82 Seca 750: all started from the master cylinder

I first want to thank all for feeding the forum: it's a great source of knowledge and experience!
Just got an 82 seca 750, now all stripped. The front master cylinder (behind the head light) is in bad shape with small cantilever all rusted: does not even move when pulling the cable. I could not fond any replacement at a decent price and started looking at replacing it by a handlebar version. Then the question of compatibility with the controls pop up. Has anyone replaced the master cylinder with a handlebar version while keeping the existing controls? The second point refers to the rebuild kit of the original master cylinder (if i go this route): from what i can read the kit is not provided with the piston: i'm concerned i won't be able to make anything good based on the current rusted lever sticking out of the mc. Any thoughts to help going one way or another? Thanks a bunch!

 

so i think what you're saying is you would like to find a nice rebuildable master cyl with a piston.......right?
that shouldn't be too hard

 

Yes, one option would be to rebuild the master cyl that I have, which has the lever sticking out of the piston (that connects to the cable coming from the handle) all rusted. The piston does not move at all when pulling the cable. I realize after reading Chacal's page on m/c again that the complete kit HCP23155 includes the piston.... So I guess that should be the kit to go with based on my bike... This being said, based on experience, should I be worried about the rusted lever: is it worth rebuilding the m/c? Thanks for your help!

 

It is worth rebuilding IF you can get the piston out AND the bore is not rusted all to heck.
Many people have converted to a conventional master cylinder, and there are threads with that info. Do a google search with site:xjbikes.com after your keywords.

 

thanks for the feedback. After some more reading, I'll finally move to a handlebar mounted master cylinder...

 

My piston was also stuck, but I was able to carefully thread a bolt of similar size into the piston cavity, where the lever rod pushed. The aluminum piston is softer than the steel bolt. Got just enough threads to grab that I was able to extract the piston by prying/ pulling on the bolt. As Polock has suggested, if yours is in bad shape, it shouldn't be too difficult to locate another and rebuild that one.

 

Well, i guess i gave up a bit quick but i have a bunch of other things to address on this bike. I ended up finding a cbr600r m/c and matching clutch perch... i plan on getting ss braided lines with 1 from mc to the splitter then one each side to the calipers and anti dive. Looks like i will have to shave the right control to make the cbr mc to fit (thanks to the forum for the various shared experience i could read!).... unless i find a set of new basic controls... (the budget might take a hit before even starting..).
Quite some fun for the fall. I need to have the paint done (detached garage) before butts start freezing so back to stripping the chassis...

 

The cylinder bore size is critical for proper brake operation. The master cylinder bore for your machine is 17.46 mm (11/16 in.). You'll want as close a match to that as possible.