In the beginning!

Kawasaki KLR 600 Project.

 

After buying the bike from a very chavvy looking lad in Rushden, following a hairy journey down with Mad Harry in his van, the KLR arrived safely in Grimsby.

It is an understatement to say that it was not quite what I expected!!

I though give it a month or so, should be on the road…not a hope in hell! This is a major re-build case.

The wiring loom has been destroyed, presumably as the previous owner used it as a “Field bike” (WHY??).

He was running it straight from the generator and Cdi unit, and destroyed the coil in the process.

It looks a LOT better in these pictures than it actually is!!

Right, best thing to do is to strip it right down, see what needs doing and sort it from there.

So begins the tale!!

Everything came apart in a fairly straight forward fashion, down to the frame and swing arm, which were still attached to each other via the swing arm pivot bolt. This bolt is now called “bastard!!” Nothing would persuade bastard to move, heat, more heat, hammers of various size, shape and impact, not even copious amounts of WD40 and curses!!

So, in the end, only one thing could be done, cut the bugger off and replace the

whole lot.

Replacement Swing Arm and shock Whoopee!!

The shaft bolt, spacer and nut, brand new comes  to £138!! No way!

After a lot of searching around, finally found all the parts in Sun City, California, and they shipped them over for £80 or so. Nice!

Second hand Swing Arm, complete with arms was sourced and a replacement shock, although, the shock does seem to damp correctly but the bump stop has perished away to dust.

The bearings seem good in the new swing arm, but I’ll replace them anyway when it comes to it.

First job is to get the frame sorted. The locating lug for the side stand has been broken off, fortunately, he kept the stand, with the piece attached, so I’ll get it welded back on. Then it’s off to CJ Powder coaters, to have the whole lot blasted and hopefully coated, but I’ll see how much it will be first.

A side issue to the project is that I sent off for a new log book, as the chav had “Lost it”, and I received a letter today that the vehicle is recorded as being scrapped!! This caused great consternation, and after filling in the form that they sent me, I decided to ring them to see where I stood with the bike.

A very helpful lady at DVLA Swansea informed me that, although the vehicle had indeed been “Scrapped” on their system, it was by the previous owner,

not through a breakers yard, and so there should be no problem getting it back on the road! Phew!! That made me (And Donna) feel a LOT better


The workshop is now a mass of parts, and a scruffy looking lump which could pass for a KLR engine, although it was half blue, as the chav had rebuilt it with instant gasket, it was EVERYWHERE!!  KLR’s are known to not tolerate large amounts of sealer, the oil pick up screen is easily blocked, and havoc usually ensues!

Well, while I waited for the bits for the suspension to arrive from the USA, I decided that it would be a good idea, in view of what I’ve seen of this “mechanics’” work previously, to take the head off the engine, and check out the lump.

First off was the cam chain tensioner, cam chain off the wheels, and then take off the cam journal caps. Preparing myself for the horrors that may lie beneath, I lifted the cam caps off and….hmm, not bad!!

Both cams seem ok, one exhaust lobe is a bit tarnished, but no pitting anywhere, and the bearing journals look fine.

He said that he had replaced the cam chain last year, and I believe him now, as the tensioner was hardly out, and the chain is excellent. So far so good.

Next off, the head. Came off without incident, but, hello, our friend has renewed his love affair with instant gasket, and has used it to repair the head gasket, instead of wasting a tenner or so on a new one!! At the same time, he managed to gum up 2 of the water channels in the head / barrel, what a complete tosser!



Looking into the cavernous bore, the piston lurked below, and on inspection, looked fine on the crown, best get the barrel off and check the skirts and bore it’s self. After a bit of gentle persuasion, off came the barrel, and to my amazement, not a mark on the piston skirts at all!

The bore had however, got some very small amounts of surface rust on it. I imagine that the ‘repaired’ head gasket has failed spectacularly, and water has ingressed and caused havoc. The top and second compression ring were seized in their grooves, probably also due to water. The scraper ring was ok, but there were a couple of rust spots on it, so new rings will be the order of the day.

If I can find somewhere local that can hone the bore, I’ll get it done, otherwise it’ll have to be a fine gentle rub with wire wool.

Well, being Sunday, that’s all I could do at that point, but I had sockets in front of me, and nothing else to do, so what the hell, lets get the clutch cover off and see what we can find!!

Without further ado, the many 8mm bolts were removed, and with a couple of clonks with the mallet, the cover was set free!!

By looking at the old gasket, it was obvious that the idiot had not had this one off, not a sign of blue stuff anywhere for a start, and everything was clean in there. Seeing as I was in there, it would be foolish not to rip the clutch down and check it over. 5 bolts and springs came off easily, and then the plates followed, well, what was LEFT of the plates! Absolutely worn out, thank goodness I’d checked them. Maybe .25 mm of material left on them, should be at least 2.65mm.

So, now the shopping list is, piston ring set, full gasket set, clutch plates, and a few seals for kick start, etc.

Hope to get some prices on those this week, and get started on the re-build soon!

Well 2 weeks have now passed, and I have got a replacement pivot bolt for the swinging arm, from a guy in Germany!! That’s everything I need now to re-build the suspension, apart from tarting stuff up with paint etc.

The gasket set and rings will be the next step, and then the engine can be built up again. The bore has been honed lightly, and looks very good. Think I’ll give it a good clean up outside, and give it a coat of HT paint to finish it off a bit, the head too, once I strip it down and replace the valve guide seals. Also needs the seats grinding in, but until I get the gasket set, not much point in starting. Could do with a nice lottery win!

One job I got done was to lengthen the leads of the CDI unit, which were soldered to length, and each joint heat shrink wrapped, then the whole lot wrapped in insulation tape, nice and cosy!! Job done!

I’m going to re-wire everything once most of the bike is re built, as it will be easier to see how long things need to be, and where the best routing goes, and where to mount any earth’s points etc.

I can at least now get to work on the old pivot bolt, knowing that I have a replacement, so I don’t have to be too careful! Will get on with that tomorrow afternoon I think (Wed 6/4/11).

Well, after a long break from this journal, due to hard drive destruction, latest update!!

The stand bracket didn’t get welded back on, as the welder, poor old boy, couldn’t work out how it went !! I did point it out, but never mind. I’ve found a bolt on one, which I’ll get at a later date. He did however get the offending Swing Arm Pivot bolt out!! Hurrah!!

The lower frame, on inspection was found to have a couple of splits in the tubing, which I didn’t like the look of, so have got hold of another from E Bay for 26 quid.

Decided against powder coating, mainly due to the cost, so stripped back to bare metal, etch primed and then 3 coats of gloss black, followed by 2 of lacquer. Looks good, and a LOT cheaper. It’s not a showroom condition bike, so it’ll do!

On the engine front, have reground all the valve seats, and fitted new valve stem oil seals, have sprayed head, barrel and engine crank cases with matt black barbeque paint!! Looks great!

Bought a new set of piston rings, new KACR valve spring, and full gasket set. Still need mechanical seal for water pump, thermostat, (As the idiot ran it without one!), and probably some shims, once I get the engine together again. Checked the balance chain tensioner, and its fine, so won’t bother doing anything to it.

I managed to pick up a load of engine bits and bobs from a guy in Ely, on E Bay, for £21, which included all the plugs from the wiring loom, so that will be useful later. Also, set of crankcases, honed, gearbox, clocks, rear hub, and much more.

Should save me a fair bit once I begin putting things together rather than taking things to bits!

Well, today, Monday 30th May is a big day, I’m starting to fit things!!

Fitted the new piston rings, no problems apart from where thee should be an ‘N’ stamped on one compression ring, mine have an ‘R’ stamped on both!!

After a bit of research on the interweb, I found that the shinier one goes at the top, with both rings ‘R’ side up. Never one to make things easy, thanks Kawasaki!

Anyway, said rings were duly fitted, and then the cylinder slowly slipped into place on top of a new proper base gasket, with a thin smear of instant gasket for insurance.

Then the next job, re-fit the head, and here comes another problem! The cam chain guide is help stead by a rubber damper, did I remove one? No, our friend obviously decided that Kawasaki didn’t know as much as him, and left it out!

Great, I now have to order a new one, which will prob take a week to arrive now. Never mind, I can get on with other jobs, gonna paint up the clutch and generator covers next I think, then get a new set of clutch plates, and she’s ready to go!

Now 20th June, and a few things have come together, not as quickly as I had hoped, but money and delivery of bits has slowed things as usual.

Got the damper ok, and fitted with no problem. Head fitted, timing done and shims adjusted, had to buy 2 shims, 235 from Robspeed for £3, and 245 from Cradley Kawasaki for £12!! Bit of a rip off, but they’ve got me over a barrel, as there wasn’t one that size anywhere.

Also discovered that in the full gasket set, there was no cam chain adjuster gasket, so not quite full then!

Got one from Robspeed for £4, so that sorted that.

Came to fit the nice matt black finished cam cover..hey up..what’s going on?? Bit wibbly…ah, it’s just slightly different from the original one, (a 650 one). Bugger..ah well, the 650 one fits, so on it goes. Not as pretty as the 600 one I had tarted up, but at least it finished the top end.

Then fitted the generator cover, complete with it’s gasket and voila !! The left side and top is done at last!!

Next job will be to rub down the clutch basket arms, as where the idiot had been bump starting it, it has marked the arms slightly. No use fitting new plates until it’s all nice and smooth. Then I need to buy the new plates, already have the gasket, and nice new seals for the kick start shaft and gear selector shaft, so as usual, it’s now waiting for some spare pennies again!

Did manage to buy a few bits off E Bay though, namely 2 black rad shrouds, one perfect, one with a small bit of damage at the mounting, but will be ok. Also got a nice rad cover from a place in Germany, and managed to buy a helicoil kit, as I think I will need it…also a circlip kit, which I will use on the suspension links. Got to be better than the clips supplied.

Also managed to get another linkage set from the same guy I got another shock absorber from, hopefully this will fit properly. The one I have does not fit between the frame, I have no idea why, it must be from a different model. The new linkage arrives tomorrow, so that will be interesting to see.

 New linkage arrived safe and sound, excellent, and with the elusive big bolt that holds the damned thing together!! No nut though, so I may have to buy one, another £5 +p+p talk about money pit, this bike is worse than any woman!!

Mechanical seal and o ring for the water pump should arrive tomorrow (2nd July) so that’s another little job to complete. It’s getting there slowly. I still need to order a set of new clutch plates and springs. I ordered them from “The Fast One”, surely some kind of bizarre joke, would take 7 to 10 days as their warehouse in Swansea has burned down!! WTF !!

I will order them from WEMOTO, where I got the pump bits from, as they are quick and reliable, if a little bit dearer, but at least they haven’t burnt down yet!

Well, plenty has happened now (12th July), but not that much further on really!!

New bearing were sourced from a supplier, half the Kawasaki price as well. With the use of a heat gun, grease (lots) and a drift with accompanying hammer, the bearings slipped into place in the swing arm. The pivot pin was then fitted, with washers, seals and circlips, and there ya go, one suspension unit!! The swinging arm and suspension is attached to the frame, although I have to jiggle things around again when a new left foot peg assembly arrives tomorrow, as they mount through that.
Then it,s a question of slipping the engine into the frame, torquing everything up, fitting the bottom frame section and then everything should be good, with hopefully no play in the suspension.

I then need to finish the engine, new clutch, water pump seals etc, gasket and clutch cover, with new kickstart seal, and that will be a significant leap forward.
Watch this space!!