North American Fj1200's new Aussie life

[Troyskie]

Get the genuine Yamaha factory service manual if at all possible.

+1

I have both the factory SM and the Haynes.

The factory SM is so much better in practical use, but does require that you have some basic mechanical skills.

Thanks fellas. Chris from Texas kindly sent me a link to our Danish cousins and their FJ site with an English YSM for the 1200.
Thanks again Chris...

http://www.fjclub.dk/litteratur/FJ1200-OM-Engelsk.pdf

[FJools]

That's very good of Pete.

Odd that they went away from the step spacers again on the Thunderace.............I wonder if someone actually modded Petes wheel in the past or maybe its an SP wheel?

I certainly wished I had thought of this when I did my rear wheel as you need to be a 3 armed juggler sometimes and then on occasion it all goes in with no fuss. It does help to get the centre bearing spacer in the right spot first. I have a feeling that the Thunderace axle may be larger diameter that makes getting a bearing to accommodate a step spacer within the outer bearing diameter dimensions more difficult...........

The only other thing to check is that the centre line of disc to caliper centre is correct when its all back together. The joint line of the calliper is good for this.

[oldktmdude]

That's very good of Pete.

Odd that they went away from the step spacers again on the Thunderace.............I wonder if someone actually modded Petes wheel in the past or maybe its an SP wheel?

I certainly wished I had thought of this when I did my rear wheel as you need to be a 3 armed juggler sometimes and then on occasion it all goes in with no fuss. It does help to get the centre bearing spacer in the right spot first. I have a feeling that the Thunderace axle may be larger diameter that makes getting a bearing to accommodate a step spacer within the outer bearing diameter dimensions more difficult...........

The only other thing to check is that the centre line of disc to caliper centre is correct when its all back together. The joint line of the calliper is good for this.

Jools, according to the Boats.net parts lists, Yamaha changed to the stepped spacer for the 1991 FZR 1000. They also changed the spacer and oil seal in the 1990 and later FJ1200's to the same parts as the FZR.

[FJools]

Pete

thanks for that, it does seem odd they didn't carry that through onto the Thunderace.

We may be talking cross purposes though - What I refer to as "stepped" spacers, are those that push into and are held captive in the Wheel bearing itself with the axle pushing right through the entire assembly.Not the spacers that are just held by the oil seal and but up to the inner bearing race, which after some time gets to be a sloppy fit and won't hold the spacer in place during wheel assembly........?

[oldktmdude]

Pete
We may be talking cross purposes though -

You're probably right mate, I'm good at that.

[Troyskie]

Should I do an engine flush? Seems a bit gunky.

[FJools]

do an oil change with cheapish engine oil. take it for a run, then drain and replace with the good oil and a new filter.

[Troyskie]

Weeeeellllll noooowwww,

Yummy has gotten back at me for making her learn acrobatics off the hoist.

After following the various manuals for disassembly I discovered a few things about the bikes' history.

Trying to remove the headers, I found why the bike had no bottom cowl. The LHS header collar had some impact damage. No stress, normal after 30 odd years.

I have finally understood why so many go for pods. The airbox SUCKS!!! I think Yamaha must have been supporting by-the-hour mechanics when they came up with that idea. If I change to pods do I need to re-jet?


Removing the header studs, one of them came clear out of the head with the nut. It seems to go in fine, but will this be a problem  ?


Carbies out, baffle off, airbox out, headers off, camshafts etc. off.

Here's where I had a couple of unwelcome surprises.

First, the rubber intake boots are all cracked, annoying, but no biggie.

Next, the bolt studs and pin dowels. Whilst removing them one made crunchy noises, then when they were all free this one came out with the stud attached to the nut. It went back in ok, just like the exhaust stud, but has a overall surface corrosion.

When trying to remove the head there was lots more crunching and then the appearance of oxidised metal, corrosion dust, and other crud.


Trying as best I could, I believe I managed to remove the head without any of this getting down into the motor (mainly down the cam chain shaft)  .

Next was the barrels. Obviously same issue with more at stake as the crank was now open to any crud getting in. My best effort was not enough and some of this crud made it down. I know this because one large chunk of zinc oxide dropped into #4. I believe it was zinc oxide (or similar corrosion swarf) as my magnet thingy wouldn't pick it up & it disappeared when I bumped it.



I'm assuming it is now time to split the crank case and give her a nice clean-up as there must be more oxide dust and specks down there. So Jools, looks like I won't need to do the flush hey mate?

Here's a pic of the debris. Most of it is this corrosion crud, mostly non-magnetic. The long piece I picked off the bolt stud, so must be some sort of zinc oxide or whatever plating is used on the bolt studs. Also as you can see from one of the pics above, the some of the pin dowels have completely corroded. At least this is ferritic so I can pick that up with the magnet, but looks like the pin dowels will need replacing too.


At least I was correct about the rings being rooted. Here's a pic of #4, clearly oil washed by buggered rings.


I haven't really checked the condition of the head or bores, that is the next step.

[FJools]

Too far to turnback now...............

I see a full on resto appearing

[ribbert]

Troy, the studs coming out with the nuts is not a problem.

If you are only splitting cases for the purpose of cleaning you might want to consider doing something like this (or take it somewhere and do it)



The plastic hose on the end of the nozzle allows for poking it around all the nooks and crannies.

Just take the sump off and flush hundreds of litres of kero through it.

Every bit of unnecessary disassembly increases the risk of something going wrong. You've already got plenty on you hands with a top end rebuild

Just a thought.

Noel

[aviationfred]

Troy, looks like you are in ankle deep. During my engine build, I did not split the cases. I removed the sump cover and oil pump pick up. It allows the engine to so square on the work bench. Once I had the head, cylinder block and ok pistons removed. I removed all of the remaining plastic coverings on the cylinder studs. I used a 1" by 24" strip of 60 grit emory cloth and removed all of the surface rust on the cylinder studs. Once I had all of the surface cleaning done. I bought a case of carb cleaner and a roll of pig mat from the auto parts store. I also removed the clutch cover and all of the clutch discs. I placed three layers of pig mat under the engine. I used the carb cleaner and liberally sprayed all through the engine including rolling the engine forward to exposed the underside and sprayed and sprayed until there was no more grit and grime to see. I used 1200*f BBQ grill paint sprayed into a cup with a small paint brush to cover the cylinder studs. From there assembly commenced.

I now have 1000 miles on the engine and an you ago I drained the second batch of break-in oil. The oil went in a very dark purple and has come out a very dark purple. The magnetic drain plug has very little fuzz on it.

My pistons looked very much like Yummy's when I removed them.

Here is a shot of what mine looked like and then a shot of the new pistons with 500 miles on them.

[Troyskie]

Noel, If I don't have the split the crank case I'll use any method I can that is quicker and cheaper.

I was going to take the barrels and head into the local mechanics anyway as they can measure and tell me what parts, ring sizes, valves bla bla, I'll be needing. I know they have one of those jobbies in your photo, & they'll probably let me have a go at it myself.
Regardless of what I end up paying them, I've already saved myself HEAPS by getting this far on my own.

You are absolutely correct about breaking her open any more. I'm already wondering how on earth I'll ever get all the bits back together without having a pile of parts and wondering,....'what was that from?'


I've put every screw and nut back in its home place, and for those that are off, I've used some paper or cardboard and labelled them and put them in the sequence they were on the bike.

Fred, Here are the pics of the bore and head. Some scoring on #1, but the rest seem ok to my novice eye.



So I won't need to replace the studs then? Awesome, but I will need to replace most of the dowel pins as the majority of them have corroded to nothing.

Thanks also for the encouragement on the pistons, hopefully this rebuild won't be as big as I thought last night.

[Troyskie]

Harvy, PM sent re the handlebars.

[Troyskie]

Before I remove the engine I'm going to follow through on a suggestion from Pete and get myself a kero gun and see how effective that is.

I'll flood the sump and swish it around then drain via the sump plug, then run the kero gun down through the piston holes and flush it all out with the sump removed. My success check will be finding that large bit. As the engine has not been run, any crap should have fallen straight down, and hydraulic traction of the kero should deposit the debris on the sump plate. I know I'll need to be careful.

Next steps will be to clean up the bolt studs and use Freds' method of coating them with BBQ black.

Head and barrels off to Glenn Henry tomorrow, so I'll have a professional perspective on their condition. Everything off gets a coat of paint.

Wheel gets machined this coming week. I'll get new chain, sprockets, bearings and tyres once it fits up.

Rear shock is going for reconditioning and I'll have the thing upgraded so the back is as good as the front, but I'll keep the OEM adjuster thingy to make changes to the set-up easier.

Overall tidy-up while she's in bits.

[ribbert]

Before I remove the engine I'm going to follow through on a suggestion from Pete and get myself a kero gun and see how effective that is.

I'll flood the sump and swish it around then drain via the sump plug, then run the kero gun down through the piston holes and flush it all out with the sump removed. My success check will be finding that large bit. As the engine has not been run, any crap should have fallen straight down, and hydraulic traction of the kero should deposit the debris on the sump plate. I know I'll need to be careful.

Next steps will be to clean up the bolt studs and use Freds' method of coating them with BBQ black.

Troy, I love my kero gun, in fact I recently posted about it, but I'm not sure this is the right application for it. Kero at 120 psi is just going to blast the bits you want to wash out to furtherest recesses of the crankcase.

Kero guns are big on pressure and low on kero, it would take a long time to "flood" the sump.
Why leave the sump on anyway if you're wanting to flush stuff out the bottom and if the motor's sitting upright, how do you get the sump off without tipping the motor on it's side - with all the crap then floating somewhere else and how the hell do you "swish" it around in something as heavy as an engine?

You are not "cleaning" but "flushing" - volume not pressure. Don't forget, the rubbish you want to flush out just fell in there, it's not stuck on. You just want to rinse away the loose debris, not degrease it.

An at home easy solution maybe to sit the engine (without sump) on a metal bucket and buy one of those fuel transfer pumps from the hardware or auto accessory shops ($20) with a couple of lengths of plastic hose. 10 litres of kero in the bucket (recirculating) and flush to you hearts content. You can put hundreds of litres through it this way.

The crud that accumulates around the studs contains a lot of fine grade grit (nothing larger can make it's way in there) and is exactly the size you don't want floating around your engine.

You can then use the kero (in the kero gun) to prepare the casings and other bits for painting.

I have found after many years and many engines that a kero gun wash followed by a high pressure clean is all you need as prep for painting, and no one can argue with the results.

Prep and a fantastic paint job is so simple many feel it doesn't seem right and choose to make the process more complicated, often counter productive.

Regarding painting the engine studs, unless you chemically neutralise the rust first, whatever you paint over it is a waste of time. I didn't do anything to mine except remove the flaky rust but if you are going to paint them, you need to treat them first, otherwise the rust process will just continue under the paint.

Of course, when you do your next motor, you'll rotate it 90 deg forward so the crud falls to the ground when you pull the barrel's (having learnt my lesson the first time)

Noel