Kiwi Canuck tries his Luck with a Six Fiddy

[Kiwi Canuck]

Unfortunately I had a mishap last night, I was totally gutted and I sure didn't want to even admit I had screwed up and damaged the engine.

Well I was cleaning the engine getting ready for paint, I had already painted the jugs and head etc, but the lower half was nasty and needed a lot of work before it was ready for paint.

I was standing over it with my tools debating weather to split the cases so I could have the halves cleaned up properly or try cleaning it while together without filling the crankcase with debris.

I chose to give it a go as it was and pulled out some new stainless mini brushes, (made by Miller so good quality) and a new fibre wheel for my cordless drill.

After cleaning the front of the engine and masking everything below the paint line and the side covers, I was finally ready to apply primer.

I installed the jugs rather than mask around the studs and the place where the base gasket goes, as I can just paint the whole lot in one go.

I needed to move my DR650 out of the way to avoid any over spray on it.

As I turned around to move the bike I heard a very loud thud followed by bang, bounce, crunch, metal on concrete sounds.

That was the worst moment I can remember in quite a while, I was just standing there in shock, it was like the hand of God himself, reached down and swatted that motor right off the "borrowed" milk create.

So 2 broken fins and a bit of road rash on other parts, not happy.

I have used JB Weld on the fins and it looks like a drunk man tried fixing it, but hopefully it will hold and I can cleanup the JB Weld a little.

The only saving grace is the head fins actually cover the broken fins so other than them not being aligned perfectly it should not be something that everyone sees right away.

I may even post some pictures just to remind myself of the pain I suffer to do good deeds by restoring these old bikes that would otherwise just be sent to the junk yard and not get the love they deserve.

David.

[Nessism]

Bummer man. Sh*t happens though.

[dorkburger]

That hurts... most of us have been there though.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Bummer man. Sh*t happens though.

Ed, thanks for following along and yes it does happen, I'm almost over it now so time to get back to the build.

That hurts... most of us have been there though.

Thanks Glen, I remember when I was putting the jugs on that I'll need to make sure I rebalance the engine on the milk crate just to be safe, but cannot remember if I did or not, pretty sure I did but obviously not well enough.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Here's a couple of pictures of the damaged fins that I reattached with JB Weld, certainly not my best work but I'm going to see how it looks after I clean it up and put the head on.

Ouch, still hurts seeing this, not sure if it's the damage or my poor attempt at fixing it.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Well I did get lucky with the engine after all.

I was cleaning up the new alternator cover and switching over the stator and realized that the old cover I used had a big crack in it from the fall, I would have been very upset if I'd had my new one on there.




I cleaned up the stator in the ultrasonic cleaner, looks like the previous owners didn't change the oil very frequently as everything was very black including the oil and the stator.

Looking better.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Got a start on the weekend work tonight, engine in and a few pieces installed.



from the other side.



Feels good to make some progress.

David.

[dorkburger]

Dang, I wish it had popped into my head earlier, but those rubber dampers Suzuki put between the cooling fins would probably have worked great to hold the fins in place during reattachment.
Still, I think that once it's finished only those who look really close will notice.

[chuck hahn]

Sorry about the drop David. I did that on my Nighthawk engine installing the alternator. Knew full well I should have it strapped down but thought "what the heck...this wont hurt anything". Broke the top right engine mount off and had to have a local shop weld it back on. I know the sinking heart and lump in your throat feeling all too well.

As for the rotor taping. I dont tape them. I just shoot the black and use acetone and a rag to wipe the contact patch clean again.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Dang, I wish it had popped into my head earlier, but those rubber dampers Suzuki put between the cooling fins would probably have worked great to hold the fins in place during reattachment.
Still, I think that once it's finished only those who look really close will notice.

Me too, I even bought a few new ones and they definitely would have been better than what I used.

David

[Kiwi Canuck]

Sorry about the drop David. I did that on my Nighthawk engine installing the alternator. Knew full well I should have it strapped down but thought "what the heck...this wont hurt anything". Broke the top right engine mount off and had to have a local shop weld it back on. I know the sinking heart and lump in your throat feeling all too well.

As for the rotor taping. I dont tape them. I just shoot the black and use acetone and a rag to wipe the contact patch clean again.

Thanks for the comments Chuck, I considered having them welded back on but thought I would try the JB weld first.

The top one, with the largest chunk missing actually rings when tapped with a screw driver so I assume it's attached well.

Sure is a bitch when it happens though.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

So much for a weekend off so I can work on the bike, my wife informed me we are going on a family outing on Saturday which was all day and so that left Sunday for yard work and a little time in the garage after all that was done.

Didn't get as much done as I hoped but did button the engine up and got that part of the project complete.

I did have a bit of a struggle with getting the jugs on as I was too lazy to go and cut up a few wooden blocks to support the pistons, ended up putting them all in at the same time, didn't know that was possible but I did it.

Also finally managed to get the valves adjusted with the 5 spare shims I had plus what was in the bike, just worked out perfectly.

Hopefully I did everything correctly and don't have to pull anything apart, wouldn't be the first time though if i do need to.

Pictures to follow.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Here's my numbers, mostly at the high end and just 2 slightly tighter, which I like to do when I've had the valves lapped or the seats cut. (just noticed I have written the IN & EX Barse Akwards)



I loved that the spark plugs came in a Suzuki box, pretty cool, never seen that before.





A few shots of the engine finished.





Remember this, I didn't get a real close up but what a difference a bit of cleaning and some paint.








That's it for now.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

I'm still here and working on the bike, just small detail stuff, cleaning and painting or polishing endless amount of fasteners, assembling brake calipers and started assembling the carbs.

BTW I did buy the Hoppes Number 9 Solvent (along with a .22 cal gun cleaning kit for my pellet gun) it worked well on the brass parts of the carbs but needed 24 hrs of soaking to get them fully clean.

You know when you buy all the new parts and you store them away nicely awaiting for the time to install them, then when it's time, you pull them out and most can be identified by eye, but then there are about 10 or so packages that are not so obvious why you bought them or not sure which is which as they look similar.

Well I got a sharpy out and went through everything with my son and ticked them off on the invoice and wrote on the bag what is was for, so after all that effort to be thorough I have misplaced or lost the orings for the rear caliper and something else which I can't remember right now, I also have a few bolts and washers that don't show up as fitting this bike and pretty sure I didn't order them but they were included in the shipment to add to the mystery.

Very frustrating and has been bugging me now for 2 days, I keep looking and trying rack my brain to remember what I did with them or did I actually in fact receive them.

I did find some other parts I needed in my GS1000 left overs storage bin while searching, a set of 4 rubber pilot jet plugs, and 2 carb bowl gaskets all new in the factory packages, which was nice as I had forgotten to order them.

I do have a question about setting up the cam timing, (now that I've closed up the top of the engine it starting to bug me) so I'll ask here.

When I line up the "T" mark at TDC, for cyliners 1.4 the arrow on the EX cam should be in line with the top of the head (or just slightly above) well mine shows about 1/4" high, pretty sure it's not 1 tooth off but still too high compared with the picture in the manual, does that mean the timing is off and I should adjust the back plate to make the mark line up in the correct spot?

That's about it for now, if I get something more substantial done this weekend I'll post some pictures.

David.

[Nessism]

Suzuki's part system leave a lot to be desired sometimes. I've ordered stuff before only to receive the wrong parts and/or superseded parts that don't fit. Most of the time the cost doesn't warrant the hassle of returning the parts so they just get thrown in the spares box where they go unused.

As the timing chain elongates the dash line will point above the gasket surface slightly. This is no big deal so don't worry.