Topic: circlip pliers for front master cylinder????

[kaceyf2]

Getting down and dirty with the front master cylinder on the cb750 k2 restoration, and a nice new kit is in order, BUT, I have a set of circlip pliers made by draper, they have FOUR different heads on,(not all at once though!) So, I thinks to meself, ONE should fit this "hideously hiding at hard to get bas*** of a thing?" yeh? NO, not at all....boo hoo AGAIN!

So, does anybody have a quick fix at this circlip WITHOUT having to buy "Hondas special tool"
I even filed one of the heads that come with the draper set, but to no avail, its infuriatingly just a proverbial "midges too small" Boy that circlip is a long way down, wonder what hondas problem was?
were they embarressed by it and trying to hide it? cos they did a great job.
What circlip pliers can be bought and adapted?
anyone know please?

[oldfart]

Sorry.  Whether you use Honda's (made by Kowa -- see their website) or the same tool available through K&L (dealer only, $50 minmum), it's the only way to go.   

[Borkunit]

I am currently rebuilding the MC as well.  Neither of my snap-ring pliers would fit down there either.  If you have a rebuild kit that comes with a new snap ring, you can do what I did.  This will most likely destroy the old one, so you'll want to be sure you have a replacement.  I just rotated the ring so that one of the holes is lined up with the slot for the lever and used a 90* offset pick to grab the ring in the hole and work one end up and out of the groove.  I then worked the pick around the ring until it was entirely out of the groove. From there it's just a matter of working it up and out of the bore.

Best of luck to you.

-Zak

[techy5025]

Shoving a round screwdriver through the mirror mount hole to hold the plunger down
helps too.  I agree with the post above...just break the old one out as described.

Jim

[malcolmgb]

Think you will find it has all been said on this thread.

http://www.sohc4.us/forums/index.php?topic=5927.0

I put a link on to a supplier in the UK where I got mine from, they did the job perfectly.

[jtb]

I did the same as Zak above.  Worked great.

[kaceyf2]

cheers guys thats brilliant, thanks a load!!
thats well usefull.
ride safe and fast!

[scout18]

Sears sells what you need but the ones I bought I still had to file the ends to fit the circlip holes and still had to grind and file the outside of the nose roundy  to get the SOB circlip out of there. Once I had it the thing just popped right out And when I put back together it popped right back together too.  12 bucks for the tool. Here is a link from the FAQ that has photo of the tool You can buyt hem separately which is what I did.

www.jfpoe.com/87honda.htm

[Noel]

There's also the minor point that the original Honda SOHC master cylinders suck out loud. Unless you're doing a museum restoration, I'd forget putting yourself through the grief of rebuilding the silly thing and just buy a new one that will actually work.

[DaveInTexas]

Being lazy and cheap I took it to my local garage and they got it out of there in 30 seconds and did not charge me.  Hope you have as good luck.

[Borkunit]

Noel-

What would you recommend for an upgrade?  I am realizing that my MC is beyond rebuild and needs to be replaced.  I am open to suggestions for replacements.

Thanks,
Zak

[smashme33]

 If you are looking to replace your whole MC, I know that Oldbikebarn.com sells universal MC's. I think they start at $100.

[Noel]

I'd just keep an eye on Ebay, or the local pick-your-part.

The only real critical bits that I'm aware of are 1) make sure you get metric and not American -- both the clamp diameter and the internal threading are different -- and 2) make sure that whatever you get is compatible with the number of disks you're running, ie. if you've got one disk buy a master cylinder from a bike with one disk.

Oldbikebarn has a pretty bad reputation around here, FWIW. I have no experience with them one way or the other, but enough members have serious complaints about them that I don't plan on finding out for myself.