Long Break

I would have sworn that I had posted at least once this year - but then I would be wrong! (again).

A trial assemble of the gears.

Was followed by fitting of new crankshaft oil seal

a coating of sealant.

Then the actual assembly with the bottom bolts

And then the top bolts

After much ado the crankcases are assembled followed by the kickstart pawl assembly!! BEWARE when assembling the kickstart pawl it is VERY easy for it to slip and spring out (shaft on left in photo below). Not a major problem BUT the spring is ideally sized to slip through one of the oil tranfer holes and end up in the gearbox!!!
So if this happens (against all odds) you need to split the crankcase again and reassemble. It could never happen twice?!?!

Clutch assembly followed and was simple enough except that there is a deviation from any line drawings I have found so far in that the shaft does not have a bush but is machined to the larger diameter and then has a step as visible above. This means no thrust washer to fit above the bearing but there is a thicker thrust washer after the outel clutch casting is installed.
Spragging the clutch to allow torquing up the locating nut is a pain but the addition of a metal shaft to one of the crankcase holes lets you lock the assembly better although the complete engine will then try to rotate and needs to be held.

Found myself to be short of both washers which should be above and below the two diameter kickstart gear so that has brought me to a halt again.
Next key item will be assembly of the final parts to allow the RH cover to be installed and then the cylinder heads.
This means it's time to get the cylinders re-bored.  A quick internet search has identifeid a couple of possibilities locally including a company in Guisborough who will do the re-bore FOC if they supply the pistons.
I'll call for pricing tomorrow!

On the line drawing front I have managed to get the old fische printed and scanned so I am working to produce the set of drawings with part details and references to be posted when completed. Discoveries today make me think the engine is more likely a C (1978) rather than a B (1977) and that there are some differences not shown in any documents I have. If anyone knows of any later fisches than the April 1979 release for GT250 A,B fische that I have please let me know.

Almost but not quite

Did spend time outside today but not with Suzi, clearing blocked drains instead!!
Did have some success on the internet and have ordered GT250A/B fiches which should give the correct drawings/parts list (drawings posted before are K/L/M).
When this comes through I'll get the correct drawings for the differences posted (crankcase, crankshaft etc.)
Also found some good suppliers on line and I'll add a link (when I find out how!!) to the better ones but problem with oil plug is now sorted.

Here's hoping for better progress next year!

Doesn't time fly!

It doesn't seem that it has been so long since I last did any work on the bike or looked at the blog but the months have flown by and it's almost 2010.
With no work for 5 months the garage is looking a bit dismal with assorted detritus scattered around the engine. Much of the hard work polishing has lost it's edge although it will be a much simpler job to restore the finish again.
I see that there has been a comment (never thought that would happen) and that there have been over 12,00 hits!!!
Just goes to show I'm not the only sad b####r going about.
Many thanks to Bart and to everyone who has been looking at this (even if by accident) for the kick-start back into action.

Needing to replace the crankshaft outer oil seal (arrived months ago) and then re-assemble with sealant to allow fitting of the alternator and the clutch.
I've noticed that the oil filler plug is a remnant from some other life which barely fits.
Would be obliged if anyone can suggest where to look for a replacement as I've already tried e-bay and many web sites.

Should be photos with next post maybe even manage it this year!!

A Little Bit Cleaner

Not a massive amount of progress tonight.
Completed the crankcase assembly by adding the side ecasings.
Again it turns out that there are a lot of screws missing.
This isn't such a big problem as I'd already decided to depart from "standard" in this respect and do what I did with the original bike.
I'm going to replace all the crappy philips head screws with allen screws wherever possible. By using steel screws you get a much better appearance and you avoid the knackered heads which inevitably occur with the alloy screws from Suzuki.
A few photos to show the slightly clean engine.
It is starting to be recognisable but there's a long long long way to go!!!

Drawing the line

Having time on a Thursday evening is unusual but every oportunity counts.
Time to fix the crancases together. This will let me clean them a lot easier than when they are separate as they are very awkward to handle. Plus it gives the advantage that the parts are inside, protected and out of the way.
I'm not sealing the cases as they will have to come apart to replace the oil seals and the corroded thrust washer (no joy so far in finding a supplier for either!).

Time to clean up the bolts. 21 in all and in the usual grimy condition


Well now we have a first - missing parts. No washers or split washers for the bolts. Well to be precise, no split washers and only 3 washers.
If this is the worst of the missing parts this is going to be a dream!
Degreasing with the Auto Glym followed by a couple of hours with wire brushes soon attained the desired results.


Now its time to put them to work.
The manual makes it relatively easy to identify which bolts go where by giving a count of each size and showing on the line drawing where they should be placed.
First problem here is with the bolt which is inside the oil pump housing. Very awkward to get at.


The socket couldn't reach after about 3 turns! Also difficult to get in with a spanner. The solution - 1/8" drive socket. Nice and easy.
Now for another first - the manual has got it wrong (I'm certain this won't be the only time this comes up!). The numbering of the bolts is not quite right. The two outer #8 bolts should acually be #9 and the two #9 bolts are then the other two #8. Simple really. Possible that this is a change by Suzuki between models in which case I shouldn't be blaming the manual at all!!!

All set for cleaning up the crankcases now.

One excellent feature of the manual is the line drawings. They are really works of art giving such detail and so clearly. I have included the relevant ones below.
As a totally incompetent artist I find them incredible and can sit and look at them for hours (sad me!), especially the first one shown which is the complete Power and Transmission Assembly.

(Note: If you click on the image it will show you the full size picture)

Power and Transmission


Cylinders and Air Cleaner


Clutch


Crankcases


Pistons and Crankshaft


Gear Clusters


Gear Change Mechanism


Kickstarter


Carburettor


Alternator and Ignition


Fantastic stuff!!!

More at the weekend hopefully!

Monday afternoon - getting somewhere!

What to do on a Monday afternoon on a day off work?
Time to get dirty!
But before that a quick comment on yesterdays MotoGP.
Fantastic day at Donnington despite wet weather which made the racing more exciting with the changable track conditions.
Record crowds reported at over 90,000.


Great result for Scott Reading, shame about Bradley (just too eager!) in 125's.
Brilliant win for Hiroshi Aoyama in 250's.
Amazing race in MotoGP with the Ducati team making a terrible blunder in tyre choice and many riders dropping it at unexpected moments (even Rossi!!!! - marvelous recovery though). Well done to Dovi for the win but the ride of the day must go to Colin Edwards - 1 more lap and he'd have won!

Back to business.
Target today is to get the gearbox assembled to see if there's anything missing or damaged.
The mainshaft gear cluster assembly was relatively straightforward with no issues until I got to the bottom gear!
This had been kept separate from the rest and was wrapped in a felt cloth along with the thrust washers and needle bearing. Problem was that the felt had been damp at some point and there was a lot of corrosion on the gear and the bearing.
It took a couple of hours to get things cleaned and get the bearing freed up. The bearing will definately need replacing bofore final assembly but the rest cleaned up well. Locating the mainshafet was relatively simple but the Haynes manual fell short with the advice to "make note of the arrangement of the grear selection mechanism when dissembling to allow re-assembly". This was not a lot of help but it turned out to be difficult to get it wrong (I hope!).


The layshaft was less of a problem in that all parts were assembled on the shaft and there was no corrosion issue. However, there was a lot of grit and debris entrained in the gears. This required a full strip and clean which didn't take too long but there was grit in the main bearing which made ugly grinding sounds when the shaft was rotated.
WD40 to the rescue again! A liberal spraying into the bearing while turning washed out the grit faily quickly and left the bearing running smoothly (after oiling). Installing the layshaft was abit more difficult in terms of getting everything aligned but the result was fine.


I've just noticed that the 5th gear on the mainshaft and 3rd gear on the layshaft look rusty on the photo's. This is not the case, they are just made from different material.
Kickstart installation was simple and then time to move on to the crankshaft.
Another problem of storage and corrosion where it had been sitting on something damp.


As you can see the corrosion was quite heavy and it took the best part of an hour to get it cleaned up using a combination of fine wire brush, brass brush and Brasso applied with 00 wire wool. Not sure if the pitting which remains will affect the balance but I don't think the difference will be critical on this type of machine - not as if it will be running like a MotoGP engine!
Had to be careful to clean away wire wool debris afterwards.


The crankshft dropped in nicely but the outer oil seal is definately needing replaced


Well that's it for today. I'll have to look for replacement oil seals and also the needle bearing for the bottom gear. e-bay here I come!

Moving forward slowly

Not too much time spent today, only 2 or 3 hours, but some nice results!
Started on the bottom crankcase to get rid of oil/grease and lightly polish inner surfaces.


As you can see there was heavy muck inside the LH near the neutral switch.
The Auto Glym worked a treat, with the help of a toothbrush of course, but this still left some heavy deposits in some very awkward spaces.
The answer came in the form of the ever popular WD40 which turned out to be an excellent cleaner when combined with some cotton buds. See results below!



Obviously still some work to do on the outside but this is well on the way to ready for assembling the gearbox and crankshaft.

The next task was to clean the very tough deposits in the crankshaft housing.
This turned out to be quite stubborn and resisted several solvents etc. but the sjob became quite easy with a combination of a piece of 00 wire wool and some Brasso!
About 5 minutes later and it was spotless!!!


So this just leaves the deposits from the old gasket to remove and then I'll move on to the top casing, probably on Monday.