A Look Inside

It was finally time to take a look inside this engine and see how much damage has been done over the years. Hopefully, I won't find much, I can put it back together, and everything will be fine.

As you can see, the screws holding things together are a bit... corroded. Not a good sign of things to come, that's for sure.

I get all the screws holding the valve cover and air cleaner cover on... except one. It won't budge. And in the process of using what muscles I do have, the screw began to strip out. Not wanting to strip it so much so as to have to drill it out, I grab my trusty Dremel, and cut a notch in the screw head so I can use a large flat head screwdriver on it.

But even that doesn't help things. The screwdriver is still slipping. I soak the screw in WD-40, in the hopes that it will loosen things up. But no such luck. So on the way home from work, I pick up a trusty can of...

This stuff is like Chuck Norris in a can! You spray it on, and it immediately begins to roundhouse-kick rust, corrosion, and stickiness, freeing up what you need to free up. It also works great as a hot sauce.

So with that last screw out, I can remove the air cleaner cover, and get at the last 2 screws holding the valve cover on. They take a little effort, but being protected from the elements, there's little issue. During the rebuild, I hope to replace all these screws with stainless machine screws. They're easier to remove, and last longer. Plus, they look sharp! And let's face it... Cafe Racers are all about image.

So the valve cover is off, and everything looks OK so far. Of course, I still can't see the important stuff, like the valves and pistons, where most of the moisture would be, if it did get up into the engine. Once I figure out how to rotate the cam shaft, and get the rocker arms, cam chain, valves, and head off, we'll be able to see more.

Engine Removal

Well that was fun.

It's been a while since my last update. I'm not sure why I haven't gone ahead and done this, but I really should have. I also should have spent more time prepping the engine and remembering all the things that were in the service manual.


Anyway, here's the frame and engine. I got the rear stand off, and then...


You guessed it, the front stand. I did have to lift the bike up by myself to get the stands out, but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. However, there are two things I should have done before this. The first being removing the oil filter, and the second being removing the oil pan. It would have been easier to remove them while the bike was upright, and I could have fit a oil pan under them.

But there was one thing that I wasn't expecting.

The bike peed on the floor. Sort of. Apparently there was water in the frame, and when I tipped the bike over, it decided to flow out through a hole in the tail. No problem... I'll just wrap some paper towels around it like a make-shift diaper.

So with the "diaper" in place, I get the bike over. the engine bolts came out easily, which I wasn't expecting. I barely had to use tools. However, when I attempted to pull the frame up over the engine, no deal. The oil filter and oil pan had to be removed.

So, with the engine now smaller than the frame, I was able to easily pick it up, turn it slightly, and pop... off it comes.

So now I'm left with just the engine and the frame. I can clean the frame up now, and finally start tearing into the engine to see how much damage all that moisture and time did. Hopefully, not much.