And they will charge several 100 to re register somethign that has lapsed.
Sellers lie about "the DMV doesn't know about this" Or "Its so old, its no been registered in so many years its out of their system" ... Nope. They dont time it out, and they dont forget and they dont "too old" anything.
Cool.
Buddha.

Hey Paulcet, thanks for posting those links! Those are some especially thorough and informative picture tutorials that I can definitely use later. I don't think I'll be doing anywhere as near a clean or perfect a job as those fellows though!

Trwhouse, you're correct in inferring it's a salvage title--but that doesn't bother me too much since I'm not too concerned about resale value. Actually, the way it's probably going to work out right now is either the GS ends up being one of my main rides and I'll ride the crap out of it for years to come--or, my friend who's been looking for a GS500 will buy it from me, and as his first bike, he's told me he doesn't mind that it's a salvage title and would intend to keep it for quite awhile (it's funny about the salvage titles--I actually bought my car, also a salvage title from my friend!).

Good point about getting it registered as operational again--didn't even think about that! $$$$$$$$$$$$  

Anyways, spent some time this evening getting the engine out. What a bear! I don't think I would have been able to get it out if my friend hadn't been there to help me lift it. Haven't split the cases yet, but I've cracked the lid. The insides smell horrible, like burnt rubber.

Oh yeah, I made a mistake earlier, it's a 2001 GS!

Here's a few pictures:










Also, what's the function of this wire meshamajig?

Its there to separate oil from air ... like a vapor separator.
Cool.
Buddha.

Ah makes sense.

By the way, this may seem like a silly question, but I'm in the process of removing the head right now, and the eight 10mm bolts that are holding it on are incredibly tight. I can't seem to get them to come loose with a breaker bar. Well, on one, after applying a lot of force, it seemed to budge just a very small amount--barely noticeable, but I felt the slop, and then I couldn't budge it anymore it seemed. I skimmed over the service manual, and it says that i should untighten them evenly across in reverse sequence of their numbering. My question then: is if that barely perceptible microsclop I felt is normal--and that I have to feel that slop as I go over each bolt in reverse sequence, and eventually, everything will be loose enough to take the head off? Or am I going about this completely the wrong way and should just borrow an impact driver?

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Kevin

Hi Kevin,
I'm not sure about your description about "microslop," but you will feel the bolts loosen as you untighten them unless there is some reason that they are seized.
Did the bike live near sea air previously?
I would use a long rachet or breaker bar to untighten them.
And yes, you loosen each bolt one at a time, a little at a time, so that you don't warp the cylinder head as you remove it. It's the same thing you do when you install the cylinder head -- you torque the bolts a bit at a time until they are all at the proper torque. This is just backward when you are removing it.
Also, there is a bolt in the front of the head -- don't forget to loosen it as well or you won't get the head off.
Take your time, and do it properly.
Good luck,
Trwhouse

Got the nuts off, but damn were they on there (that or I'm really weak!). I had to put the engine up against a wall and really apply my weight on a 15" breaker bar to start cracking it loose (lol, my knees have carpet burns from it!). Loosened all the nuts as the service manual described and have them off now, but now the head doesn't seem to want to slide off. Seems stuck, dry gasket, too much heat previously fused it or something. The book mentioned using a rubber mallet to knock it loose, but that doesn't seem to work. I've whacked it a few times already (with a force I feel comfortable isn't deforming or damaging anything) but it hasn't broken loose yet or anything. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet. I'd like to take a screwdriver and hammer to it, but don't want to tear up the seating. Anyone have suggestions for extracting head? Nuts are off now.

Bike is from Oakland, might have gotten some sea air, but the other parts on the bike don't seem as corroded as a sea-cerca bike would seem to impressionate.

Thanks!!

Kevin

Okay, I've pulled the head! I had to use a hammer and a piece of wood cut in the shape of a wedge to finally knock it off.







The cylinder walls will definitely need to be honed/bored out.


Also, here's the likely culprit alast! That black little flower sprouting from the crankshaft/connecting rod area is made out of metal. I'm guessing that's what's left of the bearing?


Haven't checked the pistons, or valves yet, but will once I have the case split open and have looked over everything else to assess $$$$$$$$.

Also, now I feel REALLY stuck on getting the clutch casing off. I've got the rotor out and all the bolts along the exterior that hold it in off, but it's like it's bonded together, and not budging. Ive tried concussive persuasion with a screwdriver and hammer and all I've managed to do is make some pretty etchings along the cover.  lolway

Anyways, I'll dribble some penetrating oil along the gasket. Not sure if that'll help or what, but I'm definitely too pooped to do anything else tonight. If anyone has some suggestions, let me know and I'll try it if it's within my capability! I imagine if I had some vice to hold the main block in place, and some super suction cups/epoxy handles pulling the case in one direction perfectly parallel with the dowels, plus the added force vector of a slanted screwdriver getting pounded by a hammer, it would come off, but that's just my imagination.

Goodnight everyone! Hope you all had a nice thanksgiving feast,

Kevin

Wait till you get to the flywheel.....ooooohhhh its gonna be fun for ya`

Quote from: kevink on November 27, 2009, 12:29:17 AM

Also, now I feel REALLY stuck on getting the clutch casing off. I've got the rotor out and all the bolts along the exterior that hold it in off, but it's like it's bonded together, and not budging. Ive tried concussive persuasion with a screwdriver and hammer and all I've managed to do is make some pretty etchings along the cover.  lolway

Did you see the 2 bolts under the contact breaker cover?  Good luck!

-Jessie

Yea cyls are DOA, the head also looks horrible ... valves have carbon or is that edge feathered, AKA it has started burning. I once saw a BMW that had exhaust valves that were looking like they were eaten by rats. Sorta lost my faith in them then. Of course I knew kawi's did that ... just was a shock that BMW did too.
Either way, your crank, rods and possibly pistons are toast.
The part the pin goes into checn the side ways play the pistons have right there. If its excessive, I mean over 1/2mm or so, its gonna have to all be replaced. Rods and pistons. I know cos the 2 I split with bad rod bearings were both that way.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on November 27, 2009, 09:48:21 AM
Yea cyls are DOA, the head also looks horrible ... valves have carbon or is that edge feathered, AKA it has started burning. I once saw a BMW that had exhaust valves that were looking like they were eaten by rats. Sorta lost my faith in them then. Of course I knew kawi's did that ... just was a shock that BMW did too.
Either way, your crank, rods and possibly pistons are toast.
The part the pin goes into checn the side ways play the pistons have right there. If its excessive, I mean over 1/2mm or so, its gonna have to all be replaced. Rods and pistons. I know cos the 2 I split with bad rod bearings were both that way.
Cool.
Buddha.

Just checked, and it looks to be just carbon, thankfully! Will also check the play at the piston pin once I get the cases split!

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on November 27, 2009, 06:59:34 AM

Did you see the 2 bolts under the contact breaker cover?  Good luck!

-Jessie

OMG, I didn't even see that! Thanks  for pointing that out.  Case came apart with a single whack once I got those two bolts out.

Thanks everyone,
Kevin

Quote from: kevink on November 27, 2009, 02:53:19 PM

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on November 27, 2009, 06:59:34 AM

Did you see the 2 bolts under the contact breaker cover?  Good luck!

-Jessie

OMG, I didn't even see that! Thanks  for pointing that out.  Case came apart with a single whack once I got those two bolts out.

Thanks everyone,
Kevin

Don't feel bad, the only reason I said to check that is because I missed them the first time I took that cover off      At least you didn't break anything prying   

-Jessie

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would post an update.

Today, I had set out to pull the clutch hub and flywheel and hopefully split the cases. I managed to get the clutch hub off very smoothly without a clutch holder by improvising with a piece of wood and two of the bolt holes that hold the clutch springs in.

I also prepared a makeshift flywheel extractor, using a metal bracket, bolt coupler from home depot ($4) and the rear axle bolt as per the Cylmer manual's directions, but to my discovery, the rear axle is NOT a perfect fit for the threads! it's too big--or the threads on the flywheel are too small. Anyways, I measured the bolt, and it is indeed 1.5mm diameter, but for whatever reason, they don't mate, which sucks because now the hardware store is closed! Well, I'll bring the bolt with me tomorrow. Hopefully I can find one that is metric and about the same length for cheap, otherwise I might just buy one of those gear puller gizmos and return it when I'm done.







Are the little striations on the back of this normal? Or is the early sign of fatigue and cracking?




I was so excited to use it too! lol

Better picture of the back of clutch basket, and I circled the marks I'm referring to in green.

I was just cleaning up the cylinder head a bit when I spotted these little pock marks around one of the rings. It almost looks like someone took a punch and just whacked a bunch of these tiny craters around the seal. I'm wondering if I should be worried about this, or do you guys think it's okay once I put on a new gasket and seal it up?

Hi again,
Oh, it's not looking pretty in there, bub.
That looks to me to be metal damage from pieces of metal from the bad bearing and other damage that literally was bombarding the insides of your cylinders and cylinder head while it was getting thrown up and down and around by the still-running engine. That area of the cylinder head is inside the head gasket circle, so it is there as a squish area for the cylinder's charge so it is able to be compressed before the spark plug fires the incoming fuel air mixture. That should be all nice and flat and smooth.
I think that your broken metal fragments essentially "grenaded" the small pieces of metal up and into the head, causing the damage.
And no, it shouldn't be looking like that.
As I said in my earlier posts, none of this should shock you. This kind of engine bearing failure typically causes massive damage which will be very expensive to fix, even if you do it yourself.
Good luck.
We are all curious to see what the rest of the engine will look like, but it appears that your parts list is getting longer and longer.
Before rebuilding this, I'd truly take a long and careful look at the parts and prices and labor costs for things you can't do, then start looking for a replacement engine that is in excellent shape. Even then, you have no guarantees.
On to the crank, man!

Best wishes,
Trwhouse

Quote from: Trwhouse on November 29, 2009, 09:46:21 AM
Hi again,
Oh, it's not looking pretty in there, bub.
That looks to me to be metal damage from pieces of metal from the bad bearing and other damage that literally was bombarding the insides of your cylinders and cylinder head while it was getting thrown up and down and around by the still-running engine. That area of the cylinder head is inside the head gasket circle, so it is there as a squish area for the cylinder's charge so it is able to be compressed before the spark plug fires the incoming fuel air mixture. That should be all nice and flat and smooth.
I think that your broken metal fragments essentially "grenaded" the small pieces of metal up and into the head, causing the damage.
And no, it shouldn't be looking like that.
As I said in my earlier posts, none of this should shock you. This kind of engine bearing failure typically causes massive damage which will be very expensive to fix, even if you do it yourself.
Good luck.
We are all curious to see what the rest of the engine will look like, but it appears that your parts list is getting longer and longer.
Before rebuilding this, I'd truly take a long and careful look at the parts and prices and labor costs for things you can't do, then start looking for a replacement engine that is in excellent shape. Even then, you have no guarantees.
On to the crank, man!

Best wishes,
Trwhouse

Yeah, I thought I got a good deal on the bike, but the more I'm digging into it, the more I feel like I paid too much, or really just didn't know what i was getting into. I'm still hopeful I can get it running without too much more $ though.

I checked the freeplay where the piston pins insert into the pistons by holding the rods firmly and trying to get some vertical freeplay. LHS side was nice and snug, but I detected maybe just a little bit of microslop on the RHS. That, or maybe the piston sliding side to side as I tried holding it threw my senses off. However, when I was cleaning the pistons up, I noticed that one of them (same side as the pocked up cylinder), had the same marks over the head of the piston. I'm not familiar with this kind of stuff, but do you guys think I need to replace the piston or cylinder head because of the marks? I'm having a hard time imagining once I have things cleaned up that they will effect the running much (except if there are pockmarks along piston edges which I didn't see), unless there's something I'm missing. What do you guys think?

EDIT: Attached photo. And on second look, does appear to have some marks sort of along the edge. Salvageable still?

Okay, so I just went out to the garage and placed the piston on the cylinder heads. The pock marks seem to line up real well. But this was on the RHS, bearing still appears to be good on this side and no discoloration on crankshaft. Move over to the LHS, and the bearing is toast and crankshaft discolored. No pock marks on piston or head. I'm starting to get the impression that they are maybe unrelated occurrences. id est, the pock marks might have been something falling into combustion chamber from spark plug hole (since spark plugs and valves are intact. I can't imagine how the bearing made it's way up past the cylinder walls too as the pistons seem pretty clean). Aside from the pock marks, the piston itself and rings seem pretty good, so I'm just going to clean up the pock marks as best I can with some emery cloth and file and reuse them. Oh yes, the freeplay I think I felt earlier was from where the connecting rod attached to the crankshaft.

That suggests contact between piston and head. I've never seen that ... not even on one wiht a knackered beairng ... WTF happened to this motor ... detonation ... but well that will blow a hole in the piston ... not this.
Wasn't there a gasket to protect this ...
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on November 29, 2009, 07:25:04 PM
That suggests contact between piston and head. I've never seen that ... not even on one wiht a knackered beairng ... WTF happened to this motor ... detonation ... but well that will blow a hole in the piston ... not this.
Wasn't there a gasket to protect this ...
Cool.
Buddha.

Hey Buddha, I was thinking that whatever fell into the combustion chamber, just got sandwiched by the piston and cylinder head. Not sure if they actually touched or not but I'm sort of assuming there's a very small clearance when the piston is fully extended up and whatever was in there, maybe rocks or something created those pock marks/pits on both sides (correct me if i'm wrong). I just figure if they did actually touch, the head would really be screwed up and I would be dealing with much more catastrophic damage.