1984 Yamaha Gray Ghost RZ350 And So It Begins

[Kawtriplefreak]

Cleaned up and ready for reassembly. I also bead blasted the inside of the pistons. I had to get out the PB Blaster and my heat gun to get the bleeder loose as it was badly corroded. It took 30 minutes of heating and spraying it while hot. I cleaned it up good with my wire wheel and put a little anti seize on it. I used a Dremel with a flat stainless steel brush on the grooves the sealing rubbers fit into and lightly cleaned the rubbers with brake kleen. I used crocus cloth on the pistons and found them to be in surprisingly good shape.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Pistons were coated liberally with DOT5 and reinstalled. They were more hateful than I remember to get started straight but they went in. Rear caliper halves ready for reassembly.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Bagged up and shelved until I get the wheels off and new tires installed.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Rear master cylinder flushed and ready for caliper installation.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Right front caliper disassembled. I will be ordering R1 caliper adapters from NK Racing in the UK this week so I will not likely be using the factory front calipers at all but I will be rebuilding them, bagging them up and adding them to my hoard. I have new pads for all three brakes from Economy Cycle.

[kpke]

Looking good Tim. DOT 5    I am anxious to see how your R1 brake setup works out. I am considering doing this conversion to my current project bike.

Glad to hear your pistons came out without a fight.

Here is a trick I learned for when those pistons don't want to come out.

[Kawtriplefreak]

Thanks Ken. I did the R1 conversion on my white RZ and the difference in braking is phenomenal. 2 fingers from 100 MPH. I use bar end mirrors on all my bikes and that makes it easy to install an R1 master cylinder as well. I was also able to use the RZ steel braided brake lines. I hope to get the adapters on the way this week.

[m in sc]

yeah, its pretty incredible. when i had my rz i also went with bigger rotors and it was pretty ridiculous. but, awesome. think they were 1st gen vmax.

[Kawtriplefreak]

I just placed the order with NK Racing in the UK for a set of his adapters for use with standard discs. Waiting for response with exact price and shipping/arrival dates.

[Kawtriplefreak]

I like your method of piston removal Ken. I always get down on the floor on a piece of carpet or rubber mat and keep my hands clear to keep my fingers intact and to protect the piston.

[SoCal250]

I may need to try Ken's method one of these times I'm having issues. My normal procedure is: caliper off the bike, pads removed, and then I have a small piece of wood I drop into the caliper (that acts as a stopper for the piston) and hit it with compressed air.

Enjoying the progress you're making Tim. But I'm actually more envious of all the shop space you have! That's something I wish I had!

[Kawtriplefreak]

Thanks
Yeah it is a huge building Daddy had put up in 1976 for maintaining his lime and fertilizer trucks and the farm equipment. It is 50x96 at ground level. About 1/2  of it's usable and I am slowly getting it cleaned out as time permits. Daddy didn't throw anything away but he did throw a lot of shit into piles after there was no more wall space to hang it from. Most of the stuff is left over spares from trucks and equipment that is long gone and stuff that was worn out or broken that he thought he might need a piece off of to fix something else. And a lot of it is ruined because there are pin holes in the roof along the edges to about 6 feet from the outer edges in various  places. The shop needs a new roof.

[Kawtriplefreak]

I got notification from NK Racing that my adapters have to be made as he didn't have any in stock. 10-14 days to manufacture and 4 days after that to get them here. So I took my factory RZ master cylinder off and dug out my spare R1 master cylinder

[Kawtriplefreak]

I removed the factory brake light harness and scrounged through my spare Yamaha wires and made up a new harness rather than cut the end off of the factory brake light harness.



The brown wire is correct but I didnt have a green with a white stripe so I went with a blue with a white stripe and made note of it in my service manual. All that's left is to put two terminal ends on to push on to the R1 switch and a little heat shrink and Bob's your Uncle on the front master cylinder and brake light. I ordered two of Evans Ward's finest refurbished Blue Dot calipers Thanks Brother Evans and they will be here soon.

[Kawtriplefreak]

I found out today why the throttle was slow to return while I was installing the R1 master cylinder. The throttle tube has a big ragged chunk missing out of it and the grip rubber is dragging on the handlebar. I went on Yambits and ordered the correct single cable 29L replacement for non USA bikes and it is on the way.