Bloody engine bolt

[tony.mon]

That bloody engine bolt; the front one, that rots its way into the engine casting behind the front cylinder.

Makes changing the engines on these bikes a real pain.

Bought another one recently, almost two days getting the engine out.

Standard cct failure; four valves on front cylinder bent.
I have a spare, though, so not too bad.

Needs replacement selector forks and/or second gear, again; I have spares for these.

I wonder if it's possible to split the cases without taking the engine out?
That way, it would be possible to turn the bike upside down and take the bottom crankcase half off leaving the upper section still fixed to the frame.

Any one tried it?

[benny hedges]

Any one tried it?

er no m8 but mine's coming out shortly... might turn a stainless bolt. let me know if you want one.

[Flatline]

You could probably turn plenty and folk would buy

May be a good idea to change mine now so that I dont have the same problem at a later date

Should we put this down on the "Things you should do to your VTR"?

cct, rectifier, front engine bolt, forks

[blob748]

Hi Tony, give me a shout if you need a hand as i have one to do too, and it would be handy not to have to take the engine out.
Regards
Med

[tony.mon]

The engine's out, I cut through the RH side of the mounting bolt through the joint line between the engine and frame.
Then a shim will be made to match the cut width.
I then cut through the frame adjuster on the LH side.

As usual, the bolt is seized where it goes through the crankcase casting, it's free through the frame sections.

I'll fit a new frame adjuster RH side, and as I'm selling the bike rather than using it myself will replace the bolt with a new Honda original.
On mine, I simply used a length of 12mm studding, with a washer and nut on each end. Simple and effective.

I just get very fed up with having to cut engines out; this is the fourth or fifth I've had to do this to.
In one case the sawn-off bits of bolt never did come out of the crankcases. Luckily that engine was scrap anyway, due to a gearbox bearing failure, so it didn't matter that I couldn't shift it.

The idea of inverting the bike to remove the lower engine crankcase seems possible, and means that the recalcitrant bolt can be left in place. I just haven't tried it myself, and wonder if it can actually be done.

[blob748]

Well, i can get some scaffolding and make a lifting frame, but i only have one block and tackle and will probably need two, one on each wheel or front and rear of the frame, so you can turn it easier, i also have loads of stropes. Its possible.
Med