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Help me split a case

10K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  sfair 
#1 ·
I was hoping I could get a few sets of eyes on this. I BELIEVE I have every bolt out that holds the case halves together.... I don't.

I can get the case halves apart on one side but there is something holding them together near the shift linkage is what I am thinking but for the life of me I can't find anything. Please take a look and let me know where I am going wrong here. The bottom seam doesn't seem to want to come apart at all.




 
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#3 ·
Excellent work sir.

That did it, and I thank you. I will be making an eye doctors appointment now :eek:

Anyone interested in following along with the rebuild? Perhaps for documentation if nothing else? Or is this a dead horse subject?

Maybe for comedies sake at this point....
 
#6 ·
Will be following this just because am interested in know what is inside the motor without having to take my own apart to do so. Know there will be some differences in my 800, but the basics should be the same. Am approaching 100,000 on mine. Hoping to get a bigger bike early next year, then maybe refsh mine with rings, a valve job and such. Still runs fine, but with that many miles, am sure will be a drastic increase in performance by refreshing, that I didnt release I was loosing over the 7 years I've owned it. Like replaceing brakes and realizing just how they've degraded after the new ones are on.
 
#8 ·
Alright then.
A little back story. A friend of mine picked up this bike as part of a deal he made with some guy on craigslist. Of course the only thing wrong with the bike is that it "wasn't shifting properly". After picking it up he brought it directly to my shop and asked if I would take a look at it. We started it up THWAK THWAK THWAK and quickly shut it back down.

I said, well... "seems like you got some work to do on the bottom end", and he smiled back and asked if I was willing to take a look. I agreed, knowing that I have never torn down a v-twin before but probably overly confident of my mechanical abilities I figured I would be able to handle it.

The first thing I was to assess is, SHOULD we try to fix it. Sometimes buying a used motor can be a lot more time/cost effective than tearing into one. On the other hand, when you are done rebuilding a motor you know that it is in order while a used engine can be a bit of an unknown. After doing a little research, even looking around for an used engine, I decided to tear it down to see what I needed besides some bearings and gaskets.

Here is how it sits now, thanks to sfair's willing to be a second pair of eyes I now know that the crank will need to be ground and I need to find out if I can get over-sized bearings for it. The transmission looks fine from first glance, I am starting to believe that the linkage was the issue there.

Enough rambling from me. PICTURES!!!








 
#11 ·
What year is it?
Oversize bearings are NOT available. Replacing the crankshaft and standard bearings are the only option. If the mains are out of spec, then crankcase halves must be replaced.
One has to be carefull here as costs could get out of sight in a hurry. Do not spend dime one until the engine has been totally inspected against Kawasaki specifications with the cost of parts, and more important, if they are available, are added up.
 
#12 ·
I like the estimate approach you just gave SFair. I usually just dig in and buy buy buy parts to rebuild my own bikes but working and staying busy not only keeps me out of trouble but is also therapeutic for me. That's also probably why my "sight" is so bad nowadays. :)
 
#13 ·
What one wants to avoid is spending hard earned money on rings, pistons, etc., put it back together only to find out it has a main bearing knock. Not much fun and you lose interest in a hurry!
Also, if it is a four speed, there are some transmission issues that should be looked at while it is apart.
 
#14 ·
Because oversized bearings are not available this rebuild project is a loss. There is no point in buying a crank that probably cost as much as a used engine.

So my friend is in the market for a used engine for it. Any pointers on which engines will work and from which bikes?

Thank you very much sfair for pointing me in the right direction. I suspect you have saved me a lot of time and my friend a fistful of monies.

Thanks again.
 
#15 ·
Just keep scouring the internet if you don't have any large local area bike salvage yards. Wish you success and let us know what happens. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and the same goes to all the rest of you.
 
#16 ·
Meatness, here's a thought! Have u considered getting the journal built up at an engine shop?
 
#18 ·
I am in the Seattle area so that probably wouldn't help me much... Thanks for the heads up though Murphy, much appreciated.

Building up the journal is interesting, is this common practice with bike cranks?

I called around to some of the local bike yards but no luck. Seems like it could be a while, my poor friend is very down about the whole thing. I keep telling him he just needs to be patient.
 
#20 ·
Meatness. Have a look on YouTube abt building up journals. I remember having this done to some cranks on our fleet of heavy vehicles back in the mid 80's.

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