1981 GS450E Rebuild

[pete]

Mate that sounds like a bit of a bugger! Getting sick here and there sucks enough, but crook for months at a time or more? Man that must be the pits. Hope you feel a bit better soon so you can get some GS love happenin' and get some two wheeled action

Maybe simple as a coil giving up the ghost or a HT lead or something nice and simple like that? I haven't had the pleasure of trying to diagnose an issue like that yet, seems it needs to be in one piece first

Anyways, looks like I will get some stuff done on Saturday after all, so I'm hoping the big end bearings and transmission shafts are all good after a cleanup as the crank and transmission will be first cab off the rank for the reassembly.

This is probably the scariest bit of the whole rebuild for me, reassembling the engine and then firing it up.

I've never done this before and I don't wanna screw it up or miss something in the bottom end as I really only want to put it back together once.

[pete]

One step forward, two steps back...

Bugger, one of those days yesterday.

So the plan was to start getting these:





Back in these:



So first up, spent an hour or so cleaning up the old gasket crud and any residue from the marine clean baths and BBQ'ing:



Continued...

[pete]

Popped the upper crankcase in the trusty old bin on the bits of wood so I can start getting the transmission back together:



Then had to duck out and take my wife into the city for some shopping, but good timing as I realised I hadn't got any engine oil yet, which I need at this point to start lubing stuff up on the way.

So, I got a bottle of this and nearly fell over at the price...

I couldn't remember what I used to use as it's been far too long since I last bought oil, but all I could recall was Shell Advance something. So, on the advice of the guy in the dealership (should it be stealership?), I forked out $49.95 for this:



Let's hope it's the right stuff otherwise it's an expensive mistake!!!

So as I was reading my manual, I realised it really lacks quite a lot of detail, so luckily I had saved my ancient old slow laptop a while back and set it up on my workbench, so I can browse the online fiche at Alpha Sports while working, very handy!



I also managed to find this sitting on top of my clutch plates:



'Tis the missing grommet from my headlight ears that I thought was lost, good stuff!

So far, things were looking up. Crankcases ready to go, oil at the ready, all set to start.

This bearing for the shifting drum only needs replacing if it's unserviceable, and it looks pretty good to me, rolls freely and just needs some lube:



So, cleaned up the shifting drum with some kero, lubed up the bearing surfaces on each end, and slid it home:



Cleaned up the arm to hold it in place and bolted it in and this is where I hit badness:



That bolt circled in red... well... the thread in the hole for it is now stripped

I started another thread for it here:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=166946

[pete]

Anyway, I was running out of time now after trying to work out what to do about it for a while.

However I figure I can go back to that later, so I persevered a little more and got the shifting forks cleaned up, lubed the shaft, and put them back where they belong:



I can't lock the shaft in at the moment because that's the screw that I had so much trouble with earlier and ended up breaking an easy out trying to remove it after the head got chewed.

I need three crankcase bolts that snapped while disassembling also, so I need to get those part numbers together and get them ordered.

Anyways, that's all I got done for now, bit of a short day in the end yesterday, so hopefully I'll get that bolt sorted and be able to get the transmission cleaned up and in again shortly.

One big thing I found though is the manual says put it in neutral while assembling the transmission, but they don't tell you what position neutral is for the drum, transmission shafts, or shift forks, which is really helpful.

Anyone have any idea how to do this?

[pete]

Ducked down to the garage tonight and worked out what bolts and screws I need to get the crankcase halves back together once I get the stripped thread sorted and everything back in.

Funnily enough I recall having three bolts snap while initially splitting the crankcases, however I can only find one with a broken end.

Went back through my thread here and my old pic's and notes from before I started this thread, and sure enough there's only one. Not sure why I thought there was three... I even got the measuring tape and measured every single crankcase bolt compared to the parts fiche to make sure I wasn't missing any.

Anyways, will hope to order them real soon (only three bolts and one screw) so should have them in time for my next go at getting it back together.

[Leigh]

Good stuff, Pete.
Seems like it's starting to move along now.
A bugger about the bolts.
I have been so paranoid undoing bolts on the Fat Girl.
Easing the spanner around and making those faces each time I hear a crack.
Plenty of WD40 going everywhere too.

[pete]

True, but I'm happier to break it during disassembly rather than assembly...

By the end of disassembly I found it was safer to give the tight ones a sharp tap with something rather than build the pressure up gradually, seems to break the bond rather than snap the thread if it's somewhat stubborn. That was the only way I got the two allen bolts out of the oil filter housing as I was stuck on those for months.

[Leigh]

An old trick I was told years ago was to either do it up a little first then unwind it or apply the pressure with a spanner and start tapping the bolt with a hammer.

I haven't broken a bolt using those methods so maybe it works.

[hillsy]

Put a flat punch on the head of the bolt and whack it with a hammer before you try to loosen it. You won't break the bolt, but you will break the frozen thread.

A trick I learnt from an old mechanic in the shop I worked in many years ago....

[pete]

Good call Leigh, probably the only thing I didn't try was try to tighten it first, but I did do the tapping thing... a lot!

And Hillsy, yep, tried that one also and it worked on a few too. How's that 450 of yours coming along anyway? Haven't seen an update in a while

Mostly I just had to have lots of patience... let the WD40 soak for a day or three and give them an occassional tap on the way past, that sort of thing.

Anyways, talking about bolts and what not... got a nicely packaged little present in the mail from Z1 today...



Looking forward to getting these babies onto some nicely shined case covers... but that's a little way away yet, just taking advantage of our nice exchange rate at the moment.

I ordered my crankcase and other missing/damaged bolts today, should hopefully be in tomorrow and i can pick them up on Saturday, so once I repair my thread I should hopefully be full steam ahead with reassembly.

I also want to keep taking advantage of our nice exchange rate and get my carb O rings etc. from our resident Mr Barr, shot him an email today to get postage price so should be able to do that very soon I would imagine.

Let's hope nothing else gets in my way...

[Leigh]

Let's hope nothing else gets in my way...

Oh you've done it now, haven't you?

Well, that's me off for the weekend.
I have aliens on really fast bikes to watch, mates to catch up with and a liver to damage..

[SVSooke]

Looking forward to my package from Mr Barr to.BTW been following your progress since joining GSR.Good thread

[pete]

Oh you've done it now, haven't you?

Well, that's me off for the weekend.
I have aliens on really fast bikes to watch, mates to catch up with and a liver to damage..

Errr yeah... perhaps I should go back and edit and retract that statement? Jinx'd it now!

And you're one lucky son of a gun... what can I say? I need to convince my lovely wife I need to spend Sunday 'avo in the rumpus with some beers... and Stoner better not fall off again!

Looking forward to my pakage from Mr Barr to.BTW been following your proggres since joining GSR.Good thread

Yeah I really appreciate the fact that he's gone to the trouble of doing that so all of us GSR members can benefit for a very good price.

And cheers on the thread compliments

I've had a peak in at yours from time to time and you've definitely done some good work with what you got there for sure!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you're doing when you tear it down after the insurance runs out...

[pete]

Bugger... Leigh you were right.

Got the call saying my bolts were in, but only 2 out of the 5... the other 3 are discontinued.

Didn't have time to find out which ones, so I guess I get to find that out tomorrow when I pick them up.

[pete]

Bugger.

Picked up the two bolts, and sure enough they're the two that are the same part number for the crankcases to go back together.

Discontinued ones are the one with which I stripped the thread, one I had to drill the head off which actually holds the shifting fork shaft in place, and one of the allen bolts that joins the crankcases in the oil filter housing.

So I guess I'll need to reuse the two bolts that I was replacing because I probably should, but I still need to find a suitable screw to hold the shifting fork shaft in. I might be able to get away with a standard 6mm screw and a washer perhaps...