| Author | Message | ||
     Upthemaiden |
There's information about master cylinders spread around this forum, but after hours and hours of research, I haven't managed to find anything definitive that really helps. I rebuilt my front master cylinder previously and it still sticks. Lance told me about a year ago that the rebuild kits for the 97 5/8" masters no longer exist so I gave up hope on buying one. I figured being a nissin part, and how many parts on our bikes are shared with others, that there's probably a good chance a rebuild kit from another bike will work on our bikes, as it doesn't make sense that Nissin would've made a MC just for the 96-97 Buells. I started looking at Kawasaki's because I knew Buellistic had found compatible levers. I eventually figured out that a handful of Kawis also used 5/8" masters, the Z1000, Z750, ex500, and some different years/displacements of ninjas. It would make sense to think that there's a chance these could be the same exact part. Some pictures that go along with listings even have internals that look like the Buell's parts, if my memory from a year ago is still working, but they could also just be stock photos online that isn't the real part, and without actual measurements it's hard to say it'd still work, despite being the right diameter. Someone had also recently posted on facebook that they work at a dealership and to ask if anyone needs parts. I asked him about a rebuilt kit on the off chance that they had an old one sitting on a shelf somewhere. He said Harley has a kit that's on backorder, but he could still get an aftermarket one. That sounds like the way to go, but shipping cost as much as the rebuild kit, and if it's not actually the right part, I'll just be stuck with it, as opposed to if I can find a part number to order on ebay, I'd be able to get my money back if it comes and ends up being the wrong part, so it sounds like a gamble at this point. What I'm trying to figure out, is if anyone has found another bike that shares a similar enough front brake for me to just order a rebuild kit. People have mentioned replacing it with a new radial master from ebay, and I've also considered just picking up a used Kawi master, but if I buy a used one somewhere there's a good chance I'll still need to buy a new lever and a rebuild kit for it, and it'd be nice for people on this forum to have another $15 option to rebuild their front break, instead of collecting $50+ in parts and just hoping it works. Plus most of the masters that I've found don't have a mount for a mirror, since they're off of sportbikes that have mirrors mounted on the fairing, and I'd also like to buy a pair of shorty levers but mixing and matching clutch/MC parts means I'd probably have two buy who separate sets of levers just to get a matching set. I also found someone saying that a 93 FXR uses the same MC, but I googled those for pictures and the ones I found look nothing like the S1 MC. So I know there's various options to make this front brake work by swapping parts, but the thing I'm try to find is a rebuilt kit that will work with the OEM 5/8" Nissin MC that comes on the 96-97 bikes. Anyone have any leads? | ||
| Ocbueller |
Been down this very same road and hit a wall. Luckily my master cylinder is still functioning reasonably well. There are a few japanese manufacturers of Nissin rebuild kits. In U.S. the name K&L comes up. Share if you come up with anything. SteveH | ||
| Hootowl |
Maybe contact Nissin directly?  | ||
| Williamscottrobertson |
Damn, I just sold a set of complete controls off an S1W on eBay. Gave them away for $90. Stock Handlebars, front mc, levers, switches, throttle cables, grips, just needed to be bolted up. Maybe I should have broken it down and sold it piece by piece. I'd think finding another Buell MC may be your best bet. | ||
| Edv |
Several Harleys in the 80`s and 90`s used a 5/8" front master cylinder and the rebuild kits are available from Drag Specialties, I don`t have the part numbers here now but at work we have some of the kits in stock and I don`t see why they would not work on the Nissin master cylinders, you may have to use your old piston but the other parts should work | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Mine works *ok*. The front brake always works reliably, but the lever just returns so slow. I assume it's dragging for a couple seconds every time I release it, which is probably wearing down my pads quicker, and I know my 1 year old EBC rotor isn't perfectly straight. I'm not sure if that's unrelated, or if the pads dragging have helped warp it slightly. It's only noticeable if you squeeze really really hard on the brake though. In general my #1 concern is that the slow returning piston could cause the same problem people had when they put xb levers on their tubers, that kept the lever from returning fully, and caused their front brake to lock up while they were riding, second is just the wear on the rotor and pads, third is that I had to disconnect my front brake switch, otherwise it would take forever for the rear brake light to go out, so now the light only works off of the back brake. I'm sure it would be a lot easier to cross reference the MCs and rebuild kits with the older HD ones if it wasn't for the difference between the 7/8 bars and the 1" handlebars that would mean the two bikes needed different MCs, even if the internals were the same. I've been keeping an eye out for another Buell MC, but the problem is the 5/8" were only used up through 97, and buying any other 20 year old MC is most likely going to need rebuilt anyway. Someday if I find a cheap 98-2002 Nissin Caliper it'd let me switch to any of the Buell 1/2" MCs, and have an easier time finding rebuild kits. I tried pulling up Nissin's website, it was surprisingly sad for a company's website, an dI didn't even see any contact information on it. Maybe if I get a hold of K&L they could help me match up some parts. I wish I would've taken measurements last time I was in there. If nothing else I'll just rebuild it as is, and measure everything while I'm in there to see if K&L can help me find a working parts that way. http://www.nissinkogyo.co.jp/en/product/2tyre/ | ||
| Ocbueller |
Used controls have always been a consideration, but as Josh has so well written, they are also 20 years old. Until the correct rebuild kit is found an aftermarket M/C seems to be the way to go. SteveH | ||
| Ajturbo |
i have just used a spare one from my XB, works great. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
I'd love to just grab one from an XB if it wasn't for the 5/8"-1/2" difference. When my brake is working, the lever is fairly stiff, so a little more movement wouldn't be a bad thing since I usually brake with 1 finger, but I just don't want it to soften up so much that it's hitting my other fingers, or even the grip. The only issue with an aftermarket MC is lever options. I hate full length levers, and have really been wanting to order some short levers, but if I start mixing and matching clutch and MC parts, I run out of options for going online and finding some new levers. I think at this point I'm just going to rebuild the MC with the original parts again, try to clean everything up as well as I can. I'm going to get the rebuild kit for the caliper and I'm hoping maybe that's what's causing some of my problems. While I have the MC apart I'll take some detailed measurements and pictures of all of the internals so at least I'll have something to go off of when I search in the future. |
