Having looked through the forum further, I'm considering doing the HooHar brake conversion that many seem to have done. Can anyone recommend a source of reconditioned, or second hand (or even cheap new!) parts; either local to me in the West Midlands, or online, other than ebay? Seems that it's CBR600RR or F brakes that I need (please correct me if I'm wrong!).

Well, I'm back from my hols so had a word with the mechanic. The work I'd needed has largely been done; except the brakes. I'd asked him to salvage the current calipers etc if possible. If not, let me know and I'll look at the options. He reckons they need replacement, and given the look of horror from all who've looked at it, I can well believe him. He's said that he can get reconditioned calipers etc, and that including new pads this would cost me £124 each side (Ouch!). He used to work at Cradley Kawasaki before setting up on his own so he's well versed in Kawa brakes. It's his view that recon items don't have the seizing issue that original brakes do due to the proper lubing done (or something like that). Anyway, I can either take his option, or try something else, e.g., the HooHar replacement (though I'm not sure how he'd feel about doing this). Sorry about the musings, but I'm no mechanic, and have little idea of whether the recon option prices are good or not. I believe that when working properly the kawa brakes are fine (comments?). So, what would you do? I could source bits from flea-bay, but who's to say they wouldn't promptly seize.

£125 per reconditioned caliper is more than I'd pay, but there again, it's 'almost' like buying new.

There is little difference between buying those and buying a cheap set of alright calipers off ebay and rebuilding them yourself, or doing the Nissin conversion.

It's simple. You can tell him, you can't afford £250 at the moment after all the rest you've spent and that you're going to try salvage your own calipers. If that doesn't work, £50 will buy you some Nissins, and £40 will buy you the seals if you need them. £30 will get you braided lines and £10 will sort the brake fluid out. £15 will buy you the tools you need to clean the calipers (they look like dental scrapers).

So for virtually the same amount of money as 1 recon caliper, you can get an upgrade.

Brake caliper overhaul is not difficult, just time consuming.

seal and piston kit from wemoto but depends on the corrosion build up but cant really see the caliper being that bad, as has been said, just takes time to scrape the crap out of the grooves properly, new seals in(may not need new pistons) bleed and see what they are like is the cheapest and most straight forward option or a pair of good nick calipers from breakers/ebay....beleive they are the same on the 11 and zxr750's so there should be plenty of choice...decisions

http://www.wemoto.com/bikes/Kawasaki/ZZ ... 600_E3/95/

I am no mechanic and I did this job recently. I've never stripped a caliper before and it really is a very straightforward job, albeit very time consuming, at least on the first one you do. Biggest problem, for me, was getting the pistons out. You need to make sure they are pumped right out before removing them from the bike. The haynes manual suggests using compressed air to blow them out - hmmmmm. I did mine at the kitchen table, as we have no garage, so I also cracked the allen bolts holding the caliper halves together before removing them from the forks. I guess if you have a vice to hold the caliper you wouldn't have to do this but my vice is elsewhere..... Having said all of the above bleeding the rebuilt calipers has been a complete and utter swine, everyone says it is, and I can't get a totally firm lever no matter what I try, tapping them, holding them upside down, swearing at them none of these things makes any difference. Anyway they do work OK now apart from the lever firmness. I have my MOT coming up soon so I'll ask the garage to see if they can improve them. If I were going to do the job again I think I would opt for the Nissin conversion instead but it's up to you of course and £125 per caliper seems an awful lot of money unless you have plenty

my opinion is to buy some cbr600 RR3 calipers from ebay or similar and upgrade. i did mine for half the cost of your quoted recon jobbies.

£63 for the GOLD cbr600 rr3 calipers complete with pistons etc
£5-6 for four 8mm thick s/s bolts 43mm in length
£2.50 for 2ft of composite tube 10mm external diameter with 8mm internat
£10 for fluid (buy at least 1L you will use alot if its your first bleed)

so all in all the job cost approx £80

they are progressive brakes that work better the faster you go and if you ever need to stop in an emergency they will stop you. i did a test and went from 80mph to 30 in about 10 metres

if you feel you need more knowledge about zzr maintainance i suggest a haynes manual. im 19 and can do almost any job on the bike now thanks to the haynes manual (and of course zzr international)

i hope it all goes well for you mate good luck

slink

...which I most certainly don't!

Okay guys, I think I'm convinced. The best option seems to be the Nissin conversation, which to be honest, I'd been wondering about anyway. Thanks go to all for the advice and offers of assistance. I may even up date as I go along. Probably be a long-ish job (getting all the bits etc), but I reckon it'll be worth it in the end.

If you take a look on the nissin upgrade post on here there is a video of how to do it all the guys user I'D is something like acesrichie or something like that anyway it's a good vid to help good luck oh and in advance be careful how hard you pull the brakes when the missive are on u will see what a mean when you do

Meant to put nissin there not missive sorry iPhone has predictive keys turned on

whichever way you choose Rich just drop me a pm