Got a new to me bike

Fabricated my own little engine stand. Will slide underneath. The stand allows my to gently lower it.
Tony, yes, the engine will come out.
The stand is right by swingarm. As long as the swingarm pivot bolt is not going through the engine I'm golden. And there are a few inches room between engine and stand cross beam.

Probably want to put forks back in and secure front. Not sure if bike tips on way or the other when engine is out as the weight will shift.

 

Tony, yes, the brake lines will be replaced.
The front brake pistons need to be replaced as well. So far the worst part of the bike...

 

Good thing, and those calipers are pretty crusty.

BTW, nice engine stand.

Tony

 

Engine should be ready to drop in a few. Just going over everything to make sure everything is disconnected. As well as making sure bike doesn't tip backwards on stand.

 

Man, so much work to get this this...
Nice thing with stand is that I lifted frame right off. Engine "stand" worked perfectly.
Wife keeps calling and is pissed, need to stop work now. Anywho, I accomplished what I wanted to do.
Worst part so far: getting the rear axle out, believe it or not.

 

Not quite sure what's going on there. Only took pic, didn't inspect further

 

that is the bump stop in the case where the shock bottoms out.
I found the same type of deterioration on my 88 FZ600. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

Ok cool.

Happy with the progress today.
I'll take wheels for tire change next Saturday. By then I should have the rest of the bike cleaned, my new rear fender put on and the fork springs replaced and back on the bike. So hopefully next Saturday I have a clean and complete roller and I can focus on engine, which would be the last piece.
Oh yeah, the front brake calipers need some lovin. Will get the pistons out this week as well and order parts.

 

An hour of detailing and half way through tail section.


Plus rear fender replaced

 

Cleaning done.



Now need to figure out how to depress the fork caps to get snap rings out. I'm not heavy enough it seems. Guess I have to put them back into bike. This way I don't compress springs.

Also ordered misc parts like rubber bands, o rings, banjo bolts etc

 

Forks and wheels are done and back on bike.

Working on engine now, have it down to cylinder head so far.
Found a bunch of metal shavings trapped by chain guide. Valve and piston surfaces looks good, no carbon deposits really and no marks of something hitting.

Valve clearances were pretty off, mostly exhaust side. Should be at least .22 but I have two at .14 and .17, the rest at .19.
Intake side is better, two are way below, the rest at the minimum spec.

Brakes also need a rebuild. Waiting for new seals at the moment.

 

Shaving look to be aluminum; from something moving by that cover and then peeling it back like you would an apple? Have any clue what that would be coming from? Did you have anything in the oil pan that looks the same?

 

Haven't gotten that far yet. Everything took a bit longer than expected, mostly because I bagged and labeled everything from engine while taking it apart. And reading the manual, a lot. Plus triple measuring the valve clearances, chatting with neighbors etc

I need to see what else needs to come off before I can split.

 

So far I have not yet seen a reason for that metallic noise, which is a bit of a concern.

 

So far I have not yet seen a reason nor indication for that metallic noise, which is a bit of a concern.
I'll do the transmission first and maybe remove valves.

 

Did a close up of the timing chain from your original picture:


Looks to me that it is quite mangled in the section that is at the top of this picture? I'd be taking a close look at that.

Tony

 

Possible it's my camera setting that blurs out the background. But I'll definitely check every link. Didn't notice anything while working on engine today.

 

Just checked. Was camera setting and the chain looks good, inside and outside

 

Tomorrow morning I will spend some time and hopefully split the case. Want to order parts early this week

 

Removed oil pan to drain and now draining oil.
A lot of debris in filter.

 

That picture really threw me off.

Unfortunately looks like it's got a serious failure, and sure you'll discover it once you get the engine all apart.

Tony

 

Right. There must be some obvious damage in the lower part of the engine. Everything that I took off so far looked good. But those are some big chunks.
Good thing is that the top end looks good from what I can see.
Didn't have a big enough socket to remove clutch hub/basket. Could probably split without removing but might as well and inspect. Plates need to be replaced as well. They look pretty worn and are at the minimum spec.
Engine must have taken a pretty good beating.
Crazy, it's only got 7800 miles

 

BTW, the new fork springs really made a huge difference. Frontend is nice and tight now.

 

Case is open.
Haven't taken gears out, that's for tomorrow.
The only thing I have seen so far are markings on the clutch basket. This one doesn't rub against anything though, or is close to anything. so that's a bit weird.

 

I found first shift related issue.
One of the gears (no idea what they are called) was not sliding to engage with the bigger gear next to it. It only did it twice and very randomly.
I took the gears off, checked for marks and cleaned. After putting it back together it works perfectly and every time.

Here the gear I'm talking about.


A small bearing ball fell out when I removed it. Possible it got stuck somehow.

Tomorrow I am removing the shift forks. I don't know what they should look like and will consult manual / internet pics.

Also, one of the shift forks does not move smoothly on that drum and I can feel a bit of resistance in one spot. I will inspect tomorrow.

Now, with almost everything removed, I am yet to see any major damage that would explain all the metal chips I found.
Starting to think it might be debris introduced to engine at some point.

Also, still no clue where the marks on the clutch basket are from. Maybe manufacturing?

 

Shift forks



Drum. Not sure and need to compare to new part but I think the one in the middle of the pic should be more round. The corner is kind of flat.

 

Found some grooves where the transmission shaft sits, exiting to starter motor.
Running finger over you can definitely feel that material was grinded off.

 

There are random marks in multiple locations, definitely material came off. This would explain the debris I saw. Here some pics. Random places. And there are more. I guess I'll never figure out what caused it. Nothing feel out of engine, at least nothing i'd have noticed.









Here a pic of the debris I found. Possible it was introduced at some point, dowel pin, maybe? Even though all are accounted for.

 

Could some of that grinding been done at the factory to take of slag or extra material at the seams? I am hoping that is what I am piking up as some of those spots look like cracks. I am guessing its marks from when they pored the engine cast.

All the bearings were good?

 

Bearings look good so far. Still a few parts to remove before I can clean everything and check thoroughly.

 

Did something get loose and tossed around inside the case? That's what I would guess, or a foreign object.

 

Thinking the same. I am not missing any parts so far.
Possible someone had the dreaded "oh-poop-I-dropped-something-hopefully-it-fell-on-the-floor-and-not-into-the-engine" moment

 

Argh, just had a look at the second pic and I agree, this does look like a crack. Need to check tonight when back home. That would suck big time. Didn't even notice when I looked at everything. Hopefully it's just a misleading camera pic.

But then again, just looked at more pics on my phone and the same is on the other side. Could just be a molding leftover.

Fingers crossed

 

All good. Pic was misleading.

 

That is good, just looked BAD. So you think those marks are from factory? You are guessing that maybe some bearings went bad and that cause the tolerance issues for the filings?

 

What tolerance issues?

Well, right now my best guess is that something was left behind inside and got shredded over time. While bouncing around it caused all the marks.

Still not sure where the clutch basket marks are coming from and why they are so uniform.
I think I will never know for sure.

The deeper marks are probably from a seized bearing making the bearing itself spin.
The collar doesn't look bad, possible it was replaced in past (that mentioned bearing spins smoothly when I insoected)- which would also explain how a foreign piece got into the engine.

For now I'm am just focusing on getting the last parts removed and get everything cleaned up.
By the time I'm done with it I should have received all parts and can begin reassembly. This shouldn't take too long.

Still need to order shift forks today.

 

On the clutch basket, I was assuming it was some rough grinding to get casting extras off.

 

Possible, there are still one or two spots that have raised material

 

On a part like that, I would *assume* there would be some dynamic balancing involved, hence the un-even grinding. But, I'm just guessing.

 

Good enough for me

Now I just need to get those 4 bolts out. Why are they using Phillips and not regular hex? Don't want to use impact, and my jig screwdriver is too small. Had to order bigger. Hopefully that does the trick and I can finally finish disassembly.

 

You can check this Ebay add out, photo number 3 appears to have the same markings on the clutch basket.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-KAWAS...611729?hash=item1a39f697d1:g:2CUAAOSwKJtavWYI

 

Huh, look at that. I was also looking at eBay ads and other images to compare but didn't come across any. Thanks for sending

 

Drum, one corner sheared off.




Deep groove on on of the shift forks. A second one has some cuts.

Ordered all of the above and should be here next weekend.
Replacing all shift forks, one is on national backorder and had to order from Japan.

Explains shift issue and some metal flakes.

 

A lot of that swarf looks to me like there was a failure to clean the cases compeltely during manufacturing (or some unknown repair). They way it curls is the telltale (a cutting tool was used).

 

Oil pump that has moving metal on metal parts also has light grooves and grinds slightly....
Question is what needs to be replaced and what is the usual wear and tear.

 

If the oil pump is grinding it needs to be replaced.

 

Yes, I ordered a replacement.
Cleaned lower case, air gunned everything and put grease on the one bearing that was still in there.

Now waiting for all the parts to arrive. Once everything is here, I'll lay it out and start assembly.
Wish the gasket kit had a list of all gaskets that are included so I don't have to open the air sealed packaging.

 

Still waiting for one more part to arrive from Japan (one shift fork) before I can start assembly. The part is nowhere to be found in the US, luckily there was one on ebay.
Since last update, I have replaced oil pump and put in new drum and the two shift forks I received. Oh, and a new tool pouch. The old one was pretty rough, but all tools were there. Also ordered pretty much every oil seal there is in the bottom crank case. Doing it right so I don't run into the issue of a leak. Don't want to tear down the engine again, it's quite some work...
Oh yes, I also drilled out and re-threaded one of the oil pan bolts that broke off.





I do need to start looking into shims very soon. One inconvenience is that there is no shim table in my manual, only a formula.
Also, I am still deciding whether to remove and check all valves or not. But given that I had this terrible noise coming from somewhere, I might just do it.

Originally I had planned to flip the bike but it has grown on me since. Also, it's the same year as my beloved truck, insurance only costs $13 / month and she already has a name. So she'll stay for a while. Besides, since I reorganized my garage, I totally have the space And of course the bike just looks cool.

 

The manufacturing quality of the engine is not the greatest. I keep find and removing barely attached metal from the cast (like 2nd pic). Just inspected valves train and found this. Inside that hole is a big piece of metal wedged in (first pic)

Gonna pull the valves to get to it.

 

Present that keeps on giving...
Stuck between intake valves 3 and 4.