81 SUZUKI KATANA GSX SZ 1100
RESTORATION
STAGE 5
REASSEMBLY FRONT DAMPERS
Polishing
The front damper outer tube can be polished quite easily. Start with 400 grit wet & dry a bucket of water with a drop of detergent this will help keep the paper clean & the water will catch any grit that may be present, this will stop it ruining the finish.
Once you have the same finish all over the outer tube repeat with 600, 1200 then 2000 be sure to use new water with each grit so that the next piece of paper is not contaminated by the previous grit.
When you have finished with the 2000 it is time to polish secure the tube in the vice use cardboard to avoid marking grab some Auotsol metal polish a clean cotton rag an old T shirt is perfect, make sure it is clean as a grain of sand will mark your carefully prepared surface now polish away. mmmm Shiny
Damper Rod
The next thing was to prepare the damper rod as the holes on the bottom had little dags of metal around the edges you don't want these bits coming loose and scoring the new seals.
The holes where cleaned up with a Dremel tool & ball stone just clean the holes we don't need to make them any bigger. When this was done on both damper rods the threaded hole in the bottom of the damper rod was chased with the appropriate tap.
While the tap set is out chase all the holes in the outer tube, when all the holes had been chased both the damper rod & outer tube where cleaned in warm soapy water, rinsed and dried.
With that done the anti friction metal on the end of the stanchion tube & inside the top of the outer tube were replaced, be careful when installing the new pieces as they do not have much flexibility.
Install a new damper rod ring in the groove on the top of the damper rod. Slip on the wave washer with the cone facing upwards then the flat washer followed by the second wave washer with the cone facing downwards & finally the oil lock piece.Slip the damper rod into the stanchion tube don't forget to put the short rebound spring onto the damper rod before it goes in (the free length should be 53mm if the spring is shorter it should be replaced).
Stanchion tube
Clamp the outer tube in the vice then holding the damper rod in place with an extension bar carefully slide the stanchion tube into the inner tube then tighten the damper rod bolt to 15-25 N.m (11-18 lb-ft).
Install the anti dive units with new O rings tighten bolts to 6-9 N.m (4.5-6.5 lb-ft) followed by the outer tube bleeder screw with new O ring. The oil seal can now be lightly oiled then pushed home I used a piece of pvc pipe.
Install the circlip over the oil seal, the spring can now be installed with the large pitch (coils furthest apart) on the bottom (the free length should be 463mm if the spring is shorter it should be replaced) next 227ml of 20W Motul fork oil was poured into the stanchion tube.
Then the free piston with it's new O ring lightly oiled is pushed into the top of the stanchion tube followed by the cap bolt. Start the threads on the cap bolt carefully to avoid cross threading then tighten to 15-30 N.m (11-21.5 lb-ft).
Slip on the dust seal & push the rubber cap into the cap bolt & it's done.