Oh, yeah.. Just having safety glasses isn't enough sometimes;
Use a face shield.
Have had to get stuff dug out of my eyes while wearing just glasses on a few occasions now.
Real men don't go to the eye doctor, just get a pair of tweezers and….!
Just another reason to cuss and throw tools!
Speaking of cussing and throwing tools...
The stupidest little details keep hanging me up, again and again..
Here, the brake line isn't the overall wrong length, it's that the housing and clamp area are in the wrong place.
That makes it so things just don't work up top..
Took a bunch of measurements and pics and sent them to the manufacturer,
Hopefully they will work with me on this one to get the right brake line.
Still.. PITA...
You will also see that there is a rebuilt caliper in the pics there.
The caliper rebuild kit was actually complete, and worked well.
Took me a few tries to get the puzzle assembled correctly using pics in the book.
When things sit apart for months, and you don't have one similar to compare to,
it gets a bit, um, confusing..
Master cylinder rebuild got me howling in frustration!!
First, like always, ebay vendors are more than happy to sell you the wrong stuff.
All Balls rebuild kit is '89-up (as always).
I could use a couple of parts from it, like the boot and whatnot, but, of course, the crucial wear part, the o-ring, wasn't there.
The OG ring was save-able, along with most of the parts still there.
Cleaning out the inside with brake cleaner made the paint sticky and messed it up.
Finally ended up sanding down the little retainer clip to make it even fit together
(After prying and cussing and skinning my knuckles and scratching the paint).
The kit didn't include the cover seal, which was the thing i really needed most.
Finally, what was the real kick in the nuts was the lever.
You would think that you could just order a lever and bolt it on, right?
Nnooo.. Has to be a long painful dilemma..
I woulda been happy to keep the old lever, but it was missing the travel adjuster stops - both 'in' and 'out'.
Plus, the pivot hole was all wallered out because the PO had a screw in there instead of a shoulder bolt.
So, i got this other lever, and the return spring hole was too small, so i drilled it out,
And then the spring shot across the shop, to be lost forever..
Worst thing is, the reach from the lever isn't right to the master pushrod
(Even if i could drill/tap it for an extension stop)..
Anyways, really, really, really frustrating work session..
I'm fully understanding now why nobody would ever restore a bike of this vintage.
Something simple like "I need a brake lever for an '86 KDX200" turns into this huge ordeal.
Parts aren't available, and what parts are available, are the wrong ones!
And that sure doesn't stop people from taking your money for them...
We'll eventually get this front brake working.. We will.. We will..
Even if it takes 50 hours!
Er, wait, make that 60..!