Some things to be careful about. I make no claim that these are the only things to be careful about.
Better cleanliness than you've ever had for motorcycle work. Get a tiny piece of grit in the shim stack and your careful choice of which shim stack to use is nothing but a bad joke. I assembled the valves on clean, lint free rags, with clean hands.
You'll need to have or get or rent a torque wrench that can measure 2.5 lb-ft or 30 lb-inch well. A 50 lb-ft clicker ain't gonna do it.
You actually use real live _red_ loctite (provided by Racetech) at one point. Unless you clean both threads carefully with something that doesn't leave a residue, like brake cleaner, this use will be another bad joke. You need to use enough, but not so much that it runs where it shouldn't be, like in the stack.
You'll need a tool to set the air gap for the fork oil precisely.
The oil weight recommendation in my instructions was either 10 weight or, preferably, 10 weight in the cartridge side, and 15 in the damper rod side. Note that some fork oils run a little thick, some a little thin.
Measure each shim with a caliper as you stack them. It's pretty easy to get two stuck together. Be sure to check that the washer used as a one way valve moves freely after you assemble the valve, it's pretty easy to get it jammed tight.
You need to disassemble the stock Honda valve by carefully filing off some peened over thread, then cleaning the edge up with a file carefully. If you don't do that well, it's pathetically easy to crossthread, and I don't know where you'd get the part.
If any of this seems anal, consider a professional install. This isn't an extremely difficult job, but it requires anal. And the Racetech instructions are not exhaustive, they basically assume the Honda shop manual is being used where appropriate. If you're not comfortable about dissasembling your fork, including disassembling things Honda never intended to be disassembled, consider a professional install.
The following are less certain.
Many people leave the fork legs slightly matte finished, like what oiled 600 grit sandpaper or emery cloth leaves behind. The theory is that it lets the fork legs hold just a tiny bit of oil. It's best to create a spiral pattern by twisting the sandpaper while pushing it along the tube.
A phone call to Racetech gave a recommendation for drilling just two more holes, to add to the original four. Cleaning out the drilling swarf really well is mandatory, the cartridge emulator is not quite as sensitive to dirt, but it's sensitive. Drilling swarf could also destroy your bushings or even your fork leg.
Getting the spacer exactly right isn't tricky, it's almost impossible. The "top out spring" messes things up. I checked mine by pushing the fork down on a bathroom scale, and noting when the fork started to move. Equal "weight" is good.
If you're also replacing steering head bearings, experience at doing that or Fred's video is extremely useful.
opcorn:
