Damaged spring preload nut oh no!

Nope, you'll have to remove the fork leg. I've got the same problem. Read about my thread in the Maintenance forum. The fix is described there.

I've looked at a number of pictures and it seems there is only a small seal in there so i'm thinking that if i removed the c-clip from the top and unscrew it with the front suspension hanging nothing will leak out. any ideas?

edit: It also seems that jbswear is thinking about the rebound adjuster, i'm trying to replace the spring preload nut (the big blue one on the top of the fork).

Ah, I'm replacing the whole thing. Yeah, don't know how to remove just that blue piece.

I'm surprised that no one knows the answer to this, maybe a mod could move it to the general maint. section so it could get more looks from board members?

Well, seeing how this is an SV tech forum, not a GSXR forum, its not surprising no one has the answer. The percentage of people who swap front ends is pretty small. Maybe you should search around one of the Gixxer forums.

I was under the impression that the Gsxr swap was pretty common. I guess not? But like I said earlier it might be a good idea to have this moved to the maint forum.

Not sure if they use the same procedure but on a TL it looks like you have to take the leg apart http://forum.svrider.com/showthread.php?t=93663
This is another write up, also on a TL and he removes the cap in post #23 http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85982&page=2