starter clutch flywheel oiling?

[Chuck78]

I was just reading through stuiec's post on what he thought he narrowed down to a starter clutch/flywheel noise. He has very good photos, & I saw the crank photo with the flywheel removed, & saw what looks to be an oil feed passage coming out of the center of the crank, am I correct in this?



There is a brass bushing insert in the flywheel that rides on the crank there, so this made sense to me.

also, is there an oil sprayer to cool the stator, or was that a modification that some people have made in the past?

the reason that I am asking is because I want to delete my starter and flywheel (running a tiny 16oz LiFePO4 battery already vs 6lb3oz lead acid)) & just use the kickstart only, & I am looking to shave as much weight as possible off of the bike (552lb to 486-ish after this mod). If I were to remove the flywheel altogether, I am fearing that I would lose a bit of oil pressure, and thought that maybe I could tap and plug that hole in the crank if the metal would allow me to cut threads in it (I'm sure it is very hard steel). if this would be necessary, I'm certain that I could have my machinist friend make me up in aluminum or brass collar to slip over there. I will have to see how much the flywheel weighs to see if this is worth the hassle. Maybe leave it, but I would much rather not, and removing it would seemingly decrease my oil pressure if that pumps a lot of oil out of that hole. I will have to examine the whole crank to learn how it works once I have one of my spare engines disassembled for a rebuild project.

[rapidray]

You need the flywheel even kick start bikes have flywheels. Your engine would run like complete poo without it and eventually would vibrate itself apart.

Ok smart guy, explain to me why THOUSANDS of drag bikes & LOTS of old road race bikes are STILL running today?!! Try again!!!
Ray.

[Big T]

That's not a flywheel, it's a starter gear


Not enough mass there to worry about

Not enough to go thru all the trouble of removing it on a street motor, either. Just take out the idler gear and be done with it

I believe the early 750 has two sets of needle bearings that the starter gear rides on, not a bushing

[Chuck78]

I will have to have a better look when I tear my engine apart myself, but it appears as if this flywheel clutches somehow and during normal operation it does not spin with the crankshaft - hence talk of the starter clutch, and the flywheel bushing/bearing where the crank spins during normal operation after the engine is started. Again, I am not familiar yet with how the starter clutch works on these engines, but with it riding on a bushing or bearing like that, the crankshaft clearly spins independent of the flywheel at some portions of it's operation. Here's another picture borrowed from stuiec:


I will have to try & look up the parts breakdown schematic of a GS400X, as those were kickstart only bikes. hopefully its not a shared schematic with electric start models, that would make it a little less clear for this case.

[Chuck78]

Thanks Big T (& Ray), you must have posted as I was typing my last reply.

you also made me realize that the pictures I was referencing were from a newer 550, & I overlooked the fact that it is a plain bearing engine as with most of the 1980+ GS models, & my early 750 is a roller bearing engine. my roller bearing set up will most definitely have a totally different oiling set up as well. I guess I will just have to crack it open and see what I find.

I am doing a total engine teardown and rebuild, so I will have it completely apart anyway, & I committed to a very tiny battery (for Dyna ignition startup/low-rpm assist & lighting improvements over a battery-delete capacitor at low rpm's) that may not be up to the task of cranking a 920cc higher compression engine, so I will not have a need for the "starter gear" (sorry for the confusion in terminology).. I love stop by, but I enjoy kicking on the kickstarter to get going always anyway, in the kick starter assembly is drastically lighter than a large battery, starter motor, and gears.anything I can do to offset the way to the gym will be excellent, my bike is modded heavily towards cornering the twisty forested southeast Ohio (&WV/KY/etc) hills...

[jbthomp]

I stand corrected.......My bad

[Chuck78]

Sorry, JB, to use the drawing terminology to confuse you into giving me the wrong explanation! my bad on that one.

thank you very much Ray and Big T for clearing things up. Since I will have the engine apart already, I might as well remove it & .see what provisions if any I need to make to run the engine without it, mostly in regards to the oiling. I will not want to push this tiny lithium-iron-phosphate battery by cranking a high compression & nearly 1 liter engine with an electric starter, and these tiny lightweight batteries have three times the lifespan of lead acid, so I will be running this setup for quite some time, no need for the clutching starter gear. the 8 cell of these batteries was only a one inch thicker, but much more expensive, and up to the task of regularly cranking a starter motor on this engine. Bye bye 13-14 lbs, hello kicker...

I was really wanting to eventually build a GS425 kicker into a very lightweight wiseco 844cc piston'ed (449cc) or custom 71mm piston'ed (475cc) 10.25:1 gs1100 swingarm'ed lightweight corner carver, but I am sure I will really miss the power of the 750 (soon 920cc), so I am trying to drop the 750's weight down much as possible to make it handle even better in the twisties