The Rebuild Begins !

[Studley Ramrod]

Original blog: Studley's Bloggerydoodaah

Gave up on the idea of cleaning everything all at the same time and I'm now cleaning things as I go It's a man thing Before sealing the crankcase halves I first did a test run, minus the crank, to see if there might be any snags. None were apparent. [b]So, I put the gearbox and fork selectors, drum etc back in using plenty of fresh engine oil and some oil mixed with grease for the bearings as mentioned in the Haynes etc. It's easier than ya might anticipate it being as all the bits just kinda fall into place.[b]If your fitting the output shaft seal, just make sure the tangs are clear of the oil passigis.I checked the mechanism all moved freely and went through the gears and all looked and felt good. Next up was the crank. I'd inspected the crank bearing shells and there wasn't a scratch on them and I felt confident that the big end bearing shells would also be fine so I kept the conrods in place on the crank. Scrupiously cleaned the bearing shells and associated surfaces and then re-fitted them, making sure they were correctly lined up and well oiled. Gently dropped the crank back in taking care not to knock it on owt, then placed the water pump drive sprocket in position.[b]After that I sat down for a week and read through all the relevant info, like ya do, and also spent loads of time just staring at it for some reason [b]When you think about the consequences of getting it wrong you realise how important it is to get it all done properly. When you seal the halves you won't know if it's worked until you've fully rebuilt the engine, put it back in the bike and connected it all up and got it running up to temp. A lorra lorra of work there for sure No pressure then eh ! I gave both the joining surfaces a good final clean with acetone, oiled the bearing shells in the lower half and re-oiled the gearbox and other parts. It then took me around 12mins to apply the liquid gasket to the bottom half after which I promptly positioned onto the upper half. I then checked it was all sitting flush, and then started putting the bolts back in.[b]40 mins later and I'd got 28 of the 29 bolts in and torqued up to spec. Checked around the casing joints and was very satisfied with the result.I've got a nice small line of sealant showing in all the areas I could see. I managed to pipe the gasket stuff on in a really small width, didn't have time to take a photo of it. The 80ml tube is still 95% full.[b]I also discovered that dear old Stormy had missed summat when he'd rebuilt his engine. He'd forgotten to place his water pump drive sprocket in position before sealing the halves and had to undo it all etc. Well, no neeeeed ! you can just put it in place as it easily fits through the big hole where the oil strainer goes Next up, it'll be refitting the balance shafts and more rebuildering stuff

[Guinness]

Excellent. Found that to be the most nerve jangling part of the rebuild, specially with new bearings and plastiguage work to do. I were rectumended summat called graphogen to coat moving parts till the oil gets a chance to circulate. Obviously its quite impossible to know if it actually helps but the smell is delicious.Very well done sofa.

[Studley Ramrod]

Cheers !Yeah, I'm glad the bearings were good. I did actually wonder if I should coat the gears and stuff, wi some stuff, as it were gonna be a while afore it were all up and running. Then I forgot all about it [b]Shouldn't be too long afore it's ready to try though, maybe 3-4 weeks.