New GS1100 G Restoration Project. Rebuilding my Dad's bike

[londonboards]

Day 84 Front Brake Lever Piston Seized

Having got the reservoir lid off I decided to stip the brake lever itself.

Here's my blog: GS1100 Blog







So I have set about this with more concoction.

Greetings

[londonboards]

Day 84 Shaft Drive and Engine Removal

Still not sorted out how to get the shaft drive disconnected before taking out the engine. The rubber boot covers the bolts. How do I get around this:

See my blog here: GS1100 Blog









I need to get the gold bolts out but it is proving impossible.

Any ideas?

Greetings

[GSScoobie]

Remove the special 4 bolts at the engine side and the flange/shaft will come out.
I used an extra long handled 13 mm wrench and hit it with a dead-blow hammer IIRC.
They are fine thread and have lock tite on them from the factory. Don't loose those bolts!
They are grade 12.9 with a reduced head size. (Special bolts)

[john82q]

great work with the screw.

In answer to the questions on your blog.

The master cylinder.
That boot around the end of the pistion simply pulls off, expect it to be trashed in the process. under the boot the piston is held in with a circlip.
Once the circlip and the washer are removed the pistion can be pulled out with pliers..rebuild kits have pistons and boots in them.

Undoing Drive shaft.
you have to pull the swing arm.
you can leave the wheel assembled, but you have to remove the rear portion of the guard,and the brake hose. release the top shock mounts and the pivot bolts , then you can roll the assembly out the back. the drive shaft will slide out of the swing arm, once you unbolt and remove it. you can put the swing arm back in p[aceto move the bike.

[londonboards]

Day 85 Engine Removal

It was a big day for us today. We got the engine out. This was a big (no, huge) job. It took 3 of us about 2 hours despite spending 84 days preparing the bike (well not full time at least!):

See the blog here: GS1100 Blog

This is the video my wife graciously (well there were some moments where the grace was lacking) filmed. I cut the 2 hour job down to about 8 minutes of video. Anyone considering taking a big engine out of one of these bikes, take a look and see what you are up against.

Of course the next time you do it, it gets easier. But your first time will look like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZP_u32WdJk

I will detail a more exhaustive technical appraisal of this procedure in another post.

Greetings

[Lowflyer]

Of course the next time you do it, it gets easier. But your first time will look like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZP_u32WdJk

Greetings

Oh, The Humanity !

[allojohn]

It's more like "how to get the frame off the engine" LOL!

Waiting for the video of you putting the engine back in!

[Charlie G]

Assuming your wife and sons haven't left home, an absoultly great example of family fun. Thanks for taking the time to post the progress. GIve those lads of your a pat on the back.

cg

[londonboards]

Day 85 Disconnecting the Shaft Drive

So thanks everyone. I got lots of advice and help that gave me ideas. Unfortunately for me I still had some learning to do. Let me see if I can run you through it:

I didn't know about the splined shaft at the wheel end. I imagined it to be another screw type affair (thanks bwringer). What I was trying to do (in my mind and in reality) was to break the link between the engine and the shaft drive at the universal joint near the engine end of the shaft by undoing the gold bolts (or at least darker bots) that join the shaft to the universal joint. The bolts point (by this I mean the head faces the engine and the threaded end points to the rear wheel) to the back of the bike and can be seen here (the one that the screwdriver head is touching):



My idea was to remove these bolts and then the shaft would be disconected and the engine could be removed. The problem is that without removing the rear swing arm (I didn't want to remove it as I wanted to wheel the bike to the garden to do the engine removal on it side "trick") it is very difficult to get to these bolts and remove them. Well I found it impossible.

See my blog here: My GS1100 Blog
There were problems so I removed the swing arm to get better access:





Now to get the shaft off. I started on the bolts that go into the engine casing:



This would allow me to get the shaft off surely (and quit calling me Shirley) but I didn't know it was the helical gear housing and not the shaft connector.



And that it would not come out completely as it hits the frame here:



So it was back to the idea of trying to get the shaft disconnected. But the shaft kept turning when you applied any pressure on the spanner. I had to use another spanner and lay it against the tops of 2 of the bolts and jam it against the frame in order to get any leverage. I did it in the end.



You can see the other spanner at the bottom of the picture. I didn't actually work like this but I did not get a photo of the actual arrangement I used.







That's how I got the shaft off. Now to get the engine out.

[londonboards]

Hhhmmmm. My flange/shaft hit the frame so would not come out. Maybe because it's a GS1100?

Greetings

[londonboards]

Thanks so much. Heart warming comment.

After 87 days on the project (not full time you understand!) it is really encouraging (and we need all the encouragement we can get) to know people can see the humanity and emotional side of these rebuilds.

So much fun.

Greetings

[hampshirehog]

Looked like fun! That rolling chassis weighs a lot so the best way to do the 'frame off the engine trick' is to take everything off the frame first.

The trolley jack / block of wood works better in my experience and you can use that really nice and slowly and controlled. It's the only way to get the engine back in without scratching your paint, bar spending a year down the gym beforehand developing biceps the Hulk would be proud of.

[londonboards]

Hey thanks. It was fun (kinda) and I have a lot to learn before I get it back in. Maybe at least a year away. Some guy sent me photos of how he does it: huge engine hoist, scissor jack AND a car jack. I will have to find a way of doing it without bashing the (what will be) newly painted frame and engine.

Greetings

[SVSooke]

OK what weighs more,the engine or the frame?.IMHO the easiest way to get the engine back in the frame is to lay the engine on it's side and slip the frame over it.Done it that way with the 750 and the 1000.

[londonboards]

Day 85 Engine Removal part 2

Here is some more technical (ha ha) information about the engine removal process.

See my blog here: GS1100 Blog.

First of all you follow the manual:



That should be easy enough. It was written by Suzuki so they must have tried it themselves? We laid ours down on the grass:





Then nearly 2 hours later if came out:







And that is about as technical as it gets. Now the fun really begins.

Here's the video again: How not to remove an engine.

(Added 17/12/2012) I have just found a video that shows how it should really be done: How to remove an engine properly.

Greetings