What did you do to your motorcyle today?

[Wheels]

Thank you Bill,  I was more curious than anything as my rudimentary mechanical skills are far less than yours.  Your explanation does make sense to me.

[hardrockminer]

You're welcome John.  I've now re-checked all of them and they all have up/down movement to some degree.  Some have a little side to side and some are tight in that dimension.  Parts are ordered.  I think I'll change the guides myself.

I discovered a pretty good cleaning agent for carbon deposits....oven cleaner!!  I got the idea from someone on another forum and gave it a try today.  I re-cleaned the head and chambers.  One side is really good.  The other could use a bit more work.  Maybe tomorrow.  All valves and springs have been checked and are within spec and reusable.  Still need to clean all the bolt holes for the bearings and valve cover.  I will check the cam bearings during re-assembly.

[Galactica]

Looking good, Bill.

[hardrockminer]

Ready to remove the engine from the frame. 

I've been thinking....most of the frame is original paint and in good condition.  There are a couple of spots on the downtubes and elsewhere that could use a bit of paint.  I've heard PJ1 Silk is almost a perfect match for original paint.  Does anyone know for sure?

[Galactica]

Not sure about the frame paint, but the PJ1 (satin I think) is the perfect paint for the engine.  For my frame, I just had it sand blasted then took it to my local body shop and asked them to paint it black.  Dunno if it’s correct, but it turned out fabulous.

[hardrockminer]

The engine is out of the bike and on the floor ready to come apart.  I try to keep my bikes clean, both outside and inside.  This is what I found...

Actually, the oil pan looks much cleaner than the last one I pulled.

[Twisted_Twin]

It's all where it belongs.

If you don't see dirt or sludge, makes you wonder where it's ending up..

[hardrockminer]

It's all where it belongs.

If you don't see dirt or sludge, makes you wonder where it's ending up..

Yep...but I still wonder how it gets in there.

[Runningdog]

Bill, we all hope that  it's OEM Kawasaki factory sludge.

[hardrockminer]

Bill, we all hope that  it's OEM Kawasaki factory sludge.

If that's the case then it should have a date code!

[Runningdog]

Bill, we all hope that  it's OEM Kawasaki factory sludge.

If that's the case then it should have a date code!

It does, on the OEM factory container used when the sludge is applied.

[hardrockminer]

I split the cases today.  I was surprised by the lack of bond material between them.  They will be easy to clean and prep for reassembly.

There's the date code...stamped on the inside of the tranny cover.

[hardrockminer]

Finished cleaning the bottom case today...good enough for blasting.  Started on the transmission.  The kickshaft is within spec.  When re-assembling, the two dots need to line up otherwise the kicker won't work.  I also checked the shift forks.  They are good and straight and are within spec.  Could not measure the grooves...don't have a tool to get into them.

[Galactica]

One has to make sure the shift forms aren’t bent, and the factory coating on the ends isn’t worn off.  New ones aren’t available, and used one are always suspect. 

Extremely important to check the dogs and slots on the gears prior to reassembly.  Not a big issue if you know the transmission wasn’t jumping out of gear prior.  You don’t want to split the cases again after all that work.  Ask me how I know. 

On my Led Zed project, I thought the tranny was good.  NOT.  First test it jumped out of 2nd gear under acceleration.  Remove, split, replace gears, reassemble.  DOH!!  Now jumped out of 4th, I think it was.  Repeat. 

New old stock gears are extremely hard to find.  And you have to have a lot of faith in your source of used ones. 

Like I said, you’re all good if you know the transmission was good at the outset.  My project was a nonrunning hulk when I started.  Lesson learned.  I subsequently learned that the gear dogs in older Suzukis were particularly prone to wear.

[hardrockminer]

The small selector forks are still available through KHI.  There is a spec in the service manual for the width of both the tynes on the forks and the grooves.  My forks are OK but I couldn't get my micrometer into the grooves.  When I slip the forks into them there is no play so I'm assuming the grooves are OK.  The tranny shifted fine before this teardown.  The large fork and the gears are not available from OEM but I'm pretty sure they can be bought through PMC.  The gears in my tranny show no signs of wear...no chips or cracks or wear points, so I'll put them back in during the rebuild.