right is one of the dust seals.



Although the caliper would now be functional I wanted to clean it up more with the Dremel and wire brush.



The various front caliper parts.



This is what I had been using for cleaning various surfaces. I’ve got a Dremel 4000 (ie electric cord) and a Dremel 8200 (ie cordless).

The wire brushes shed bristles after a while. I bought a bunch of brushes from AliExpres.com a while ago.



I started cleaning up the inside area of the caliper. Inside the hole on the left you can see the difference between the two recesses for the piston seal and dust seal.



Everything cleaned up well. I’m going to get new brake pads later on, but will put those brake pads back in for now.



The pistons were previously covered in corrosion but cleaned up well.



It took some poking around, but I got the seal grooves cleaned up well.



The caliper, ready to have new seals put in. I’ll order those next week, along with various other parts.

 

Wednesday, 4th May, 2016

I’m a big fan of speed bleeders - they are a brake nipple that has a small value inside. This means that, when loosened, brake fluid can get out but air doesn’t go back in. This makes it easier to flush brake fluid or bleed the line.

As the caliper was off the bike I wanted to measure the bleed nipple. I used a thread gauge, which I had previously bought from SpeedBleeder.com.

The nipple is an M7 x 1.0 size. The rear caliper has the same size nipple.



The threaded section is about 15mm long, and the whole thing is about 25mm long.



The two piston seals from the front caliper are still in good condition, and could be used again. But, seeing as I’ve got the caliper apart, I’ll buy new seals anyway.



My novice attempts at electrolysis had been unsuccessful, and I finally realised that the charger was shutting off automatically.

I grabbed an old car battery, set it up in parallel and left it all for the night.

 

Monday, 9th May, 2016

I still can’t get electrolysis to work consistently for cleaning the rust out of the fuel tank. I poured the contents into a bucket.

I had flushed out the tank several times with the garden hose before trying electrolysis, so seeing the brown water indicated that electrolysis had been working for a short time.



There was also some build-up on the eye-hook bolt that I had been using.



The inside of the fuel tank was looking a lot better than when I originally started, but there’s still a lot of rust in there.

I’ll probably end up using a POR15 kit, but I want to get the tank as rust-free as possible before spending the money on the kit.



I’ve been going over the bike and cleaning rust off individual areas and components. This bracket, that holds the rear brake light switch, has been irritating me.

It can’t be accessed unless it is removed from the bike, which is why it wasn’t cleaned when the bike was detailed.



I removed the bracket from the frame, and then removed brake light switch holder.



I used the drill and wire brush, as well as the Dremel, to clean the rust off.



I found an aerosol can of black paint in my shed. It’s probably about 10 years old, but I’ll try it out anyway.



When I picked up the front brake caliper I forgot to get the clip that helps to hold the brake pads in place. I went back there and sure enough, it was exactly where I’d left it.



There was grime on the clip so I cleaned it off with the Dremel in a few seconds.

Something like kerosene and a toothbrush would have also done the job, but I’m finding that using the Dremel is quicker and much less messy.

 

Wednesday, 11th May, 2016

I had been looking everywhere on the internet to find a front caliper rebuild kit in Australia. There are numerous kits in the UK, but getting one from there would take a couple of weeks to arrive.

The same parts have been used in most Kawasaki front brakes for many years. From what I can see, most Japanese bikes use the same seals.

Buying the individual parts from Kawasaki was the only local option that I could find, and the pricing was almost tolerable.

These are the parts that are required to rebuild the front caliper. Pricing is the web site pricing from my local Kawasaki dealer (ie cheaper than over the counter).
http://www.millwaysparesonline.com.au/partFinder/model/2660#anchor_component

What I can’t work out is why there are different part numbers for the piston seals and dust boots for each piston. Each piston is the same size, which means that the two piston seals are identical, and the two dust boots are identical. This has been corrected on parts lists for later model bikes that use the same seals.

Item: Piston Seal
Reference: 43049
Part No: 43049-1054
Price: $11.45
Quantity: 1
Sub Total: $11.45

Item: Dust Seal
Reference: 43049A
Part No: 43049-1055
Price: $10.35
Quantity: 1
Sub Total: $10.35

Item: Piston Seal
Reference: 43049B
Part No: 43049-1056
Price: $10.75
Quantity: 1
Sub Total: $10.75

Item: Dust Seal
Reference: 43049C
Part No: 43049-1057
Price: $10.35
Quantity: 1
Sub Total: $10.35

Item: Boot
Reference: 49006
Part No: 49006-1094
Price: $11.30
Quantity: 1
Sub Total: $11.30

Item: Boot
Reference: 49006A
Part No: 49006-1095
Price: $5.80
Quantity: 1
Sub Total: $5.80

Before ordering the parts from a Kawasaki dealer, I stopped off at a major car brake parts place to see if they had anything compatible. I was extremely pleased to find that they had suitable piston seals. They didn’t have dust seals, but had o-rings that fitted and would do the job.

I was originally going to also replace the two rubber boots, but having another good look at them I concluded that they didn’t need replacing.

I bought the piston seals and o-rings. This cost me a total of $9.00, which was cheaper than the $60 that I was going to spend on Kawasaki parts. This was also quicker - I wouldn’t have to wait for an order to get to Perth from Sydney.



I laid everything out on my desk, ready for reassembly. I also had a bottle of Bendix Ceramic High Performance Synthetic Brake Lubricant that I bought a few years ago.



One of the o-rings was already in place to function as a dust seal. This was done by the person at the brake shop to make sure that it would fit properly. The brake grease is there to act as lubricant to allow the piston to slide back and forth properly.



I poured some brake fluid into an aerosol can lid, and dunked each piston seal in it before putting the seals back into the caliper.



I also used some of the Bendix lubricant on the other o-ring dust seal (on the left). I now had both piston seals and both dust seals in place.



I dipped each of the pistons half way into brake fluid before sliding them into place. This was to make sure that the pistons slid through the dust seal and piston seal properly on each side.



Both pistons went back into place easily.



I put heaps of lubricant on the two slide pins.



And then slid the mounting bracket back into place.



There was a little bit of brake fluid on the inside of the caliper, so I wiped that away with a cotton stick.



I put the brake pads back in, and the caliper was then ready to go back on the bike.

I’ll buy new brake pads soon, but these ones will do for now.





This caliper was covered in rust when it came off the bike, but is now looking almost like new.





Then it was time to go back outside and fit the caliper back on to the bike. After getting nowhere with the fuel tank for a few days I was pleased to actually get something done.



The rebuilt caliper, bolted back into place.



I took the lid off the master cylinder to check the condition of the brake fluid. It was like a swamp in there, and was going to need to be cleaned out thoroughly.



I used a 60mL syringe with some clear tubing to drain the master cylinder. You can buy syringes that size from most vets - they use syringes that size for horses.



I was glad that I put a new rag in place before disconnecting the brake line.



Even though there was no brake fluid left in the master cylinder, the brake fluid level sight window was still murky.



I’ve never pulled a bike master cylinder apart before, so it was time to learn how. I first had to remove the rubber boot, which took a while as it was stuck in there. I eventually managed to pull it out without tearing it. There was plenty of corrosion in the hole.

Then it was time to remove the circlip.



I bought a circlip pliers set years ago. I seemed to spend the 1990s replacing motorbike wheel bearings the hard way (ie using needle nose pliers to remove circlips) so finally bought the right tool. Since then I haven’t replaced any motorbike wheel bearings, so the circlip pliers never got used.

Tonight was the second time that I’ve ever used them - the first was doing something on a car a few months ago. They certainly paid for themselves tonight. It took a few attempts, but I managed to figure out a way of holding the piston in far enough so that I could get access to the circlip with the pliers at the same time.



I removed the piston and seals, and sure enough there was plenty of dried up old brake fluid. At least the two seals were still in good condition.



There was plenty of junk in the piston bore.



I used an aerosol can of brake parts cleaner to clean it out, and then used a cotton stick to finish cleaning the inside of the bore, and to soak up the brake cleaner liquid.



As usual, the Dremel removed the surface corrosion in seconds.



The master cylinder piston cleaned up well.



I slid the piston back into place, and managed to get the circlip back in much quicker than it took me to remove it.



I pushed the rubber boot back into place.



Even after spraying a bunch of brake cleaner into it, the sight level window was still cloudy. This window can be replaced, but I don’t have a replacement window here so that won’t be happening for now.



I now had a perfectly clean master cylinder, ready to go back on the bike.



I put the master cylinder back on the bike, and bolted on the brake line.



I finally had all the front brake hardware back in place, and was ready to start on putting new brake fluid in.



The caliper was still full of air, so I reverse bled it by pushing fluid into it with the syringe and clear tube.

As I had used that same syringe to drain out the original contaminated fluid, I put some fresh brake fluid into an aerosol can lid. I then pumped the syringe back and forth to flush out the old fluid. I did this a few times to make sure that the syringe was properly clear of any old brake fluid.

For loosening and tightening the bleed nipple, I used a 10mm and 11mm combination ring spanner. I use this regularly on cars - some bleed nipples use the 10mm end and some use the 11mm end. Either way, the ring spanner gets a good drip on the bleed nipple and gives plenty of leverage to loosen them if they’re done up tight.

However, if I ever start to feel that a nipple is done up too tight then I use a six-sided socket to ensure that I don’t strip the nipple collar.



I pushed brake fluid into the calliper until it fed up into the master cylinder.

On the left of the master cylinder you can see some of the old yellow brake fluid. The newer green fluid is on the right.

I kept pushing new fluid up through the caliper for a while. Then I filled the master cylinder to the top and drained it with the syringe to ensure that I wouldn’t have any of the old fluid contaminating the new stuff. I did this a few times to ensure that the fluid in the master cylinder was perfectly clean.



I ended up with a perfectly clean master cylinder and fresh brake fluid.

Then I bled the brakes properly, at the caliper. I was able to push the brake brake lever with my left hand, whilst using my right hand on the ring spanner and bleed nipple.

There were air bubbles coming through for a while, but within a few minutes nothing but fresh new brake fluid came through.



I then had a properly working front brake.

After my ineffective results with the fuel tank over the last week I was pleased to finally get something working properly on the bike. And it only cost me $9 in parts and a bit of brake fluid.



The rear brake light switch bracket, that was previously covered in rust, has now been painted black.

 

Nup, I can't get it to work consistently.

There has been some electrolysis - there's the build-up on the eye-hook bolt, and the orange water that came out, but I couldn't get to to keep working.

I'm still trying to figure out what's stopping it. I put a battery between the charger and tank to make the charger not shut off (ie automatic).

I've got enough rust out to give up on electrolysis and move on to using a POR15 kit, but now there's a bit of ego involved - I can't yet accept that I'm too dumb to get electrolysis working (when everyone else gets it right the first time).

 

It did for a little bit, but the jumper cables that I ran from the battery to the fuel tank also got very hot. There was electrolysis for a while, but it wasn't working as it should have.

I’m pretty sure that there’s a problem with the automatic charger cutting out, which is why I tried running it through a battery to keep the charger going.

Ideally, I’d be using an older style charger that doesn’t have an automatic shut-off.

I spent hours going through web sites before trying electrolysis. I'm surprised that so little washing soda is required, but one tablespoon per 4 litres of water is the ratio what was used by other people.

One of the YouTube clips that I looked at was this one:


I’ve put up a thread on a particular US forum that has a bunch of guys that know all about this stuff. Although I want to give up and move on to the POR15 kit (I want to get this bike running!), I’m also keen to actually get this to work (I’m hating failing).

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=328390

 

In other news, I'm also trying to figure out how to replace the boring Tokico two-piston caliper with a Brembo 4-piston caliper.

There are brackets such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Kawasaki-ZZR-250-Brembo-Caliper-Adapter/dp/B00B10DH7Q

But I haven't seen any good photos anywhere of one actually in place. I want to make sure that such a thing would bolt on and match up before committing to it.

 

Sunday, 16th May, 2016

It was time to do an easy and relatively minor job - flush the rear brake fluid.



The old rear brake fluid wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the old front brake fluid.



I drained the reservoir with a syringe. You can get syringes that size from most veterinarians - they use them that size (60mL) for horses.



I removed the reservoir and pipe so that I could clean them out properly with brake cleaner.



For loosening the rear bleed nipple I used a six-sided socket, as this would ensure that the socket wouldn’t slip and strip the collar.



Once I had cleaned out the reservoir, pipe and cap I used a blower to dry them out quickly.



It was easy to flush the old fluid through.

For flushing brake fluid on cars I use a Sidchrome SCMT21302 10 x 11mm ring spanner. The angle of the rings always give me good access, and the length gives me good leverage.

If I haven’t worked on a brake caliper for a while then I use a six-sided socket to make sure that the bleed nipple isn’t seized in place.



I flushed through four reservoirs worth of brake fluid to ensure that the rear caliper didn’t have any of the old fluid left in it.

Ideally, I could have removed the rear caliper and disassembled it, but it was working fine and the piston was sliding back and forth easily. It didn’t have the rust that the front caliper had.



I had then completed what was required on the rear brake. Except for the rear brake pads, which I’ll replace once I decide which ones to get.



I then removed the front of the fuel tap. This was just for curiosity, but it turned out that the rubber fuel tap seal was stuffed. I’ll order a new one, as well as a new o-ring.

From: http://www.millwaysparesonline.com.au/partFinder/fiche/105345

Item: Fuel Tap Seal
Part No: 92055-1112
Price: $4.10

Item: Fuel Tap O-ring
Part No: 92055-1419
Price: $4.10



I removed the back of the fuel tap and cleaned out the old, dried up petrol with an aerosol cleaner and cotton stick.



I’ll order a new seal and o-ring, and put them in when they arrive.

 

Thursday, 19th May, 2016

After bombing out with my attempts at electrolysis I tried using a different charger. That one had an option for trickle surge, which wouldn’t automatically shut off like the first charger kept doing.

When I returned the next day I removed the eye-hook bolt and saw that there had been some electrolysis for a short while.



Then I looked around and saw why it stopped. Substantial heat had developed in the negative lead, to the point where the cable had burnt off at the clamp.



I had been using a C-tek MXS25 charger.



It doesn’t look like it in the photo, but there was a good metal to metal connection at the fuel tank.

 

Wednesday, 25th May, 2016

After my disastrous attempts at electrolysis it was time to do something simple.

For the grand total of $10.12 I ordered a pair of swingarm spools on eBay, which arrived promptly.

Although a very minor task, it least it was something that wouldn’t go wrong.

To put them on the bike I got out my Sidchrome SCMT14282 8mm In-Hex 1/2" Drive Socket.



The paddock stand was blocking the holes, so I had to remove it and put the bike back on its sidestand.



Before putting the spools on I put some Loctite 222 on each bolt



And then I found that the Balius is just about the only Kawasaki that doesn’t use a 10mm bolt for swingarm spools.

I had done my homework on this before ordering the spools. Kawasakis have always been using a 10mm bolt. Except for this one.

Lovely.

Just lovely.



I checked the bolt, and it was definitely an M10.



I went looking through an assortment of spare bolts and found a 12mm bolt. Sure enough, it fitted perfectly.



This was also confirmed on the pitch gauge.



It turns out that the Balius uses an M12 x 1.25 bolt for swingarm spools. This is extremely rare.



The carport is quite a mess at the moment. The novelly of working on this bike has well and truly worn off.

I’ll restart things next week. I need to get some momentum going again.

 

Thursday, 26th May, 2016

When I originally removed the fuel tank I poured the contents into a bucket. I haven’t figured out a solution for disposing of it, so it’s just been sitting there.

I remember seeing a lot of rust mixed in with the petrol when I tipped it out.

Tonight I put a glove on and reached into the bucket. The bottom couple of centimetres was sludge.



Tonight’s job was to replace the spark plugs. I looked at doing this back in 2008, but couldn’t figure out how to access the spark plugs.



Accessing the spark plugs turned out to be quite easy with the right tools.



I always remove the rubber from inside spark plug sockets so that the socket comes away from the spark plug easily enough.

For removing the old spark plugs I used a magnet. This is a Craftright Magnetic Pick Up Tool, which currently sells at Bunnings for $9.98. It’s also useful for retrieving sockets and bolts that I drop when working on a car engine bay.
http://www.bunnings.com.au/craftright-magnetic-pick-up-tool_p5810235



I bought four new NGK CR9E spark plugs.



While removing the old spark plugs my 1/4” universal joint came part. It took me ages to find the screw that fell on to the ground. Not impressed.



I also didn’t have an allen key small enough to tighten the screw back in properly. I need this universal joint to finish the job. Doing any task on this bike wouldn’t seem right these days if something didn’t go wrong.



My hands and fingers are way too clumsy to reach the spark plug leads, so I used some multi-grip pliers to pull each lead out at the base.



With 1/4” drive tools each spark plug came out easily.



The old spark plugs, with one of the new ones for comparison. The one on the left came out of cylinder 4 and had a fair bit of gunk in it. The rest were in good condition.



Out of curiosity, I tried cleaning the worst spark plug with a Dremel and wire brush. It cleaned up well.



This is what I used to replace the spark plugs:
- Bikeservice BS9133 16mm Extra Thin Wall Spark Plug Socket. This has a 3/8 drive, so I used a 3/8 to 1/4 adaptor and universal joint.
- 150mm extension bar
- 1/4” spinner handle (ie extension bar with a screwdriver handle)
- 1/4” drive ratchet