Engine siezed up.

Well, I'm just about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my bobber build but I've hit a road-block.

I finally got a battery and so it was time to start getting the engine ready... 'cept it's stuck something fierce.

I pulled the rotor cover off, tied the clutch lever and tried turning it by hand but it just will not budge. Examining the rotor shows signs of somebody else encountering this before me.

I've had the cylinders soaking with MMO for about three weeks and added quite a bit more tonight before and after my attempt.

I'm really stuck, both literally and figuratively. So, a couple questions;

Anything else I can try to get this engine free?

How much should I expect to pay for a good, running replacement engine ('80 pre-yics 650)?

Tonight has been such a bummer, I just want to scream, light the damn thing on fire, and go to bed.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

~Rev.

 

Lesson learned....... The first thing you should do with any new project bike is to get the motor to run.
You will need to get a wrench on the crankshaft and start trying to turn it. Sometimes it might take two people, one on each side of the crank. It might only move a little at first but keep working it back and fourth . Hopefully only the rings are rusted to the cylinder walls.

 

Remove the spark plugs when you try to turn the engine over. The less pressure you have holding those pistons back the better. One option, if it's the rings rusted into the cylinders, is to take it apart and take it to a machine shop to get it bored over some, buy some new pistons and rings and your machine will end up with a bigger displacement and a little more CCs.

 

mlew- Yeah, It's taken me a while to source and obtain all the bits and bobs to get it runable so I've been doing what I can in the mean time.

When you say both sides, what do you mean? The left side cover just has a plug. I figured it was set in a groove. Can this be pryed out and there's a bold under it?

Joiner- Yeah, I've got the plugs out. It seems like it'd be faster and cheaper to just buy a running engine than it would be to rebuild this one.

 

Could the clutch be mis adjusted? Not letting go of the tranny maybe. Would a roll in 4th be a bad idea?

 

Pretty sure the clutch is shot. Wheel turns no matter what.

 

Ditto hate to see someone put all that work into a bike just to find out they need a motor hopefully it will free up and be ok but i have a feeling its not going to after previous owner tried also.

 

The LEFT side cover is over the ignition pickups; the right one is just covering an empty gallery with a plug and I wouldn't pry it out, there's nothing to be gained.

So now let me get this straight: you bought and put a lot of work into customizing this bike and never fired the motor up, did a compression test, nothing? Never even spun it over?

If you put a nice long 19mm combination wrench on the boss on the timing plate and can't turn the motor over AT ALL, I would just look for another motor. The easiest way to accomplish that would be to find a parts bike; most guys that go to the trouble to pull a motor tend to charge more than what you can often find a "junker" for. Since all you need is the motor, you might even break even if you end up with a set of wheels and a titled frame to sell.

Just be sure that no matter what you find, you do a compression test on it before you buy it.

 

Yeah, I knew there was a major possibility that the engine was effed but the contingency for that was to replace the engine. I was just hoping that y'all may have some insight into some engine-un-seizing sorcery. haha

I've already found two parts bikes for sale and there are a couple cycle-salvage places within a couple hours of me. I've yet to give up hope.

~Rev

 

Been there bro.

IMO, I wouldn't even mess with it... just buy a new plant/parts bike.... and make sure this one works first!!!

Fitz is right too... often you can find a running parts bike for well under what you would pay for a spare plant... Then you also have some nice spare parts, OR you sell the parts and end up turning a profit (usually)