got a new bike

I'd have to go down in shim size to achieve that, correct? Just took a break and don't have manual in front of me to figure out myself.
By how much would you say? The ones in spec at .12 have a 195 shim. Go to 190?

 

Ok, looked up what new sizes I need. I should be good on that front.
However, I am confused about ordering them.
Mine are like small buckets, but pictures on websites are just flat discs.

 

Yamaha specced their shims to have that area machined away for more lightness. As a practical matter that isn't necessary.

 

I found the correct ones and just ordered. Expensive... I was looking at the wrong model year.
Gonna take a while now to receive them.
The only thing I'm concerned about is putting the cam shafts back in and get the timing right.
I did mark the chain and where it should sit on the sprocket. I hope it's not a big pain.
But I can imagine why people like to skip this part. It's a lot of work and many parts have to come off the bike.

 

On the plus side, it's very likely that the next check you do will only be a check. The shim-under-bucket arrangment seems to not only increase the time between checks, but also increase the time needed between adjustments as the valvetrain wears.

 

Yes. I don't even know the mileage on this engine, so it's good to know that at least the valve clearances are in order.

 

That's how she sits at the moment

 

Hm, second image won't show...

Here the link, I'll try again later

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd385/saftie99/1988 Yamaha FZR750/20160709_192136_zpsturqq8yh.jpg



Never mind. Shows up above now.

 

Hmm, I never noticed the frame before and what appears to be a weld? Have to check later.

 

Must be nice, being able to tell the intake cam from the exhaust cam without even having to cross the room.

 

Oh, because of the 3 vs 2. Yes

 

Still waiting for shims so not much done in a while. I did clean up the bike a bit though.

Question: once i get there, is it OK to run the bike for a min or so without radiator attached? Anything inwould have to block off? Access to spark plugs is a nightmare with it installed and I probably want to color tune it while I have access..

 

Shims are on their way. Just received tracking number. Nice.

 

I'd take longer peices of rad hose and set the rad up away from the engine if you need the room (use a box fan once the engine is up to temp). You want the engine at operating temp to colortune, and you can't do that without the radiator or you will end up burning valves or blowing a head gasket.

 

Thank you. I will double check the setup, but I am 99% sure it is nearly impossible to get to spark plugs easily, not to mention do a color tune. My big hands don't help either (neither does my back nor my eyes that are getting older). I'll just order longer hoses. The ones on there don't need replacing, but can't hurt to have spares.

 

Do I need to place the radiator above engine or could it sit on the floor (below engine)?
I'd assume it can sit lower because a pump is circulating the coolant anyway?
How about amount of fluid? I'd have to make up for the additional volume (longer hoses) or not that important for a quick test to be filled up to specs?

 

You'll want it higher when filling the system, but after that it dosen't matter.
You will need to use more volume because you DO NOT want ANY air pockets in the system (air pockets are yet another path to burnt valves).
You can just use distilled water for this, no need for coolant until you button it all back up for the street.

 

Great. Needed to flush the system anyway, so being able to use distilled water is perfect. Shims will arrive today and it looks like I am home alone again this weekend which should give me plenty of garage time.
Btw, I put the rear wheel of my bike on a roll stand, put it in high gear and was able to turn the sprocket to align TDC marks. Straw in spark plug hole helped as well.



Wish me luck. Next update should be after engine is closed up again. So far, the bike is behaving and the only issue I encountered were messed up screws which I was able to get out and already replace. Knock on wood.

 

Not happy...
Received only part of the order with no prior communication. Now it takes another week or so to get the rest.
I might replace the brake fluid in the meantime even though I did not really want to touch the bike out of fear to misalign my timing stuff. But really, I am not a happy camper right now - especially when I had all weekend to work on the bike without family around.

 

On the plus side, you're not sitting in Costa Rica waiting on parts that might not make the trip past customs.
I'm not doing that either, but know a guy who is.

 

Only helps a little
It is really rare that I get a couple of hours of undistracted time, which is important for this kind of job. Really don't want to mess it up.

Oh well.. I'm just disappointed with the parts supplier and my incorrectly set expectations.

 

So turns out Yamaha is currently out of 1.9 shims and all suppliers i contacted have them on backorder.
Luckily, I found them on ebay. I needed 8. It looks like I will have all engine parts by the end of the week. New radiator hoses arrived as well.

 

250 dollars

 

Suddenly I <3 me a 2 valve engine.

 

Yeah.
But so far I'm still good investment wise, I think. Paid 800 for the bike, plus 150 for carbs and 250 for shims. Another 100 for new intake and airfilter boots. Selling the carbs that were on there should get me some of it back.
And if that gives me a rideable bike in the end, I think I'm happy. I keep watching youtube videos of this bike, gives me goose bumps.

 

had one hour this morning and swapped shims. that was the easy part
aligning the time marks is a different story though. i thought i had everything lined up until i started to tighten the caps by hand. exhaust side is good ( i was smart enough to put markings on the chain and sprocket), the intake side appears to be off by one tooth. weird thing is that the manual states to set the timing marks off a little, counterclock. however, when i tightened the caps, this is exactly where it moved. but then again, i didnt find the info from which side of the bike i have to look to determine what is counterclock and what isn't. i thought left (cylinder 1).
the frontend being in the way doesn't make things easier, either. I am using my phone camera to "look around the corner".

 

Just looked again. If I use my finger to tighten the cam chain, it appears to look good.
I think I will tighten everything up and check again. Moving it by a tooth would move everything quite a bit. And right now, everything is slightly counterclockwise (if looking at it from left side of the bike). So if the manual is correct, it should straighten itself out.
Unless counterclockwise is looking at it from cylinder 4, where the alignment marks can be seen on shafts and caps.

 

Not tightened yet...
Intake


Exhaust

 

Counterclockwise is always in refrence to looking at the engine from the #1 cylinder side.

Give her a few slow turns by hand and see where things are. The marks look to only be off due to chain wear, not from being off a tooth.

 

Thanks for clarifying, that's what I had suspected.
And yes, will put the remaining caps on and see how it goes.

 

Chain had a some slack, but after tightening everything up and installing the cam chain tensioner it straightened out and is now nice and tight.
Engine turned over and didn't hit a deadlock. Was a bit hard to turn, but that's what it was before, too (and I guess not having oil everywhere didn't help either). Well, and the bike is tied down pressing into the rear wheel roller thingie that I have.
All marks were still in line. I guess I just need to torque it down to specs now, put the cover back on and that's it for the engine.

 

Engine is torqued to specs and closed now.
I might have an issue with the clutch, but not sure yet.
Taking the clutch MC off, I pulled out a rod. Not sure if I should have done that or not. Couldn't shift down, but maybe because the bike is still stationary and just needs to be moved back and forth a little.
Next I am going to put carbs on, hook up radiator and will test fire her. Probably going to happen tonight.

 

That's just the throwout rod. No harm done so long as you put it back in. Turn the rear wheel and you'll be able to get the gear dogs lined up so you can shift.

 

Phew. Good news.
Just ordered a new one bc the one in there is bent a little.

 

Hold on, I read that as you pulling the slave cylinder. There is also push rod in the master, but if it's bent is should be replaced. The question is, why is it bent?
Does the piston move freely?

 

The rod is maybe 8 inches long and goes from clutch slave across bike to clutch.

Check #20 here:
https://www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/yam/50042993f8700209bc7891e4/clutch

Bike shifted, not sure why bent. I'll see how it goes once bike is off table

 

OK then I was thinking about the right part the first time. I can't think of a way for the throwout rod to bend during normal use. Maybe it was damaged during a clutch change or some other service.

 

I'll put a new piece in and check a few weeks later if it is bent or not. But agree with you, it was probably damaged during a service.

 

So, made some progress....
Small problem though: only #3 and #4 spark plug wire were labelled. Not sure which of the other two goes where.
Is #1 paired with #3 and #2 with #4 when looking at the coils?

 

Also, I need a new throttle. The new carbs have a second cable for deceleration. But minor thing, I should be OK without for a short time.

On the carbs, those black things, (sorry, don't know the name) that go up and down and have the diaphragm on top, move a bit slow. When. I got the carbs back, they were better and operated normally. I guess it's from sitting dry for weeks?

 

Reading stuff on internet, it appears as if it is coils for 1 & 4 and 3 & 2. That sound about right?

 

Correct on the wires. One coil for 1 & 4 and the other for 2 & 3.

Those "black things" are probably the slides you're talking about. They should move up and down freely, with a slight bit of resistance from the air moving through the bleed hole in the slide.

Tony

 

The slides operating normally shoud be from them having been cleaned.

 

Yes, slides. Sorry.
They are a bit slow at the moment but were OK a few weeks back. I should be at a point where I can fire her up. I'll have to take the airbox off again when it's time to connect the fan. That's when I will recheck the slides.

Thanks for the coil answer.

 

First start up was a success. The engine didn't blow up, so that's good.
Bike sounds good, but there is a lot of back fire (haven't synced and tuned carbs yet).
Worst thing though is that fuel is just gushing out of the left overflow.

 

The carbs were cleaned by someone, plus fuel level set etc. Slides were ok a few weeks ago when I got them back.
Question: if the slides don't close as they should, what would be a result/how would I know when bike is running?

 

Here a pic. It's the tube on the left.

 

Oh what a beauty. Talked to the guy who did the carbs. He confirmed everything was tested and suggested to tap the carbs to unstuck floats since they have been sitting for weeks.
Guess what, it worked. Just had bike running, no overflow and back firing is also gone.
I can now proceed with color tune and sync before I put the fan and radiator back on.
Happy

 

To do:
Color tune
Sync
Finish flushing the cooling system and put fan back on
Waiting for parts (new clutch MC, new clutch rod, new throttle to fit the correct carbs that have two cables)
Change brake and clutch fluids
Ride

 

Tires?
Chain Maintenance?

Wondering if you need to add those to the list.

Tony