Engine rebuild

[tony.mon]

JE quote 11.5:1, but I'll see if they both sit down from the top of the cylinders the right amount, I may need to skim a little off one or both cylinder tops.
So it could vary a little from that.

Either way a long way off the seemingly standard 13.5:1 that a lot of high-spec bikes are running as new nowadays, and they seem to be able to cope with unleaded ok.
(But they have sensors which reduce ignition advance when they sense knocking, whereas I've only got ears and butt to gauge by).

[benny hedges]

you planning on changing the valve springs bud???
if so let us know if you find some...

i reckon the clutch springs will need uprating too - i saw some for £13 - if i remember where, i'll add a link

[tony.mon]

Standard valve springs will be fine, I'm not changing the rev limit.
And the cams aren't going to be as radical as yours!
The only replacement springs I know of are Yoshimura, don't know but I expect them to be stupid expensive.

I already have uprated clutch springs (Barnett). Can't remember, but about £15 a set. They'll go back in the rebuild engine.

£41.08 (including my 10% parts discount) for main bearings
Shell shocked? Yes.

Gotta sell something on E-Blag to stop wife going bananas.
Off to rummage in the dark parts of the garage.

[sirch345]

£41.08 (including my 10% parts discount) for main bearings
Shell shocked? Yes.

I see what you mean Tony not cheap eh. Still better to do now while it's all stripped down I agree.

What about the con-rod bolts, do they need replacing or can you re-use the old ones

Keep up the good work it'll be interesting to see how it all turns out on the dyno.

Chris.

[benny hedges]

i'd say that is pretty damn reasonable tbh for a set of precision components...
& for the peace of mind i reckon the few £ for new bolts is money well spent, seeing as theyre designed to stretch etc
as will be the pittance for new gaskets



are you throwing the light flywheel on once it's all timed up? will be worth it imo

tony your puns get worse lol

[sirch345]

Tony, have you thought about you may need a battery with more umph with the higher compression

I came across this recently:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/APRILIA-RSV-1000- ... 6113539958 It's for the RSV1000 Mille but appears to be the same dimensions as our standard Firestorm (well for the earlier 16ltr tank models that is) but has more amp hours. But do check your old battery dimensions first to confirm

In the link below it states these batteries have 4 terminals (2+ and 2-) in which case could be handy for any extra's wired in.

I've done a Google search on this make and type of battery and I can't find any bad comments about it yet. In different tests it's done really well.

More battery spec's here:-
http://www.motobatt.com/

Chris.

[tony.mon]

I already have the 14AH batt conversion in place, should be man enough, hopefully.

And yes, I plan to re-use most of the seals but all new bearings , rings, pistons and big end bolts.
For the top end, new valve seals.

I just hope the bugger's grateful.

Wife's just come home with my new shells for the mains, so the rebuild starts early doors tomorrow.
Pics and progress reports will follow.

Gentleman, start your engine (rebuild). Game on!

[sirch345]

I already have the 14AH batt conversion in place, should be man enough, hopefully.

And yes, I plan to re-use most of the seals but all new bearings , rings, pistons and big end bolts.
For the top end, new valve seals.

Gentleman, start your engine (rebuild). Game on!

I should have guessed you'd have already done the bigger amp hour battery mod, although if it's the 15mm taller Varadero battery a YTX14-BS or CTX14-BS then they are 12Ahr not 14Ahr.

All the very best for the engine re-build, you seem to have all the new bits ready to go

If you're anything like me you're most likely already in the garage/workshop making a start (it's now 9-10am).

Chris.

[benny hedges]

did same with mine & i just run it without the battery box lid - not much of an inconvenience, just have to watch when spannering in case summat touches the exposed + lol

[tony.mon]

Update on today's fun and games:

Game on:


Cleaned upper crankcase half.

Then:

Whacked the main shells, big end shells, pistons and rings in.

All going well so far.....but then I had a close look at the input shaft and the gears on it- 3rd and 4th are a single casting, with dogs both side, and boy, were they dogs! Looks like someone normally rode in wellies, dogs well rounded off.
As I don't want to have to strip it down again i decided to pull apart a spare engine I had, which already had some damage, but the gearbox was ok, so I took out the gears from that and rebuilt the shaft.
I wanted to replace the big bearing behind the clutch with a new one on that shaft anyway, as I still have a sneaky feeling that that's the cause of the graunchy clutch some bikes have.
And I can definitely confirm that to replace that bearing you have to take the engine out and split the cases, unfortunately.

Still, onwards and upwards....

I can confirm also that it IS possible to get to the big end bolts through the sump, if you take off the oil pump and that means getting the clutch off.
Here's what you can see:


And here's where I got to so far:


Oh, the pistons look lovely, shame you can't see them in situ, so here's one waving goodbye before the heads go on tomorrow:


Time it up, make sure everything goes round and misses each other, and soon it's engine swapping and on the dyno
UPDATE:
Well, the heads didn't go on tomorrow, because I spent all day Sunday gasflowing and polishing the tracts.
Funny thing, never noticed it before, but the exhaust port is not at all central to the two valves, one is almost straight and the other is offset.
So I have reprofiled the port to allow the gases to flow form the most difficult one a bit easier.
God knows if it'll make a difference.

And the clutch basket is well washboarded, and although I could file those smooth again I'll be having a look at a spare clutch as soon as I find it under stuff in the back shed.
Assuming that's any better it'll go on, but TBH I might as well use the know good clutch assy from my current engine, especially as it has uprated springs fitted.

But then was well on the way to reseating the valves and bolting the heads on prior to checking the valve-to-piston clearances with standard and reprofiled cams, but saw that the valve seats were about 3mm wid eon the exhaust side on both heads.
So they're off to Bob Farnham's at Gasoline Alley in Wrotham on Tuesday morning for a bit of valve seat re-cutting, and to give him the chance to take the piss out of my gasflowing efforts.

That'll teach me , (a bit of humility doesn't do no harm at all.......)

[sirch345]

You got quite a lot done (on the engine rebuild) over the weekend Tony, well done

Chris.

[vtrstarved]

Oh, the pistons look lovely, shame you can't see them in situ, so here's one waving goodbye before the heads go on tomorrow:
Image

Yeehaa

[Beamish]

Nice one Tony, you will get a massive grin once you see all your hard work turn into Dyno figures

[tony.mon]

Well, got seats remachined, so it's game on pt 2 tomorrow, after I swim up the garden to the garage
Have you seen the weather forecast?

[sirch345]

Have you not got a roof on the garage Tony

Did anything get mentioned about your (cylinder heads) gas flowing

Chris.