Those pipes will be smoking soon.....what did you use to clean them?

Yes. When your in New Zealand bring your magic polish and rag and you can stay at our place.

brush wheel to get most of the crud off to start off with stan

then back to wd40 and wet and dry paper for the outside ones , but the 3 & 4 or the inside ones were corroded - burnt in like crazy as you can see by the pics

so had to resort to a flap wheel to get it back to cleanish metal . then wd 40 and wet and dry

a sisal polish wheel got some shine back in them at last mate

have plans for the 3 and 4 (measuring just 40 cm and 47 cm respectively ) anyhow  so they might not get used ....except be cut up to extend some others im looking at off the 16 valve ...hoping it might assist in equalizing the lengths a little closer to some thing like the 1 and 2

obviously there is some trickery inside the muffler on the standard mufflers   which needs a little more investigation before a modified collector and internal guts modification gets done stan ....although seaniis and albys modified "zorsts " seem to sound nice

well what a huge couple of weeks at work ...

hours show over 135 + some for the fortnight

but some wonderfull sights down in our most southern capitol (Hobart )  (when I got a little time off , before a late start or  catching the plane )

bitterly cold on Tuesday morning after about 10.30 am  ....surprised when snow fell ... ( a little while later ) mt Wellington icy cold

next day shot up the hill ...( another late start and even later finish ) to have a look before it all disappeared



before catching the plane slipped in one of my favourite adventures ...when I get time  ....
the botanic gardens




feeling way overtired but busting to go for a ride , but my poor old left knee is feeling the pain ...so thought better of it and stayed home (not wishing to tempt fate) with poor jet lag and judgement skills  

maybe im still a bit loopy
but decided to attempt this on the weekend

bling !!....why not ?



almost back together .....but running out of light fast

Good to see that you don,t waste time. I fully expect you to chrome and polish the centre stand next.

Gee Charlie, a man of your age should be slowing down a bit.
That baby of yours is looking great, I'm envious.
Cheers mate.

Does yer Mammy know you got the good yellow towel from the bathroom  

They look rather delicious on my big screen. We need some stylised shots of Gerty all dolled up in the bling.

Nice work Charlie.

88KE wrote:Does yer Mammy know you got the good yellow towel from the bathroom  

They look rather delicious on my big screen. We need some stylised shots of Gerty all dolled up in the bling.

Nice work Charlie.

All you will see is a silver streak ! . . . . nice going Charlie.

Keep up the great work. You are an inspiration to us all I am sure

thanks guys ...makes a difference to me that you take time to look .

these things im doing don't cost a lot to do ...just time and patience ...besides all that , I guess im just trying to customize the old girl to look a little different ...instead of the all standard fare of black  everywhere that isn't a major engineering  structure (swing arm, crankcase etc )

at first I wasn't at all in love with the huge expanses of aluminium ...but after getting a little inspiration from all the contributions in the forum from amazing folks .....I thought differently about it all ...shiny can be nice as well ....

still huge amounts of stuff to do ..... the varied skills and brilliance in thought plus  spontaneous generosity of the forum members has much to do with keeping going with the old girl ,,,and the vision of some thing extra out of nothing has set a challenge I must at least try to achieve .

cheers you lot !!!!!

Charlie...you are our inspiration...thank you.

ive had a mysterious drip point for just a little while , thought it was the timing cover ...but never thought it was not mating up to the cam cover ....

some driebond is now sitting in there curing

Just a thought (and I don't know if you have done this Charlie), the thing to do would file the mis-matched gasket surfaces?

Just a question, not a criticism.

yeah though about that also blakey

but its just this timing cover ,,,,possibly misaligned during the manufacture process  ( I think they are dowled somewhere along the length ,,just from memory ) .....the previous timing cover was a flush fit  and I don't want to change the head section at all ..
but a good observation in any case .....thanks mate !!

I recon the sharp change in the seal line is just letting a drip or two get past as the rubber gasket cant deform to make the change and seal it well ...
and the main shaft seal is sitting well so it must be in the right place ??

leak not solved ...I guess the timing cover has to come off and new driebond put back in


nice day for a ride though

about 6 - 7 hours in the saddle and a few visits to friends and nice places

tried an old screen (after a lot of work ) for a different perspective



up at blakeys  testing the colour depth of the new phone ,,,hope to get what looks like madison colour is evident rather that just another shade of silver



good to see an old mate and have a bit of a chat   

cheers !

Thanks for dropping in, it was good to see you again. Your pictures of Gerty doesn't do her justice, she does look good.

We had a chat about the water/oil pump for our bikes. I'm going to takes some photos, post them and ask some questions.

just an update

got the head refinished  about 6 thou off for a clean new finish

Wow, bike looks fantastic mate!  

OG

Hey Charlie,

Just thinking about those misaligned engine covers.  As Blakey suggested regards filing, I would be happy to have a crack at filing the aluminium to obtain a flat surface and forget about trying to seal the leak. 

Alloy is not that hard to file, and I would suggest starting off with a second cut, finishing with a smooth file.  I enjoy working with aluminium and over the years have acquired most of the necessary skills.

Earlier in the year, a Kanadian chap I met at Stefan's in Germany had added an aluminium extension to the side stand of his K75RT, and we filed a fair bit of alloy to obtain the necessary clearance for retraction. 

And apart from that it might give me the opportunity to take you up on the offer of helping moving the pavers. 

Cheers, Dave.

let me know when you need help dave

im willing ...the knees are problematic but getting better ...but can do ...with a little notice

different head going on soon mate ...maybe ill get the chance to clean up another timing cover before then . one that doesn't have the issue , as a side note the drip is no where as apparent as before ..perhaps a slight weep under ?!
cheers

"And apart from that it might give me the opportunity to take you up on the offer of helping moving the pavers."

I'll see if I can make too if you want help Dave.

and so it begins

charlie99 wrote:thanks guys ...makes a difference to me that you take time to look .

...
cheers you lot !!!!!

In addition to the yellow towel... love your workbench I use one just like it.

not too bad for a 220,000 klm and 29 year old bike I guess

more investigation going on





bit of a clean up around the cylinders , and pulled a piston  ...seems the ring gap is about 22 thou ...should be about 10 ?

pistons out ...just 1, 2 ,3 here
a bit grubby , but to be expected





but a bit later ...hows that looking ...1 of 4 so far !!




just adding the final result of the pistons clean up ...before more stuff  to happen

Chaz - the suspense is killing me! All these lovely pics of beautifull pistons and how shiny you can make them BUT how much wear in the bores (ring gap with unworn ring) plus how much clearance in the ring grooves with a new ring?

Do you bother with trueness checks on con-rods when you have stripped an otherwise good motor (for the hell of it!)?

Great to see the heart of the beast laid bare - given that I haven't been there yet

Cheers

Rawdon

with new rings in the end gap is about 9-10 thou rawdon ...I would have to say near new measurements for the bores at least, haven't bothered with the side clearances yet mate ...but from the looks of it should be very close to spec

meaning to get down to rays place for you ...but a little tied up just recently ..but it will happen


cheers
just measured the side gap

if i put the right ring in the right place at the other end of the ring (away from the piston ) so edge deflection im looking at ...cant move the ring sideways more than 2 mm at opposite side of ring ...so that equates to something my feeler guages can't measure ...too small, hows that sound ?

Took me a while to follow what you were saying Chaz. I think part of my problem is that half my brain is worrying that you are doing an Inke Blinker Fluid trick with me!

Similar triangles theory says that your clearance is equal to 2mm multiplied by the ratio of ring width to ring outside diameter (I think)

rawdonball wrote:Took me a while to follow what you were saying Chaz. I think part of my problem is that half my brain is worrying that you are doing an Inke Blinker Fluid trick with me!

Hmm, maybe a small amount of blinker fluid on the old rings can make them grow a little.

head back with some nicely ground valves and seats

some passable exhaust valves



some ones that didn't make the grade , either too small or elliptically challenged ...only one good one worth keeping



valves and seats as a pair together

Those eliptical ones were probably why the original engine from the grey K100 wasn't too healthy.

yeah one was really bad rick

It took him 100,000k to do that, a testament to how tough the Ks are. When I asked how long was it since you did the shims his reply was "the what".

valves lapped and installed with new stem seals ...still to install the springs etc ....but time for this old bloke to head to bed,  another big day tomorrow .

charlie99 wrote:valves lapped and installed with new stem seals ...still to install the springs etc ....but time for this old bloke to head to bed,  another big day tomorrow .

That's starting to look like its got a couple hundred thou kms in it again.

That head came from an engine that I got from AL 58 and I think he said it had 400,000km on it. I still have the bottom end here and would not hesitate putting rings in it and it would do the same again.

pulled "gertys" head apart looking for clues to the hammering I have heard

no sign just yet  but may have to set up a jig to see if all valves are straight ....to the naked eye so far they look good ..

the inlet valves look pristine for the mileage both on the seat and the valve ....although there is some pitting on the exhausts ...number 4  (further to the right )  a closer examination to follow .



keep in mind I changed throttle bodies after modification and had to realign the linkages (yes I know ...don't go there ...but they were really worn and I got them back pretty close looking at the burn in the cylinders , maybe still a bit light on 1 and 4 but far better than what was there )


meanwhile the head looks ok and a cleanup will follow ...when I get time   things safely stored till then





has anybody got an idea how to remove the bottom end big end bolts ...I guess heat and push them out then ...they are in pretty firmly  and I want to change them for newies that I have on hand ....

cheers !

More headaches!

just a update

well looks  like the valves have to come out again

after getting a 2.00 mm shim in for trial, it appears that the clearances after the valve job are far to small

on the inlets I have close to nil clearance  with the 2.00 and on the exhaust ( I asked them to take a similar amount off the length of the valve to compensate the length change   as the grind might be - about 10 thou   referred to "topping the valves" ) I have about 9 thou clearance ...supposed to be about 12 ?

in any case I want to get back to the normal ranges of about 2.40 mm - 2.60 mm so there are choices in the swap over of other shims in "our range "

by the way the Kawasaki klr650 shims fit perrrfectly  if your looking for some ....the local guys want swap and $5.00 for the service  ...quite acceptable to me

so its valves out and a good measurement to get it about right ...I guess I should use "gertys" old shims and cam followers as a reference as it has been in about the right range for the local kbike supply of pass around values ..

well valves "topped " and back in

gets me back to 250 - 260 shim values instead of 200 - 205 ....expecting some settling in after the rebuild and some killometers time  so then I have choices




yippee !!!

A bit of persistence pays off eh Charlie. Nice progress!

whilst in there

water stub cleanup before it goes back on

What worries me is that your engine will be polished on the inside as well as out. The rest of us will certainly have to get our acts together...most impressed.

too funny stan .....a bit of a ride along the highway in the rain will have it looking  stock pretty quick .
but its rewarding to get a pic of a clean machine every now and then  come to think of it never seen one brand new ...closest i've come is smithys or klompys rs units ...both fantastic ...I guess the clean up might make washing it, with results, a little easier ?
fingers crossed

4 pistons in now, head and shims all done  (4 exhaust is a bit large on the clearances 14 thou  but will do till after Christmas )

preparing sump and head covers  and a touch up of some paint on the plastics
need to find some stock aluminium plate for some other things planned

Merry Christmas  to you all

Hi Charlie, the quest continues I see  

Quick question now you've seen the engine open after many miles - how bad was the fouling of the oil/cooling water spaces around the head/lines etc? Any sediment/sludge?

Cheers.

not too bad rene
no sediment - sludge was immediately apparent,  I recall putting a coolant system cleaner through gerty last summer  after the radiator - and thermostat changes.

as usual the coolant was drained via water pump outlet (big hose through the sump cover bottom end )

but not as much collected as usual maybe 2 - 3 litres ....instead of more

I had experienced overheating last couple of trips out and was constantly topping up ...

I guess I had a air lock in the block or something ....or the brownish stain from cyl # 4  or #1 to the jacket was a breach of the head gasket  as I swear I could see bubbles in the top up fluid after a refill .

which prompted the head change .

the head looked clean except for that mark on the cylinder seal and there were no blockages at all through the gasket






im investigating the fluid path and radiator ..hoses thermostat etc  as I go .

wont really know if I got it solved till it goes back together .

maybe I just got it in time before a good line developed through the head gasket  ?

charlie99 wrote:maybe I just got it in time before a good line developed through the head gasket  ?

Looks like a chink was developing in the armor there Charlie!

Great, thanks!! Good going!

Looking good ! - Its a long road I'm still negotiating....

amazingly after just a week and 1 day  from order in the us

the 4 hole injectors turned up

great looking with a good finish  ...feels as though have been recoated after a good clean





mmmm four holes ...must spray differently than the single hole type

time will tell  

charlie99 wrote:amazingly after just a week and 1 day  from order in the us . . . mmmm four holes ...must spray differently than the single hole type . . . Time will tell 

Nice Charlie . . will be pretty interesting alright.

could this be the day that the head goes back on ?

bit more work in preparation yesterday



waiting for silicon sealant to go off on the case covers