Shiny bits shiny pt2 - forks

 One really big giveaway that your bike is getting a bit old is when the forks start to get a bit flaky. You look at them thinking how naff they look but at the same time knowing how long and much of a pain in the ass it is going to be to restore them. After all its not going to cause a break down is it?
Well I didn't buy the tarts handbag NSR for it to have furry forks so its time to get at them fork stanchions.
This wasn't going to work well without being able to get the front end off of the ground and without any paddock stands to hand this wasn't going to be straight forward. I stuck some axle stands under the pegs, getting the back end up and leveling the bike off then  stuck a well padded hydraulic jack under the engine and lifted the front up.
With her front wheel off the ground I removed the mudguard, brake calipers then the wheel to give me maximum access to the forks. Whilst I was there I checked the headrace bearing play and was pleased to find them notch free and smooth.

I picked up my drill and slapped a sanding pad on it with some 90 grit sand paper. Pretty course but I wasn't messing about here. This was going to take forever so I might as well get the rust of the quick easy way. Working the sanding disk at low rpm (I didn't want to cut through the forks here) I sanded down all the large easy to access areas of both forks before dropping down to my budget, petrol station Dremel to get the fiddly bits with sanding drums and grinding stones. A painful experience as the battery drains faster than it can charge. This gave me the finish you see in the middle of the three stage photograph above. This still took a while but the beauty of using just one sanding disk is that as it wears it becomes less course so negating some grades of paper.
Next out came the wet and dry. I have some large sheets of this that I could wrap round the fork like someone flossing with a towel. This allowed for long straight strokes of the paper cutting time and giving an even finish. I'd do this for all of the large areas then go to smaller pieces of paper to do the fiddly bits. The inside of the leg got the least attention as it would, for the most part, not be visible when the bike was together.
As the paper grades got finer and the days wore on (you didn't think I just did this in one day did you?) I had to decide when to stop. I didn't want shiny chrome looking ally forks. This is not a cruiser and would not suit it one bit. Also I think I would suffer worn out arms and a loss of will to live by then to.
I gave the fork a cursory going over with the last few grades of paper, still leaving some work marks so they didn't look to prefect. Incidentally by this point I had been down south to see my mum and sister where I had hunted down some old bits of mine including the front paddock stand you see in the final stage of the polishing image above. I may have used some Brasso too, just to brighten it up and cut through and grime I had spread about, I'm good at that.

For the next stage I needed to get at the fork bottoms so I put the jack back in place and removed my recently found paddock stand.
Pulling out some old bed sheets I had used for decorating the house I covered the bike up and the flood in front of it ready for me to get spraying. I was a little worried about using lacquer on bare metal as I had heard of people getting mixed results but I was buggered if I was going to be polishing these things every month so I stood there rattling my can (not a euphemism). Needless to say I was worried about runs so I chose to coat the forks as lightly as possible without leaving things patchy.
I first sprayed the front left and right sides of each fork  then left them for the rest of the day as I was busy with other things and it gave the paint maximum time to dry so again reducing the chance of runs or orange peel.
Returning the next day I rotated the stanchions and sprayed the left, right and back sides. I repeated the fronts one more time the following morning and left it at roughly 3 coats. The lacquer is just visible in crevices and as can be seen on the right leaves the legs with a shine suitable for the bike.
I couldn't simply redress the bike with just clean brakes so I stripped and rebuilt them. I didn't go as far as removing pistons of breaking the castings though, just the basics. I pumped the pistons out to their extremes and cleaning around them with brake cleaner and brushes along with the rest of the caliper body. Everything went back together with a good coating of copper slip and the chromed, sprung-steel cap got a good polish with Brasso as did the NISSIN badge.
I greased the front wheel spindle (I'm sure it is supposed to be dry but I noticed corrosion on mine so chose to lube it)and went about putting the front of the bike together, lubing all of the blots with copper slip bar the brake bolts that got locktight instead.
All together, the front of the bike was looking allot better. The wheels are probably going to be powder coated next year so I might look for new disks then. There is nothing wrong with the ones on there but they are a little furry and this can't be polished out as they are anodized. But I think the front end still looks good for a days [and days and days] work.