hawkeyefxr

Unfortunately i only have the top end down, don't really want to strip the entire engine as my space is limited. I have just bought an old garage heater which should get the whole bottom end hot. If that fails then i will have to seriously think of your option. I had thought of welding a nut on there, as you say the intense does make the alloy expand greater than the steel.

For my sins i have embarked on an engine rebuild of a CM250 1981 model. I decided on this as the compression was down quite a bit at 125 psi. From the start it has been an uphill struggle, engine mounting bolts seized in the crankcases making it difficult to remove the engine from the frame. I now have the engine out with one bolt still seized but will get to that later. The barrells, and head are held down by eight ten mm wasted bolts, the wasted section is eight mm. As they were well and truly seized i drilled the heads off and removed the valve gear, head and barrels. I have a cam type stud extractor and though that would work, but no it would not grip the long bolts as they are incredibly hard. I bought one the the rollers type stud extractors but they don't grip either. I have 3/8 and 1/2 inch air guns but they do not help. I have tried heating the cases but I only have a turbo torch which is ok for brazing so pretty hot but as it's 6c here at the moment it's nowhere good enough. I will wait till it's warmer so there is not so much temperature difference when heating the crankcases though i think it will need Oxy/Acet torch. If anyone has any ideas i would be glad to hear them. I'm not exactly new to this at 74 and have been riding bikes since i was 14, i have also worked in a couple of bike shop in my younger years but never come across anything like this. So it's out there HELP!!! lol.

I have ridden for many years, as i have got older (i'm 72) i stop riding around October time. Don't want to come off lol cause i don't bounce so well these days. When i do start riding in the spring time i feel very 'wooden' on corners but it passes very quickly, about 5-10 mins of riding. As for your pilot jets they can be a real pig to clean as they have very small holes. A friend of mine had a bike that had stood for over 15 years, we go it running but would not run good at low revs. Unknown to me he took it to a place who cleaned the pilot jets with single strands of house hold flex. To me that was wrong but it worked, the guy who did this said that the soft copper wire did not scratch the holes just cleaned them out. As for the slides not lifting it maybe that with the filter or rubber connectors taken out there maybe not enough vacuum to lift the slides. You mentioned the amount of oil be 4L, also check the coolant as well. If by chance the seal on the engine to the water pump, be very careful to install it the right way round, the workshop manual does not show this very clearly, hope it's not that though.

She needs some TLC from her long hibernation. The lack of compression on one cylinder may well be stuck rings, try putting a little 2 or 3 grams of Reddex down the plughole and leave it for a week. before trying to start take the plugs out and crank it over to blow out any excess reddex (you do not want to hydraulic it, thats compressing a liquid in a confined space. That can cause major damage) Then crank it over with your finger in the plughole of each cylinder to get a comparison for compression.

I had an earlier model of this bike but i think they are about the same. As Fastbob says remove the top end, thats the camshaft head and barrel, don't drop the cam chain do in the crankcase. When thats done stuff rags into the hole in the crankcases so that nothing falls down there. Grab the conrod in you hand and see if there is any VERTICAL movement, there will be a little side to side play but thats ok. Also as Fastbob says check the play with the camshaft in the head that there is no vertical play there, leave it all oily as to do it dry can cause damage to the bearing surfaces. When you rebuil it you will need a torque to tighten the head down toy the correct torque, that very important. Not sure what oil filter type you have, Hondas used to have spinning one that spun the dirt out to clean the oil, they are very good but people neglect to clean them right out. The dirt in there is pure dirt dont get it on your hands. Also get yourself a book, a proper workshop manual will be quite expensive so the second option is the Haynes book of lies. They are great little engines and are normally bullet proof unless and animal had it previously.

Not sure i am getting this right, you want to use a shaft drive wheel and convert it to chain drive type using your existing hub. This would entail new spokes, yes? You may think it's expensive but you could rebuild the wheel itself, it's not that hard to do though the have to find out if you existing wheel has an offset of the rim to the hub. Most wheels are central but it's seay to find out. Put your spindle in a vice vertically, drop the wheel on and measure from the bench to the wheel rim and hub and work out it it is central or offset. As for the building the hole centres on the hub when they reach the rim it usually works out to every 5th hole on the rin but check yours. I have changed wheels from different models of the same make but that just involved making spacer and changing the drive side over but thats buy the buy.

Your right a car driver can't hear much, but he is in 4 wheels and maybe he will dent his car. Your on two wheels, a knock and you off with a good chance of a hospital visit. Music will not increase your safety it distracts you especially when a track comes on you like. You get into it and things are missed around you, thats the hospital visit again. As for you last statement you must have heard LOUD PIPES SAVES LIVES. It's a fact as i have found out, i had a Volvo driver just pulling to the right not looking in his mirrors, when i was just off his rear quarter, dipped the clutch and gave a quick tweak of the throttle and his car near enough jumped back over.

You won't hear the ones that knock you off.. you should see them though True but they are still dangerous to use. As an aside i took my bike and car test in Sevenoaks lol

Personally i think ear phone while riding are dangerous, you have mad car drivers intent on tagging you. They are a dangerous distraction. Anyhow i like hearing my bike.

I have a Xena15, it's a big chunky that will never be got off except with the key. As for the built in alarm, when i bump my bike in the garage accidentally and the alarm goes off i have to get out of the garage PDQ, it is kin noisy. They are about £70.00 but worth it.

Really feel for you mate and i mean that. I to haver tinnitus, self inflicted you might say as i work in heavy steel industry in the early 70's. Health and Safety was not so hot them at least not where i worked. I have tried a few ear plugs bought online but the best ones i have were moulded for my ears, they work really well and you can hear people talking to you quite well. To all that don't wear them on your bikes GET THEM!!

AC50 is good stuff but a real pain to get off in the spring lol

I was 65 when i bought my VW Trike, i always fancied one but wish i never actually bought one. Mine had a raked front end 12in wide wheels and tyres (bloody expensive) but looked good. What always looks good don't mean it is. A few things i learnt, normal telescopic forks raked are not a good ride they are heavy on the steering and prone to steering wobble. I have talked to other trike owners that have leading link forks and they say they are easy to turn. The real flash trikes like Boom are good but very expensive. There are quite a lot of Trikes and trike makers up North not so many of either in the south. Some are really cobbled together, a bike front end and a VW rear end, wiring is a nightmare as there is no diagrams for these things and can be a real job tracing problems even though the wiring is simple. Obviously the big makes of Trikes will not have this problem. I have owned and ridden many outfits and they are easy compared to trikes, it is a strange sensation sitting in the middle of the road. I will NEVER have another one even if i can't ride a bike anymore (and thats getting close) If you go for a trike ask to have a ride in a car park somewhere, do left and right turns, try to create a steering wobble and see how the trike reacts to it, does it get worse, do you have to slow down to stop it. You really need to be ding 30/40mph for this. If its a lower end trike shall we say, like mine, check all the lights with engine running and without. Check it charges, all basic stuff but i got caught on the charging bit, had to buy a new alternator.

Can't see my post here??? anyway take a look here. https://www.facebook.com/xaveriusMR/videos/2512829129040884/?t=21

May well be to late for a reply here but here goes. Get single hex sockets as they cause a lot less damage. As to what some have said, i recently took the top end off a Kawasaki 500 and 3/8 drive were not up to the job because there there was not enough leverage to undo the cylinder head bolts. I used my 1/2 in drive set.