Somewhere in this world, there is a moron who should be put in jail for what he/she did to this bike of mine...

A couple of months ago I bought a 99 GS500e.  Only paid 700 bucks for it, and it looked clean enough.  Only 4k miles.  Didn;t run but it turned over and clearly had good compression, etc.  I figured a decent carb clean and she would be a source of joy.

Well it has been one problem after another.  Fuel hose routing was a mess - nothing was going in the right direction.  Sorted that out to discover the petcock was fubar, so took the forum's advice and replaced it with a CB250 Honda unit.  All hoses replaced.  Pulled the carbs off to clean them, only to find that one of the carbs was missing (yes, missing) the float needle, and one of the diaphrams was torn - apparently by human intervention .  I figured that I was going to put on an aftermarket pipe anyways, so rather than fix them (who could know what else might be wrong with them!) I bought a pre-jetted set of carbs off the forum to make sure all was well.  Put them on last weekend and she finally fired up.  Engine sounded great.  The clutch was seized from sitting so long, but a little bump and all was well.  Time to start getting her ready.

So after ordering a new filter and o-ring gasket, I drop the sump plug and drain the oil.  First thing I noticed was that there was a whole bunch of gasoline mixed in with the oil.  Someone flooded the crap out of it at some stage in the past.  Glad I didn't run it too much before dropping the oil.

Then it got alot worse.  I go to take the oil filter cover off and discover that only one of the dome nuts will come off.  Whoever did the last oil change over-tightened two of the three nuts to the point that the studs in the engine block stripped right off.  Now, when I try to loosen the dome nuts, the nuts won't loosen and the studs just turn in the engine block.

I don't have a 10mm impact socket, and space is tight in there anyway.  I found this thread...

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=43218.0

...and figure I will have to cut the domenuts off, remove the cover, then cut/drill what's left of the studs and helicoil/install new studs.  Any other suggestions?

Don't have much to add except the obvious reason there was fuel in the oil.  The float needle was missing.

Good luck with the project.

Well, you did get the bike for a low enough price that you can now afford to get professional help. If I were you, I'd take the bike to a shop that can helicoil the block for you and install new studs... Hopefully you can find one that will do it with the engine still in the frame. I wouldn't run the bike anymore if I were you, if the previous owner was that bad, he probably never changed the oil filter after stripping out the studs, and who knows how long ago that was. Given that you were missing a float needle, you might even find that the filter is missing. Once you get the helicoils installed, I'd give the bike a good once over to make sure there aren't any other totally insane omissions. Check your braking system from top to bottom, pads, rotors (look for grooves and check rotor thickness) and brake fluid. The last thing you want is to get the thing running only to find out that the axle nuts are missing cotter pins or your brakes don't work as you're riding the bike...

Quote from: fred on April 11, 2009, 01:57:01 PM
Well, you did get the bike for a low enough price that you can now afford to get professional help. If I were you, I'd take the bike to a shop that can helicoil the block for you and install new studs... Hopefully you can find one that will do it with the engine still in the frame. I wouldn't run the bike anymore if I were you, if the previous owner was that bad, he probably never changed the oil filter after stripping out the studs, and who knows how long ago that was. Given that you were missing a float needle, you might even find that the filter is missing. Once you get the helicoils installed, I'd give the bike a good once over to make sure there aren't any other totally insane omissions. Check your braking system from top to bottom, pads, rotors (look for grooves and check rotor thickness) and brake fluid. The last thing you want is to get the thing running only to find out that the axle nuts are missing cotter pins or your brakes don't work as you're riding the bike...

Good call   

Well I have the nouse to do the helicoiling myself - just no tools.  Pouring rain today, nothing else better to do - so visits to the local auto store and the local big box hardware store and I was set:


Tools purchased - #6 helicoil and tap kit, stud removal kit, and (not pictured) three #6 x 40mm metric bolts and three stainless steel cap nuts.  Total cost around $35.


Step 1 was to cut off the heads of the old cap nuts that were holding the cover in place with my Dremel tool (cutting wheel).  Once they were off, the cover sprang out.  There WAS an oil filter in there, and the spring was even there!  Surprise surprise 

Step 2 was to cut the remainder of the studs down flush.  Again, the Dremel cutting wheel did nicely.




Step 3 was to drill the studs.  I drilled them around 3/8 deep with a small titanium drill bit included in the stud removal kit.


Step 4 was to screw in the reverse-thread stud remover.  Tap it in lightly with a hammer, and then work the remainder of the stud out.  The exhaust got in the way for the top studs so I had to drop the front ehxaust bolts out and move it out of the way.




Step 5 was to drill and tap the stud holes.  Choose a drill that is a size smaller than your tap and be careful - the aluminum is soft and you don't need to remove much material.




Step 6 was to screw in the helicoil.  The outside thread of the helicoil matches the inside thread the tap left in the stud hole.  Screw the helicoil in to about 1/8 to 1/4 below the surface of the hole, but NOT all the way in and NOT flush with the top of the hole.  Then pull the coil inserting tool out, turn it 90 degrees (so it doesn't engage the tang) and shove the tang down with a sharp push to lock the coil in the hole.








Step 7 is to take your 40mm bolt, dip it in threadlocker / Loctite, and screw it in the hole.  Once it is tight, cut the head off with the Dremel, and you're done!  New studs. 

Once I finished, I cleaned out the oil filter housing very well using paper towel to make sure all the metal shavings were removed before fitting a new filter, o-ring gasket, and replacing the filter cover.  New oil added, and all was well 

Also took the suggested precaution of going over the rest of the bike carefully    The only other thing I found was a loose chain - I doubt it has been adjusted since the bike was new.  Adjusted, lubed, and rode it round the block - it's going GREAT   

Wow, no needle in a carb and no oil filter in 4,000 miles? I'm impressed! It is like someone was trying to kill the bike (worried wife or parents?).

Great helicoiling photos! Thanks for those. I just put some helicoils on the front wheel of my project bike where the PO broke a bunch of rotor bolts. Instead of using a drill like you did, I used an end mill in a Bridgeport at work to just mill out the old bolt and enlarge the hole for tapping all in one go. I could do this because my part fit into the mill and because an end mill won't wander like a drill will. If you tried to do that trick with a drill, it would likely wander off the steel and into the aluminum and leave you with a oval hole and a mess. I would have taken pictures, but there are no cameras allowed at work... Glad you did though, now other people can see what the process is like.

Thanks     Yeah for short little studs the drill works OK, though care is required or as you said - the stud might end up coming out on an angle, or worse still, the coil won't hold.  I had never coiled before but I have seen it done many times and it wasn't that tough thankfully 

Did you bite your nails before you bought this bike, or did it's deplorable condition drive you to it?

   $700 drove it to me!  I figured that at worst I could part it out and make a few bucks.  At best I could fix it up for my wife to learn on.  At this stage I think i'll keep it for her - now that these issues are mostly sorted out, it appears to be going great.  Time will tell I guess...

i just have to sk this why with that much old stud sticking out did you cut it off instead of grabbing it with visegrips and turn it out?

Hi there,

Josh, that's exactly what I was wondering after I read this!

Why didn't you turn the old studs with a Vice-Grips and then replace them? I am curious about thi, too. It looks like it would have been much easier and faster.

Nice job on the Helicoils, though. They are very cool. I have also used them before as a last resort when I worked as a mechanic.

Yours,

Trwhouse

Quote from: joshr08 on April 12, 2009, 05:29:01 AM
i just have to sk this why with that much old stud sticking out did you cut it off instead of grabbing it with visegrips and turn it out?

First thing I tried of course - but those suckers did not want to come out.  They had stripped the thread inside the aluminium away and just turned inside the block.  The stud removal tool forces the remaining thread out and engages it with what is left of the thread inside the block, allowing it to turn out of the block.  Only catch is, you have to cut and drill the stud to do that.

In addition, sometimes you can't turn the stud with vice grips - especially if the stud housing is cast iron or similar.