Thursday, August 20, 2009

Bike stripped down and engine removed




I got all the bits and pieces successfully removed and baggied up. Nothing left to do but pull the engine (well, and the wheels and swing arm). I have no idea how one normally removes an engine, but I doubt this is the propper way. I layed the bike on its side and removed all the bolts and voila!
Most of the pieces below will never end up back on the bike but having spares and or options is always a good thing. 

Once the engine was out I began the process of taking it apart. I opened up the top side panel and pulled out the overhead cam that opens the valves. Upon doing this I dropped the cam drive  chain into the crank case. Oops! 5 frustrating minutes of fishing around with an allan wrench and I finally got it back out. Once I got the cylinder head off I was able to see my first major folly...
A rookie mistake (for a rookie bike builder:) never use the blunt end of a drill bit to try to tap-out the stuck piston through the spark plug hole.
I was happy to see the piston was not mangled and none of the rings were off. I used a 1x1 piece of wood and a hammer to tap the piston free from it's rusty tomb. It finally broke loose and the cylinder was free to remove and inspect. There was a ring of rust where the piston rings were frozen, but I was able to clean it with wd-40 and a little elbow grease. The cylinder looks pretty clean so I am going to try to put a new piston in and hold off on boring it out.  Still waiting on that carburetor...

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