Quick refresh of an old Magnum 1/2

[TonyGee]

the bandit 1200 forks are better than the 600 plus have better callipers. and you can pick em up pretty cheap. 

[Dezza]

1 hour ago, TonyGee said:

the bandit 1200 forks are better than the 600 plus have better callipers. and you can pick em up pretty cheap. 

Do Blandit 12 mk2 forks have adjustable damping? It seems the logical path to me when changing forks to go with units that have preload, compression and rebound adjustment.

 

Those slab yokes will also look a whole lot better if they are sculptured by someone who knows what they are doing with a milling machine. Sam Baker did a set for me a while bike and the visual difference was amazing, and they ended up weighing a whole lot less too.

[TonyGee]

3 minutes ago, Dezza said:

Do Blandit 12 mk2 forks have adjustable damping? It seems the logical path to me when changing forks to go with units that have preload, compression and rebound adjustment.

only spring pre-load,  I only said the 43mm B12 forks as they are a step up from the 41mm soft B6 forks.  

[Joseph]

Thunderarse 1000 RWU forks would be a proper uprade on every level 

[roadkillvespa]

3 hours ago, DAZ said:

My own opinion would be to avoid the bandit 600 forks as they are well let's just say budget,and the stock brakes are not very good and if I remember rightly they're a different bolt pattern to the 4 pots off 1200's and srads etc not looked at 16 tyres for a long time,since I had a 900r actually,remember Metzler comp k ... but maybe worth sourcing a replacement fork leg , specially if you've sorted the handling to you liking, as always your bike your coin your choice 

After a bit of research on 600 Bandits today I can only agree with what you say Daz,if only it had been a 1200 I was offered 

I got in touch with a GPZ spares guy on Facebook I have had bits from in the past and he reckons he can sort me out with a decent stanchion and cap .

I started stripping the calipers today and they are still in decent nick and were not seized.

I do have an old pair of AP lockheed classic calipers in my box of bits so i might have look at them and see if they could be made to work.

[roadkillvespa]

2 hours ago, Joseph said:

Thunderarse 1000 RWU forks would be a proper uprade on every level 

They would indeed but realistically for all the use the bike is going to get I will stick with jigsaw I have all the bits for already ,it is far from a show bike and really compared to most of the builds on here its just a bitza .

[clivegto]

There nearly all bitzas on OSS that's the point. 

[TonyGee]

7 minutes ago, clivegto said:

There nearly all bitzas on OSS that's the point. 

yep 

[DAZ]

1 hour ago, roadkillvespa said:

After a bit of research on 600 Bandits today I can only agree with what you say Daz,if only it had been a 1200 I was offered 

I got in touch with a GPZ spares guy on Facebook I have had bits from in the past and he reckons he can sort me out with a decent stanchion and cap .

I started stripping the calipers today and they are still in decent nick and were not seized.

I do have an old pair of AP lockheed classic calipers in my box of bits so i might have look at them and see if they could be made to work.

I'm sure they can,with an adapter plate are you still using the anti dive as I seem to remember that was split off the brake line with a car type metal brake pipe

[roadkillvespa]

1 hour ago, DAZ said:

I'm sure they can,with an adapter plate are you still using the anti dive as I seem to remember that was split off the brake line with a car type metal brake pipe

Yes Daz,anti dive is still there though undoutedly seized.

I also have a 1988 GPZ 900 which I bought in 2014 when they were still cheap,it had stood for 17 years and needed a lot of work.I rebuilt the forks and freed off the antidive units but they still don't seem to do much although the forks and brakes feel much better than I remember them on the Harris.

[DAZ]

Well hopefully a rebuild will have the Harris feeling a bit more like you remember 

[roadkillvespa]

Some progress at last after a long lay off since Christmas when it was just to baltic to spend much time out there.

New head bearings, sourced a decent set of fork stanchions, rebuilt forks anti dives and calipers, not top notch stuff but I can live with that.

THe bike was last on the road in 2014 when during a spirited evening run to Ullapool and back the head gasket blew covering the back of the bike and me in oil, just after this happened I got the chance to buy a GPZ900R project at a good price and the Harris was parked,and money spent elsewhere.

 The motor was last out in 2010 to do the valve clearances and somehow my brain remembered this as being quick and straightforward, so I tore into it yesterday with great confidence, how wrong I was three hours of sweating,heaving and paint scraping later,the oily mess is on the floor.

My spongy old brain had neglected to remind me until afterwards that the last time I did this it was in my dingy old powerless lock up with stout exposed rafters whitch the rolling chassis was ratchet stapped to making it a one man job, which it was certainly not in my current garage.

I last changed the head gasket before I built the bike in 1984, as it was weeping,  I am going to take my time and re-familiarise myself with the manual before I start as the confidence of youth that I must have had last time is seriously lacking.

For those much more knowlegdeable than me at this any tips that I could benefit from would be greatly appreciated...even 'take it someone who knows what they are doing' 

 

[Dezza]

The easiest way to remove the engine from a magnum frame is strip the bike so all you have is the engine sitting on a box or similar with the frame, swingarm and shock still attached. Then remove the engine mounting bolts and the removable plate for the bottom mount. You then have to lift and rotate the frame forwards and up. A second pair of hands makes this a whole lot easier. If you leave the front end on you won't be able to rotate the frame forwards enough unless you have the engine on a really high box, hence the scratched paint etc.