89 FJ1200 engine and gearbox rebuild

[Joe Sull]

Wow, screaming thru this. Great pics.

[FJ_Hooligan]

While you got that alternator apart, it's a good time to replace that voltage regulator with RPM's Racetech unit.

But this one is working OK, why would I replace it?

Okay, then don't.

[fintip]

While you got that alternator apart, it's a good time to replace that voltage regulator with RPM's Racetech unit.

But this one is working OK, why would I replace it?

Okay, then don't.

LOL.

Two different mentalities here. But it's the kind of thing that when it goes bad, kills a battery and can strand you. It's just a matter of waiting until it goes bad, or replacing it before it does. Mine went bad. Lost a battery. It happens. So: pay now or later? If you do it now, you don't have to pull it apart again later, is the idea...

[DeltaFlyer]

Started working on the head today. Stripped down the valves, bagged and tagged along with their corresponding bits....


Had to make a valve compressor... very rough but it works well enough.


Used the very powerful rare earth magnet out of a trashed hard disk to get the buckets and other bits out...


They look OK. They were nice and snug with no perceivable side play.


Then I spent some quality time with the dremmel and a bunch of little wire brushes...












Cleaning the combustion chambers and valves is a loaborious, tedious, filthy job. I only got through two chambers and exactly one exhaust valve.

I should have the rest of the cleaning done tomorrow and then the head and cylinder block will be ready for the machine shop once the parts arrive.

Cheers,
Gab.

[motohorseman]

 

[Dan Filetti]

That is impressive work, glad to see the progress.

Thanks for posting.

Dan

[DeltaFlyer]

I went off and did a bunch of searching & reading and I've decided to go with the voltage regulator upgrade. Thanks for the heads up on that, I was unaware of the issue. Worth doing for the sake of reliability.

I'll probably also go with the RPM shift kit after reading about the sort of improvement it makes to shifting. Turns out it's not the shift kit I thought it was, but a much better one.... that seems to be the trend with all of Randy's stuff at RPM.

[Pat Conlon]

......... that seems to be the trend with all of Randy's stuff at RPM.

Now you're catching on.....

Also, plan on getting his upgraded Viton valve seals.

[FJ_Hooligan]

I went off and did a bunch of searching & reading and I've decided to go with the voltage regulator upgrade. Thanks for the heads up on that, I was unaware of the issue. Worth doing for the sake of reliability.

You're welcome.  Occasionally I'm more than just noise.  :-)

[DeltaFlyer]

......... that seems to be the trend with all of Randy's stuff at RPM.

Now you're catching on.....

Also, plan on getting his upgraded Viton valve seals.

They're already ordered. 

[movenon]

I am still running a stock regulator.  No problems noted.  Battery is a sealed unit.  I might recommend you give some thought to installing a small digital volt meter.  Not a requirement but it tells me what the charging voltage is,  gives me an indication of a weak battery and depending on where you tap the voltage it will tell if you have dropped a fuse. Mine is like this one but there are other designs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-0-30V-Voltmeter-LED-Panel-3-Digital-Display-Volt-Voltage-Meter-for-Motorcycle-/131095052802?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e85dfc202
George

[DeltaFlyer]

I put an $8 brush wheel on the 5" bench grinder and cleaned the valves in about 30 minutes. Works really well...


Then I threw together a rough but effective tool for checking the valves...





checking runout...



All the valves look to be in in spec and serviceable.



Finished de-carboning the head, then hit the head and cylinder block with degreaser and pressure washer...




That's it for now with the head & block. I'll put them aside until the piston kit, new valve guides, and seals arrive, then the whole lot can go off to get machined up.

Next I'll be splitting the crank case and finally getting stuck into the reason why I started this job in the first place.

Cheers,
Gabe.

[DeltaFlyer]

I am still running a stock regulator.  No problems noted.  Battery is a sealed unit.  I might recommend you give some thought to installing a small digital volt meter.  Not a requirement but it tells me what the charging voltage is,  gives me an indication of a weak battery and depending on where you tap the voltage it will tell if you have dropped a fuse. Mine is like this one but there are other designs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-0-30V-Voltmeter-LED-Panel-3-Digital-Display-Volt-Voltage-Meter-for-Motorcycle-/131095052802?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e85dfc202
George

That's a good idea.

I was thinking about setting up an oil pressure gauge by putting a sensor in at the oil pressure testing point on the crank case, but I haven't looked into it yet.

Cheers,
Gabe.

[movenon]

I havn't done anything with the oil system yet other than install the spin on adapter and changing the oil often.... I wouldn't mind having an oil temp meter.  But that's in the future.  Keep up the good work and pictures.
George

[DeltaFlyer]

Work and family commitments have kept me away from the bike lately but I've managed to find some time this weekend.

I didn't really do much except some cleaning and checking oil clearances with the plastigauge.

Camshaft clearances were first...

The bearing surfaces must be clean and free of oil...



I really like this Plastigauge system (no, I'm not getting paid to endorse it, would gladly take the money if they offered it tho )....


First you cut the necessary number of pieces to size. I hold them in place with a tiny little spot of general purpose grease.




The reason they are off to the side rather than sitting on top is because i wanted to avoid the hole in the bearing cap and get the full width surface instead...


Then the caps are torqued in. I did this in two stages for the cams...


*NOTE-It's really important to NOT rotate the cams while the bearing caps have been torqued in. Apart from invalidating the Plastigauge reading there's also no lubricant in there.

The caps are removed and the Plastigauge is squashed on the bearing surface. The clearance can be measured by matching against the scale provided...


And the results for both cams...


The results indicate that the intake cam is OK but the exhaust is worn beyond limits. This result plus the wear already measured in lobe heights and journal diameters being at (or beyond) wear limits means that I'll be replacing the cams. I suppose I could get away with replacing just the exhaust cam, but if I'm replacing one I'd rather do both.

So, stock cams or aftermarket performance cams?....

I'm building primarily for reliability and longevity so I'm leaning towards stock cams, but do you think it would be worthwhile installing slotted cam sprockets and dialing in (degree-ing) the stock cams? are there any performance/reliability/efficiency gains to be had there?

.....................................

Crankshaft main bearings...

First ensure the bearing surfaces are nice and clean, including free of oil...



Set up the Plastigauge...
I did all five bearings, this is #1....


Torque down the crank case, only bolts 1 to 10 necessary for this procedure. i torqued them down on three stages...


Then remove the bolts and carefully expose the squashed plastigauge. this is bearing #1....


And the results...


They're all worn beyond spec so I'll be replacing the bearing caps.

Next will be the conrod big ends, and I suspect they'll be at or beyond limits as well. Once they're measured I'll finalize the list of parts to order.

Cheers,
Gabe.