Noob engine help

[3Phase]

Oh, man... sand, why did it have to be sand?

Split the case and finish disassembling the engine.

Soak and wash all of the parts and case halves in a tub with kerosene or diesel or whatever solvent works for you except gasoline.

Remove the two oil restrictor nozzles from the main bearing saddles in the case, then run small bore cleaning brushes through every single oil passage in the case halves and the crankshaft. Moroso sells a kit or you might pick up a kit from a parts house.

Soak and wash all of the parts and case halves again in a tub with kerosene or diesel or whatever solvent works for you except gasoline.

Wash everything with HOT soap and water.

Rinse with HOT water, then dry and oil anything that can rust because it will do it immediately.

Screw the oil restrictor nozzles back into the main bearing saddles.

Inspect the crankshaft and the connecting rod and crankshaft main bearings, then check the oil clearance with Plastigauge

If the crank and bearings are good, now would be the time to lap the valves, get a new endless D.I.D. cam chain, and check the 1st and 2nd gear wheels in the transmission.

Assembly is the reverse of disassembly but with an inch-pound torque wrench, Yamabond/Threebond case sealant, new seals, new o-rings, and new gaskets.

Have fun!

[AggiesaurusRex]

3Phase,

https://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc

Here I was thinking I'd be up and running in a week.

[3Phase]

3Phase,

https://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc

Here I was thinking I'd be up and running in a week.

LOL! Close!

Why does it have to be snakes


You know, if you wanted the engine up and running in a week then you should have washed the engine and frame before you dumped sand in it.


You can use a shop vac with the skinny crevice tool and that little round upholstery/dust brush from a normal house vacuum to get most of the sand and whatever off the crank and the rods.

Drain the oil, then drop the oil pan and let the bike sit overnight with a drain pan and some newspaper under it.

Take the bike outside and put a clean, empty, pan under it.

Find a large tub or empty trash can.

Run a garden hose with a trigger-type spray nozzle to the hot water heater drain or pretty much any source of hot water that'll give you some volume and not just pressure.

Spray the heck out of the crank, rods and case and catch the water in the pan. Don't run it and spread oily water all over creation, used motor oil is bad for children and other living things.

Empty the water out of the pan into the large tub/can and do it again until you've washed out the sand.

Starting from holes where the jugs used to be, use compressed air to blow the water out of the engine and into the pan.

Spray the crank and rods with WD-40 so it doesn't flash rust, then put some newspaper under it to catch... things.

The oil in the tub/trash can will float so siphon the wash water out of the large tub/trash can until there's mostly oil left in the bottom, then pour/mop the oily yuck into a bucket filled with newspaper. Let the water evaporate, then do whatever you need to do with the oily newspaper.


Put the engine back together.

Put in a primed oil filter and fill the engine with oil, then run the starter with the TCI unplugged to build oil pressure and push any leftover water out of the system without starting the engine.

Do that a few times to get the oil system pressurized and flushed.

Start the engine, let it warm up and go for a ride.

When you get back, drain the oil while it's hot and let it stand for a while.

Drop the pan, clean out any sand and cribblies, then put it back together with a primed, fresh filter and refill the engine.

You should be ready to ride, don't do that again.

[AggiesaurusRex]

Why can't I spin my motor counterclockwise? I'm trying to swap two of the exhaust shims and per the manual the motor needs to spin counterclockwise to do this. Plugs are out and it has a LOT of resistance. WAY more than the right way and more than I'm comfortable pushing past. I was extremely careful installing the cams and compression tested and have compression in all 4. What gives? I'm rotating via wrench on the timing plate. Am I not holding my head right or is this indication of something really bad?

[3Phase]

Why can't I spin my motor counterclockwise? I'm trying to swap two of the exhaust shims and per the manual the motor needs to spin counterclockwise to do this. Plugs are out and it has a LOT of resistance. WAY more than the right way and more than I'm comfortable pushing past. I was extremely careful installing the cams and compression tested and have compression in all 4. What gives? I'm rotating via wrench on the timing plate. Am I not holding my head right or is this indication of something really bad?

Is it in gear? Did something fall down the cam chain tunnel or does it rotate freely when you turn it clockwise and only binds up when you try to reverse it?

[AggiesaurusRex]

Everything goes fine clockwise I can spin it around fine, not in gear, nothing fell, no binding any other time.

[3Phase]

Everything goes fine clockwise I can spin it around fine, not in gear, nothing fell, no binding any other time.

Unless your starter motor is bad or jammed up, the crank should rotate the same either in direction if the cam chain hasn't jumped time.

Can you hear the starter motor and reduction gears turning when you turn the crank counterclockwise?

When it's rotated counterclockwise, the primary shaft will engage with the three little starter clutch dowels like they do to start the engine but it'll spin the starter motor backward. If the starter motor or the starter clutch/gears are whacked they can bind up and won't turn.

[AggiesaurusRex]

You are bang on. I'm continually impressed with this site. I pulled the starter motor and when I try to spin its gears manually with my fingers I cannot in either direction. With the starter out I can rotate the crankshaft both directions. Now what happened to the starter? It was fine before teardown, is there something I can do to remedy this?

[3Phase]

You are bang on. I'm continually impressed with this site. I pulled the starter motor and when I try to spin its gears manually with my fingers I cannot in either direction. With the starter out I can rotate the crankshaft both directions. Now what happened to the starter? It was fine before teardown, is there something I can do to remedy this?

I dunno, did you do anything dumb like tell it it's sister was a better spinner to make it go faster, did you? That'll make 'em freeze up every time.

You might be able to fix it if you take it apart and check the starter bearings and brushes. Before you take it apart, mark the body and both ends with a pencil, punch, or a scribe to line them back up when you put it back together, marker ink will wash off with solvent. If the bearing grease is just old and baked into glue instead of grease you can clean it out and put in some fresh grease. It's a little tricky to put it back together and seat the brushes on the commutator but it's not too bad if you have three hands and seventeen fingers.

[AggiesaurusRex]

Finally took the starter apart, looks like the ground? wire that runs along the inside case of the starter broke loose from where it adheres to the ground bolt, then being loose was able to jam everything up. I think its toast.

Part of me wants to ask if I even need a starter and if I can't just slap it back on empty and make it kick start only but I know the answer some of you will give.

[3Phase]

You can put the starter back in and just use a kicker but there are times when the electric start is invaluable, like stalling after stop in traffic or trying to start the engine when it's hot and/or flooded.

[skids]

The short answer is: You don't have a kick start mechanism on an 80. 78 and 79 had them.

[DiverRay]

If you need a starter for parts, I have one. PM me and I can ship it for about $25, all in.

[AggiesaurusRex]

hi fellas,
I'm all ready to rumble but no spark. Zip. Nada.
Its a harness from basically from scratch, it had to be done, I followed the manual and used what I could of the old harness to build to what I have now. My starter is still non-functioning but I'm able to use the kicker.
When I test power to coils I'm only getting 3V??? Where do I start?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Aggie,

3Phase/Scott is our resident electrical guru, but without seeing/knowing what you did to the harness, it can be difficult to assist.

The 80 still uses the ballast resistor in the coils circuit.....unless you've replaced the coils with newer hi power ones that are 3.0 ohms.

The ignition system routes 12V to the TCI. During startup it routes/bypasses the ballast resistor and sends the full 12V to the coils for easier stronger starting spark energy, then once the engine is running, the TCI senses that and then routes the power THRU the ballast resistor to help not burn the OEM 1.5 ohm coils up. But the voltage is usually just dropped a few volts going thru the B.R to around 9.

So....to only have 3 volts at the coils....hard to say why?!

T.C.