Engine Build Advice for 78 GS1000 Roadracer

[rcp]

Got a replacement transmission in the mail yesterday, just in time to stop me from splitting the cases on the 77 GS750 bottom end.

The transmission dogs look good, and everything was intact. I'm glad I disassembled everything that was behind circlips though, as I discovered that on the driveshaft, the spacer had been installed with the oiling hole misaligned.

I'm now considering whether I want to pull apart the countershaft to inspect. How much force is required to remove and install the press-fit gear? (I believe only the 2nd drive gear is press-fit). Can this be removed with a 2 or 3 jaw puller, and the reinstalled without a press?

- Richard

[rapidray]

No Rich, you need at least a 10 ton press to do it. A 20 ton would be better. Ray.

[Big Jay]

Those cams are on Engine Power castings. Very good. When you call us about the valve train stuff, just tell the phone guys that Jay knows about this stuff. We can do the retainers, springs, everything.

Jay

[rcp]

No Rich, you need at least a 10 ton press to do it. A 20 ton would be better. Ray.

Well, I won't put my spindly little three-jaw puller on it and attempt to crack the gear ring off it then. :-)

I think I can assume that no one ill-prepared has reassembled it then, and I'll leave it alone.

When I got to the welder at 5pm yesterday, my lower casting wasn't were it was supposed to have been left, around the side of the shop. So I get to wait until Monday to find out if it just wasn't done yet, or if some passer-by, or patron of the pub next door made off with it.

I just love not knowing. And practicing patience.

- Richard

"Must learn patience. Right. How long will that take?" -- Ed Gruberman

[rcp]

Those cams are on Engine Power castings. Very good. When you call us about the valve train stuff, just tell the phone guys that Jay knows about this stuff. We can do the retainers, springs, everything.

Jay

Thanks Jay, will do. And thanks for the casting ID.

- Richard

[rcp]

Final reassembly starts!

I sprayed the engine with GunKote this weekend, after a test on the oil pan. I've got everything but the lower crankcase done, and will be cleaning and masking that tonight - will probably spray it tomorrow morning.

The GunKote looks pretty spiffy - and better yet - it works! I compared two oil pans, one raw aluminum and one sprayed with GunKote. I put them on a pair of 500W halogen worklights, and measured the temperature with an IR thermometer as they heated up, then cooled as I applied a fan. The raw casting was about 10-20 degrees F hotter than the Gunkoted one.


Here's the data

The testing rig:


- Richard

[rcp]

Sprayed engine bits waiting to have masking removed and an hour of baking time:


I had another nice discovery this weekend- I talked with a neighbor that I recently found out is a motorcycle machinist (mostly old British stuff) about reducing the height on a GS1000G clutch basket to fit the GS1000. He was game, so I pulled the clutch out of the G parts bike, and was happy to find that the backing plate's reinforced.



One last beauty shot - the freshly milled cylinder deck:


I had to spend a bit of time cleaning dirt out of the block's channels between the cam chain tunnel and the innermost cylinders. A 9" long skinny strip of scotchbrite "floss" and some wooden BBQ skewers (both to poke at dirt, and to push the scotchbrite through) seem to be excellent tools for the job.

- Richard

[first timer]

looks awsome! glad to hear the gun kote works! Pops knew a few things huh! how did you prep the motor? media blast it? is the the orginal gun kote color or their black?

that clutch out of the 1000g looks like it has a straight cut gear is that true? or just the angle of the photo.

let me know how bad the stuff smells when you bake it.

[rcp]

looks awsome! glad to hear the gun kote works! Pops knew a few things huh! how did you prep the motor? media blast it? is the the orginal gun kote color or their black?
[...]
let me know how bad the stuff smells when you bake it.

I am entirely unsurprised that Pops Yoshimura knows his stuff. :-)

I cleaned the gunk and layers of paint off the motor with a combination of (mostly in this order) degreasing spray, brass wire brush (hand and drill and die grinder from 1/2" up to 4" cup, disk, and end), soda blasting (no blast cabinet), and finally scotchbrite with dishsoap and warm water. The cylinders appear to have been blasted previously - I just washed them.

The sprocket cover had a whole bunch of foam on the inside, and although I got almost all of it out with acetone, hooks and scrapers, I did get some fumes and smoke from it. The fumes from baking the gun kote weren't particularly bad - but I certainly preferred to do it with wife and kids out of the house and windows open.

Colour is 2401F Flat Black. It actually has just a bit of sheen to it and is slightly off-black. Looks kinda like a gun (duh!) and very similar to the engine finish on my gsxr engines.

that clutch out of the 1000g looks like it has a straight cut gear is that true? or just the angle of the photo.

Just the angle - it's helical.

- Richard

[Nessism]

I had another nice discovery this weekend- I talked with a neighbor that I recently found out is a motorcycle machinist (mostly old British stuff) about reducing the height on a GS1000G clutch basket to fit the GS1000. He was game, so I pulled the clutch out of the G parts bike, and was happy to find that the backing plate's reinforced.

- Richard

Engine looks great Richard.

Please post your results after cutting down the hub. The G clutch uses smaller clutch plates, but there are two extras compared to the chain drive 1000 engine. Hopefully you will only have to trim a small amount off the clutch hub and will be able to retain one or both of those extra plates.

[rcp]

Had a minor victory today - I'm working at home, fighting off a cold, and at lunch time I was staring at the oil cooler adapter I've got, thinking about how to replace its missing rubber seal.

I put a piece of the kids' modeling clay over the seal's spot and mounted the adapter to get some measurement. Then I started looking through my various seals and o-rings to see if I had anything I could make fit, and that would stay in place.

Well, here's the result - a drain plug crush washer (aka spark plug gasket) can be indexed onto the adapter's infeed nozzle, and then when you snug it down, it results in a nice press fit over the nozzle, and has the necessary ~1mm thickness. I won't know for sure that the fit is perfect until I run oil through it and see that the exterior o-ring seals, but if anything, it's ~.1mm too thick and I could just take a bit off.



- Richard

[rcp]

Does anyone know if this GS1100-1150 clutch spacer will also fit a 1000?

- Richard

[rcp]

Does anyone know if this GS1100-1150 clutch spacer will also fit a 1000?

Never mind. I finally got through to Jay at MRE, and they are incompatible. He stopped making the spacers for the 1000 about 3 or 4 years ago.

- Richard

[reddirtrider]

Final reassembly starts!

I sprayed the engine with GunKote this weekend, after a test on the oil pan. I've got everything but the lower crankcase done, and will be cleaning and masking that tonight - will probably spray it tomorrow morning.

The GunKote looks pretty spiffy - and better yet - it works! I compared two oil pans, one raw aluminum and one sprayed with GunKote. I put them on a pair of 500W halogen worklights, and measured the temperature with an IR thermometer as they heated up, then cooled as I applied a fan. The raw casting was about 10-20 degrees F hotter than the Gunkoted one.

- Richard

That's not the direction of thermal flow. It's the other way around. You actually want the coated part to get hotter, thus raising the ablitity for it to dissipate said heat to the ambient. I have a feeling that this is what will happen.

Looks good BTW.

[rcp]

That's not the direction of thermal flow. It's the other way around. You actually want the coated part to get hotter, thus raising the ablitity for it to dissipate said heat to the ambient.

Nah. I thought this might be an issue, so I stuck my fingers on the inside (the untreated under) of both to verify that my IR thermometer wasn't being thrown off by the different finishes (black gunkote vs black electrical tape), and that it wasn't a case of the finish insulating and thus hiding the heat inside.

The untreated one felt hotter.

- Richard