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Author Topic: Engine on bench - what to check?  (Read 949 times)

Ian_N

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Engine on bench - what to check?
« on: April 16, 2009, 02:17:12 PM »
Hello all
After 18 months of procrastination, I spent the Easter holiday weekend stripping my R65 to a pile of (carefully labelled) bits...

The block is on the bench, so my question is...   which bits should I definitely check and expect to replace?

It's an '82 engine of unknown mileage - probably quite high as the bike has done 70,000 + miles.
Bores are smooth, which is encouraging, but there is a fair amount oil in airbox (blocked breathers?) and around the clutch housing (crank shaft oil seal?). I should strip the clutch I think to check for wear.
At the other end, should I be looking at changing the timing chain?

I don't want to do stuff for the sake of it -  I'd like to ride it at some point!

Thanks for any suggestions and sorry if this has been covered before.

Offline nhmaf

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Re: Engine on bench - what to check?
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2009, 02:38:04 PM »
Do you have the Haynes and/or Clymer manuals for these bikes ?

The oil in the clutch housing is most often the rear main seal.  The manuals above describe fairly well how to replace it, but not perfectly well.   It *could* be the seal around the input shaft of the transmission that leaked, but one can often tell fromthe smell of the oil (gearbox oil has a distinctly different odor from used engine oil).   One critical thing is TO BE SURE TO BLOCK THE FRONT OF THE CRANK BEFORE YOU TRY TO PULL THE REAR MAIN SEAL OUT TO AVOID DISLODGING AN INTERNAL THRUST WASHER  INSIDE THE CRANKCASE.   Otherwise - you're in for an even bigger disassembly job !!!!   Somewhere in our technical section we've got some pointers on this with a thread discussing someone doing it, with some pics.

With that many miles, I would definitely inspect the timing chain and sprockets, and check the tensioner as these have sometimes been known to self-destruct, break apart in high mileage engines.

Was this a running bike before you started breaking it down?   Sometimes hearing it running can steer one into - or away from- areas that might/might not need attention.

It is good that you are going to check the clutch assembly.   Inspect the splines on the transmission shaft and giver her a good cleaning and light coat of moly-based grease like the Honda Moly-60 stuff.
Chances are you may need a new clutch/friction disks but the diaphragm spring and carrier may be fine.  

If you've got the engine on a bench I'd also pull off the pan and check the oil pickup screen , clean it all out and look for any particles that might lead you to other areas to investigate.
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Darwin_R65

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Re: Engine on bench - what to check?
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2009, 06:57:49 AM »
If you mean the kitchen bench, I'd be checking for the wife's whereabouts. :)

Ian_N

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Re: Engine on bench - what to check?
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2009, 03:46:33 PM »
Thanks for the advice. I found the thread you refer to under 'Annoying Oil Leak' on 15 April 08. Good link to SnowBum's site.

This afternoon I stripped the clutch to much confusion. I'll post separately on this...

Offline Bob_Roller

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Re: Engine on bench - what to check?
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2009, 04:31:33 PM »
If yo are going to remove the flywheel, you've been warned about blocking the front of the crankshaft to prevent the crankshaft moving forward, and most likely dislodging a thrust shim at the back of the engine.

If you are wondering on how to lock the flywheel to remove the 5 bolts, I have used a common screwdriver blade setting on the 'lip' area on the block at the back, put the screwdriver blade there, and move the flywheel to where a tooth on the flywheel contacts the srcewdriver blade and holds it.
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Offline Rob Valdez 79 R65

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Re: Engine on bench - what to check?
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2009, 02:47:04 AM »
Yes, you want to block the crankshaft BEFORE removing the FLYWHEEL, not the oil seal.

And this is another method of holding the crank from rotating: