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

[JMR]

 Your compressor is a single stage? You really need a 2 stage or screw compressor for larger blasting.

[skymasteres]

Your compressor is a single stage? You really need a 2 stage or screw compressor for larger blasting.

Oh no, it's a two stage all right. That's why it's got a high pressure and a low pressure piston. The 5hp 60gal single stage compressor was the one it replaced. Even still, with the nozzel setup I've got I need more air than it is currently providing.

[skymasteres]

I suppose while I'm figuring out the whole getting more air running in the cabinet thing. Well that and the fact that my dremel is still toast. How about some more details on some of the coating stuff. Since the piston tops are (or at least will be) coated with the thermal barrier I need to do the combustion chambers and valve faces as well. Otherwise the extra heat that normally would be absorbed by the pistons will have to be dissipated by the head. Not that is necessarily too much for it to handle, but a balanced system would be ideal.

Here is getting the head all masked so I am only blasting the part I want to.



All blasted and ready to have the coating applied.




And applying the coating.



And while I'm at it here are the pistons that I failed horribly trying to get the thermal barrier off...

[DoD#663]

I'm learning a ton here. I've always thought that inside the engine was "best" to be bright and clean metal. The coatings are fascinating.

As someone who had a chunk of exhaust valve split off (Honda V45 at 100K miles) I'm very interested in how the coatings are going to help the engine parts to last longer. The piston engine has had a century of continuous development, and they certainly are getting better.

Living in an apartment without a garage, I have no place to do more than change the oil myself. I'm living the dream vicariously, keep up with the pictures even if you think it's trivial.

And, thank you.

[Dan Filetti]

And while I'm at it here are the pistons that I failed horribly trying to get the thermal barrier off...

What are you going to do with the pistons?  Use them as is? Re-coat? Gasp, buy new ones?

Curious.

Dan

[skymasteres]

I'm learning a ton here. I've always thought that inside the engine was "best" to be bright and clean metal. The coatings are fascinating.

As someone who had a chunk of exhaust valve split off (Honda V45 at 100K miles) I'm very interested in how the coatings are going to help the engine parts to last longer. The piston engine has had a century of continuous development, and they certainly are getting better.

Living in an apartment without a garage, I have no place to do more than change the oil myself. I'm living the dream vicariously, keep up with the pictures even if you think it's trivial.

And, thank you.

You are quite welcome. Seeing as this has turned into a project of exploration and discovery into the possibilities of what can be done while rebuilding an engine, I like finding out things I don't know. (Such as the comment about working the pistons a little bit to help stave off detonation. (Makes sense but didn't dawn on me) There are a lot of things like that, where in spite of your education or the vast amount of information that you have on the subject you still miss something simple. (Especially considering some of the hand work I've been doing on this thing, a little piston smoothing is nothing.)

Dan, nooooo no no no no. I have way too much invested in these brand new unused pistons to even think about tossing them and starting over again. In spite of the hours I've spent scraping the damn things with razor blades...  No, I WILL get these things cleaned up and re-coated.
I've kind of hit a speed bump in this project. I still have some stripping to do on the upper case, but I have repairs that I need to do on the compressor and sandblaster. Kinda stuck till the parts come in. I think I might branch off and see about making a luggage bracket for these saddle bags that I've got.
I did manage to get the tail section and the other handlebar on though. Made me feel like I was making real progress. Of course now the thing has been apart SOOOO long, I'm having difficulty remembering where everything goes. (Took a few tries to get the swingarm put on right.) Case in point, I think I lost the two lower bolts that hold the rear subframe on.



It only makes me feel like, while I am making progress, I'm really not getting anywhere. (Sucker has been sitting like that for a month) But it is nice to be able to sit on it and "pretend" to ride it. (Make revving noises and the like...)

[skymasteres]

Just to give you an idea of where the sandblaster is right now. Here are some pictures of the nozzle parts disassembled. The air nozzle actually looks great, it's the the carbide one that is showing wear. (Looks like the PO had turned it several times to keep the wear even.)  I think I'm going to see how the rebuilt compressor works and see if I really need to get the next smaller nozzle set.





And progress is slow as molasses on the pistons. Here is a close up of what is coming off....

[fj11.5]

Starting to look like an Fj  ,, like your seat mate, is it a modded standard , or corbin

[skymasteres]

Starting to look like an Fj  ,, like your seat mate, is it a modded standard , or corbin

It's an older Corbin Gunfighter. Bought it from a fellow named Troy down in Irvine CA. He had just been in a fairly serious accident on his FJ. I think here is a member on this board.

[SlowOldGuy]

Damn, man.  If the coating is being that stubborn then just LEAVE IT ON!.  :-)

DavidR.

[skymasteres]

Damn, man.  If the coating is being that stubborn then just LEAVE IT ON!.  :-)

DavidR.

David, I know I know. I will be removingin as much as I can this way then re-blasting and re-coating. (I want to make sure all of the pistons are even)

[DoD#663]

David, I know I know. I will be removingin as much as I can this way then re-blasting and re-coating. (I want to make sure all of the pistons are even)

The blasting should at least take care of any sharp angles that would have contributed to preignition.

These coatings are new to me, at what temp do they cure in the oven? I ask because of tempering, although I guess that any heat tempering would be lost in an engine anyway.

[skymasteres]

David, I know I know. I will be removingin as much as I can this way then re-blasting and re-coating. (I want to make sure all of the pistons are even)

The blasting should at least take care of any sharp angles that would have contributed to preignition.

These coatings are new to me, at what temp do they cure in the oven? I ask because of tempering, although I guess that any heat tempering would be lost in an engine anyway.

Cure temp is 350f well under what would do any damage.

[skymasteres]

One again, on to the breach....
Things have been really hectic lately with work and I have not had the time I would like to devote to pushing things along. That being said how about some more behind the scenes action with this project?
I already mentioned that I've got the 3.5" wheel up front and I am keeping the stock four piston brakes, for now. I wanted to go after some of the performance potential the chassis has since I am already in so deep with the engine.
At this point, 3.5" wide front wheel... Check.  Racetech Cartridge Valve Emulators in freshly rebuilt forks... Check. Fresh steering stem and wheel bearings... Check.  16x3.5" rear wheel... Uhhh, no? This will not due. Off to the forums! After a minimum of digging I discovered a literal wealth of information on what the procedure for this is and what models to look for with respect to donor parts.  Of course I didn't have to search long because wouldn't you know, John who I got the carbs, forks and cams from, also had a rear wheel off of a 1993 GSXR 750. A 17x5.5" wheel seemed like just the ticket. So the thing shows up and... well I just can't say what color it is...






The good news is it showed up bare with no shoe on so I could move right into sandblasting the thing.  As you would expect, it was way too big to fit in my little sandblasting cabinet. I'm telling you, sandblasting out in the open is a really messy endeavor. Especially when you are using one of those mini cabinet guns and you are moving air at 100psi in a pencil thing stream. It just throws sand everywhere. That and you have to wear a respirator and completely cover up or you feel like you've been buried in the sand all day.  Of course it's nice to have people who don't know any better and are really excited at the prospect of getting to "Sandblast"

She got over it pretty quickly, but to her credit though she did finish the wheel. I decided that I wanted to use regular paint since I was trying to color match the front rim. I wanted to be able to remove the paint with a stripper later if I decided it wasn't a close enough match. 


With the rim taken care of I could start messing around with how I wanted to get the reaction arm for the brake set up. Since I had the stock reaction arm for the GSXR caliper and it was aluminum I decided to use it.  I like the idea that when you get all of the little things "right" they add up to make a bid difference. Since the GSXR rear brake caliper was underslung I kept it that way, like the idea of every little bit to lower the CG, and needed to weld a lug onto the swingarm for it to bolt to. But alas, with all of my tools I cannot weld aluminum. Off to Off Vintage motorcycle to have their pro welder put one on.
Here is the wheel mocked up without the tire on.

Mocking it up at the shop trying to get the height of the lug right.


Got the height right

Here's a close up

The fun part. (Welding)


And that's all there was too it. Now it's back to battling the frosted glass on the cabinet and mulling over when I should rebuild the air compressor...

[1tinindian]

  So the thing shows up and... well I just can't say what color it is...

 

That would be periwinkle.

What say, Monkey Ranger?

Leon