NON bandit, Race Tech emulator fork issue

[mademiriam]

I recently bought a EX500, the forks were really spongy. The seller had mentioned that he had been told it had race tech emulators and fork springs but never mentioned it in the add as he felt the front forks needed work as well.
I tore the fork caps off today...and lo and behold it does LOOK like there are emulators down there.

Does anyone have experience with these? I know some holes would have to be drilled for the install and of course have no idea if this was done right. It MAY have been set up for a far lighter person but they would have had to weigh next to nothing, the forks offer barely any resistance to downward pressure. Any major hints on how should go about figuring out whats wrong? I know they are very general questions...but alas I'm not sure what I could do short of tearing it apart. (the more time i spend on this the less time I can spend on my busa fork swap for the bandit  )
The oil I took out looks very...black and dirty. Sorry for a non bandit question but you guys have been so helpful in the past I thought I'd post it here as well and not just on the ex500 forum.

[r_outsider]

I've never had to deal with emulators, but if the forks are compressing too easily, I would think that the springs are probably bagged. Considering the age of the bike and the condition of the oil, the forks could probably stand a complete rebuild. It's not really as big and scary a job as it looks like.

[smooth operator]

  Although I've done mine on the Bandit, its been awhile and because I don't do them all the time I don't want to give any wrong info. But what I do know for sure, everything needs to be clean! Everything needs to come apart and cleaned,I soak the tubes in the parts washer,then stuff a rag down with a dowel (nat always a dowel but I said that because you don'rt want to nick anything up) and I finish up with laquere thiner and air.
  Now that everything is clean,underneath the gold valve should be your compresion stack.Its a series of different size washers that you set up acording to your weight and type of riding you'll be doing. Race Tech has a chart (I'm looking at my notes in my Bandit file)In my Bandit I used c37 wich is on the stiff side wich consist of
7- 15x17 shims, 1-10x15,1-10x13,1-10x12,1-10x11,1-10x10 and 110x9. If  it had less stacking shims on top,for example c33 would not be as stiff and would have only 3 of the 0.15x17 washers on the top and the rest of the order would be the same. You can change the preload by changing the size or adding a pvc spacer if ther is not one in there.If that doesn't help the springs may be shot.For a track bike I'd want to set my sag between 25-35 mm.
  Then there is your oil level, checked from the top w/ the forks fully compressed.Mine was recomended at 110mm,but it may be different on yours being it is a different set of forks.
  Last year I didn't mess with my shim oreder, I just changed the oil. And cleaned everything. I didn't put all that many miles on it last year, but I have a seal weaping so when I get around to it I'll change the oil again. I'd like to get the Race Tech gold valves for the SV this year,it will be fresher in my head when everything is out and laid out on a clean towel. But the oil should be changed every year,if you do alot of riding. (although I havn't always)
 I hope I didn't make this more confusing,you could probably go to a Race Tech site and get some pics. Then you can get real expert addvise (better tile setter than bike tech)  Good luck, Dan

[mademiriam]

thanks for advice, the dirty oil did strike me as odd. The guy on the EX500 forum identified my springs as stock so this is most likely the culprit. They have good experiences just cutting down the stock springs and adding spacers evidently so will try that first. I'm not overly worried about doing a whole fork rebuild but would like to be able to push that off till later on in the year. I think your method of cleanup would help any fork a while bunch even if nothing 'appears' wrong.