Project Frankenbike

[Apoc]

I'm pretty sure the vertical swingarm mount is illegal, if you're trying to go the legal route.

[Kaan]

well technically there is a lot on that bike that isnt legal.... but

if you can extend the plate and light forward from the frame and where it is, it will help the brake light be seen and can give you some clearance. think of it as putting a little of the subframe back.

[SlimKlim]

Installed the new rear brake reservoir and line. Just gotta bleed the brakes, throw some new plugs in, tag it, reassemble and riiiiide 8-)

I'm collecting hardware and finding stuff to go through and rattle can. I'm making a list of small parts I'll need to order and stuff like that. In a few weeks I'm going to strip and repaint the tank, polish up the front fender, remove, sand and repaint the entire exhaust. and more or less clean the shit out of it as I go. I'm also making mental notes of things I'll eventually publish a huge WTB thread for, namely the stock gauge assembly and wiring, and a headlight bucket in good repair.

The vision I have of this thing in my head is an achingly cool looking mixture of street fighter and cafe-racer. With an itty bitty wittle engine.


All coming together....

[SlimKlim]

First Ride!!!

Sort of thrilling and disheartening at the same time. It rode amazing, smooth brakes are working and smooth. However, it was spewing 1/4 burnt fuel out over 4k, sooooo I'm thinking maybe a wittle bit smaller jet in them thur carbs. I'll put the 140s back in and see how that rides tomorrow.

The horn doesn't work, the kickstand switch doesn't work, the rear brake light switch is on the fritz and only flashes the light at you. I need to modify the vertical (and legal! I checked) plate mount to get out of the way of the chain guard. I also need to put some front turn signals on and/or install a blinker light so I don't cruise with them on.

However, all of that is not that big of a deal, the really scary thing was a rattle in the head area under partial throttle and decelerating over 3-3500rpms, a sort of clatter or ticking sound. The PO told me it had a bit of cam rattle in it and demonstrated it for me by revving it sitting still, saying it was no biggie, just a small sort of noise/normalish issue these bikes had. When you're actually riding its pretty fuckin noticeable, should I be scared?

[SlimKlim]

You can catch up on my progress with this bike by reading this thread here. http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=52920.0

To recap, I thought it was running rich, it wasn't it was burning oil, a lot of oil. Like its hard to express exactly how much oil, think about that '81 Caprice you see rollin around town with a plume of blue smoke behind it, thats kinda what we're talking about here.

So enough brooding about the problem, lets talk about fixing it. I'm in it purely for the fight now. I'm going to fix this bike, this motor, and I'm going to do it in a decent amount of time so I can throw a leg over it the way god intended.

Ran a compression test tonight, each cylinder is pushing about 75psi, which is low. This could be attributed to the fact that the exhaust valves aren't sealing (discussed in a sec) or it could very well be the piston rings, since a board member cut me a great deal on a set of rings, I went ahead and bought them and if I don't need them I'll just pass them along to the next guy.

Then i took the exhaust off and the carbs off and got in and inspected the valves, intakes look okay, maybe a little moist. Right and left cylinder as follows:





Now for the exhaust, also right and left:

Interesting color on the right one here, hmm


Wait for it...


Wait for it...




OH SNAP! Yeah, that valve seal there has some issues, like, some pretty freakin serious issues.

This just came to mind: "Yo dawg, we heard u liked oil and exhaust so we put some oil in your exhaust so you can oil while you exhaust"



Okay, brand new plugs in about 80 mi ago (all I've ridden), this time left cylinder on the left, right on the right. Right one looks okay, nice toasty brown color, the left one is pretty soggy, a little hard to tell in the picture.



I have a second head that Homer gave me with the bike, which looks like its going to be a god send and a half. I'm going to take it to the car shop I work for during the summers and have a couple of experts visually inspect that second head for the condition of the valve seals and guides.

Assuming they are in good condition, which I think they probably will be, what else will I need for this project? I would imagine a head gasket, and the gasket between the jug and the bottom end (I guess also a head gasket) I have a new valve cover gasket, as well as two valve covers and two sets of cams to choose from, the ones on the bike and the ones from Homer's top end.

Also, a few general questions. What is a valve seal? Is it a metal gasket that goes where the valve seats into the head? How about the guides? What are they, and what do they actually do? This is going to be the first time I've ever attempted anything this involved with a motor, knowledge is born from necessity I suppose. Any and every bit of help with be read thoroughly and greatly appreciated! We're gonna get this done!

[D_Eclipse9916]

Kind of hard to explain in just plain words, too bad you werent there for my demonstration when I brought in a head.

The head has holes in it where the valve body pushes through, and where it goes through the head (inbetween the spring, thru the head, and to the exhaust/intake ports) is lined with a valve guide. This can be made out of a few different materials, and they rarely go bad unless something else is terribly wrong/you bent a valve or something. Id say 98% of head builds dont even bother to replace those valve guides. HOWEVER, you do want to replace valve seals anytime you "build" a head. They simply, like every other seal/gasket, age. so go ahead and do those, they prevent oil from seeping into the passages, as you can see in your pictures above.

PS- have a machine shop check that extra head before you throw it in. Just have em disassemble, tank it, check it for cracks and straightness, and make sure the valves are seating properly. (of course they will check to make sure the valve guides are straight. Blue Ridge Machine Shop charges $75 a head for all of that which is cheap. Dont not do this and be like well ill just pull it off if its bad, then youve wasted your headgasket, time, and multiple one use items. Do it right first, itll save money in the long run.

[.RJ]

Valve seal is basically a reinforced o-ring that sits on top of the valve guide. Sometimes they need special tools for removal/installation, but I'm assuming its not likely in this case. You probably can change them yourself on the bike assuming you can get the cam cover off with the engine in the frame.

[SlimKlim]

Thanks for the advice guys. Had my boss and my mechanic buddy take turns visually inspecting and playing with the head, both of them said it appears to be in good condition. I took it home and dusted the inside of the intake and exhaust ports with carb cleaner and let it sitting there for a while, I went back and looked at the bottom, and both of the intake valves were completely dry on the bottom, and both of the exhaust valves were ever so slightly moist, I'd say 1/32nd of an inch of moistness around the the valve. I don't know if that's normal tolerance or if they should have both been sealed up completely impenetrable.

I'll ask my boss, who has probably built 1000 motors in his time and has been very sympathetic to my cause, what he thinks about it. Ordering valve seals is NBD at this point, I just went and dropped $80 on gaskets and o-rings at my favorite little bike shop here in town, and they'll be on the next boat from Japan (no aftermarket options).

Today replaced the front brake reservoir hose with one that's meant for the job, and re-bled the front at the master cylinder and my brakes are officially 100% done. Nice to cross one entire section of the project off the list. I have a multitude of parts coming at me from all directions off eBay, electronic stuff to make it pass inspection, all of that will go on little by little as they come in this week. Hopefully, devoting a little time each night and barring no major obstacles, all of that stuff will be done by the weekend.

Since the bike is going to be down for a while, I can also start restoring the tank, fender and exhaust, not sure when I'm going to jump into that project. I may drain it and disassemble tomorrow night, bring it in and let it rock in the parts washer for a few hours Thursday, then strip it down to metal, remove the dent, and have my dad help me prime/paint it late this weekend, early next week.

The exhaust is going to get a crude sanding and then painted with 1200* grill paint, matte black. 8)

Early-mid next week, motor teardown starts. Then mid-late next week she goes back together. 2 weeks is probably a lofty goal. So I'm going to say maybe 3 weeks down total. and I'll be cruising around town on one sexy little 500.

[SlimKlim]

....We're on the upswing baby! I have officially hit the most rock-bottom diassembled part of the project and am now (ever so slightly) headed back the other direction. I've been working on the electronics and the other stuff all this past week, and today I tore down the motor and re-ringed the pistons. The tank and fender are primered and one color is on,they'll be finished this week sometime. :cheers:

I added a brake light for a little more visibility, and then made a vertical mount for the plate with some lighted tag bolts so I'm legal(ish). I need to pick up a rubber bushing to make it level.



I replaced the front brake reservoir hose with one from a GSX-R thats made to hold brake fluid.





I also put a stock rear brake reservoir back on, just because it makes me feel better, and upgraded the rear to a steel line. I added front turn signals. They may be small but man do they light up.



I set myself up a place to work and got the bike on jacks, so I could get into the nitty gritty.





Took off the valve cover, made my timing marks, took out the cams, undid the head bolts and had it and the jug out in fairly short order, probably took me 90 minutes, largely thanks to the Clymer.



....aaaaand re-ringed. It... so.... beautiful. Its a rite of passage to know what the inside of the vehicle you own looks like. 8)



Stay tuned for juicy pictures of a paint job and a reassembled motor!

[Jake]

Lookin' good. Can't wait to see it all back togezzar and in action :thumbup:

[TorinoCobra070]

looks like fun. are you gonna paint it to match the bimmmmmmer?

[SlimKlim]

looks like fun. are you gonna paint it to match the bimmmmmmer?

No, but it is getting painted "AlpinWeiss II" from a bimmer. 8)

[V1GiLaNtE]

^^ Make sure you get another Polo to match that one when you ride the bike... :mrgreen:

[SlimKlim]

I have 2 white ones already, kthxbai.

Having a shirt the same color as your SUZUKI doesn't really equate to the douchebaggery of one that matches your BMW.

I think with this vehicle I get to escape most stereotypes. Douchebag? No it was cheap and its not european. Redneck? Nope, has 6 cylinders too few and its not American. Ricer/Tuner? It's a bike, they're all Japanese unless you're a douchebag or something. 8-)

[SlimKlim]

WOOOO-HOOO!!

It runs baby.

The parts came in Wednesday afternoon so I spent that night and Thursday putting the motor back together.

Slid the cylinders onto the pistons I had re-ringed Sunday afternoon.



I forgot to pick up the camera for a while, but I wrestled the replacement head into the frame and down onto the cylinders and torqued it down. I set the timing and tightened the cams up and put the tensioner back in. I checked the clearances and they were a little tight, but I was too anxious to worry about it, so I continued to reassemble and made a mental note to reshim in the near future. I replaced the valve cover gasket and put the cover on and lo and behold, I had an engine! A whole one!

http://jklimchuk.smugmug.com/Motorcycles...Rmx4-L.jpg

I got all worked up once I saw this and set about reassembling. I rejetted the carbs back to what they should be (147.5)



Then I put them on and hooked them up, stuck the air filter on and got a little more excited.



Then I popped the exhaust on and cranked it down (stupid move, keep reading)

All this past week my dad had been doing the body work for me, which was awesomely nice of him, and he finished clearing it Thursday night. I gave it until Friday after work and finished reassembling it. I turned the motor by hand a few times to get the oil moving before I started it up and then put the plugs in, started on the second try and I let it burn the rest of the oil out of the exhaust.

This is the problem-smoothing-out stage. The exhaust had an awful leak around the gasket and dad and I tried to shimmy it around and get it to seat better. We got it to leak a little less and I took it out and finished burning the oil out of it and got to soak in the sweet sweet sound of a clean burning motor.

I figured out that I hadn't been careful enough lining up the exhaust and had crimped down on the gaskets pretty bad, so getting a seat wasn't going to fly. I called the dealer this morning, and they don't stock them. ....Of all the freakin things to stock.... but whatever, I digress. I took one of the old sets of gaskets and very carefully lined it up and got a decent seat, i can't feel any leak but i can hear a little bit of hissing, so I'm going to order a new set for it.

Also, this morning there was a puddle of oil under it, which freaked the snot out of me until I realized I just hadn't tighten the tensioner enough, 10 minutes of work and no leak to speak of.

I put about 80 mi on it today and it rode like a dream.







I'm ordering parts to make my own instrument cluster, just a neutral/oil/turn/high light panel, I might add resistors to the turns so they flash slower, and I'm going to get another headlight that isn't dented, re shim the valves, and a handful of other things. I might also replace the exhaust with a new, not yet rusted system and have it powdercoated or something to prevent rust, then wrap it. 1.) Exhaust wrap looks freakin awesome, 2.) it will keep from blistering my brake lines and fender. But I have to decide if thats the best option, its gonna be kinda pricey.

Today is a pretty monumental day, today my project out in the garage on jackstands turned into my running/riding/fit for daily use project, that I can continue to work on at a less frantic rate. Today was awesome. 8)

[Jake]

Dood congrats!! Looks really good, and hopefully the rest of the project-y stuff will be smaller, easier, etc now that it's back together and ride-able. Mega bawlin :thumbup:

[.RJ]

Awesome, that was fast! Bike looks great

[CaptainHenreh]

Looks fantastic!

I think I have some black exhaust wrap here at the house, I ain't gonna use it. It's yours if you want it.

[SlimKlim]

Looks fantastic!

I think I have some black exhaust wrap here at the house, I ain't gonna use it. It's yours if you want it.

Thanks, but I'm afraid of accelerating the rust. I might have an exhaust shop make me a couple of heat sheilds for the vertical part of the pipe, that seems like the simpliest solution right now anyway.

The bike feels too rich, but i really have nothing to compare it too, not sure if I should start fiddling with it or not.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Please do the header wrap tape.. That stuff is teh sex!!