FordNut
10-08-2009, 08:35 PM
Finally got it done...
NOT the Marauder this time.
Long story, starting at the beginning.
A few years ago one of my motocycles blew the engine. It was the Eliminator, but the engine is about 95% the same as the Concours. When it blew, the block busted so I knew I had to have a whole replacement engine and since the 1000 Eliminator was only made for 1 year they're very difficult to find. So I bought a used Concours engine. Since I've been working out of state and travelling for the past 7 years or so, the bike and engine have been sitting over in the corner of the garage just waiting for me to get around to it.
Now that I'm out of a job, it's time to catch up on some of the projects that have been sitting around. So I spend about 2 days pulling the engine out of the Eliminator, a real PITA because it's shaft drive and the swingarm & driveshaft has to be removed to pull the engine. So the rear of the bike has to be suspended from a stand until I can get it all back together. I found a use for the squat rack that's been taking up garage space.
Started pulling it apart and got a real surprise. I knew the block was broken at the back, under the carbs where the starter & alternator attach. I thought an idler gear or something had caused the problem, when it blew I was running up the superslab in the hammer lane about 80-85 and it kinda went ka-chunk then slid sideways a little bit from the oil going under the rear tire. I pulled over and looked at it, the block was busted and alternator just hanging there. I went ahead and rode it home, it was running like crap but I took it easy and made it home ok. Well, when I pulled the radiator I saw the real cause of the damage. A huge hole in the block where it had slung a rod. Amazing.
So I get the engine out and start getting the replacement engine ready to go in. Start out with the oil pan, the concours has an oil cooler and the banjo fittings & oil passages are part of the pan. The Eliminator has no cooler but does have an oil temperature switch while the Concours does not. So a simple jumper hose wouldn't do the trick. But the Concours has a vibration damper/balancer shaft and the Eliminator doesn't and the Eliminator pan doesn't have an oil hole for the bearing of the shaft. The casting has all the oil passages, so all it needed was a hole drilled in it, good to go. Then the top end, need to adjust the valves. Pulled the plugs and one of them had the gap closed up. Can't just leave it like that, something must have caused it, maybe internal damage. Loaded it in the truck, went to the cycle shop and they looked in the cylinder with a bore scope. I kinda expected to find a broken ring land, but everything looked fine. Did a compression test and found a dead cylinder. Bummer, not a quick & simple swap, gotta get some gaskets and pull the head & cylinders. We figured it was stuck rings. Never did figure out the spark plug thing, maybe they dropped it when they were installing it.
Pulled the top end apart, the 3 cylinders with good compression had lots of carbon deposits and had stuck rings. The 1 cylinder with bad compression was clean as a whistle and the rings were in great shape. So I cleaned up the pistons & rings on the 3 cylinders and checked the valves. Yep, the dead cylinder had both a leaking intake and exhaust valve. So here we go to have the valves ground. Fortunately the seats were ok and the valves weren't bent.
So I put it all back together, put the engine back in the bike. Put the rear suspension back together. Spent 2 days putting the exhaust system back on (&off&on&off&on). Next is the carbs.
I had been thru them in the past, having troubles because the original set was broken. When I got the bike the carb body on one of the carbs was broken off where the pilot screw goes into it. Since Eliminator carbs are hard to find and they're a different size from the Concours carbs, I had tried long ago to get some compatible replacement carbs. I had been running Ninja ZX10 (not ZX1000) carbs because they were the right size. But all the jetting is totally different and they don't have the power valve. Never could get them running right. So while the motor was blown I ran across a set of Eliminator carbs. They were in terrible shape, rusty and corroded but they were complete so I figured I could take 2 sets and make 1 good set. All seems well.
But the rubber boots that connect the carbs to the airbox are very hard, not flexible and there is no way to get the carbs in without breaking them. They're no longer available, remember the bike was only made for 1 year. Some people swap to individual K&N filters but they cause running problems that are very difficult to correct even with jetting changes (flat spots in the power band, weak top end). Did some research and found that some people fix these things on classic bikes by soaking them in a mixture of Wintergreen Oil and Xylene. It worked, but if you leave them in it too long they start to swell up.
So I get the carbs on it, fire it up, it's got a dead hole. OH NO! It's the cylinder that had bad compression before. At least it's #1 and it's accessable. #4 would have been easier, but count my blessings that it wasn't #2. Checked compression and it's ok. Checked spark and it's ok. Gotta be the carbs. Pulled them suckers again, swapped the carb body for #1, put the guts back in. Put them back on, fired it up. Same thing. Just to make sure, I pulled the vacuum line and squirted gas in it with a syringe. Wow, the cylinder starts to run! OK, so it's for sure still a carb problem. Opened the drain valve and it's dry. Must be a stuck float or float valve. Next day, pulled the bowl without pulling the carbs, float & valve looked fine. Went ahead and pulled all the pilot jets, main jets, needle valve, and squirted gumout into the ports again. All seems fine, so I double-checked all the parts while putting it back together. A-HA, some debris had gotten into the pilot jet, couldn't get it out so I swapped to one of the spare pilot jets. Put it back together, fired it up, and it's all good! Put the tank on, put fresh gas in it. Test ride tomorrow, just about time to put fuel stabilizer in it and park it for the winter.
So this has been going on for a couple of weeks and the garage has been tied up so I couldn't do anything with my car. Really want to finish up the Marauder so I can get going on the '68 Mustang Fastback project.
NOT the Marauder this time.
Long story, starting at the beginning.
A few years ago one of my motocycles blew the engine. It was the Eliminator, but the engine is about 95% the same as the Concours. When it blew, the block busted so I knew I had to have a whole replacement engine and since the 1000 Eliminator was only made for 1 year they're very difficult to find. So I bought a used Concours engine. Since I've been working out of state and travelling for the past 7 years or so, the bike and engine have been sitting over in the corner of the garage just waiting for me to get around to it.
Now that I'm out of a job, it's time to catch up on some of the projects that have been sitting around. So I spend about 2 days pulling the engine out of the Eliminator, a real PITA because it's shaft drive and the swingarm & driveshaft has to be removed to pull the engine. So the rear of the bike has to be suspended from a stand until I can get it all back together. I found a use for the squat rack that's been taking up garage space.
Started pulling it apart and got a real surprise. I knew the block was broken at the back, under the carbs where the starter & alternator attach. I thought an idler gear or something had caused the problem, when it blew I was running up the superslab in the hammer lane about 80-85 and it kinda went ka-chunk then slid sideways a little bit from the oil going under the rear tire. I pulled over and looked at it, the block was busted and alternator just hanging there. I went ahead and rode it home, it was running like crap but I took it easy and made it home ok. Well, when I pulled the radiator I saw the real cause of the damage. A huge hole in the block where it had slung a rod. Amazing.
So I get the engine out and start getting the replacement engine ready to go in. Start out with the oil pan, the concours has an oil cooler and the banjo fittings & oil passages are part of the pan. The Eliminator has no cooler but does have an oil temperature switch while the Concours does not. So a simple jumper hose wouldn't do the trick. But the Concours has a vibration damper/balancer shaft and the Eliminator doesn't and the Eliminator pan doesn't have an oil hole for the bearing of the shaft. The casting has all the oil passages, so all it needed was a hole drilled in it, good to go. Then the top end, need to adjust the valves. Pulled the plugs and one of them had the gap closed up. Can't just leave it like that, something must have caused it, maybe internal damage. Loaded it in the truck, went to the cycle shop and they looked in the cylinder with a bore scope. I kinda expected to find a broken ring land, but everything looked fine. Did a compression test and found a dead cylinder. Bummer, not a quick & simple swap, gotta get some gaskets and pull the head & cylinders. We figured it was stuck rings. Never did figure out the spark plug thing, maybe they dropped it when they were installing it.
Pulled the top end apart, the 3 cylinders with good compression had lots of carbon deposits and had stuck rings. The 1 cylinder with bad compression was clean as a whistle and the rings were in great shape. So I cleaned up the pistons & rings on the 3 cylinders and checked the valves. Yep, the dead cylinder had both a leaking intake and exhaust valve. So here we go to have the valves ground. Fortunately the seats were ok and the valves weren't bent.
So I put it all back together, put the engine back in the bike. Put the rear suspension back together. Spent 2 days putting the exhaust system back on (&off&on&off&on). Next is the carbs.
I had been thru them in the past, having troubles because the original set was broken. When I got the bike the carb body on one of the carbs was broken off where the pilot screw goes into it. Since Eliminator carbs are hard to find and they're a different size from the Concours carbs, I had tried long ago to get some compatible replacement carbs. I had been running Ninja ZX10 (not ZX1000) carbs because they were the right size. But all the jetting is totally different and they don't have the power valve. Never could get them running right. So while the motor was blown I ran across a set of Eliminator carbs. They were in terrible shape, rusty and corroded but they were complete so I figured I could take 2 sets and make 1 good set. All seems well.
But the rubber boots that connect the carbs to the airbox are very hard, not flexible and there is no way to get the carbs in without breaking them. They're no longer available, remember the bike was only made for 1 year. Some people swap to individual K&N filters but they cause running problems that are very difficult to correct even with jetting changes (flat spots in the power band, weak top end). Did some research and found that some people fix these things on classic bikes by soaking them in a mixture of Wintergreen Oil and Xylene. It worked, but if you leave them in it too long they start to swell up.
So I get the carbs on it, fire it up, it's got a dead hole. OH NO! It's the cylinder that had bad compression before. At least it's #1 and it's accessable. #4 would have been easier, but count my blessings that it wasn't #2. Checked compression and it's ok. Checked spark and it's ok. Gotta be the carbs. Pulled them suckers again, swapped the carb body for #1, put the guts back in. Put them back on, fired it up. Same thing. Just to make sure, I pulled the vacuum line and squirted gas in it with a syringe. Wow, the cylinder starts to run! OK, so it's for sure still a carb problem. Opened the drain valve and it's dry. Must be a stuck float or float valve. Next day, pulled the bowl without pulling the carbs, float & valve looked fine. Went ahead and pulled all the pilot jets, main jets, needle valve, and squirted gumout into the ports again. All seems fine, so I double-checked all the parts while putting it back together. A-HA, some debris had gotten into the pilot jet, couldn't get it out so I swapped to one of the spare pilot jets. Put it back together, fired it up, and it's all good! Put the tank on, put fresh gas in it. Test ride tomorrow, just about time to put fuel stabilizer in it and park it for the winter.
So this has been going on for a couple of weeks and the garage has been tied up so I couldn't do anything with my car. Really want to finish up the Marauder so I can get going on the '68 Mustang Fastback project.