Questions About My Restore Project

[79XS11F]

Well where there's a will there is in deed a way. I got the engine in the frame this morning and it went smooth enough. The Pics will show you how I did it. So I will put on the case guards and through bolts this afternoon early evening and continue with the work at hand.
Rob

[79XS11F]

NEW QUESTION

OK so I am pretty much ready to torque the engine mounting bolts but have a question. The torquing order calls for the U-Joint flange of the drive shaft to be torqued before the engine mounting bolts. My swing arm however is not installed yet so do I have to install it first in order to maintain the torque order? Or can i just torque the engine into place and then install the swing arm? Will it make any difference given that the entire bike was apart as compared to having only removed and replaced the engine.
Rob

[Mathh]

wow

looked at your pics and you definitely invest a lot of energy in this bike! Looks great! keep up the good work.

[John]

Re: NEW QUESTION

Originally posted by 79XS11F
OK so I am pretty much ready to torque the engine mounting bolts but have a question. The torquing order calls for the U-Joint flange of the drive shaft to be torqued before the engine mounting bolts. My swing arm however is not installed yet so do I have to install it first in order to maintain the torque order? Or can i just torque the engine into place and then install the swing arm? Will it make any difference given that the entire bike was apart as compared to having only removed and replaced the engine.
Rob

Just go ahead and torque the mounts, I can't see what difference it would make when the swingarn gets installed.

[79XS11F]

Thanks Mathh... It has become a labor of love LOL LOL....
John I have in deed decided to go ahead and torque the engine in place and do the swing arm when i install it.
Torquing the engine into place leads to this NEW QUESTION. The mounting bracket torque specs call for 48 foot pounds. This number must be incorrect because those bolts just will not take that much torque. I already broke one off before meeting the spec. I had the same problem last year when I put this bike together with the hopped up engine. I even went out and bought harder steel bolts and they also popped off before 48 foot pounds was met.
QUESTION ... Has anyone else had this issue? If so what torque did you end up going with? I managed to get them to around 35 foot pounds which is a lot higher then what is called for in the general bolt torque specs for a bolt of this DIA.
Rob

[John]

Most any grade 5 or stronger bolt will take 48 ft lbs of torque. You may want to have your torque wrench calibrated. Which mounts are you talking about? The upper set in the front of the engine, where the two chrome brackets bolt to the frame? Those are 8 mm bolts aren't they? They should be more than stout enough to take that kind of torque.

[79XS11F]

Good morning John ... Yes I am talking about the 4 smaller sized bolts that hold the upper front engine mount brackets to the frame. I also would question my torque wrench but I am pretty sure that my wrench is good because I have 3 of them. I have my old stand by swing needle type and 2 "click" types here. The click types are not cheepies. Out of curiosity I checked the manuals general torque specs for bolts that are 12MM heads and 8 MM shanks and it lists a rating of 15 pounds so 48 dose in deed seem high. In any case I will guess that the bolts are fatigued. So I will not delay my project but will order new bolts and install them when the parts come.
Thanks
Rob.

[79XS11F]

Getting there one step at a time

Would have got the exhaust installed today if I had engine cover gaskets. I was sure I had them but don't :-( OH well I set up the handlebar gear and did other jobs.



Rob

[79XS11F]

WOW ... That was a close call

I was installing the timing on my bike this morning and when I rotated the engine to get things lined up I could only turn it about 1/4 turn. I popped out the plugs and tried again and it still would stop dead at about 1/4 turn. Engine was in neutral and the clutch is not installed so I could not figure out what was going on. I decided to pop off the valve cover to confirm that I had the valve shims in place and they were. Then I noticed that the cams for # 1 just didn't look to be in the right position. Will it turned out that somehow or another the cam timing was OFF. It does not make any sense because I ran this engine without any issues last year before I built the 1179 engine. In any case there must be a god somewhere because if I had not had to install the timing guts I would have never noticed this and we all know what would have happened as soon as I tried to fire her up for the first time. I will have to guess that when the engine was upside down to clean the underside the cam chains position changed.
Anyway to make sure everything is as it should be I removed the cams and set them up from scratch. Go thing I didn't try to force her to turn further when she stopped.
Rob

[skids]

Re: WOW ... That was a close call

I am glad that somebody lucks-out from time-to-time.

[79XS11F]

No kidding Skids ... If the timing had not been taken off that engine I would never have caught that. I am guessing that with the cam chain tensioner removed and the engine being turned upside down a few times that some how the cam chain changed position. Perhaps a few times for all I know.
So if there's anything to learn from this for me it is to ALWAYS turn over any engine by hand a few times before starting for the first time. Likely more important if the engine is new to the owner.
Rob