Finished upgrading forks today

[sarchin]

When I bought this 85 I swore I was going to keep it stock! Then I ran across some fzr1000 6 pot calipers on ebay for $75, and all the parts to upgrade to a set of 03 black forks just seemed to come along. Then I found the top steering bearing was rusted and off came the triple trees and what was going to be next winters project suddenly becane today's project.

I just want to give a big thanks to Sean for some bearings, and tips, and his videos, his help was invaluable!

And a big thanks to everyone that has posted on here about forks, brakes, triple trees, steering bearings, etc.. I read everything I could before I tore in to this. I have loads of experience with cars, but this is the first time working on a motorcycle, and everyone here made it easy.

Oh, yeah, I think I have discovered how addictive the mod monkey can be too.

Thanks!!!

 

[ninjaneer]

so how'dya upgrade them--like did you put in progressive springs, emulators, USDs?

 

[sarchin]

Sorry it took so long to get back to this, been busy with work and school, plus I wanted to post some pics.

New steering bearings and races, and replaced the seals and bushings in the forks.

I put some forks from an 03 vmax and lowered 1" with progressive's lowering kit. Added 15w fork oil. I was very impressed with Progressive's springs compared to the stock springs, what a difference! I wanted to do emulators, but Sean said they weren't really needed, and didn't have the money for them right now anyway. I cannot believe how much better this bike handles now. The front rides a lot smoother, but the biggest thing is the turns. Before it seemed like the bike wanted to drift out and was hard to turn. Now it is very easy to lean in turn as sharp as I want. In fact, I got a turn yesterday that was really sharper, and more than I expected. Kinda startled me.

I also found some 6 pot calipers from a 94 FZR 1000 on ebay, along with some very nice rotors, and this has helped the braking tremendously. Even though I'm still using stock brake pads and lines it still stops much faster and easier. The pads and lines will come later, along with having the calipers powdercoated and new seals installed.

I also took off the stock '85 side covers and put on some side covers that have the black on the bottom portion. I like the black along the bottom half of the bike. Next up is the scoops with the black on the bottom, and shocks with black springs, but gotta save up some money first.

This site is great for helping me through this. I would've never known about all the mods for the Vmax otherwise, although my wife is starting to cringe when I talk about it, lol.

 

[ninjaneer]

well done! can't wait to get the time to upgrade my forks. got the parts just need the time.

 

[sarchin]

That time thing can be a killjoy. With the cold weather, work, school (6 classes), 4 kids, and waiting on parts I think she sat on that jack close to a month! It was definitely worth doing though.

Forgot to mention, now my speedometer is turned about 1/16th to the right, lol! I'm not sure how that happened since I took the whole assembly off together. Oh well...

 

[jojo2667]

you could just scuff the scoops, tape the bottoms off, prime and paint with satin black paint all with rattle cans and save a bundle

 

[VMAX NV]

That time thing can be a killjoy. With the cold weather, work, school (6 classes), 4 kids, and waiting on parts I think she sat on that jack close to a month! It was definitely worth doing though.

Forgot to mention, now my speedometer is turned about 1/16th to the right, lol! I'm not sure how that happened since I took the whole assembly off together. Oh well...

I heard that! I literally have only two hours a week to work on Mr. Max.

 

[95spfldmax]

When I bought this 85 I swore I was going to keep it stock! Then I ran across some fzr1000 6 pot calipers on ebay for $75, and all the parts to upgrade to a set of 03 black forks just seemed to come along. Then I found the top steering bearing was rusted and off came the triple trees and what was going to be next winters project suddenly becane today's project.

I just want to give a big thanks to Sean for some bearings, and tips, and his videos, his help was invaluable!

And a big thanks to everyone that has posted on here about forks, brakes, triple trees, steering bearings, etc.. I read everything I could before I tore in to this. I have loads of experience with cars, but this is the first time working on a motorcycle, and everyone here made it easy.

Oh, yeah, I think I have discovered how addictive the mod monkey can be too.

Thanks!!!

:rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200:........you're sooo screwed.....:rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200:

just kidding around....

 

[95spfldmax]

I put some forks from an 03 vmax and lowered 1" with progressive's lowering kit. Added 15w fork oil. I was very impressed with Progressive's springs compared to the stock springs, what a difference! I wanted to do emulators, but Sean said they weren't really needed, and didn't have the money for them right now anyway. I cannot believe how much better this bike handles now. The front rides a lot smoother, but the biggest thing is the turns. Before it seemed like the bike wanted to drift out and was hard to turn. Now it is very easy to lean in turn as sharp as I want. In fact, I got a turn yesterday that was really sharper, and more than I expected. Kinda startled me.

That's great...It's nice when you throw money at a problem and come away with a noticable performance improvement.......It makes me wonder next what tires your running??

 

[sarchin]

you could just scuff the scoops, tape the bottoms off, prime and paint with satin black paint all with rattle cans and save a bundle

I have thought about that. Right now I want to keep all the 85 parts original, even though it'll mean having a bunch of stuff laying around, lol

 

[sarchin]

:rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200:........you're sooo screwed.....:rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200:

just kidding around....

No problems, I have decided that most everyone on here makes their Vmax unique to them, so it's kinda the same thing with me now.

The tires are Metzlers ME880's. Stock sizes and the front is close to new while the back is half gone. The PO told me he had new tires put on, but I think he liked doing burnouts. He did tell me that he could beat his neighbor's Ninja regularly.

Only thing I'm not sure of is he's only running 28psi in front and back. Maybe the air leaked over the winter? I've been keeping an eye on them and they are holding air good, so I'm going to bump the pressure up to 40/40.

 

[Redbone]

I run a Metz 880 front(110)/ Progressive spring, Ricor Intiminator valves, no air, 5 wt Silkolene fork oil and on the rear I run a Shinko 230T (170)/ Progressive HD440's shocks. I weigh in @ ~170lb (on a good day!) and I run 34 psi in the front and 38 psi in the rear.

 

[sarchin]

thanks Redbone, that's good to know. I thought the tire pressures were kind of set in stone. I weigh around 220lbs, and was thinking 40 psi would be much bumpier, but needed.

On a side note...I haven't talked to him in quite a few years but I think my ex-brother in law is up there around you. Seems like he was living in Brimley. His name's Rich Brown, in case you might know him, although he's a Harley guy.