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Winter project

16K views 332 replies 9 participants last post by  MartinHandsome 
#1 · (Edited)
I pulled the 300 into my shop for the winter to give it all the maintenance and a number of upgrades that I want to try or I think will make the bike much more enjoyable to ride. I’ll make a quick list of what I’m going to do and any tips or suggestions on parts is welcome.

Maintenance: valve check, spark plugs etc. I’ll re-grease my steering stem bearings (already upgraded) and pull the swingarm and grease that and the shock linkage.

Brakes: Stainless brake lines, new front rotor/pads (oem rotor is warped) and new rear pads. I’ll also pull apart both calipers and clean them thoroughly.

Ecu flash and Sprint air filter (I’m keeping the stock exhaust

New seat (the stock seat is not that comfy and jams me into the tank).

Quick shifter: I could honestly do without one but I’ve never had a bike with one and want to try it so why not?

Suspension: Ohlin’s cartridges for the forks and a Gsxr600 rear shock. I already have the gsxr shock on now but I bought a spare that I intend to send to Traxxion Dynamics for a full rebuild and hopefully they can work some magic on the shock valving? I do need to find a way to keep the stock handlebars with the added height of the Ohlins fork caps.
That’s about it, I’ll add pics and updates as I do things but any advice on which parts/brands like brake pads, seat or anything will help.
I’ve got the fairings off so first thing will be the valve check. I’ve ordered new gaskets as my valve cover gasket is dried out and has a few small cracks starting
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#2 ·
I forgot to mention, I'll add a Yoshimura fender eliminator and I need to replace the battery. The battery still works but my bike is a 2016 and it still has the original Kawasaki battery. I thought I had a Yuasa battery but I was mistaken. Anyway it's getting old so I want to get a new one before it dies.

On the Valve clearance check, do I need to drain the coolant before I can remove the cylinder head cover? The manual says to drain it but the couple videos I've watched and write-ups I found I don't think they mentioned draining the coolant?
 
#5 ·
Good job! You've got your hands really full for the winter.

I did drain the coolant when I did the valves.
I wouldn't rush to replace the OEM battery. Mine lasted 8 years.
On the stock handlebars, I guess you either raise them with spacers or cut a hole in the top to let the cartridges top go through. Second option is to get clip ons.
Thanks, I will drain the coolant. I guess the oem battery is good quality! Maybe I'll keep it and save a few bucks then. With the handlebars, that's exactly what I was thinking. Try to get the inside of the handlebars milled out the extra 5mm or buy a set of spacers and have them milled down the 5mm or so. I also have some Ex500 dog bones that are 10mm shorter than the 300's so that should raise the rear of the bike an inch or so allowing me to drop the forks a little to level it back out.
I have a 150/60-17 Rosso 3 to mount that will drop the rear almost an inch allowing me to raise the rear (and lower the forks, raising the front) without adding much height. If this all makes sense haha. In my brain in does lol It'll work somehow.
 
#7 ·
I dod check according to a tire size calculator it should lower it a little more than a half inch (I had to check again lol) but I actually want to raise the entire bike just a little without upsetting the geometry too much. I’m 6’ tall and I could use a little more height even though it makes no dofference when actually riding the bike. A better seat should help as well.
It will take some messing around but I’ll get there in the end… I hope haha. I can make my own dogbones if the Ex500 links won’t work.
 
#8 ·
I found what I believe is a better way to fit a Gsxr600 shock also. On my first one I did what everyone does and filed down the clevis but I didn’t feel good about it really. There is no way to file it perfectly flat and straight so when you bolt it to the linkage who knows what kind of weird stress it’s under.
I found that the bushing in the linkage for the 300 is 12.1x20x32mm and the Gsxr shock clevis requires a bushing that is 30mm long.
It turns out that the Vulcan 900 uses a 12.1x20x30mm bushing so all I need to do now is reduce the width of the actual linkage itself (where no force or stress is put). Hard to explain but I can add photos when it’s done.
For the top of the shock I am using bushings that reduce the holes in the frame to fit the oem Suzuki bolt. The only mods needed for the shock to fit was cutting the airbox flap as usual and drilling the bottom clevis holes to fit the M12 ninja bolt.
I’ve had it in the back of my mind since installing the gscr shock that it will be a bad day if that clevis decides to implode lol.
I spent 4 hours with various files and took my time but it is just impossible to files both sides square by hand
 
#11 ·
I removed the entire exhaust, and both calipers. Disassembled them and got them cleaned and ready to rebuild.
Has anyone used the All Balls caliper rebuild kits? I’ve used their master cylinder rebuild kit in the past and it seemed fine. My plan was to only replace the piston seals with oem but it comes to over $70 JUST for 8 oem seals. I can get both kits front and rear from All Balls and replace all of the rubber parts and the pins.
Also what are people buying for brake pads?
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#13 ·
For the rear, OEM organic is fine for me ($30). For the front caliper, I use EBC HH sintered. Great bite. I have a semi floating EBC rotor in the front. I'm sure that helps too.

In the past, I've used the Vesrah RJL, which are nice. They sound weird and have little grip when cold, but work great once they warm up, even with stock rotor. They lasted very little though and are expensive. I don't use them anymore because I upgraded the caliper to the CBR600 caliper (4 pistons), and I couldn't find the Vesrah for those calipers.
 
#14 ·
Thanks guys, I’ll order the Ebc HH pads. I have HH pads on my dirtbike (converted to supermoto) and they work well on that. Going to go with the same rotor as you Topaz since my front rotor is warped. To be honest the brakes seemed fine already so they should be really good all freshened up with new pads/rotor and steel lines. Does the oem master cylinder work when you upgrade the caliper or do you need a larger master as well? How much better does that feel over oem?
 
#16 ·
Thanks, I guess now would be the time to decide if I want to upgrade my caliper before I buy a kit to rebuild the stock caliper and put it back on the bike. I did check e-bay for Sv 1000 calipers but the only ones on there are beat to death. I’ll think it pver and see what I end up with.
 
#17 ·
The few times I bought OEM take off parts from eBay, I got the feeling I was gambling.

If the seller is a business that buys bikes to sell the parts, they usually don't inspect the parts and don't know the condition of the part, so they put some pictures and say "part sold as is. See the picture for condition", which for me is the same as saying nothing. What can a picture tell you about the condition of a used part? And they never answered any of the questions I asked because they just don't know.
However, if the seller is someone who upgraded his own bike and see the take off part is worth something and nicely list it on eBay for cheap, then usually there is a description, they answer your questions and I feel I kind of know what I'm buying. But those are rare. Most of the pars on eBay come from the first type of seller.

So, the two times I got take off parts for the N300 I got the cheapest I could find and hoped it would work, but I was ready to throw the part away and get another one if it didn't. I got the stator and the CBR600 caliper and in both cases, it went well,
I paid $60 for the stator when the average price for a take-off was over $100 and paid $20 for the caliper when some guys were asking as much as 120 for one.

When I got the caliper, it was so dirty I thought it was trash. I cleaned it and was going to rebuild it, but after cleaning it, it looked much better and decided to try it without a rebuild. It worked good enough for me, so I kept it like that.

The stator was a take-off from a 2015. I looked good when I received it. Now it has been in my bike for almost three years and 5k miles. No problems.

Another thing that I saw is that some take off parts sellers list their parts at very high prices, but they don't sell them and the ad sits forever. Then some new ads appear with better prices, and they don't last long. So, if you can wait some days, set an alert on eBay and see what shows up.
 
#18 ·
That's what I'll do, thanks. I'll keep my eye out and see what shows up on ebay. I buy lots of used parts on there but like you said it is a gamble. In the case of buying a caliper, I'll try to find one in good condition with the "make an offer" and then lowball the hell out of him expecting It'll cost another $30+ to rebuild.
Do you know what year cbr600 calipers fit the SV Racing bracket? On their site it says the bracket is for the Tokico but I know some Nissan will fit. I'd rather have a Nissan if I can.
Also I'm guessing stock length Ninja 300 steel line will still fit fine? Thanks for your help!
 
#20 ·
Mine is Non-abs as well. Are you using the sv racing bracket? The list of calipers they give that work are all Sv1000, and some years gsxr600/750’s (they are all the same Tokico’s it says). It doesn’t mention any Nissan. Thanks for the help!
Got my linkage squared away to work with the Gsxr600 shock without widening the shock clevis.
Used a 2007 Vulcan 900 bushing (same dimensions as oem but 30mm long instead of 32mm). A quick sand down of the linkage on a bench sander and it fits nice. The good thing is where you need to sand on the linkage isn’t really structural sonce the clevis bolts to the steel bushing so no need to fret about it too much. So the only mod the shock itself need is to enlarge the clevis holes for m12 bolt (I’m using bushings for the top mount that I can show when I remove my other shock if anyone cares). I bought a spare linkage on ebay for $16 to modify so I still have my oem linkage. Hope the pictures help explain what I mean lol.
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#21 ·
Yes, I have the SV bracket. I did the mod almost two years ago. The list that I got from SV racing at that time is this:

Nissin
1999 - 2000 CBR 600 F4
2001 - 2006 CBR 600 F4i
2000-2001 CBR 929,
2002- 2003 CBR 954,
2003-2004 CBR 600RR

Tokiko
2001 - 2003 GSXR 600,
2000 - 2003 GSXR 750
Any year SV1000

I don't know why he would change the list. Try emailing SV Racing. Its owner's name is Blair. He always answered me right away every time I had a question.
 
#22 ·
Looks like both exhaust valves on the left cylinder are just barely too tight. My .20mm fits fine but .23 doesn’t (low spec is .22mm). Everything else is in spec. By the look of the left sparkplug that cylinder was a bit too lean and caused more heat. Going to try to find some better feeler gauges or even just a .22mm gauge. If they are just in spec than I’m leaving them and will get them next time but if not I’ll fix them.
If I do end up having to swap shims for the tight exhaust valves should I swap shims on the other two exhaust valves to put them in the middle of spec too? Right now the other two are on the tighter side of in spec. Guess I’ll need a mic to measure the existing shims as well or are they marked clearly?
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#24 ·
You gotta rotate the motor over twice for a full revolution of the camshafts. So in certain "2T" positions, you won't have the right camshaft positions. The manual ensures you have the motor in the right phase of cycle by telling you the timing mark needs to be 2T, and also that the camshaft lobes need to be pointed like X". So make sure you're in the right phase of cycle.

I also had my spark plugs come out like yours, they always seem a bit imbalanced the 2 or 3 times I've changed them. I think after I changed my piston rings they became much more similar though. I have never done a throttle valve sync, and after doing it on my GSX-R, I would not be surprised if that (or a similar procedure for newer bikes) is in order. Can't hurt.

Hope this helps.
-Mike
 
#25 ·
For every valve you need it at 2T? Maybe I missed it but I spun the engine over 5-6 times and the lobes never pointed away on the flywheel side when the flywheel was at 2T. Maybe they arent out of spec I’ll need to revisit this lol. Thanks! I’m betting just bad luck the flywheel spun quickly past the correct 2T every time. Thanks!
 
#26 ·
I just checked again, I can tell you that the valve lobes do not point up and away from each other on cyl. 1 when the flywheel is at 2T. They point up/down and obviously 180 degrees difference when I turn the engine over one more revolution. Is it 1T for cylinder 1 and 2T for cylinder 2? I’ll try that but not sure why the manual only says 2T?
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#27 ·
Its got to be 1t for cyl. 1 and 2t for cyl. 2. The cams line up as they should on those marks for their respective cylinders. It makes since that you want it on 1t, cyl. 1 at tdc on compression stroke so the valves are all closed and not touching the buckets. Just not aure why the manual only says 2t. I measured again and .23 fit on 3 of the exhaust valves (so barely in spec) and on the fourth, .20 for easy and .23 didn’t go. I wish I had a .22mm gauge because I might just be barely in the range but my gut tells me to just re-shim all the exhaust valves into the center of the range? What do you guys think?
 
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