Had to put her down the other day. Short story shorter: hit a patch of gravel in a tight right-hander, lowsided over a curb, ended up in an effin' flower bed. A week before i was to put on the case guards no less! ARGH. I was wearing full gear, ended up with a small scrape on my shin and forearm. Bike wasn't as lucky.
Anyway, damage report: the "Suzuki" cover emblem fell off, and is banged to hell, probably not worth salvaging. Whats worse, the actual crankcase is cracked below where the suzuki cover screwed on. The signal generator coil is now exposed (obviously), and two of the three wires leading to the coil are cut (the green/white and the brown), as the plastic "wire holder" got caught between crankcase and pavement. Most surprisingly, the bike still starts! Although it idles very low and the throttle response is slow, i saved my self money on getting her towed.
I'm gonna drag the bike over to the shop in a few days here for some estimates, but what do you guys think? I'm pretty sure i'll need a new crankcase cover on the right side, how much do these run? Would it be possible/relatively easy for me to do this repair with a Clymer and not much mechanical experience? What about the cut leads to the signal coil, is it even worth bothering to sodder back the wires and cover them up, or go ahead and order an entire new signal generator?
Thanks for any help. I've tried to disguise my rage with myself and with not being able to ride till the bike is fixed as best i could. :(
Bummer on the crash! Glad your OK :thumb:
If it was me (and I'm glad it's not), I would do the repairs myself. Replacing the side cover is very easy.
1. Drian the oil
2. Remove the ignition advancer.
3. Remove the two hold down screw for the ignition plate.
4. Remove the side case - take out all the bolts you see around the case and make sure you get the two bolt inside behind the ignition plate.
5. carefully pry the case loose, you will have some oil leaking at this point so have some old rags ready. I set my bike on the side stand as it leans the other way.
6. Carefully clean the engine of the old gasket (careful not to scratch the mating surface).
7. Install new case w/new gasket. Make sure you have a good crank seal in the case. Your old seal may be good but If you don't remove and install corectly, you would have been better off getting a new one and installing it in the new cover.
DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN the case bolts. They just need to be tight enough to clamp the gasket to keep oil from leaking. (check the manual) If you don't have a manual, get one through the link on the main page of this site.
Many people have broken these bolts.
Also, the ignition advancer bolt only needs to be snug tight. Use a small amount of blue lock tite and don't over tighten. Someone here is already facing this problem.
As for the wires, you can use but connectors (not reccomended) or If you can solder, do this and first slip a peice or two of heat shrink tube onto each wire BEFORE you solder and then shrink over the soldered area.
I think you could save alot of money this way.
Give it a try and check here if you get stuck.
Where do you live???
Paul
Oh, I can read can't I? MI Too far to offer help.
By the way - Just in case you don't know - There is RED lock tite also. DO NOT USE :nono:
Its running poorly cos one cylinder is probably got no spark. You could solder it back...use high temp solder. The signal generator is probably fine. These die at ~25-35K miles or sooner so run it till it dies...
Cool.
Srinath.
Thanks for the helpful suggestions guys. I'm gonna run over to the shop (once the northeastern seaboard gets this whole black-out thing sussed out, of course) and get a price on the parts. Doesn't sound too tricky to do myself.
Hey pkaaso, could you elaborate a bit on the soldering and heat shrink tubes? I've soldered like once in my life, and have to admit i have almost no idea what you're talking about. :)
Well, if you've never soldered befor, you may want to find someone who has. It's not hard but if you f it up, you may be buying a new signal generator.
Basicly, you need to strip back the insulation a 1/4" on each end to be soldered. Get some heat shrink tube Radio Shack or you local electronics store will have. It should be 2 - 3 times bigger than the wire. You have to remove the insulation that covers all three wires back enough so the 1" long piece of tubing can be slipped over one end of the wire to be soldered. I needs to be back far enough so the iron doesn't shrink it to soon before it's in place.
Hook the two ends of the wire together to make a good physical connection and then heat and add solder. Use "rosin core/acid core" solder as this will clean as it boils on the wire as the solder goes on. You only need a small amount of solder. Hold the job very still untill the solder cools. Do both broken wires, then slip the heat shrink tube down over the soldered area and heat to shrink. You will problably want to "Black (electricians) tape" the group of wires together after your done soldering and shrinking the tube.
Find someone who can solder - that's my best suggestion.
Please keep asking here if you arn't sure.
Paul
let me dig in my parts box, i might have another Complete pickup ready to bolt in.
almost forgot is your clutch cover (caseing) hurt? i think i have a couple spares of those, silver and black. again, let me check.
After you find out how much the new parts cost, let me know.
I have extra parts laying around.
Another option is to repair the side case. If you could grind a V groove in the crack in the case, you could fill it with JB WELD.
This is an epoxy. You mix equal amounts from each tube. Fill the damaged area and let it dry overnight. Sand the patch smooth and spray paint the case.
THIS STUFF IS AMAZING.
I've repaired cracks in my intake ports after oversized valve guides were forced in. I also use it on my gsxr head I built.
Will do Bob, thanks for the heads up! As far as reparing the case...err i'm not so sure, the case is actually missing a piece where the circular Suzuki emblem bolted on (all the bolts for the emblem were also broken off in the spill btw). It would probably be easiest if i posted some pictures of the damage wouldn't it? I'll work on it...