XJ1100 teardown: "We-e-e're off to see the welder, the wonderful welder of ours!"

[3Phase]

Yebbut the point of the o-rings is supposed to be to keep oil out of the sleeve/jug interface.

I can't really think of anywhere the oil can go either. It is trapped after it wicks/leaks past the #3 o-ring or any of the other o-rings into the interference fit zone around the sleeves but Yamaha didn't want oil to get in there at all, then they designed a big ol' leak at #3.

I know, I know, "Why does the world's largest mammal only have a throat this big...."

Edit: Maybe oil messes up the heat transfer between the sleeves and the jugs.

[3Phase]

While wrestling with this little project I've managed to mess up my shoulder.
I haven't been able to raise my right arm or even pick up a cup of coffee for about a week.

Better now; good times.
Anyway, I just happen to have a spare set of new STD rings so I decided to break the glaze and re-ring while I have the case open.

The cylinder bores and the pistons look good but the rings and spacers are all out of position.
So the rings do rotate in service, even the Wonder Chimp wouldn't set four pistons like that.

[3Phase]

Experimental

I'm trying an idea to de-carbon with drain cleaner aka sodium hydroxide.
It works for ovens and drains and it's gel so it stays mostly in place without fooling with it.

I hope it works. I'm keeping it off the clean aluminum so it won't remove anything but carbon.

I hate scraping carbon off parts.

[MPittma100]

Two Words

Glass bead. Will make it all brand new. Also removes any cylinder metal that has transferred to pistons.

[3Phase]

Any kind of blaster would be great but I have no air compressor except one of those 12V ones from the auto parts store. It makes it challenging to seat and inflate new tires but that can be done with a ratchet strap and some patience, no way will it run a gun.

The Drain Pro gel experiment doesn't seem to work, it's too weak so the gel dries out and turns white but doesn't faze the carbon. I put away the gel, then mixed up some water and lye crystals and brushed the smokin' hot stuff on the carbon. That seems to be working, it's quite exciting.

That hot crystal lye stuff will eat aluminum so no lollygagging or it's no pistons and no head.

[3Phase]

The lye crystals work great; gel, not so great!








I'll finish cleaning the carbon tomorrow, then lap the valves and put in new valve seals along with the hone and re-ring.

[motoman]

Good to hear your gonna hone those cyls. to put a cross-hatch pattern back in them. (just have a memory of Columbo not getting that PARTICULAR attention).

[3Phase]

Nah, I honed and put in new rings just before the trip out to Colorado for the rally.
They were beautiful, that's why I was baffled when the rings didn't seat and it was pumping oil out the exhaust so fast it didn't even burn, it made a cloud of raw oil behind the bike like fogging for 'skeeters.

The problem turned out to be a bunch of sand in the engine. From the amount of sand along with other trash I thought someone was mad at me and sabotaged it.
I did eventually discover that my brother had accidentally spilled it in the open engine as he was taking a rolled up rug out through the garage to shake the mud off of it.
The little....

Ye olde threade:-

What's the French word for 'shoe'?



The cylinders for the current project are honed, cleaned, and oiled down and the head's been cleaned too.
I still have to lap the valves so I'll get the first chance to use my new valve spring tool that Bonz mentioned in another thread.

Right now I'm taking a lunch break before I go back out and snap a couple of old rings to clean the 1st and 2nd ring grooves.
The chemical cleaning was good, that did most of the work for me but there's always a little bit of carbon left in the grooves.
After the grooves are cleaned, then I have to find the drill bit I use to ream out the oil holes in the pistons for the oil control rings to make sure they're clean.
I don't use a drill, just the bit and twist it with my fingers to clear the crud out of the holes.

[3Phase]

Strike that, I honed but put the old rings back in. It still would have worked except for the sand.

[3Phase]

I'm not sure if I should put this series here or make a follow-up to the valve spring tool post in the Product Evaluations section of the forums. (shrug)

For the price, the valve spring compressor works great. After a minor safety mod' all of the valves are out, numbered, and soaking before they get cleaned and lapped.










I caught this cylinder in the nick of time when I checked the valve clearances.
If I'd kept riding it would have burned up the #2 cylinder.

[MPittma100]

Hammer

Always a good idea to take a socket the size of the retainer and hit all of them with a hammer before using tool. Breaks them loose and tool has an easier job. Works on all cylinder heads.

[3Phase]

That's a good idea, Mike! Thanks!

[3Phase]

Safe!

The head's done. Yay!

The valves were all good; dirty but good. The seats in the head looked like they had measles but most of them cleaned up.

#2 Intake was almost not salvageable from being run out of adjustment and hanging open.
The cylinder had been running lean and hot so #2 Exhaust wasn't much better, it was close.
If the pitting was any deeper the seat would have to be recut, not just lapped and that'd basically scrap the head for me.

[bikerphil]

Looks great Scott, that’s a lot of work. Better give it a leak test just to make sure the seats are ok.

[3Phase]

Doubled my work!

I'll start the leak test in a bit and let it sit overnight.

I got to the last valve and noticed one of those tiny little valve seal springs sitting on the bench. I had to take out all the valves because of course, the spring was from the first valve seal I put in and I just finished putting them all back in the head.

That was fun -- not!