master cylinder sight glass replacement

I was reading wear chacal sells a master cylinder sight glass replacement and it says you might have to cut it in small pieces to get it out on my master cylinder I pulled a metal tab out and the sight window just pushed out. Were different master cylinder sight glasses used I have a 1980 xj650g?

 

[checking price list]

No mention of there being different sight glass pieces for different models, so I imagine the one he sells will work. Quoting:

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Master Cylinder Sight Glass:


mc2) While you're rebuilding or even replacing your front master cylinder, you might as well go ahead and replace that dull, clouded, cracked thick plastic sight "window" that allows you to see the level of brake fluid in the reservoir. The original "transparent" round plastic window ages neither gracefully nor well over time, and becomes cloudy within a a few years. Our replacement flat mineral glass windows are the correct size, they won't ever get cloudy, and are one of those small details that you can step back, look at, and say to yourself: "Kewl".

Okay, all that's the good news. The bad news is that the old plastic seal can be a beast to remove. Sometimes, they come out all nice and easy. Sometimes, you have to struggle, and do as that classic old Pink Floyd song suggests: "One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces......". You get the idea. You'll have to fight, struggle, and then win. Clean out the edges of the bore exceedingly well, and make sure that all remaining pieces and remnants of the old window and adhesive are gone before gluing in the new window.

And while you've got that old sight window out, go ahead and dig out the thin aluminum disc that lives right behind the sight window, and which restricts the view of the fluid in the reservoir. Although this disc never wears out, it does hinder you from getting a good view of the fluid level. Again, just carefully pry it out.

Finally, you'll need a good quality adhesive to install the new sight sight glass into the cylinder body. Although there are probably lots of brands of gasket-maker/sealant material that will work, we've found one that is black, easy to work with, and is impervious to brake fluid (NOTE: if you're going to try to use some gasket material that you have sitting around, make DARN SURE that you test it to see whether brake fluid attacks it or prevents it from hardening (almost none of the major gasket-maker materials have been "tested" by their manufacturers against brake fluid, since you do not normally ever use gasket-sealant material in a brake system).


HCP1074 Front brake master cylinder Glass Fluid Level Sight Window, correct size and thickness crystal-clear mineral glass. Each:
$ 5.95

HCP3120 Aftermarket black Gasket Maker, 3.8 ounce squeeze tube. Enough to do about ten thousand sight glasses! But it's the smallest size offered. I'm sure it works well in other applications. Each:
$ 5.50

 

"The Old School Method"
Replacing Site Glasses with Watch Crystals
by: Rick Massey
All rights reserved.

I mixed some regular 5-Minute Epoxy. I used the narrow ends of toothpicks (many) to place the small amount of epoxy behind the crystal. [It was more like a "smear" than it was a bead.]

The outside sealing got done by placing a partial drop of epoxy at the edge. Tossing the toothpick that was used to apply the epoxy and using many other toothpicks (I had a half-dozen between my lips) to "drag along" the freshly mixed sealant taking advantage of its slow capillary action.

I used a bunch of soda cans and shot small amounts of UN-mixed epoxy on the concave bottom of the can. Then, when the epoxy you are working with just begins to "Pull" ... shitcan that mix and blend yourself one of the UN-mixed ones you have lined-up.

Once you have the sealing bead all around the new CRYSTAL ... take full advantage of it being crystal and shape the epoxy around the inside diameter of the window.

Use your little finger moistened with "Good Old-Fashioned Spit" (saliva) to make a nice looking finish ... like a glazer would do on a window.

Clean-up BOTH the Crystal AND the shape of the seal with lacquer thinner.
Use old, cotton, T-shirt cloth and moisten the cloth stretched tightly about your finger. Closer to "Damp" than "Moist"

The lacquer thinner will clean the glass off anywhere you might have goofed while simultaneously helping you apply a really fine-looking bevel on the epoxy around the glass.

If it isn't crystal or glass and you touch it with lacquer thinner; you'll be back to Square One, immediately.
- 30 -

 

does anyone know of oem replacement so you dont have to epoxy it, the only thing that would neet to be replaced would be the rubber ring that seals it, seems to be a better system

 

If anyone has an old one in good shape let me know, I just prefer to stay with the c clip setup.

 

anybody with a pretty good one out of a junked master cylinder

 

I don't think there is a c-clip or an o-ring that holds the original plastic window in.....it's either glued or "hot-melted" into place onto a small, very thin, aluminum (?) retaining ring that is then pressed (friction fit) into the machined hole in the master cylinder body. Sometimes you'll get lucky and the old sight window will come out easily (like yours did!) and sometimes you have get medieval on them.......

I'd say that 99.9% of the used master cylinders that come through my hands have unusable sight windows....that whole "plastic window" idea of Yamaha was just a little foolish, if you ask me.

Of course, they probably weren't anticipating that people would still be riding and fixing them up 30 years later, either!

Also, you don't need to use epoxy, you can use any silicone-based gasket maker material.

But as far as I can tell, they're ALL the same size.

 

http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsass ... clesQ2dinc

just picked up a new master cylinder for $45us off ebay

 

I have heard that you can chuck an old stenographers pencil ... the kind with the eraser that destroys paper ... into your drill and Polish that surface to restore its transparency.

Never tried it.

After learning how to stick a convex watch crystal in there, the problem wasn't a problem any more.

It's all in the application of the Epoxy.
You mix an amount about the size of a thumb-tack.
You use many toothpicks.

You spread the thinest bead you can with multiple tooth-picks around the "Shelf" of the Viewing Port Window.
Set the Watch Crystal in.

Mix a new batch of epoxy.
Drag a droplet around the perimeter.
New tooth-pick
Make the seal.

Mix a new batch.
More of the same.
Until you have a thin bead all around the watch crystal.

Tee shirt.
Lacquer thinner.
Tee-shirt tight on finger.
Moisten tee-shirt with thinner.
Damp.
Not wet. The essence of thinner on the tee-shirt.
Sculpt and clean.

Make the angle right.

Thats the trick of it.
One time and your sight glass is done ... forever!

 

why don't you unscrew the reservoir cover & take a look inside?

 

on mine you pop out the pretty large c clip and then you have the sight glass that is the shap of a mushroom with an o ring around and it just pops out and pops back in.

 

look inside for what?

 

I have saw them for sale on ebay a few times lately

 

I've never seen the version that you have. Every used original m/c that I've seen on all XJ bikes have a press-in sight glass window of the type I described earlier. Perhaps the 1980 models used a different style than all the others.

 

it doesnt sound like this is what you have,but here is link anyway maybe it will help someone else out
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... ink:top:us

 

Actually, it's the same thing, he has a couple of extra screws, etc. throw in for additional detailing.

 

I ment not what Jzap99 is looking for his sounds like a differant type

 

Oh, okay......yes, I agree with that statement too!

 

no my sight glass is 1 cm long and about 1.5cm wide.