engine removal

[Chris N]

Hi all
i am going to take the engine out of the frame and take it to a local aluminium welder to get the crack welded up in the crankcase where the centre stand thru bolt has moved.
i have read the relevant page in the manual but was wondering if there are any tips from people who have done this already.
Chris

[Rob B]

Hello Chris,

If you are combining this task with a major overhaul of the bike, such as greasing head stock and swing arm bearings etc. then the easiest way I have found, with the engine rigidly supported, is to strip the bike down and then hinge the frame back off the engine. There is a video somewhere, maybe club archive? Showing assembly works in progress on the original production line. They make it look it easy!

[Chris N]

Hi Rob
that sounds a novel way of doing it,in this case its just to get the engine out,welded up and back in.
ideally i wanted to remove the engine disconnecting the minimum number of components hopefully to reduce the possibility of creating yet another "issue".
one thing usually leads to another.
Chris

[Chris N]

a happy afternoon spent removing more than i expected.


i could not undo the two pipes into the engine from the oil cooler as there is only room for a short spanner starting on the left hand pipe so rather than getting forcefull they stayed with the engine.


getting the rear wheel out took longer than expected as the woodruff key had stuck in the adjuster.


with the bike lift at max height i roped the rear end to the roof,locked the front wheel in the lift wheel clamp then lowerd the table until the rope took the bike weight, then useing the small trolley lift to take the engine weight the mounting bolts came out.




slowly moving the table down and the lift across pivoted the frame and did the job.


having cleaned the rear put its all now in the back of my van to go to the ally welding bloke in the morning.
i can see how if you had the height and no front end on the bike to rotate the frame up and off would be a much simpler way of doing it.

[Rob B]

Brilliant! Your alloy welding guy should be able to add more material around the repair, and at the the other side too, to strengthen it up.

Its a good opportunity to wash out the old grease from the swing-arm bearings and re-pack too.

[Chris N]

the welding guys doing their thing



welding done and back home,not particularly nice but it will clean up and the job only cost 60€.


i had noticed the previous patch under the output sprocket and the chain guard has been fixed,at some point maybe the chain broke and put a hole in the crank case.


putting the engine back went without problems,with the front bolt in i then lowering the suspended bike down onto the engine and bolted it all up.
having focused on not scratching anything and pivoting things i then realised i had not put the chain round the sprocket so it all went up and down again


the finished job fitted back in the bike but this time with the started motor cable routed thru the hole in the centre stand not just squashed against the engine,and an m10 helicoil in the torque arm bolt hole.


having cleaned many years of grime off the engine for the welding i found the engine case numbers,anyone know what the 6H means.


i did look at cleaning out the swing arm pivots while the engine was out but it looked like the job needed a large box spanner i did not have and a special tool to get the things apart,
resisting the urge to use a hammer and punch i decided to leave it for now.
i had noticed alandite had been used on a couple of alternator case bolts so they got helicoiled,
new woodruff keys went on the rear axel which made putting the rear wheel back on a breeze.
new oil and filter,
the clutch has new hydralic fluid,i am just faffing about now with the routing of the throttle cables for the second time before balancing them and its back on the road.