1981 GS450E Rebuild

[Guest]

So I made it up to Geebung this morning and the guys at Northside Cylinder Head Specialists looked after me again. Nice one

I called and they said leave it for a couple of hours, but when I got there, they just took it in and did the honing on the spot, so I'm all set in that regard.

I haven't got pic's of the honed cylinders at the moment because they also very kindly put some engine oil in them and glad wrapped them after I told them I wouldn't be putting them on for a week or two.

However, I did get some after I unwrapped it from the glad wrap this morning to clean the lanolin out:



If you look closely, there still appears to be a little cross hatching in the cylinders which isn't bad for over 96000km's:



And the compressor and hose, just waiting on the spray kit:



I was hoping to get a bit of time today to unpack the compressor and make sure it worked, but that didn't happen.

I really need to get that alternator rotor off!

Then, next up really is lapping in the valves, then I need to blow the head out (providing the compressor works) and get the valves in, then the cylinders and head can go on and the engine can go in the frame.

 

[SVSooke]

That compressor looks remarkably similar to the one I have.the tank and stuff around it's different but the actual commpressor looks the same.It's a pretty good unit IMHO:clap:

 

[KC1908]

Pete,

Have a proper flywheel puller for my 1100's, not sure if they are the same as a 450. Someone on here may know. You are welcome to borrow it.

Ken

 

[Guest]

That compressor looks remarkably similar to the one I have.the tank and stuff around it's different but the actual commpressor looks the same.It's a pretty good unit IMHO:clap:

Cool, will be good if it turns out to be a decent unit for sure! See what happens when I fire it up the first time I guess, may get a chance on Christmas Eve as I have the day off.

Pete,

Have a proper flywheel puller for my 1100's, not sure if they are the same as a 450. Someone on here may know. You are welcome to borrow it.

Ken

Cheers Ken, how does that puller work? I can't quite work it out by looking at it. The only catch is if it needs to thread inside and push on the crankshaft it'll be a no go. Idiot me has a piece of metal stuck in there from trying to get it off years ago, which is why I desperately need to get it off and why the slide hammer is being attempted.

 

[Leigh]

I give this thread one and a half thumbs up!
Smooth move, Magoo.

Pete, you'll be right with the honing, I've done it before on an old Hemi I rebuilt.
I got a 3 stone hone. The stones were about 6-8mm wide and about 60mm long I guess (from a hazy memory).
I just ran them up and down a couple of times then checked the bore.
You can't stuff it up unless you keep going without checking the bore after a couple of passes.


That compressor looks like mine. Small Chinese unit with generic branding.
Mine is a Spear & Jackson. Odd that a shovel and spade manufacturer "makes" compressors.
Hehe.
The gun I bought from Bunnings is a Low Pressure High Volume kit. It has both pots on it so you can go with pressure or gravity feed.
I used the gravity pot.

I couldn't find it in their catalogue but it's the one you need.
Low Pressure is the key phrase here.

 

[Guest]

I give this thread one and a half thumbs up!
Smooth move, Magoo.

Pete, you'll be right with the honing, I've done it before on an old Hemi I rebuilt.
I got a 3 stone hone. The stones were about 6-8mm wide and about 60mm long I guess (from a hazy memory).
I just ran them up and down a couple of times then checked the bore.
You can't stuff it up unless you keep going without checking the bore after a couple of passes.


That compressor looks like mine. Small Chinese unit with generic branding.
Mine is a Spear & Jackson. Odd that a shovel and spade manufacturer "makes" compressors.
Hehe.
The gun I bought from Bunnings is a Low Pressure High Volume kit. It has both pots on it so you can go with pressure or gravity feed.
I used the gravity pot.

I couldn't find it in their catalogue but it's the one you need.
Low Pressure is the key phrase here.

Awesome stuff... one and a half thumbs... haha

Honing's all sorted now which is just all fine and dandy. Wonder how I'd go holding a drill right handed without a thumb? Next injury me thinks... haha

I'll wait and see what's in the spray pack then decide if I need another gun or anything, but I think the pack is supposed to be a touch up gun and a big gun or something, not 100% sure yet. Compressor full price was $239, so I saved $40 and got a free hose even if the gun pack is crap.

 

[Leigh]

Good score on the air gear.
The spray kit sounds similar to the one I got.

Just do what I did.
Practice on the shed wall, paint the bike, decide it looks crap and rope your spraypainter mate in.
Easy.

 

[KC1908]

Pete,

The bottom part of the puller screws onto the fine thread of the actual rotor. The centre bolt then screws through that onto the end of the crank.

Not sure if it is the same as a 450 though.

I just screw the bolt end up tight. Give it a tap, screw again, tap again etc, so there is not a lot of hammering of the crank.

Ken

 

[Guest]

Good score on the air gear.
The spray kit sounds similar to the one I got.

Just do what I did.
Practice on the shed wall, paint the bike, decide it looks crap and rope your spraypainter mate in.
Easy.

Cheers Leigh, it was just priced too well to pass up. I just hope it all works ok.

Spraypainter mate... well... I gotta find me one of them :-k

I'll probably end up painting the wife's car by mistake the way I'm going at the moment!

Pete,

The bottom part of the puller screws onto the fine thread of the actual rotor. The centre bolt then screws through that onto the end of the crank.

Not sure if it is the same as a 450 though.

I just screw the bolt end up tight. Give it a tap, screw again, tap again etc, so there is not a lot of hammering of the crank.

Ken

I get ya Ken.

Unfortunately, even if it's the right fit, my blind following of the Haynes manual means it ain't gonna work because of the piece of metal wedged inside the thread on the end of the crank:



Bit hard to tell from the pic's but it's there, so anything that needs to screw into the crank at the moment is a no go, which unfortunately includes the bolt I need to put back in there to secure the rotor, which is why I need to get it off.

This is the second time the Haynes has let me down, but unfortunately I knew about this years ago but completely forgot about it until I went to put the bolt in. If I wasn't this far with assembly, I could've just taken the crank to a mechanic to get them to pull the rotor.

 

[Guest]

Rightio... firstly, I got this from my dad for Christmas:



Should come in handy at some point

Next, got a pair of these from my wonderful wife for Christmas:

They're Draggin Next Gen jeans, which is my first new bit of gear for when I finally get the 450 done.

I also need to show you my cat getting into the Christmas spirit, and yes that is a little star on his head:



He's looking mighty impressed there...

So anyway, took my wife to the boxing day sales yesterday and started getting a sore throat, so looks like I'm crook now just in time for when I'm on holidays expecting to get lots done to the bike. Just can't win at the moment.

But I did get the compressor out this morning and it works just like it should:



And the house mate is also home on holidays, and he did me up a bigger slide hammer yesterday and he got stuck into it this morning seeing as I'm not really up for too much:



The reason it's not on the axle in this pic is because...



It's off!!!!!!!

And got this pesky little piece of metal out too:



Teach me for using a Haynes...

 

[Guest]

The thread looks ok, but it's really tight getting the bolt in, so I'm going to have to look for a dye or whatever it is I need to clean the thread up properly.



I now have the swingarm axle greased up again and back where it belongs:



So, see how I'm feeling the rest of this week as to how much more I get done, but it would sure be nice to get the valves lapped, the cylinders and head on, and get the engine back in the frame.

Would also be grand to knock over the case cover polishing so I can get them back on too.

 

[SVSooke]

If it's the same thing I had take it easy or it will bite you.Ask me how I know

 

[Guest]

Yeah? Come on, 'fess up

I think it's just a head cold actually as my house mate and wife have both had it over the last week or so but so far I'd managed to avoid it... oh well.

Nothing quite so charming as sitting here with a lap full of tissues wishing my nose had a tap so I could turn it off.

On the plus side, they reckon we might have a sunny weekend this weekend... first time for weeks I think... good old Queensland weather, beautiful one day, p*ssing down for the next month...

 

[SVSooke]

Not what I had then,bout the only thing I didn't have was a runny nose.Aches,pains,a cough and very tired feeling.Was actually colder than normal.Three days off work,I don't do that often.

 

[Guest]

Not good! That sounds more like what I had early this year that ended up in a chest infection and stopping smoking... guess you could say that was a good thing... sorta...

 

[SVSooke]

Stopping smoking is always a good thing.Then I never started so what do I know

 

[Guest]

Yeah I must say I don't miss it now, and I can certainly smell and taste things much better (when I don't have a head cold anyway)...

 

[Guest]

Well I thought I was on a wild goose chase today looking for a tap and die to fix the crankshaft thread and the bolt up, but in the end I had a win!

Last public holiday here so not many places open.

Anyways, took a couple of quick snaps but must go pick the wife up from shopping, so will update soon with pic's.

 

[Guest]

Bugger. I just did an update and only hit Preview before navigating away instead of Submit... don't you hate that?

Anyway, long story short, got great help from Repco and found the bolt is 1.25 pitch, but their only kit was no good. Supercheap had the same kit, and Bunnings only went up to a M8.

Ducked down to Streets Auto Spares local to me and he had a M12 1.25 pitch tap in stock. Got a M12 50mm bolt from him also as the first 10mm of thread on the bolt is shagged. The bolt is 5mm too long, but I was dead set positive there was way more than 5mm clearance in the end of the crankshaft.

So, this:



in here:



let me do this:



Thread locker on the bolt, not on the rotor or crankshaft, and torqued up to 65 ft lb's as specified in the Clymer.

Then I committed a bit of a tidiness and got some bench space free so I can get the valves lapped.



And a side note here... my collection of rolls ready to mock up an exhaust:



I'm sure I'll get strange looks from the exhaust guys when I show up with a mock up, but if it gets the exhaust I want, then who cares right?

Anyways, that's it for now, let's see if I can't get some more done while I'm on holidays... don't hold your breath though!

 

[Suzuki_Don]

WELL DONE Pete, glad you got the rotor off and all fixed and back together again. Looking forward to the rest of your project. Shouldn't be long and the engine will be back in the frame.