Taking the engine out was a little trickier than I thought it would be. Although the engine is only mounted by 3 bolts (more about them later) I had to remove quite a few other bits to get it out. Luckily I had already removed the tank and carb so that gave me a bit more room to work. Before I got too far into it, I decided to have a look in the primary drive case simply because it's the easiest bit of the engine to have a look in. I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice clean chain that still had oil on it! I also realised I hadn't ordered enough clutch corks (I had order enough for one plate but it turns out there are two).
Once I had a bit of a nosey the cover went back on and it was back to taking the engine out. I didn't see the split link in the chain as it was covered by the chaincase so I decided to just take the chain out with the engine; it doesn't loop around the frame so doesn't have to be split. This meant I had to take the rear wheel out, which meant that the rear section of mudguard had to come off. With the rear wheel out and the chaincase removed the engine was only held in by it's mounting bolts. I had removed the front two, but the rear mount (behind the gearbox) didn't want to come out. The bolt goes in from the right hand side of the bike with a nut on the left. With the nut removed the bolt would turn, but wouldn't come out. Normally I would tap the end of the bolt with a drift but I couldn't get anything in because the primary drive case is in the way. I attempted to apply some pressure to the end of the bolt with a pry bar but I couldn't apply enough pressure or shock the bolt to get it to come out. I decided to have a think and come back to it.
Whilst I thought about it I took the seat suspension unit apart to see if I could get it moving a bit better. Once off the bike, there isn't actually anything holding it together so a quick pull and it came apart. Inside there really isn't much going on, it's basically a spring in two tubes. The combination of filth and corrosion on the tubes meant they couldn't slide, a bit of a clean up and some grease and they were moving again. The bolt at the bottom of the spring is a preload adjuster, the washer the the spring is hooked into is threaded and when you turn the bolt this compresses the spring. I'll have to play with this once I've got the bike on the road.
I bolted that back onto the saddle and had a little jump up and down, it's amazingly effective, I think the ride will actually end up quite comfortable (despite the rubbish rear shocks). I still wasn't sure what to do about the stuck engine bolt so I took the rear tyre off, stuck 6 patches on the obvious punctures, put it back together and pumped it up. There are more punctures. It's better than it was but I'll have to have another look before the weekend.
Then I really had to look at the stuck bolt otherwise it was never going to come out. I had a closer look and realised there is a spacer between the engine and the frame and that it was turning with the bolt. I really don't like the tool I used next but I only ever use them as a last resort so it's probably ok. I locked some molegrips onto the spacer and tried to turn the bolt, it was stiff but did move and I slowly managed to wind the bolt out and the engine was free!! So here's how the bike looks now
and the engine
and the hole it came from
Whilst I had been doing all this I had filled the tank with the Deox-C to clean the rust out, this worked really well but I may do another treatment. This is the solution that came out of the tank
and believe it or not the chain is in there
I have made a start on the engine rebuild but I think I'll save that for another post
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