My xr has a drink problem....

[waffles]

..... hes addicted to *sob* oil! He spends all of my money on bottles of the stuff and chugs it down like its going out of fashion.

Over the summer I stripped it down, replaced loads of bits and finally had a bike with bolts that matched and could be undone without the need for heavy machinery. It could be a bit of a bitch to start but doing the tappets eliminated most of the rattle and it would normally burst into life after a couple of kicks. However it would still need topping up with oil after every ride and the exhaust was smelling pretty funky to boot. At the back of my mind was the worry that I would get stuck in the arse-end of nowhere faced with a dead bike and the prospect of roping mates in to help me push back to civilisation.

This is how the xr looked after its makeover in the summer....

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2885.jpg

Compression test was the first task, according to the Haynes manual compression for my bike should be between 180 and 191 psi and the xr was producing somewhere around 80. So here we go again, stripped down and back in the workshop for some engine tinkering.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2917-2.jpg

The first thing to check over was the carb as it may have been tinkered with by the previous owner, the bike is running too rich so checking the settings would have been the logical place to start. Subframe had to be lifted up, wiring free'd up, cable ties cut and bolts out. Sadly I rounded one of the bolts holding the subframe in place so it needed some "persuasion", I need to add some of those onto my shopping list.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2918-2.jpg

Taking the carb apart revealed there was some grit in there but nothing that would suggest the fuelling was set up incorrectly. Arse, time to tackle the engine it is then! I took off the exhaust (this needs repacking anyway) and headers which were starting to discolour where they bolt onto the engine. Another sign that all is not well and its running too hot.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2919-1.jpg

This looked familiar, I got a lesson in how 4 stroke engines work by cranking the engine over and watching what happened. After finding all of the bolts (there are loads by the way, some of them are craftily hidden) off came the top of the engine. The plan was to strip the engine down to check out the barrel and piston.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2920-1.jpg

Camshaft, just to the right of it is the camchain tensioner. The Haynes made it look very easy to remove using a high tech piece of equipment - the Honda opened-up-paperclip. Half an hour of struggling, head scratching and cursing later the executive decision was to leave the f*****g thing in place and carry on removing bits of engine. Clutch cover off with some difficulty as bolts were stuck and the gasket had welded everything together.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2921.jpg

Im going to work on the clutch later as the bike has issues going from 1st to neutral when the bike is running.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2922.jpg

By this point it was getting on a bit but may as well keep going and delve deeper. I pulled out the oil filter at the bottom of the engine and checked it over. Looked in good nick to me so I gave it a quick shake off and replaced. Time to go for broke and get to the piston. As the bolts came out they appeared to have baked on oil over them and they smelt like burnt chips. (As modelled by my assistant!)

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2924.jpg

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2925.jpg

Viola, it looks terrible! The smell was awful and there were chunks of oil sitting ontop of the piston. Turning the engine over so that the piston dropped back down revealed something interesting.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2926.jpg

Around the side of the barrel is heavy corrosion and some pitting, pretty sure the engine has been drowned in a puddle at some point. Hopefully this is the cause of the poor compression and shitty oil comsumption!

The to-do list now stands at:
New subframe bolts
Rebore
Oversized piston
New gasket set
Inspect clutch plates
Repack exhaust
Stop fiddling with my bikes!
____________________
Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[mrtEE]

Time for a 280 kit?

[.....]

My XR400 needed a rebuild after ploughing in to a deep (much deeper than I thought ) muddy puddle and me flying over the handlebars.

Good luck with it

[waffles]

[ajbsmirnoff]

There's something ever so pornographic about those photos of the engine disassembly. Probably just me.

[salty21]

[CHR15]

[Teflon-Mike]

[ajbsmirnoff]

[salty21]

[Fizzer Thou]

[waffles]

More bits fell off the bike today

This is the corrosion inside the barrel as a result of a dunking in some water.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2926.jpg

I whipped the clutch basket off to get to the bottom of the camchain tensioner, more of that later. Off came the barrel with some careful thumping with a hammer and some wiggling of different engine bits. With a final tug the piston and barrel parted company and I could finally see the extent of the corrosion inside. Its fairly deep but will come out with a rebore. Go up 0.5mm or 1mm is my biggest decision. The fact that I can't seem to source a 1mm oversize piston unless I import from the states is a bit of a PITA. I'll keep looking!

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2930.jpg

Gratuitous engine porn, its got no clothes on!

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2931.jpg

Here is the clutch basket, horribly discoloured on the outside and didn't fare much better on the inside.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2932-1.jpg

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2933-1.jpg

Closeup showing pitting and wear marks. This will be buffed/polished out later and I wobn't bother replacing it. Its had a hard life but everything is well within limits according to the Haynes.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2934.jpg

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2935.jpg

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2936.jpg

I have my shopping list, off to hammer the credit card into submission!
____________________
Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[Tim..]

Be a good time for some new stem seals and lap the valves in
____________________
Project builds: My VFR400 nc30 build thread + Honda Britain Rep VFR + What? Another VFR +Project 'cos I want one' + V8 coffee table
www.marshallracing.co.uk
OCD - Helping to bring the standard of my bikes up and make me slowly go mad since 1999

[Frost]

Give it a new cam chain too.

[nightshaddow]

good test for the valves are to put the plug back in turn it upside down and fill with fuel, if the fuel drips through valve seats need redoing if it dont they should be fine

[waffles]

[Tim..]

You don't normally see wear on a cam chain, they just go.

It'll prob be fine to re-use, but why take the risk when you have it all so stripped apart.
____________________
Project builds: My VFR400 nc30 build thread + Honda Britain Rep VFR + What? Another VFR +Project 'cos I want one' + V8 coffee table
www.marshallracing.co.uk
OCD - Helping to bring the standard of my bikes up and make me slowly go mad since 1999

[waffles]

Oh really? I assumed that you would see a gradual wearing out of them. They are pretty expensive though, if my budget will stretch I will consider it.

Cheers for the tip
____________________
Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[CHR15]

ring tony at galea camchains 01268 735355 he'll do you a good price.
____________________
Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[mattsprattuk]

That isn't Ste's old XR250 by any chance is it? I seem to recall that being sat up with a top end full of water.
____________________
Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[Fizzer Thou]

[Fizzer Thou]

[Fizzer Thou]

[waffles]

[waffles]

After a cruddy week at work it is again time to take out some aggression on an inanimate object, this time Mr Clutch Cover parted company with its gasket thanks to a razor blade. I gave it a bit of a clean up and it went into a bag ready to go back on once I have cleaned up the various clutch plates.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2937.jpg

Ooh, shiny! Next up, the exhaust. I bought this from fleabay and it sounds pretty brutal. My bike became one of those antisocial wankers that I complain about. I could hear things rattling around in there! Time to bust out the drill and drill bits of various sizes. I read an article about how to do this in Ride, how hard could it be????

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2938.jpg

First few rivets came out with very little effort.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2939.jpg

Two kept spinning round with the drill and they had to be chiselled off. The exhaust tip was stuck in place with silicone so I tapped all the way round with a hammer and chisel (gently!) and the end slid off finally. And with it came a small pile of carbon and the ends of the rivets.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2940.jpg

Minging!

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2941.jpg

Apparently FMF pipes are ones that you have to dismantle at both ends before you can take the packing out. I didn't know this. Hence myself and Fizzer Thou spent 10 minutes with the molegrips trying to pull the middle section out of the exhaust.....

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2942.jpg

Drilled out two of the rivets at the other end, had to chisel off the other four. With the link pipe bend in the way this became pretty difficult to get a good purchase on the tiny rivet. Eventually they decided to part company and the exhaust finally came apart. "How hard could it be????" Bloody difficult apparently!

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2945.jpg

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2946.jpg

Hold your noses, here comes the old packing!

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2947.jpg

I left that outside to think about what it had done. Part of it was solid carbon, it stank and there were little balls of carbon rolling around in it that had caused the rattling I mentioned previously. I gave everything a good scrub with a wire brush but had to leave repacking it for another day as I don't have any replacement rivets of the correct size to hand. Time to tackle the cylinder and cylinder head instead. During the week I picked up a replacement cylinder, piston, gudgeon pin etc etc from a member of a Honda forum. Putting my replacement piston and the OEM piston side by side it was clear that it wasn't an original one. I measured it up and I have managed to buy a .5mm oversize piston and rebored cylinder. Awesome! There is an uneven burn pattern on the dome of the piston though but im going to worry about that another day.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2948.jpg

Some detective work later and the general consensus is that it is a Wiseco piston, here is a side by side comparison with an xr400 Wiseco.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2949.jpg

But mine is definitely a higher compression piston, check out ma dome!

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2950.jpg

On to the cylinder head. First, screw the spark plug back in and pour white spirit in there to check for leaks.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2951.jpg

Two valves were fine, no leaks at all. The other two showed small leaks. Time to pull the valves out then! Using a handy valve spring compression tool!

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2952.jpg

I have completely forgotten what the bits are called, but I pulled out the *thingys* that held the valve springs and seals in place, made me jump as they make a loud pop when they loosen up. To keep track of what came out of where, heres the map what Fizzer drew in his bestest biro. Under each valve is either a 1 or a 2 depending on where they came from, the top of each spring has red paint to make it easy to work out which way they go back on again.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2954.jpg

Cylinder head minus valves

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2955.jpg

An inlet valve (left) and exhaust valve (right). Something looks odd here.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2957.jpg

A little closer, this time. Both of the inlet valves are worn. Instead of showing a 45 degree angle they are more curved.

https://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/siany_album/Fixin%20the%20XR/CIMG2958.jpg

So I need to add a pair of inlet valves to my shopping list. List price of them is coming up at £18 each, fortunately the exhaust valves seem to be in the region of £30 each! Im shopping around to find some cheaper

Next up, probably the clutch. Stay tuned.
____________________
Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125