FJ1346 from ashes to... Well, we'll see...

[fj1289]

What crank work?  Marine crankshaft has a strong reputation.   I was happy with work they did for me -- although Randy's guy still had to tweak the balance a bit for the race engine build.  There are a lot of independent shops around that can do quality work -- and don't have to advertise or have a web presence to have more work than they have time for.   So the problem is finding the great ones from the good or even bad ones.   That's where knowing someone like Randy is invaluable.

[1tinindian]

The upper case that Hank has is the upper case of a upper and lower set. I bought it on ebay after  one of the member sent me the link. It was a real score actually:-) (Sorry I can't remember who sent me the link. I tried searching for it, but couldn't find it.)

Not that it matters, but I think that it was I, that sent you that link.

It will be nice to have you with the gang in Colorado!

Leon

[skymasteres]

What crank work?  Marine crankshaft has a strong reputation.   I was happy with work they did for me -- although Randy's guy still had to tweak the balance a bit for the race engine build.  There are a lot of independent shops around that can do quality work -- and don't have to advertise or have a web presence to have more work than they have time for.   So the problem is finding the great ones from the good or even bad ones.   That's where knowing someone like Randy is invaluable.

Well, when I said the "only game in town", that's what I meant. APE is literally five miles from where I live.

The upper case that Hank has is the upper case of a upper and lower set. I bought it on ebay after  one of the member sent me the link. It was a real score actually:-) (Sorry I can't remember who sent me the link. I tried searching for it, but couldn't find it.)

Not that it matters, but I think that it was I, that sent you that link.

It will be nice to have you with the gang in Colorado!

Leon

Right you are Leon. And it does matter to me. Thank you. :-)

It's funny, before I sent the parts out, I was actually considering buying a used Yamaha R3...

[1tinindian]

Well, you get out to Colorado and we'll have one hell of a time.
"Is it rally time, yet?"

[moparman70]

[/quote]

Right you are Leon. And it does matter to me. Thank you. :-)

It's funny, before I sent the parts out, I was actually considering buying a used Yamaha R3...




[/quote]


A used R3 ---thats a good one 

[Firehawk068]

It's funny, before I sent the parts out, I was actually considering buying a used Yamaha R3...

I find your lack of power disturbing........................................

[Flynt]

It's funny, before I sent the parts out, I was actually considering buying a used Yamaha R3...

I find your lack of power disturbing........................................

of course it was going to have the 1346 in it before the WCR...  

Frank

[skymasteres]

Lol,  I wish. And yes, used R-3s do exist. But then again, there is certainly the lack of power. That and the lack of weight. :-p

I don't think you could fit a 1346 in an R-3...


Beast is totally not in any sort of shape to go "Rallying" so it's time for him to pony up and support the cause.



Of course beauty has the dreaded first and second gear issue, but I figure that I can work around that. 

Now he's down for the count....



Interestingly enough, there is less than a 1.5" difference in the effective length of the Thunder Ace swingarm vs the stock one.

[skymasteres]

Most know the end of this story before I finish it, but for the sake of completeness I figure I'll just continue. It was an insane couple of weeks getting ready for the rally, but the goal was clear. I wasn't going to have an engine, so the answer was to swap the suspension goodies over to Beauty. :-)


On a side note, I'm still blown away by how much STIFFER the Thunderace arm is over the original FJ swingwarm. (I know I used this picture before.) It's quite a bit taller in profile which gives it a significant stiffness improvement. You can also see the thrust bearing I put in when I did the original arm swap.



With the exhaust out of the way it's fairly obvious that the support bracket was bent.



The interesting thing here is to see how much rubbing was caused by the muffler support getting bent and rubbing the exhaust bracket against the swing arm. (This happed last year when I dropped the bike)



You can actually see how bent the support is in the foreground.



Taking a look under the hood as it were, where yes indeed, she does have the stock emissions equipment AND the air box.



And here is one of the sources of my oil leak. Interestingly enough, it's INCREDIBLE how easy it is to over torque these dang things and make them pretty much useless...



This project definitely has a lot of simultaneous parts moving all at once. With the valve adjustment, swingarm swap and exhaust upgrade, it's a lot of plates spinning all at once. Getting the stock exhaust off is fairly straightforward requiring just the removal of the header nuts, the 14mm bolt by the center stand, and the muffler hanger bolts.



Getting the swingarm out requires the removal of the side plates, the engine guard bolts, the footpegs and the shifter linkage.  And of course if you have a riveted chain, you need to break it if you don't want to remove your clutch slave and sprocket cover. Which is a real pain if you break your chain breaker press, don't have access to electricity to run anything, like "Oh a grinder!", and end up having to cut the chain with a little 14" bolt cutter...



With the chain broken the arm is free to drop out.



There are subtle differences between the 90 and 91 model years. One of these differences is the shock is offset slightly.



Got the thunder ace arm in place. But now I'm struggling with the dang suspension linkage. I have a drift punch locating the swingarm pivot, but I didn't get the relay arm in place first. Can't get it to line up with the shock mounted so it's going to have to come out again. On a side note, if you use the 89-90 relay arm and swap it with the 91+ unit, you don't have to mess with the shock offset. The shock stays centered in the swingarm and the bracing requires no further modification. (Which was a real godsend time wise!)



Of course I had to take the arm back out again. And since the pivot bushing fell out, I had to clean and relube the thing. It's as good a time as any to put some good Mobile 1 synthetic grease in it. ;-) (Heck, gotta make lemonade out of lemons) Besides, it makes having to do the same thing over and over again less painful...



Holy crap! What a major PITA. But at least all of the bits are connected. The good thing here is, that while the upper shock mount is offset, it was only a matter of using one of the shims from the 90 on the right hand side to make everything bolt up right.



Now it's time to deal with the chain. Funny thing there is, I used a zip tie to connect the new RK chain to the old one and pull it though. This worked well, but I ended up taking the sprocket cover off anyway because I was going to swap out the sprocket. Turns out that this wasn't necessary as the sprocket was in good shape. (Bully for me, one less thing to have to mess with)




More updates to come. (Well at least more catching up)

[ribbert]

[quote author=skymasteres link=topic=7691.msg158318#msg158318 date=1467001531

..... And of course if you have a riveted chain, you need to break it if you don't want to remove your clutch slave and sprocket cover. Which is a real pain if you break your chain breaker press, don't have access to electricity to run anything, like "Oh a grinder!", and end up having to cut the chain with a little 14" bolt cutter...

[/quote]

Mike, for the benefit of anyone who reads this and might be contemplating removing their swing arm, isn't this an arse about way of doing it? It only takes a few seconds to remove the front cover and the chain can be left intact. Cutting your chain and having to buy a new link, let alone the time involved, seems unnecessary on all fronts.

Noel

[jscgdunn]

Mike:
"There are subtle differences between the 90 and 91 model years. One of these differences is the shock is offset slightly."

Actually they are completely different frames. The 3XW frame is heavier and of course the engine mounting is different as well.

Jeff

[skymasteres]

[quote author=skymasteres link=topic=7691.msg158318#msg158318 date=1467001531

..... And of course if you have a riveted chain, you need to break it if you don't want to remove your clutch slave and sprocket cover. Which is a real pain if you break your chain breaker press, don't have access to electricity to run anything, like "Oh a grinder!", and end up having to cut the chain with a little 14" bolt cutter...

Mike, for the benefit of anyone who reads this and might be contemplating removing their swing arm, isn't this an arse about way of doing it? It only takes a few seconds to remove the front cover and the chain can be left intact. Cutting your chain and having to buy a new link, let alone the time involved, seems unnecessary on all fronts.

Noel
[/quote]

You're totally right Noel. It's a MAJOR PITA of a way to do it. But I was initially not wanting to mess with the sprocket cover. The other catch is, it would have required the removal of the rear wheel from the swingarm. Since I was doing a complete rear end swap this was a step that I could save. Between butting the chain, or removing the sprocket cover AND the rear wheel, I went with cutting the chain.

Mike:
"There are subtle differences between the 90 and 91 model years. One of these differences is the shock is offset slightly."

Actually they are completely different frames. The 3XW frame is heavier and of course the engine mounting is different as well.

Jeff

Jeff, good call. They are totally different frames. I was referring to how some of the not so obvious changes can get you. Funny thing is, if you want to update an earlier model to the later standard, swapping the subframes is not  bad thing. (Get a little extra stiffness by tying the peg mounts to the subframe)

[jscgdunn]

"Funny thing is, if you want to update an earlier model to the later standard, swapping the subframes is not  bad thing. (Get a little extra stiffness by tying the peg mounts to the subframe)"

Never thought of that....so you bolt the 3XW subframe exhaust hangers to the 3cv aluminum side plates?

Jeff

[skymasteres]

It's not quite a straight bolt through. But with an adapter plate and a spacer it could be done.