2007 R1 Front and Rear end........

[Pat Conlon]

Bolt Depot: https://boltdepot.com/Product-Details?product=15168
Measure the existing 8mm to get the correct shaft length and thread length for the 10mm bolt. If you can't find the correct shaft length and or thread length, just get the full threaded bolt. Those bad boys will never break again...

While you have cradle off, pull out the front engine bushings and grease them up.

Cheers. Pat

[axiom-r]

Thank you, Sir...  the stock bolts are M8 x 30mm x 1.25 thread pitch.

I do think I will look for an M10 that has 10mm of shoulder instead of all thread... the stock bolt has some shoulder and to me that seem right for this placement. 

Tim

[Pat Conlon]

Get the overall length close, you can run a bit proud inside the frame, then run your die up the bolt (cut new threads)  so you get the proper shoulder (shaft) length.

Weird that Yamaha used 10mm holes in the frame rails huh?

[axiom-r]

Definitely weird...  But not as weird as you having seen 3 different late model FJ's with broken bolts... in that location. That is actually rather comforting to me because my mind is looking and and thinking about the rear suspension linkage that I just bolted up untested and with no engineering (shade tree wrenching all the way) as well as the dog bone failure....  either of which could have resulted in the kind of forces that would unintentionally stress that connection and sheer a bolt... 

But ok! It appears Yamaha shorted the engineering and an up-sized 10mm bolt sets me free!! 

[axiom-r]

Back at it today....   Went ahead and removed the front motor mounts and side rails.  Glad to be going through these as the bolts and hardware all need some help and a clean-up.  I'll follow Pat's advice and regrease it all once its clean. Here is the current state of the bike.





This is why I had to disassemble it:  Broken off bolt recessed into the threaded hole on the frame... Please let me hear the options and your expertise on removing a bugger like this.







My intention is to (again) follow Pat's lead and drill these frame holes all out then tap them to accept an M10 bolt.  I got really lucky and a buddy had these for the frame of an FZ-08 I think. They are exactly as needed but 5mm long....  Hoping I can drill to the proper depth and use as is – otherwise I'll mount them in my vice and grind 5mm off then clean up the threads.






I also got the R1 forks completely rebuilt. New seals & fresh oil.

[fj1289]

Tim,

To remove the broken bolt before drilling and tapping the hole oversized, I would use left twist drill bits.  If you have to purchase a screw extractor set to get the left twist drill bits - open the pack, carefully take out the screw extractors, and throw the brittle easily broken impossible to drill things AWAY!  Spray well with P Blaster.  Then start with the smallest drill bit and drill into the bolt a couple thicknesses of the drill bit.  Go up to the next drill bit and repeat.  Keep repeating - going deeper with each larger drill bit until the heat, oil and vibrations loosen it up or the drill bit "snags" the ever thinner edge and backs the broken bolt out.  If all else fails, it will fall into the frame to live forever after you have drilled and tapped to M10 size. 

Side story - I did this the WRONG WAY when I got my 89 24 years ago.  I decided that heli-coils were a great idea and the best way to do this - WRONG!  I still like heli-coils for blind holes in aluminum, but NOT for open holes in steel.  So much better to simply drill and tap the steel.  These things have been a headache ever since installing them - sometimes pulling a thread up, sometimes pushing in further ... Finally (just yesterday!) I have all of them drilled out and simply tapped even larger.  Worse mechanical decision I've ever made - and that list is longer than I'd like to admit!

Good luck!  At least your are doing it the right way the first time!

Chris

[FJmonkey]

I support the LH drill approach. Use a center punch to get a good indent for the drill tip to follow. I have removed more broken bolts this way. Its kind of satisfying then the broken bolt spins out on the drill bit. 

[giantkiller]

Yah the broken bolts are actually quite common. I've started replacing them with the   bigger bolts. Before they break. It's been awhile. Thanks for the reminder. I have 4 fjs that need to have the bolts replaced.

[axiom-r]

Had to do some work travel so the FJ update went on hold...  before I left I managed to fix the broken frame bolt but the process was not without some twists and turns...  yeah pun intended. Here is a pic of the left-twist drill bit shattered and stuck an inch deep inside the broken bolt...  had to exit the garage in a stream of expletives over that one... can't really see it.... 



After some breathing exercises, meditation and several beers I went back at it. I upsized the drill bit and drilled on top of the broken bit stuck in the broken bolt...  finally saw some movement. Then, using a pic and some tiny needle nose pliers finally saw the broken bit wiggle loose and come out. 

Finished drilling with the larger bit and the broken bolt came out too....   Tapped all four holes with the M10 x 1.25 and was in the clear.





Hoping to move quickly now and get more done....

[fj1289]

Is that a little titanium bling I see?!

[Pat Conlon]

With 4 of those 10mm beefy tostadas in there, Tim will never have to worry about that again....

It still puzzles me as to why Yamaha would have 10mm dia.holes in the cradle frame and yet only install 8mm bolts....

[axiom-r]

Is that a little titanium bling I see?!

Just Stainless M10 hardware.  I did buy the titanium bolt kit for the brake rotors fronts and rear. My wheels were starting to look pretty weathered so I freshened them up....  Hope to remount before this weekend but that might be ambitious.  Have to get the front on the ground and then disassemble and inspect all the bushings on the R1 swing arm and Pensky shock...  Not taking anymore chances with the rear end.

[axiom-r]

With 4 of those 10mm beefy tostadas in there, Tim will never have to worry about that again....

It still puzzles me as to why Yamaha would have 10mm dia.holes in the cradle frame and yet only install 8mm bolts....

Pat - I could not agree more.  What the hell were they thinking.  Allowing that room to move is likely what causes the bolts to fail imho... 

[axiom-r]

Time to catch up on the progress of refreshing my FJ....   

I had left off with a broken frame bolt and drilling for upsized hardware.  I was happy to get past that issue but it wasn't the last challenge.





While the bike was apart, I cleaned and touched up both R1 wheels and had new rubber mounted.  I also cleaned and bled the front and rear brake calipers and replaced the pads. Rebuilt the Master Cylinder and replaced the Fluid Cup that had turned yellow and looked ready to crack.

After removing exhaust system, I discovered that the header flanges were bent from over tightening.  I bought new ones from Delkavic but when they arrived the were of a different design with a larger aperture.  As it turns out they had updated their header design to use a flare out on the header end and the new flanges were made larger to accommodate.  They were thicker too – I was stoked BUT – they do not work with my early design headers so I had to return the new ones and hammer my old flanges flat on my anvil for another round of duty!  I also put the Delkavic exhaust headers on the wire wheel and made them look pretty again.  I had been running with the single right-side muffler for a long time and decided to go back to the 4 into 2.  I love the look of it.  While it was all apart I did touch up paint work on the frame and motor – masked off the bike with paper and rattle-can touch up.  Came out "ok".













I had gone completely through the front end and rebuilt the forks so I felt compelled to examine the rear to look for any unusual wear or play.  The shock came out and I moved the swing arm through its full range of motion to check for end play or sloppiness in the pivot – none found. The Mod is working very well and shows no signs of stress.










Then I decided to tackle the "Achilles Heel" of my particular bike....  I had found this FJ in 2002 with only 1250 miles on it.  I got the bike and quickly realized there was an oil leak. Oil would seep out of the tiny seam between the countershaft sprocket seal and the clutch pushrod seal; a seam between the upper and lower case halves that was about an inch long.  You could see a bit of the Yamabond Gasket pushed out of the seam and dangling.

It did not take too long for me to figure out that this was the reason the bike had such low miles and was in such pristine condition when I found it. 

To properly fix this leak the cases would have to be split and resealed.  A job that no one wants to do (or pay for) on a virtually new machine.  Back in 2002 I did my best to seal the seam with JB weld and it worked in reducing the leak significantly enough that I just lived with it. 

I made some mistakes in surface prep the first time I did the patch so I decided to try to redo the work now.  If I got this wrong – the engine would have to come out for it to be useable again.  If I got it right the leak would be gone without having to split the cases – so it was worth the shot.

SO – I started by draining the oil (at the start of this work) and letting it drip for weeks.  Oil filter off too; filler cap loose.  I then leaned the bike as far as I could to the right to allow internal oil to run away from the repair area.  Left it leaning for a few weeks.






I then got my Dremel tool and picks and went to work getting the old JB weld off. It was easy, coming off in flakes and chunks.  I carefully taped off the counter shaft sprocket seal seat and used a properly sized rubber cork to close off the clutch pushrod seal seat.

With the seam bare and clean and with the engine sealed up to keep metal shavings out, I switched to metal use bits in the Dremel and proceeded to gouge out the seam making a trough.  Cross hatching the surface on both sides.  This created a "valley" for the new JB Weld to sit in and texture for it to adhere to. 

Then I cleaned and cleaned again.  Waited a few days and cleaned again.  I was using brake cleaner as well as swabbing the case seam with acetone. 





I was confident that the surface of the case was completely oil free so I mixed up a batch of JB Weld.  There are some good videos on YouTube showing much bigger engine case repairs with JB Weld so I was hopeful that I could get it right this time.  I learned that the original JB Weld formula is the strongest most reliable product – I was steered away from the "high heat" and "quick curing" products. 




The JB Weld mix was a dark grey color and went on pretty easily using a toothpick as a trowel.  After it sat overnight, I wetted my finger and smoothed it out creating a better looking surface to the repair.  I had a lot more work to do on the bike before testing for leaks so the JB Weld repair sat for 10-12 more days curing while I focused on other stuff.... I would not know if this repair was good until I could run the bike and heat cycle the JB weld a few times.

It was a great feeling to pick the bike back up onto its wheels and start working on other stuff.

When I did the R1 conversion I had added a diaphragm spring to the clutch (running 2 springs) to stiffen up the lever and make sure there was no slippage. It worked, but I really missed the soft and easy lever pull of the stock set up.  I was also always chasing the bubbles out of the clutch slave and lines – seems like I could never get it perfect. Or, perhaps I had a leak?  Hard to find neutral, clunky shifts and heavy clutch feel at the lever was the condition I was dealing with.  I decided to tackle the entire clutch system and try to improve it.  My choice was to go with the Barnett Coil Spring Conversion Kit.



The install was super easy. After it was in, I started looking for both a Clutch Lever and Slave rebuild kits and I found the OBERON Racing Billet Clutch Slave for FJ1200/1300.  It was a bit of cash at $143 but the manufacturer claims to have improved seal design and eliminate leaks.  I went for it.

When it arrived, it was super easy to install and bleed.  Clutch pull instantly felt better with these two upgrades.  The new Clutch Slave looks great too. 

While I was going through my parts stash I found a Billet Spin on Oil Filter – Forgot I had it!  Decided to give it a try.  Robert at RPM had warned me about them coming loose and leaking or falling off.  The center bolt was pre-drilled for safety wiring so I decided to figure that out.  I have been considering buying a safety wire plier and this was a perfect excuse to buy tools!













Clutch work = Check that off my list!

It was time to tackle the carbs!!

Off they came – disassembled on my bench and into the ultrasonic cleaner.  It always amazes me that a very clean carb will go into the hot US cleaner and you can immediately see "smoke" coming off if them as the lacquer build up starts coming off.



The carbs can be difficult to get clean as has been stated many times here on the forum – I figured I had them beat but that was not the case.  I could not get the stumble out of my engine when cracking the throttle under load.  Sitting in the garage it sounded great.  I put everything back together expecting a full Kookaloo experience but NOPE. Stutters and stumbles off the bottom.  SO very frustrating. The carbs came off and went back on 3-4 times as I tried to get them truly clean.  In the end, it was the fuel filter (I think)...  I changed it and cleaned the carbs once more and she ran right FINALLY.

As a final touch, I added some decals I had been hanging on to...



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The bike rides SO nice now.  No stumble at all – free revving and full power.  The clutch feel is excellent – no slip and no difficult clunky gear changes.  Best of all - the JB Weld seam repair is working perfectly - NO LEAK!

Loving the FJ .....  YET AGAIN!!

[Pat Conlon]

Wonderful Tim! We are overdue for a ride.