On Sunday I was able to get a few hours of wrench time in on the Honda. I’ve been trying to get the brake pad out of the caliper but so far haven’t had any luck. I don’t know if it’s just the pad that’s stuck or the piston as well. In an effort to feel like my day wasn’t a total loss I decided to bead blast the master cylinder, lever, and caliper parts. I was careful to plug up all of the various holes in the master cylinder to keep the beads out. A lesson I learned the hard way when I blasted the engine casings. The master and caliper parts came out looking great. I really like the matte finish that the bead blaster leaves on aluminum. I’m thinking about leaving some of them unpolished. To get the rest of the old crud out of the master cylinder I soaked it in carb cleaner for about 20 minutes.
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| The brake caliper assembly before cleaning. |
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| The parts after cleaning and bead blasting. |
I installed the master cylinder rebuild kit that I got from Out West Motorcycles. I had to take it apart and reinstall it 3 times before I got it right. Unfortunately this was one of the few things that I forgot to photograph as I disassembled it and the illustration in the Clymer manual lacks detail.
Even after connecting a brake line and bleeding the system I still wasn’t able to force out the old pad. At least I know the rebuild kit worked as there is plenty of pressure in the line.
