What did you do to your motorcyle today?

[Runningdog]

Check it out, there seems to be more value in collector dirt bikes than many road bikes.

[rz5mark]

And because they are race bikes, if they have period correct aftermarket parts that are rare the price goes WAY up. Think Fox air shox, Radial heads, aluminum swingarms....Nice 40 year old fox air shox can go for over 1000us$ on Ebay.

[Bucko]

This is what an 'interference fit' looks like in my garage:  

[Twisted_Twin]

Lol, Bus parking.

[Wheels]

Got the electrics working on Junes Triumph.     We now have headlight, running light, tailight and all four turn signals.  Had to do a bit of wire crimping and routing which is not my best skill but it turned out very well.  Engine runs now so just freeing up the brakes and the master cylinders and a few oil leaks. If Moto Lobo is reading this I know you are good at freeing up brake caliper pistons so I might have to go find some good craft beer and entice you.

[754]

Make a grease gun fitting.. fits your caiper and a gease zerk.  That should get them out....

[jetta90]

Started digging in to the unloved one that followed me home some time ago - 88 Katana 1100.  A long while back I got it started and managed to progressively increase the compression readings I was getting.
The best numbers from the four cylinders were all within a couple of pounds of 150 psi.  Not bad but not enough to make me happy.  At least all four pots were quite even.
Unfortunately, there were o-rings on the oil return pipes that run from the head to the sump that were leaking.  To replace the leaky o-rings the head needs to come off, and the motor needs to drop down from the frame (in my case I lost patience and pulled the
motor - should have done that from the start) to create enough room for the head to come off.....
You know how the story goes, pulling one piece leads to pulling off another etc.
Long story short, pic below shows the motor out and head pulled.  
Front forks were removed and installed new seals and dust seals - painted the lower forks silver.  Cleaned the wheel, greased front wheel bearings, greased the triple clamp bearings.  Assembled the front end and the results can be seen in the pic.  Basically the front front wheel looked similar to the rear wheel in the pic before spending the time on it.
Last owner had run it with leaky front forks, leaking o-rings on both oil return pipes, and lots of chain oil smearing the rear end of the bike.  None of it had been cleaned off for just about forever - at least it seems to me.

With the head off I'll take a look at the valves and clean up the seats and see what other surprises one might find in the motor.  Will work my way through the bike with a considerable amount of cleaning expected and will grease up all those pivot points on the rear suspension as they always seem to not be on ones maintenance item list.
This is a budget build as it is lower value motorcycle.  I have to say though, that 1100 motor is just intriguing, I'm looking forward to giving it a go sometime in the distant future.

[Runningdog]

So, the engine is a stressed member (?), and the hanger bracket comes off with the engine.....simplifies removal with a big lump like that.

[jetta90]

So, the engine is a stressed member (?), and the hanger bracket comes off with the engine.....simplifies removal with a big lump like that.

Yes the engine is a stressed member via the hanger bracket.  I was able to use the rear bracket mounting points as a pivot point to lower the front of the motor.  This augmented the clearance area between the cylinder head and the top frame members and in theory would provide enough room to allow the head to come off while leaving the motor in place.  With the information found on the web it seems the head can be removed using this method.  But I lost my cool trying to dick around with this theory as it looked like the head studs would not adequately clear the lower head surface.  Then there is getting everything back together again at the reassembling stage.  It was going to be a major pain in the *** with the tight clearance....for me anyway.  
Also, considering the amount of frame and outer motor cleaning that needs to be done, I figured it would be less of a headache to remove the motor.  
The motor has to weigh a solid 160 lbs + with starter and alternator attached.  Using the hydraulic trolley jack worked nicely.

[rz5mark]

Slow day today, decided to put the front tire on the Vstrom so it was done and good to go next spring.

 I picked up a used engine hoist for 150$ a couple years ago, makes this task a lot easier. On other bikes I would have the bike on it's sidestand and then jack on the opposite side of the frame to get the front wheel off the ground. Sketchy at best. Also built a better bead breaker a while back, works well.

[Runningdog]

You have the neatest gadgets, Mark.

I suspect that the tire demounting post will be part of an outside shelter in the near future.

[rz5mark]

Yep, it was built when we bought the place.

[Runningdog]

One can never have too many machine sheds.

[rz5mark]

The former owner was a commercial insulator and he stored a lot of material in it.

[Billy D]

Nice work on the brake !