Well after working on it till 11.30 last night I've decided on a rebuild of the engine. I started to remove the seal on the gennie side of the crank in the usual fashion, with self tapping screws, easy enough:-

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/ ... C01605.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/ ... C01614.jpg

But when I yanked on the end of the crank there was noticeable play :-(

So I hoiked out the engine and split it to find this :-(

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/ ... C01625.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/ ... C01626.jpg

That'll teach me to take it swimming in muddy pools ,,, or not,,, prehaps,,

Anyway, the big end is bordeline so far. At first it felt quite promising but I can't really get a good feel for it yet as it's stuck fast in the left side casing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/ ... C01627.jpg

No amount of whacking it with a copper mallet made the slightest impression and I was getting worried about damage so decided to leave it at that for the night.

My usual method of determining whether a big end is good or not is to put the crank on the bench with the small end of the rod resting on the bench at a right angle to a line drawn between the shafts and the big end, then hold the small end tight to the bench and see if I can roll the flywheels back and forth, any movement at all is a right off and I feel that I can detect movement better that way as it totally eliminates the possibility of mistaking side to side rock with up and down movement.
It works for me but until I extract the crank I won't know if it's winging it'll way up to LS for a rebuild.
Gut feeling is that it will, but like I say it's bordeline at the moment.


Small end, piston and bore all look good so I'll gap the rings today and see about them, but might just play safe and get new ones as I'm this far down the road anyway, depends on what the total bill will be as I'm on a limited budget. I'll know later today.

I think you may have done this already ( ) but have a look at all the bearings and cogs whilst you've got it apart. Also look at clutch to see if the basket needs filing.

At least you will know the engine is sound when you have rebuilt it .

If, and it's probably not, some of that rust looks quite old, so you may not be solely to blame.
Some heat from an electric paint stripper, or blow lamp, if your brave will expand the casing enough to allow the other half to release.
+1 FOR KNMK1, theory, if you've had to give it a blaying, already, best bite on the bullet, especially, if you intend on keeping the bike, and replace the lot.
Steering clear of elephant wallows, and meticulous filter changing, will reward you with years of trouble free usage, or a good selling point.
Mike

Finally got the crank out of the R/H case. Rested it on a Black'n'Decker workbench with the flywheel poking though the gap between the jaws and used a sledge hammer with a big lump of copper placed on the end of the shaft/nut and with very gentle at first blows, increased to quite heavy thumps it started to move and finally fell into my waiting hand.
Using the method I descibed above I could just about make out a minute amount of play in the big end , so it's already on it's way to LT for a big end /rod kit.
Meanwhile they've posted me various bearings and gaskets and odds'n'sods.
I've just finished gunking and hosing down everything else and will now go and blow it all through with the airline then rinse in parafin.

Positive side is that the piston and bore are good. It's a PROX piston at 1.5 oversize.


""I think you may have done this already ( :oops: ) but have a look at all the bearings and cogs whilst you've got it apart. Also look at clutch to see if the basket needs filing.

At least you will know the engine is sound when you have rebuilt it ;) .""

Will do, cheers Knackered.
I already took that side apart a few weeks back when I first got the bike on advise from the forum to sort an "on/off switch" type clutch by filing the tines smooth. I think this was described in you engine rebuild thread.

""If, and it's probably not, some of that rust looks quite old, so you may not be solely to blame.
Some heat from an electric paint stripper, or blow lamp, if your brave :lol: will expand the casing enough to allow the other half to release.
+1 FOR KNMK1, theory, if you've had to give it a blaying, already, best bite on the bullet, especially, if you intend on keeping the bike, and replace the lot.
Mike""

Yeah I did wonder about all that crap on the flywheel, only on one side?
Was that down to my taking it swimming? Were the bearings already on the way out anyway? Did I simply exacerbate an already failing set of bearings?
If so, then I'm glad in a way that I did shag the seals by doing so as I have at least discovered that it all would have gone bang at some stage soon and would have likely had a much bigger bill than I already have.
As it is I seem to be getting away with around £270ish so far, so if it works out a good engine in the end I'll be quite happy as my first impressions of it's green lanning type capabilities were very favourable.

""Steering clear of elephant wallows, and meticulous filter changing, will reward you with years of trouble free usage, or a good selling point. :roll:
Mike""
I did notice on a photo somewhere that there should be a kind of partition kinda thingy accross the airbox, but mine's missing. Don't know if that would have been effective enough to keep out all that crud.
Also wondered if anyone has successfully fitted a snorkel to the airbox to raise the intake.
Don't larf (too much) I did it to my GS and although downright ugly it's proved very effective.
It's the hoover hose coming up from under the tank to the underside of the beak, the "Dyson Mod" :-)

[IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/ ... C07574.jpg[/IMG]

This wasn't a particularly deep hole, but the next one was.

[IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/ ... lanes1.jpg[/IMG]

Most people discard the baffle plate , and it's water repelling properties are probably of limited use in deep water anyway.
The snorkel idea would prove problematical, installing, and with the jetting, the hose dia, may be to small to allow adequacy breathing.
Good luck. Regards
Seals for the crank, you can get a Viton [ the brown rubber, higher quality] , with a double lip seal.
Some people rate them, others less so
I have them in the AR.
Mike