Engine rebuild

[tony.mon]

First setback- I'd forgotten that the donor engine had to be cut form the frame, as the main frame bolt had cold welded itself into place.
Not too big a problem, cut the bolt in the centre, but then the parts would still not shift.
So I started to drill them out, not easy because I didn't want to break into the soft alloy.
One side went ok, so I placed a large bolt intoi the hole I'd drilled and gave it a gentle tap ( no, I clouted it as hard as I could) with a large hammer. It started to move, so I was able to drive it out.

But the other side, well, no chance. Drilled, hammered, sworn at, no joy at all.
So.....

I cut a slot along the casting, figuring that this would allow the boss to stretch a little and release its grip.
That worked ok, thank God.
All I need to do now is get it welded back up again on Monday.

Donor engine is now stripped, no other surprises:


Tomorrow, start to strip my bike.

[lloydie]

That's progress
we'll done so far so good
Keep it up and it should be done tomorrow lol

[lloydie]

Any update on the frame ears/brace yet tony ?

[tony.mon]

Any update on the frame ears/brace yet tony ?

No, mate.
It would be good to have got this done and fitted while the engine's already out, but don't think I'll have time before I need it back together, running, and on the dyno for Friday.
Also, company car went back, bike's obviously off the road, and so transport is a problem.

But I think they could be welded on in situ, so a little project for later in the spring.

[tony.mon]

Today:
1.
Rode my bike from the front drive to the garage, halfway up the garden.
2.
Stripped bike, engine out of frame.
No dramas, really.
3.
Sat down with several cold Fosters to watch recorded car GP.

On target so far
Tomorrow, take upper crankcase to be welded, hopefully while I wait, then strip old engine.

[sirch345]

That's all sounding good so far Tony, I think you deserved a few cans of Fosters after that

Chris.

[tony.mon]

Crankcase welded, bores glaze honed off, tenner each job while I waited, not too bad so far.
Ordered plugs, valve seals, piston rings, clutch pushrod seal, copper exhaust port gaskets, all arriving tomorrow.
Off to strip my old engine this afternoon, need to see what the front piston looks like.
Measured the compression yesterday on my old engine before disconnecting everything, and readings were 10 bar on the front one, 10.5 bar on the rear, with high comp pistons but turning over slowly as the battery didn't have much charge.
It's a comparison with the new rebuild I'm after, although the rings won't have bedded in at first.

[tony.mon]

The best bit of the day?
Turning the setting on the socket set to "do up" instead of "undo".


High comp pistons look good, old rings were probably ok to use, but as I'd bought 2 new sets they might as well go on.
So fitted, pistons in bores, crank in (using same big ends and mains because they're as new) and cases closed, some bolts in just to hold it in place on the engine stand, that'll do.
Good news:
Dyno booked for Friday afternoon, so best get my finger out if I want it running and run in before 3pm Fri.........

[sirch345]

The best bit of the day?
Turning the setting on the socket set to "do up" instead of "undo".

By that I take it you're happy it's now going back together Well done Tony, keep up the good work

Chris.

[tony.mon]

Not going quite so well today.

Two nights ago I woke up in the night with a panic; thinking: "I've left one of the gudgeon pin (wrist pin) circlips out!".
The engine's already built at the point, well, cases together, gears all set up, and back in the frame.

No idea why I would suddenly think this, and decided that it was a bad dream, or something, and ignored it.
There's no way of finding out without stripping everything back down again.

Following day, I checked the pistons I had taken out, assuming that if I had a spare circlip that would mean I was right.
No spare circlip left over, so relaxed, carried on the build.
But today I was thinking this over, and although I was 99% sure I was ok, and even if not, the pin can't move very far until it meets the cylinder wall, there's no force acting upon it and it was quite a tight fit in the piston anyway, chances are that it wouldn't move in any case, etc, etc, etc....

So I had a very thorough look around the workbench area, to see if by any chance a spare circlip would come to light.

And there, under the workbench, poking around with a magnet on a stick device, I found......a bloody circlip.

God knows why my subconscious recalled this in the night, and I didn't consciously notice it, but I suppose it's a good job it did.
Anyway, long and short, I've decided to try to lay the bike on it's LH side, take off the water pump, clutch cover and clutch, sump, and oil pump, and undo the big end bolts from underneath, meaning that I can pull the pistons out of the bores (heads aren't on yet) and fit the circlip.

How pissed off will I be if I find that the circlip I found was from a different engine, or just an old one laying around?

Especially as I had it booked on a dyno at 3pm tomorrow (fri) and have had to cancel it

Ah well, like short judges, these are just little things sent to try us, I suppose. I'd rather it was right, as I'll be using it for commuting for a while, dragstrip action, general road thrashes and rideouts with you lot, and I haven't managed to get free breakdown cover with my insurance this year.

[Hoppo]

Wise choice. Having read your many posts you would never have been happy leaving it, each time you hit the start button you would have heard the pin scraping the bore!!
Been down that road with cars! Best of luck

[sirch345]

Wise move Tony, better to find out you have fitted the circlips than to run it without one. I would have had to do what you are doing in the circumstances. Either way at least you'll have piece of mind

Chris.

[benny hedges]

Two nights ago I woke up in the night with a panic; thinking: "I've left one of the gudgeon pin (wrist pin) circlips out!".

had a similar one on my scooter..... the head gasket had blown so i popped the head off, noticed what looked like detonation marks on the crown.... on closer inspection it was a circlip shaped indent....
sure enough one (new) circlip had come out!

very lucky escape!

[AMCQ46]

You have to trust your sub conscience, my example was with a full engine rebuild on my GSthou, and i finished it late at night and was going to go for a bid ride out the next day.....same as you, i woke up middle of the nigh as my brain had remembered the sump plug hasn't been tightened up! Got dressed went out and sure enough it was only just finger tight! So torqued it up and went back to bed and had a great run out the next day But if my sub conscience hadn't kicked in I would have seized it, or crashed on oil, or both!!

[seb421]

wombles me its weird how the brain works, what a bugger of a job toe, hope its not delayed and cost you to much mate.