New Brakes for the 86 Voyager

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Van Voyager
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Current bike(s): 1986 Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager
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New Brakes for the 86 Voyager

Post by Van Voyager »

Part I

Time to put some new lines on the Voyager and thought it would be a great time for a brake system rebuild (Had to break into two parts as there is a post is limited 8 hyperlinks)

Fluid Looks a bit off but I flushed last spring so I think it's just the window that's manky:
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Old school single pot slaves:
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Brake system hydraulics comes off in one piece:
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I used the master cylinder to move the pistons out of their bores as far as I dared (to avoid spilling brake fluid on everything), then disconnected the lines, poured the fluid out the banjo bolt holes, and used this trick to pull the pistons out:
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Pistons look good as new after some very light metal polish:
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Was prepared to change the slave cylinder piston seals but on close inspection, nothing wrong with the originals so I reused them. I've successfully reused good shape seals many times in the past without any issues:
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Seal groves required little to no cleaning - never experienced that before - they're usually full of gray crud - crystallized brake fluid? Also never seen the 'inside' of the caliper painted before - maybe the paint limits formation of the grey crusty stuff? Wonder what paint Kawasaki used that is brake fluid resistant?
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Cleaning inside of Master Cylinder fluid window with Q-Tip:
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Van Voyager
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Posts: 431
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 8:01 am
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Current bike(s): 1986 Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager
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Re: New Brakes for the 86 Voyager Part 1

Post by Van Voyager »

Part II

Master cylinder disassembled. Lot easier than some of my old Honda MCs - just un-clip the plastic holder with your fingers and everything pulls out. There was some corrosion on the plunger which cleaned up easily enough and the seals look good. Also some corrosion on piston bore which I couldn't get a good photo of. I polished it out as best I could with metal polish and a ball of cloth. I think it'll be fine (it was working good enough before the rebuild) but I'll consider a new MC or getting it sleeved if it's goofy.
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Anti-rattle pad springs in good shape. I was going to install new scintered metal pads but was surprised to see the OEM pads that were on the bike are scintered and have lots of life so I re-used them. The new EBC scintered pads can sit on the shelf a while longer:
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Brake caliper rebuilt, greased and ready to install:
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Brake Line kit came with new banjo bolts but the kit bolts are shorter than OEM so I always try to clean up and re-used original bolts if they're in reasonable shape which these one were. Bolt on the left is from kit - right is OEM:
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Pulled the hose retaining hardware and rubber sleeves off the old hoses to use on the new bespoke braided SS set from Ray at Apex Brakes. Rubber sleeves are too big for the new lines but will work as intended:
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New lines, ready to go back on.
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Everything is back together, but loose, and back on the bike at this point. I need to fill with fluid, bleed at all the banjo bolts, tighten them to spec, then bleed the calipers.

I have a new SS line for the rear brake as well but getting the rear wheel off is a bit of an ordeal so I'll wait to replace that line (and do a thorough disassembly/clean) until I need a new rear tire.
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jorgeno
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Kawasaki ZN1300 1986
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Re: New Brakes for the 86 Voyager

Post by jorgeno »

Nice work :thmup:
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