Lots will be happening in the shed at KLX central for 2013. Bike 1 will get the Frankenstien engine pulled out on boxing day and stripped to find out what damage was done after the front sprocket shaft seal popped out again on the Longest day ride and pumped the sump dry, resulting in a loud knocking noise coming from the bottom end which I shut the engine down on the side of the road 20 klms out of Bourke. The engine in Bike 1 is called the frankenstien engine cause its been a rock solid engine for a few years now which was originally a KLX650R model engine which was barstardized to run a lot of different parts from different model bikes. Its got a different head on it, Cams out of a GPZ900 road bike, Cast iron cylinder instead of Nikisil. No decomp mech, manual cam chain tensioner. It runs a crank out of a different model bike which enabled the electric start conversion and a different CDI. The cylinder has been bored out to 102mm which takes it out to 680cc and I run a Wossner piston kit. Apart from the sprocket shaft seal the engine is bomb proof. So I have decieded to rebuild it the same way again. Bike 2, is Juniors bike, being 17 and more intrested in chasing pussy at the moment his bike came back from Thrashers with a blown head gasket, easy fix. Junior rebuilt his engine himself last year unsupervised and I think he may have tensioned the head down to the wrong torque settings. Once that is done his bike will be a goer. trying to con him in to coming up to Birdsville next year to be part of fairwelling Bill at Big Red with Phil. Bike 3, will be stripped back to a bare frame and sand blasted and sheding its 97 model colour scheme for the 2002 colours the match bike 1 and 2. The whole bike will be rebuilt from the ground up and the subframe mod will be done so it can hump a load. Bike 3 wont be rego'ed until my son Mark is ready for his first Poon trip. Bike 4, well there is no bike 4 but this year I will find it somewhere, prob another wreak or failed engine job going cheap. So as for now thats about it, I'll keep you all posted. Cheers Fogo...
I had a few spare hours today so I thought I better wash Bike 1 and get the donk out and strip it to see what damage its done. I removed the bash plate and drained what oil was left in the crankcase. I my suprise about a litre of coolant came out. oh.:eek1 I put the bike up on the lift and Junior and I got to removing the engine, which took about 1 and 1/2 hrs. We got the donk up on the bench and took the head and barrell off. Thank god the cam tunnels are fine, how I dont know. The front sprocket seal had popped out draining the oil and the cylinder grabbed the piston. The barrel is rooted, wouldn't be suprised if the cylinder liner is cracked cause I couldn't see where the coolant was coming from. The head gasket looked fine. The crank looks fine, If I wasn't doing trips into the outback in remote area's I would reuse the crank and bearings. But its not a helicopter. The rest of the bottom end looks fine too, trans gears ect. Cheers Fogo...:huh
Hi Fogo,what causes the countershaft seal to blow out fail?,read a few of you posts etc is it the 2nd time this has happened?
Cool projects I've had success with loctite retaining compound,one of the 600 series can't remember which one, for locking in countershaft seals after they've popped out.It was pretty loose before gluing in and is still in service a couple of years later.
I'm not sure mate, but I need to get it sorted, I have been using good quality aftermarket seals not genuine Kawasaki. I removed Juniors seal yesterday and nearly had to distroy the engine to get it out as it was glued in with 3 bond. One of the guys from the KLX650 thread said that once there was an engine that kept blowing out the sprocket seal and it was due to overfilling the engine with oil. I myself also like to run the oil at the upper level due to the engine only holding 1.5 litres of oil. The safety net. Right the plan is that when I get this engine back together I am going to rig up a new wiring loom and fit an engine oil pressure switch that is normally closed and hook that into the kill switch circuit. If I get a engine oil pressure switch that will close at less than 8 psi oil pressure the spark will be cancelled and the bike engine will come to a stop before failure so you can at least find the fault and fix it before it was too late like this years Longest day ride. In my spares I had a sprocket shaft seal but the oil comes out too quick, 2 minutes and its all over. So I hear your mind ticking over, how do you start it up when it has no oil pressure? Well I will put a push button spring return switch on the LHS handle bar that will be normally closed and in series with the oil pressure switch so when the oil pressure switch is trying to shut the spark off durring start up and you push the button in it will cancel the kill switch earth wire going to the CDI. Should work and no chance of anyone stealing your bike at the servo, crikeys, Lentel couldn't even start it with instructions the old way. Cheers Fogo. Feel free to leave coments .
Those klx engines from that era were rock solid,same with the klrs back then,maybe doing the low oil pressure cutout to ignition could be more of a band aid,You havent got a restriction in the lube circuit that is causing build up down stream?ie undersize lube orifices on cams,acc oil cooler plumed or incorrect?
Bummer about the BGP mate. The counter shaft seal will blow from build up of crank case pressure, this can happen to the XR650R if the breather tube is pinched when the fuel tank is installed if care is not taken. Breather tubes over time can become blocked too. Some guys used to remove the breather tube that runs to the air box and install a K&N filter on the breather tube. Adding an oil cooler won't give that much more oil capacity.
I will have too post a pic of the counter shaft seal removed,cause the outside of the counter shaft bearing is sealed and an oil feed steel tube feeds oil to a port that comes out in between both the seal and the counter shaft bearing, I could understand that if there was no inner seal but that would cause no restriction for oil pressure, maybe the inner seal is designed to leak a certain amount to lube the counter shaft bearing.
Great effort, but on a different note I was reading the other day about how the cops are using U-Tube footage and the like (spot trackers?) to prosecute hoons for speeding and such, maybe ya might need to cover your arse a bit in that regard. Regards Eric
Id be intersted to see how that worked out for them! unless they catch them on their gear @ the time of the offence my limited understanding of the law is they wouldnt have a leg to stand on. it would be nigh on impossible to prove he was speeding in a court. fogoso speedo could be dodgy or the film may have been tampered with. (as I say this is a simpletons view and in no way represents a serious understanding of the law or police operations) And if they are like any other NSW state department there resources are stretched pretty thin as it is and they probably dont have time for a more frivoulous adventures like catching Kermit speeding acrossthe country side. I say I want to see the extra 20 kph fogo promised me by text on his way back from bourke with quirky!
I have got some good footage to put on youtube but am trying work out how to blur the GPS, time and Speedo on my video program. The other way is to put a movie together and post it on Youtube and keep it on a private page and let eveyone know on ADV that if you want to see it PM me and I will send you the link and if you have a very Small post count you wont get it. As for the top speed of the day Lentil on a private station road, 165. on the flat on a sandy road 150 - 155----BANG Cheers Fogo...
Thanks Man, The people who have made it on there first attempt I take my hat off to you, but really you gain so much experiance each time you do it. It takes real nerves to hold it flat past mobs of 10 or more Emu and hope they stay there. I had a steer run out in front of me @ 130, I came around one corner to ride into a mob of sheep and scattered them everywhere, much to the disappointment of the farmer mustering them. But guess What? I will be riding in the vintage class next year. It will be the 20th year anniversery of the KLX650R.
