Project Phoenix

[essjay]

Woooo Hooo :D Scott is one happy camper right now. Ok, Ok, i had to fork over most of the price of the bike to begine with, but i have a spare engine here now, in bits, and have inspected the bottom end and gearbox, all seems pretty sweet. I decided for the moment it looks so sweet and everything turns so smoothly and sweetly i will bolt her together and see if she fires up, and how she rides. Really needing transport right now. Moreover, i am speaking with some of the nice folks in the local Historic Racing club, going to go for a look see at the next race meet, and see if im interested in participating, and what would be allowed in their rules for the bike. She wont be a full race machine but it would be a hoot to blast around the track for fun every now and then. Also i may have volunteered to be a passenger on a sidecar racer, yay, 120kph at 3inches from the ground headfirst, sounds fun!


Anyhow. They say one mans trash is another mans treasure. When i fronted up to take my new used motor home - it went from expensive neccesity to worth every penny.
I now have Kick start. Now some of you are going to say its extra dead weight, some are going to say they are great for breaking legs/hips/knees. But to me, my bike just got the one thing she was missing (aside from running gear that is!)
I like manual cars for many reasons, but bump starting when needed, or driving out of an intersection by cranking it over while in gear (hey, i have old cars ok?!) are two big safety plusses to me.
And having a kick start on my bike is in the same ballpark. So i am stoked!
Been to the newsagent today for some big a2 project poster cardboard, all ready to make a few gaskets up and put the engine back together now. Very excited. Now i just need to figure out how to put the engine back in the frame on my own, hmm... might need to bribe a friend with some beer, why do all the other XSessives have to be in the eastern states?!

If anyone wants to fly over here and give me a hand on reassembly, i promise free board, my wife will cook for you, and all the beer you can drink!

anyone?!

[essjay]

OK, secured the rest of the spare engine. So i have a whole spare powerplant to play with, minus one rod that is cactus and one cylinder liner, but that is being replaced soon enough. Little later on now that the engine is a bigger drama than initially thought, wishful thinking on my part, but will still get some suzuki pistons in there and new steel liners. Another story, just teasing for now.

So engine on saturday. Til then just sanding, priming and prettying up the tank and some other bits n bobs. Raining heavily now, not much time for working on the bike, with luck it will ease off again soon.

[fungorus]

Carsten you might have some parts to help out?   if you know where to look......I am sure they are among those parts....

[essjay]

Thanks for the link, think that is easier to search than the fiche over at http://www.benefiscal.co.uk

Three Yamaha dealerships today, telling me that nope, no listings for rod bearings, you have to get the whole crank to get the bearings. No thanks.

Calling the wreckers tomorrow to get the rest of the motor, surely that, some gaskets, some bearings matched up, some luck for a change and badabing, im in business again. looking very muchly forwards to that day.

[steptoe]

give him,{ your friendly shop} this,, he might be able to work with it

http://www.nwvcp.com/pages/parts/viewbybrand/default.aspx

[essjay]

All that staying positive iv been doing?

Things managed to get WORSE!

Though i may be able to get out of it relatively OK. The offending rod and bearing, and as a result, crank - Damaged. The rod end cap and to a lesser extent the rod itself, are out of round. Result, she needs a new rod. The wrecker i bought the jugs from has the rest of the engine there, i already have the jugs and pistons from it, he may sell me the rest of the engine reasonably cheap. Mine has a new primary chain and 2nd gear, but it may be worth dismantling the 2nd engine and combining the two engines to make something that can carry me across Australia. A friendly engine shop is confident he can get me rod bearings to suit, this may be my best bet...

Yes, stay positive, go slow, do it properly. Refurbish, replace, upgrade what i can while it is apart, i want another 30 years from this machine.
 
The Phoenix will rise from the ashes.

[steptoe]

stay positive ,, stay positive,,

the motor's out and apart, the only way from here is UP    UP    UP 

                         TAKE YOUR TIME DO IT RIGHT 

[essjay]

Quick update: Took the engine out of the frame last night at last. With the head and jugs off its not really that heavy to lift out, i was quite surprised. Trans pan off too, "thars gold in them thar hills" well at least chunks of copper, chrome and brass anyhow. And chunks of silicone, dog hair and leaves on the oil pickup screen :O thought i already thought the worst of the PO, it just got a lot lot worse. Chasing down rod bearings now, what a nightmare...  Still, silver lining, i can fully and properly paint the frame while it is out, loose some useless items from the bike etc etc. Make her as proper and reliable as possible. Stay positive, stay positive... /end rant.

Will be a great feeling when i stop taking things apart and begin putting them back together now. Might need to do some side projects to keep my morale up, like restoring the gauge faces or polishing some parts up. How was everybody else's weekend?

[essjay]

Good idea, new thread for that stuff

As for how i do it, well, that would be one for the new thread would it not? :p

Aluminium and/or copper sheet. Sometimes thin steel sheet. Sometimes just thick gasket material. I have a 125cc honda that has been running for 10,000kms on a nutri-grain box headgasket (low compression ration on the poor old thing though) And 6000 on a sprite can in a yamaha Jog 49cc (got her up to 104km/h - another story again)

The XS will get a few layers of aluminium for now, and probably steel when i increase the capacity.
I dont do them all at home, but for the thin steel, copper and ally sheets, being careful with scissors, a compass, a scribe, razor blades etc works quite well. and chalk dust. and grease. Hmm sounds like a lot when i list them all. Oh and hollow punches.

Anyhow, for cars it is cheaper to just but a top end set, but things for bikes just seem to have a huge premium put on them, which i cannot understand, so i make my own where i can. And boat engines are even more expensive. /end rant.

New on project phoenix: i managed to pick up the new jugs over the weekend, but didnt manage to turn a spanner on the bike. And i have run out of coffee, so a trip to the store on the way home, and then a late night, hoping to split the cases tonight.

[steptoe]

as for setting the bar and the expectations,,

HOW ABOUT THE NEW THREAD ABOUT TO BE PUT UP FOR THOSE OF US WHO LIKE TO KNOCK STUFF UP 

                                 And i make all my head gaskets anyway, 

how on earth do you do that at home??     

[essjay]

Haha so no pressure, great Thats OK, glad there is interest because when i get the liners made up the more there are the cheaper they work out to be. Well as far as project phoenix, i picked up the second hand jugs and pistons today, in a lot better condition than what came out of her so all well there, gets me riding for now.


As for the new bar im setting here lol,
Have a spare set now to play with, so will throw it in the oven next time wife goes shopping, and drop the parts into the engineers to spin me up some new jugs. im looking for a 2nd hand bombed motor to get the pistons out of to play with, though it may be nearly as cheap to buy new ones. I want to do this for under $500, and it should be doable, though it will probably be a bit more for those who don't have access to a cylinder hone, or a mill, or to make the head gaskets. Trying to use an off the shelf combination, or better still a cheap ($50) engine from the wreckers, as a parts source, so the majority of the work is bolt in bolt out, and the other big plus is your local parts shop can sell pistons, rings, oversizes, forged performance items etc etc. Definately using the yamaha rods, but when it comes to cars 17mm wrist pin is not the most common size! But there are enough out there in cars and motorbikes, just the bike pistons are not cheap or easy to find at any wreckers.

When i get the 1288 fired up you can bet i will start another thread and a youtube vid, dont worry you will be the first to know. For now my main aim is to get the bike rolling again, then i can take the engine to bits again lol

[pgnz]

Yeah it's a world wide audience following every move now SJ,  so no pressure.. heheh   
likely with the car pistons they'll be from a longer stroke engine so their velocity in the  68mm stroke XS11 engine would actually be slower than in the car engine at the same given revs,  depends on their weight on how quick or high they'd rev up in the bike,   a bare XS11 piston with it's 2 compression and 1 oil ring weighs 8 ounces,  if the car piston was close to that then you'd think they'd be fine,  although they'd be  from a water-cooled engine,  the air-cooled bike engine is running a hell of a lot hotter with lots of variations and shifts in temperature,  could be a factor in the long term reliability of the car pistons in the bike engine

[melbxs]

I would love to see this project happen. There would be some serious global interest.

One of the guys in the UK  has a lot of knowledge about pistons, sizes, etc. He may be worth talking to once you have a good idea of what you want to do.

You do realise that you've set some expectations here... 

[essjay]

Piston velocity wouldn't be that far increased though, it isnt all determined by RPM alone, if my calculations are correct they should be more than up to it. And i make all my head gaskets anyway, i love all the old school methods and tips and tricks, plus keeps me from waiting for parts to come in. So shouldnt be an issue :p

[pgnz]

Hey SJ sounds like you've got something there to keep you busy and out of trouble,  1288cc would be an interesting little project too,  wonder how the car pistons would suit a bikes hi-revving nature where 5000- 9000 revs isn't uncommon on a good hit-out,  car pistons may be a bit too clunky/heavy for real good response, XS11 conrods would be fine because they're real tough buggers, you'd need to doctor a suitable head gasket too,  but she'd likely be a torquey old tart if it all fitted up