'84 FJ1100 Revival

[AppleJack]

Where to start?  This ol' bike has been sitting since 2009 and I'm three weeks into the resto at this point.

7,800 miles showing on the odometer!  Tires, chain, battery, spark plugs, paint other than tank all decent condition.  Battery actually took a charge after adding a little water to cover the plates.  More on the gas tank later.  Both clutch and front brake will need attention as fluid within master cylinders had actually turned to a solid!  Yecchh...  

Next I downloaded the Clymer service manual and had it printed and bound at a local print shop.  This proved invaluable going forward.  $20.

Next step was to pull the carburetors as they're gunked up bad.  To the point that you can't twist the throttle.  So, I got the gallon can of Berryman's and proceeded to pull them off and clean 'em up.  Really tough shape, too - slides actually "glued" in place.  

O-rings and ss fasteners kit from rpmracingca.com in California were installed plus two main jets & one pilot jet that were broken trying to remove them.  Carbs are finished and reinstalled now.  

A couple things here, I found a very comprehensive write-up on servicing a set of Mikuni BS 36 mm carbs.  Printed it out as well, as it contained great photographs of exactly what to look for in making sure all orifices were clean and flowing unrestricted.  Write up contained detailed, step-by-step procedure for the rebuild which helped greatly.  Verified that float height within spec of 0.880 +/- 0.040".  Air compressor a great aid if you're going to take on a carbs rebuild.  

The gas tank was a concern, too.  Top of the tank near the filler cap has some bubbling, peeling red paint.  Stormy red and quartz silver paint scheme.  Interior of the tank looks to have been sealed with some sort of yellowish stuff.  After a couple of vigorous rinse cycles with water I think I have all the debris out.  The petcock screen was missing so I fashioned something out of window screen and JB Weld suitable for gas immersion.  Level transducer works okay so I'll be able to reuse it.  Moving on!  

Next I pulled the clutch master cylinder as the piston was stuck within.  Slave cylinder seized up, too.  Long story short, I was able to save the master cylinder after dis-assembly and cleaning, but bought replacement slave cylinder from rpm.  Slave piston seized in place and couldn't
dislodge it with compressed air, PB Blaster, or brute force.  All that put back together and back on the bike.  Still need to bleed it.  

Next, the front brake.  Master cylinder beyond saving and a replacement is in the mail from FJMonkey on the fjowners.com website.  Piston seized and I couldn't dislodge.  Pulled both front calipers and inspected.  They seem okay and I simply made sure they move in and out, drained nasty old fluid, and hung them back on the front forks.  

Rear brake seems to work.  Put fresh fluid in reservoir and let it be.  

While waiting on the replacement front brake master cylinder, I decided to take a look at the front forks. Good thing, too, as the oil was pure black and resembled liquid graphite or some such.  Any way, got both forks emptied out, ran a bit of solvent down each one to clean out any residue, added 14 ounces fresh 10W-30 SE oil in each and re-assembled.  

Neat trick for forks outlined in the service manual.  Remove the rear axle cotter pin and nut and use it to remove the fine-threaded nut on top of each fork.  Unless you have a very large hex key lying around, this plus a 27 mm/1 1/8" socket works great.  As a bonus, this is a good opportunity to take the slack out of the drive chain.  Couple 12 mm end wrenches accomplish this task.  I'll need to scare up a 12 mm hex key now to re-adjust the damper setting for each fork.

Next up is putting tank back on, add some fresh gas and see what she'll do.  

[balky1]

I envy you on the opportunity to dismantle everything. 

Good job and good luck in the next steps.

[ribbert]

I envy you on the opportunity to dismantle everything. 

Don't envy him, just be grateful you don't have to!   

Noel

[Urban_Legend]

I envy you on the opportunity to dismantle everything. 

Don't envy him, just be grateful you don't have to!   

Noel

I actually enjoyed pulling my bike down to just a frame. Quite therapeutic actually. Its putting the jigsaw back together again that causes the headaches.

Mark

[FJmonkey]

Looks like the master and lever are expected to arrive on Tue 9/1.

[ribbert]

I envy you on the opportunity to dismantle everything. 

Don't envy him, just be grateful you don't have to!   

Noel

I actually enjoyed pulling my bike down to just a frame. Quite therapeutic actually. Its putting the jigsaw back together again that causes the headaches.

Mark

Haha, you'll get there Mark.

There is no sweeter ride than the bike you've built yourself.  The more work you do yourself, the greater the satisfaction with the end product.
I never feel a bike is entirely my own until it has been stripped and rebuilt, and I don't even enjoy it.

Yep, those HH pads are something else. Braided lines at some point and you're done.

Great job on all your work to date, looking forward to the first big ride report.

Noel

[AppleJack]

Thursday, September 3rd. 

Woo Hoo.  After three long weeks, it finally runs.  And what power!  Wow. 

Anyway, spent the day pulling exhaust off, cleaning it all up, and re-hanging.  Exhaust port gaskets all intact, so just degreased the front of the motor and tightened everything back up.  The header nuts were all only finger tight upon initial inspection.   

No clutch as yet so I did a couple rolling starts just to verify everything working.  First trip around the block really scary as the tires were basically on the rims.  But a quick trip back home to fetch tire pump and all good.  40 psi in each. 

I've tried to bleed the clutch several times now and no luck.  New slave cylinder which I filled with fluid prior to installing.  And the master cylinder has been apart and all appears as it should, so I'm a little baffled about that.   

[krusty]

I wouldn't recommend riding anywhere with those old tyres. How old are they, original?
For such a low mileage bike why would it have a tank liner? Or has it been round the clock already? Hmmmm.
Good luck with the resto, I enjoy my 1100 almost as much as my 1200, maybe more.

[AppleJack]

Good idea on the tires, I need to check a date code on them next time.  Tread wise they are fine, however.  I know. 

Friday was very frustrating as no matter what I tried on the clutch, it wouldn't work.  I took a 6-inch c-clamp vice grip per a post I found on here and depressed slave cylinder to force fluid (and any air) backwards up to the master cylinder.  I noticed that the lever did not seem to contact the piston in the master cylinder until quite a bit into the stroke, but didn't understand why.

Came back Saturday morning and finally (after three days) figured it out.  The master cylinder piston was hanging and spring wasn't able to force it clear back out.  Grabbed on to it with needle nose pliers and pulled it clear out and, Voila, after cycling it a few times, it's now working.  Just a little sticky and now, with full stroke of the piston, working fine.  And this confirmed what I thought that the piston, seals, etc. were all good as I had disassembled it and inspected to be sure.  Having working clutch makes riding a lot more enjoyable when you can actually come to a complete stop without having to circle around and kick into neutral!  Ha!

Also have noticed that one of the carbs is overflowing when I come back from short rides.  I suppose one of the floats/needles is hanging up.  Can't tell which one just yet as overflow hoses are all zip-tied together in a bundle.  Ugh.  It eventually stops, but this no doubt will have to be rectified. 

Only thing left to do now is get the front brakes working.  I'll be an expert bleeder by then!  As it is, it's acting like the clutch was.  Pull the lever in and absolutely nothing happens.  On to that tomorrow. 

[Arnie]

Once you become an "Expert Bleeder" you can go to RedCross Blood Bank and make a deposit.
We never know when we'll need it back.  Just say'in