Inserting pistons into the cylinders, A one & a two...

[KA1J]

I found some rings and miced the cylinders & according to the service manual for the XJ1100 the standard cylinder bore is 71.5mm & wear limit is 71.6, my #2 cylinder top is cut to 71.58 and the bottom measures at 71.59 & I read 71.58 in the middle of piston travel.

I'll lightly hone the cylinders to mate with the new rings & next I will compare my existing pistons with others being sent to me & I'll be using the best 4 of the 8. With that, I'm going to be reassembling the top half of the engine very soon and wonder if there's a good set of detailed photos & caveats of doing this? I've searched but didn't find quite what I'm looking for.

For instance, I'm cutting a base gasket from printable gasket template library & though I was told you can use RTV & no gasket, I'd like to use one & do I put a thin layer of RTV on both sides of the gasket or one side or none? What is the best way to install the rings and then put the pistons in the cylinders when the engine is still in the bike when one is doing this alone? I read somewhere about a jig to hold the cylinders? I have no idea what it looks like or what I need to do this. Do I need two ring compressors to do this?

There's the info in the Yama service manual but its geared towards trained mechanics & well, I haven't earned those wings yet.

Any good pictorial links for reassembly of the top half?

Thanks!

[motoman]

I found some rings and miced the cylinders ////////Don't forget to remove the mice before assembly!

[psycoreefer]

just take your time and work it down. I just did exactly what your planning to do, by myself without any help. I used some large hose clamps from Home depot instead of a piston ring compressor. I found I had better luck starting all 4 cylinders at the same time.

It would have been easier with another set of hands to help align and guide the pistons into their bores but its doable solo.

I ditched the base gasket (which I might add leaks on all 3 of my bikes) and used RTV. If you go with RTV start the pistons in to the bores, and then make your RTV bead around the bottom. I did it the reverse way (RTV before starting the pistons) and I'll tell you it was a huge mess.

If your using a gasket then you shouldn't need RTV.

[crazy steve]

Actually, there's a good reason not to use a base gasket; you can get a small performance boost. Leaving out the base gasket is the same as taking a small cut on the head, and will slightly boost compression ratio...

[natemoen]

When I put my jugs back on I set the pistons so that 2 pistons were up and two were down (I put a rod through the holes in the stator to hold it in place because the pistons will move if you dont). Set the jugs on top and slid them down to the pistons and just slowly tapped them down and watches to see if any rings started to catch, it it did I would squeeze the ring and things would move again. And just slowly worked it onto the first 2 pistons and when I got past all the rings on those two then I pulled the rod out of the stator and worked on the other two.

I used anerobic gasket maker instead of RTV because it does not set up until the parts are bolted together (that way if I got pissed off and walked away for a week or whatever it still wouldnt be set and would still be usable).

Big tips would be, take you time and dont force it! Make sure you get all the cam chain guide parts inside the engine, cause it sucks having to pull the jugs back off to put them in there!

[psycoreefer]

OH yeah I almost forgot, if the jugs seem stuck, reach in and pull cam chain guide out of the hole where the tensioner goes, don't just keep pushing assuming its stuck on the rings or something.

[KA1J]

Some great suggestions.

Remove the mice before assembly... I will indeed

I'll see what Home depot has available for wide hose clamps, if they'll work I'll not need to buy ring compressors.

I'll ditch making the gasket & go with either RTV or anerobic adhesive but I'll have read up on the caveats of anerobic as I've never used it before, is there a good brand to look for? Perhaps it's difficult to remove if I'd someday have to crack the case open? If I go with RTV is black the better option?

It seems like it would be easier to install two pistons at a time rather than 4, in that it would allow a bit of rocking side to side to help get the rings seated in the cylinder.

Good pointers about the chain guides, I'd sure hate to leave anything to re-do later or miss the chain was caught. I read about people having issues with the chain not lining up with the gear at the bottom so I've been making sure it's not hanging slack in the case & have it hanging fairly tight with a wire looped from above.

Any other suggestions?

[natemoen]

No caveats with the anaerobic, it works the same, comes off the same, it just gives you as long as you need to assemble without it setting up when you are not ready.

One time I was putting the jugs on and did it in about 25 minutes, the next time it took me a few days.

Also make sure you have your ring end gaps of each ring positioned correctly on each piston. Also measure and check your ring end gaps and make sure they are good.

[KA1J]

Went to Auto Zone & they hadn't heard of Anaerobic anything, checked NAPA & it's not on their on-line catalog. Did find the Permatex anaerobic gasket maker listed at Advance Auto for $13.79 & they also had the anaerobic flange sealant @ $49.99... Supposedly the flange sealant is good for higher temperatures.

Here's the Permatex blurb: http://http://www.permatex.com/produ...ket_makers.htm

I also looked at the Permatex black RTV & the copper RTV & the copper is rated for higher temps but the black says highly resistant to oil and is good to 500 deg. F & this will be in a constant oil environment. What's been advised here is the black RTV & I'm assuming the reference is to Permatex?

As to the Anaerobic, is it the gasket maker or the flange version people I should look at? Flange is too expensive for me to want to use. I don't think the temps for the gasket maker version would be so excessive at the base of the cylinders. What about at the manifold boots? I've cut out gaskets for the rubber manifolds but perhaps I can use that gasket maker there & can this be used for the valve cover sealant?

Amazing that all this is coming together. I sure appreciate the hints & help!

[petejw]

ive used a cut up can of soda pop to
wrap around the pistons to hold the rings in,
i also only do 2 pistons at a time, i have the 2 centre
pistons a little higher have them put into the bores before
doing the outer 2, also oil the bores lightly before pushing
the pistons in.
glad shes all coming together for u.

[natemoen]

I got the anaerobic gasket maker at NAPA, something like $15ish, pretty sure it was permatex brand.

As to other gasket, the only places you need to use a real gasket on these bikes is the exhaust, head gasket, valve stems, and the float bowls and brings on the carbs, everything else can be replaced with the gasket maker of your choosing.

[KA1J]

Now I need to find a different head gasket... Bought one off ebay & it was for the XS1100 which was fine because I'll reuse the YICS gaskets off my old one. So here I am reviewing the ebay page I bought the gasket from that's now in the mail, on its way to me and I see...

Cometic PART#:C8046
YAMAHA XS1100 years ALL YEARS!
Bore size: 74MM-74.5MM

74MM? wait a minute, I miced my cylinders and they are 71.58 & normal specs so I look up the Cometic site & yup, this is the only one they sell for the XS1100, but it's for oversize pistons.

Rats, now I'm back to searching for a head gasket & now I have something to find a home for.

One step backward... Ugh...

[natemoen]

Sounds more like it is for a wiesco big bore. Put a link up to the ebay action page so we can see it.

[KA1J]

Sounds more like it is for a wiesco big bore. Put a link up to the ebay action page so we can see it.

I'd done a ebay search for XS1100 head gasket & found this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/YAMAH...#ht_1664wt_752

if that's too long to link to, here's a tinyurl of the same page: http://tinyurl.com/3e3qvyg

I didn't realize when I bought it that it wasn't for a stock bore. My mistake, they gave the bore values on the ebay page but I wasn't looking for bore sizes, just that it said the gasket was for all the XS11 years.

I do have the XJ11 but wanted to save the expense of the XJ11 head gasket and the compression part is the same between the two engines & I was going to transfer the separate rear YICS section from the old gasket for the rebuild.

Live & learn...

[planedick]

Why E-bay

Why not get a real Yamaha gasket set from somewhere reliable like Old bike Barn or maybe even a Yamaha dealer? Lucky me I have a dealer here that's been here from 1946 and has everything still available "on the shelf". $100 gets every gasket for the whole engine, even valve guide seals....