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

[jscgdunn]

Thanks for putting so much into this writeup.  I for one sure learned alot!

Now can't wait hear how it runs above 7500 rpm!

Jeff

[skymasteres]

Gasket material choice should have been the obvious next diagnosis, I guess. And yeah, you're obviously a pro, so I was just as surprised as you were about the oil leaks--my comment about bolt tension was mostly tongue in cheek, but I have to admit, I wondered if you had been a little timid after your bolting-up misadventures! I know I would be.  

No worries. I realize that there is a lot of room for me to make mistakes here. Or maybe more like I'm in good
company when I do. I'm definitely not a pro at this, but I'm getting better. The more I learn about this stuff
the easier trouble shooting gets. Now I actually have a pretty good understanding of all of the things that
make noise in this engine and it helps with the uncertainty of what's "normal".

Thanks for putting so much into this writeup.  I for one sure learned alot!
Now can't wait hear how it runs above 7500 rpm!

Jeff

I'm glad you learned something. I know I sure did. As for 7500 rpm, there's really no characteristic change until
you actually get to full throttle. From 4000-7500 there is this sort of wine that sounds like a turbo charger.
Once you get onto full steam with the throttle wide open the wine transitions to this amazing howl that sounds
like an F-16 engine starting up. Kind of a deep "bowooo" sound but with the wind thrashing around you and your
heart starting to race as the speedo starts pointing down again...

I think that is my favorite feature of this bike now. The ability to move through the wind with impunity. Out here
we get regular winds anywhere between 20 and 50 miles per hour. I have a headwind most days on the ride home.
With the old V-45, I had to chill out in the right lane because I'd be slowing everyone down bucking the wind.
Not anymore.

There are definitely things that are still a surprise though. Last night I was on my way home in fourth gear at
about 5000 rpm. I was distracted and thoughtlessly cracked the throttle a lot more briskly than I normally do.
The motorcycle reacted instantaneously and it was the sensation of it trying to jump out from under me that
really got my attention. I really need to stay on top of this thing.

On the modding front I have finally installed an oil temperature gauge. I know most of you use the fairing panel
to the right of the fuel tank to mount your gauge. But since I really want to eventually put a digital gauge in I
decided to make up my own mounting plate and attach it to the triple clamp. Here is what I came up with.




It's just some sheet steel from an old dryer that I trimmed to fit and painted. I'm still looking at other ideas,
but this fits really well and it's simple. Two things I think I'd change. One, slip the gauge down slightly closer
to the triple clamp, and make it out of slightly thicker steel. Maybe even 1/8" aluminum. The great thing about
it is the needle is rock solid mounted here and it doesn't vibrate and bounce all over the place like it did when
I had it temporarily mounted on the right panel.






The other nice thing is it doesn't disappear behind my tank bag like it would have mounted on the right hand
panel. It clears the instrument cluster lock to lock and doesn't obstruct my view of anything. I figure I can
put a power jack on the unused side.

Here's a question. I have been riding without the side panels on just yet. When the bike is all warmed up I get
some intensely hot air coming out right under my thighs and but. It's actually hot enough I'm close to getting
burned. Is this normal? The cylinder head temps are staying under 380F and the oil never gets over 210F.  
Any ideas?

[jscgdunn]

Well said on how she runs....

[fj11.5]

Great work on the gauge mount mate,could see a few like that from now on  ,, on your heat question, I've not ridden  mine without the panels fitted, but used to ride an 88 fzr1000,  that bike used to pump out serious heat,  was great in winter, but felt like a furnace in summer,

[skymasteres]

Now, since I have the crank out anyway, let's find out how much it weighs. According to my
digital bathroom scale, with a precision of 0.2#'s, the weight of my lightened crank is 23.2#'s. This number would mean
more if I knew what the thing weighed in the first place, but it'll have to do for now...

The range of the cranks is 27.2 to 30.0 of all of them I have weighed over the years.

I just pulled a crank that I am replacing from an engine today and it weighs 27.3lbs

Randy - RPM

Well now I have a weight comparison. If a stock crank is 27.3 pounds, then I lost 3.9 pounds off the crank. That seems like a lot. 

[FJmonkey]

That is a lot, the spin up will be quicker...

[fj1289]

That is a lot, the spin up will be quicker...

And according to Frank spin DOWN is quick enough to mash your nuts into the back of the tank too!

[FJmonkey]

That is a lot, the spin up will be quicker...

And according to Frank spin DOWN is quick enough to mash your nuts into the back of the tank too!

Yep, I remember that part now, throttle is the brake when you lighten the crank.... 

[racerman_27410]

That is a lot, the spin up will be quicker...

And according to Frank spin DOWN is quick enough to mash your nuts into the back of the tank too!

Yep, I remember that part now, throttle is the brake when you lighten the crank.... 

1349cc plus flatslide carbs and a lightened crank definitely demands 100 percent focus and recalibration of the right wrist.

KOokaloo!

[fintip]

Put it on a dyno! Please!

[Flying Scotsman]

I 2nd that.
It would be cool to have a Dyno sheet thread to see whats out there lurking.
JUST SAYIN.

[skymasteres]

1349cc plus flatslide carbs and a lightened crank definitely demands 100 percent focus and recalibration of the right wrist.

KOokaloo!

You're definitely right about the need to pay attention. This machine is a little bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character.
She's all sweet and steady with lots of torque available at 3000rpm, but get her in the 8000+ range and hang on.

Put it on a dyno! Please!

I 2nd that.
It would be cool to have a Dyno sheet thread to see whats out there lurking.
JUST SAYIN.

Duly noted on the dyno run guys. I would like to see that myself, but I still have a lot of bugs to work out with this
thing. I mean, I still have the issue of the uneven cylinder head temps. I think Pat is right and maybe that carb is
running leaner than the rest. I still haven't verified it though. The only other possibility that comes to mind is that
the ceramic barrier failed on piston number one and it's not dumping the heat out the pipe like it's supposed to.
(But I hope that's not it)

On the bright side she's all dressed up now.





I can definitely say that it makes a big difference having the side covers on with respect to how much heat I feel
on the bottom of my thighs. That being said the seat still gets quite warm. (I'm considering putting some aluminum
duct repair tape on the bottom of the seat pan to see if I can reflect some of the heat away.)

Now for the 750 mile oil change. So far I've changed the oil at 90, 200, and now 750 miles.  It was really disconcerting
to pull the chin faring off and find one of my oil pan bolts sitting on the heat shielding. (I guess I shouldn't have used
anti-seize on the bolts) Anyway, I got under it and verified that there was only one missing.




I put some thread locker on it, put it back in, and re-torqued it. Then I went and verified that all of the other bolts
were still tight. I don't know why this one fell out, but I am impressed that it stayed there on the chin fairing.
I wouldn't have thought to check for missing oil pan bolts had it not been sitting there. Fortunately it doesn't appear
that the seal for the oil pan is compromised and the is no evidence that it caused a leak.

I am surprised that after 750 miles of moderate to heavy engine loading that I am still getting as much metal on the
drain plug magnet as I am. I don't know how long this is going to go on, but it feels like a lot of metal is being
collected by this thing.





And here is it cleaned off for comparison. I guess it's good that the filter magnet had hardly any metal on it this time around.



I figure once this starts coming out cleaner I'll switch it over to synthetic oil.

I actually only got 2.5 quarts out of the bike this time. Last oil change I pulled almost 4 quarts out of her. I guess
that would explain why it was so easy to get the oil light to come on with moderate acceleration. (I kept backing
off because it seemed like it was coming on too easily.)

Anyway, I'm fairly certain I'm using oil. I checked the level before I did my last ride prior to the oil change and it
was right between the two witness lines flanking the glass viewport. When I changed it it was nearer to the bottom
mark. This morning on startup there was a pretty good puff of smoke from both exhaust pipes when she fired up.
I'll keep my eye on it, but I'm concerned about my valve stem seals. I know I'm leaking a little at the crankshaft
blind plug, but I'm fairly certain it's not 1.5qt worth per 500 miles...

[rktmanfj]

I can definitely say that it makes a big difference having the side covers on with respect to how much heat I feel
on the bottom of my thighs. That being said the seat still gets quite warm. (I'm considering putting some aluminum
duct repair tape on the bottom of the seat pan to see if I can reflect some of the heat away.)

A piece of this cut to fit would work nicely: 

http://www.reflectixinc.com/basepage.asp?Page=Double+Reflective+Insulation&pageIndex=622

[JMR]

1.5 qts in 500 is a lot. I find it odd the right seal is leaking...there is good crush on that.

[skymasteres]

A piece of this cut to fit would work nicely: 

http://www.reflectixinc.com/basepage.asp?Page=Double+Reflective+Insulation&pageIndex=622

You know what, that stuff looks perfect for this application. In fact I think I am going to use it on the
inside of the side covers as well. I also need to look at the ducting effect the side covers have and do
some pondering with respect to the airflow under the tail section. It seems to me that there are some
things I can do to create a more effective path and maybe even create a negative pressure area that
will pull more air through... (Oh boy, I'm doing it again...)

1.5 qts in 500 is a lot. I find it odd the right seal is leaking...there is good crush on that.

Yeah, that's what I thought. The other problem is going to be replacing it. I ordered a new plug from
Randy, but I'm still mulling over what the best way to go about installing it is. I think I may have set
the one I installed the first time too deep in the hole and perhaps slightly crooked.

The other thing is I am leaning away from having issues with my valve stem seals. When I started it up
yesterday there was no smoke on the initial startup. I left it run to warm up, but it died after about three
minutes. (Just like it did the day prior) When I started it up again, THEN I go the puff of smoke on startup.
It would have done the same thing this morning had I not used the choke. (Although it definitely smokes
a little with the choke on, but I think this is due to the really rich mixture)

Another thing that was initially a cause for concern was taking the bike down to Sylmar. I was riding two
up and the oil temps were consistently around 220F. (This is higher than the 180-210F I have been seeing)
I was alarmed because the outside air temperature was only 85F and I was doing a lot more downhill than
up with lighter than normal engine loadings. I knew the gauge was probably reading correctly when I pulled
out my IR temp gun and shot the cylinder heads to see where they were sitting, (Right around 380F). This
was also corroborated by the heat I was feeling under the seat. (I'll tell you though, one thing that'll REALLY
make you paranoid is going down a hill when your bike is running warmer than normal, and being surrounded
by people riding their brakes. You keep smelling all kinds of heat sources and thinking it's the bike)





I am definitely leaking more oil than I am burning, if any. I'll know on the latter if and when I get the external
leaks under control. (Like the little dutch boy) I think that my right hand galley plug is cracked because I am
getting more of a leak on there. I also think that when I tried to use a socket to square up the crankshaft
drain plug that I made the leak there worse. Since I didn't use a new washer on the oil plug this last time
around I think I am leaking oil there as well. The leak is bad enough that I am about a quart low after only
311.4 miles. There is enough oil getting on the exhaust that I can sometimes see a little smoke drift past me
when I stop at lights. 

Here is a look at another suspect plug. (I never removed this one to replace the o-ring, if there is one, so it may be cooked)



And then there is all the associated evidence of the oil splattering back over everything.





And once again, every noise has a source. I was wondering why I was hearing this strange rattle and feeling
an odd vibration when going over bumps. This is what I found. (I think the high mileage of the motorcycle
overall is starting to show here)





Slightly disconcerting is a phantom high pitched rattle or squeal that comes and goes. I'm not entirely
sure it isn't the sound of the goPro camera pad I just mounted to my helmet. It almost sounds like the
slides rattling, but there's a sort of spawling sound to it as well. It seems to happen around somewhere
around 6500rpm in fifth. At first I thought I was the sound of a dry bearing so I pulled over to check the
oil level. It was fine, and the oil cooler was at 190F so I know the oil pump hadn't failed. (I figure a LOT
of other indications would be present if it had) So I'm kind of at a loss right now. I'll try a different
helmet to rule out the mount.   I guess it's like having a first child. You don't quite know what to expect
and it's always surprising you. (That and you're super paranoid about misreading a symptom and doing
something wrong...)

Anyway, any feedback on the blind plug seal instillation would be appreciated.