Afternoon all !

I took some time a few months ago to think about the benefits of having a bike alongside the 4WD I have in the city skyline I live in, and after deep thought (about 7.2 Seconds) it became apparent a moto would definitely be a good move.   
So after much research I came to really fall for a GS500 I saw online;



Going to take me a while to get it to this point, but its a road im in no hurry to rush down.

So, First is first, I need a bike ; I picked up a registered non-Stat ride off, 2009 GS500 with 50K on the Odo, for $900 off Gumtree, One, minor.. little. problem..



It is clearly not going anywhere fast any time soon, the previous owner decided to take on a Metro Bus with the front end of the bike and as you can see, the Bus won.
so, after stringing it up in my garage, buying some tools and getting down to it I and a good mate of mine have begun the process,



Slowly removing, everything !



Bike completely stripped back to raw, and strung up to the roof, ready for the deep thoughts of how to exactly get it looking good like the end product I want;




Also, whilst Im here, complete engine rebuild; at 50K, with a poor guarantee that service has been carried out, no log books, no nothing for this bike, and the fact that it had been run into a bus, even though it started and ran well figured it could do with a complete rebuild and insure that all engine components are good to go inside it!



So this is the first undertaking of this kind for myself, although I am mechanically minded as you can see we have gotten a good way through the stripping of the bike and engine, with the engine coming apart pretty smoothly thanks to the Suzuki shop manuals I have downloaded.

Firstly, for those aussies out on here, Where is a good place to pick up rebuild kits for this engine ? got to be some good place that isnt a rip off for good quality kit?


More to come as progress happens !!

Update #1 30 / 1 / 16

So managed to get out of my little workshop before some rediculous hour in the morning



must say its really easy to work on the frame when you can just spin the thing around, the space is bigger then it looks !
as said below, have GSX650 Forks coming, all 41mm and complete stem redesign worth of them, fortunately, have a workshop available to me with all sorts of
CNC wonders ! Am wondering since going to all the effort, to double down on the front disk breaks or keep it as just a single? hmm..



Here is the not to bad engine and my table o' Crap before,



And here is the thing split open,

Now that is all done, the whole thing seems pretty damn clean.. bike smacked a bus and i see no damage internally, actually all pretty good nick.
Now I will take this to a pro, have the transmission spec-ed out and reinstalled, crank/counter journels all speced and reinstalled, etc. little outside of my league and want another couple 100k Kms out of this build since its being done entirely bottom to top.

Now, to try and steal a waterjet cleaner and have these housings and covers stripped back to lovely shinny metal !

To do list as it stands
-Shock and swingarm set up
-Lunchbox Air intake
-Carb Rebuild/ReJet
-New Pipework (stock one was crushed )
-Front Fork set up
-Instruments/Lights/indicators
-Seat replacement
-Fuel Tank repaint
-Frame Alterations to suite
-Rewire Harness (some other electrics I want to do as well)

Fair bit to go !

Update #2 30 2 16

Thanks to an unsavory landlord, had rearrange the workshop, although in hindsight its for the better ! heaps more room!



Alright, So i went with GSX600 Front forks, nice pair, dead straight, will probably need a kit through it but oh well,
GSX600 Dual brake calipers also in the mail inbound, save me trying to invent a braket for the forks to take the GS500 calipers,

On this does anyone know the Brake disc size i should get to for the GS500 Wheel, In time i will be upgrading the front and backs of this girl but for now a wheel on the
front is what I need.



So close Suzuki ! soooo close..

Anyway, New triples under design, fortunately I am pretty good at CAD so it shouldn't be too difficult to generate a new triple for this thing and have it CNCed from block steel, brings another question, GS500 wheel on a GSX 600 Set up, someone give me a dead on distance between forks to hold dual discs or will it be the same distance as the current triple and make an easy fit? please say easy fit !

Also, mid way through the engine rebuild, thankfully the inside looks pretty damn good ! no heat damage, no off metal, no scraps or anything internal, have a new clutch cover on the way as the other was scratched to pieces, but this engine is in mighty fine nick and will last quite some time when i hone the cylinders, spec the valves, get the transmission and gears speced, and then new gaskets and reassemble.

So that brings the list to :

-Shock and swingarm set up
-Lunchbox Air intake
-Carb Rebuild/ReJet
-New Pipework (stock one was crushed )

-Front Fork set up
-Custom triple
-Custom Front axel
-Custom fork brace
-GSX600 Dual brake calipers
-Custom Spacers for forks to take axel

-Instruments/Lights/indicators
-Seat replacement
-Fuel Tank repaint
-Frame Alterations to suite
-Rewire Harness (some other electrics I want to do as well)

-Engine Rebuild

Fortunately, I do love a good bit of mechanics work!

3rd 3 2016!!!!

And time for another update; Here is one damn clean head; which I can honestly say has not seen the light of day since it was put in this block 50k km ago, oh it was black ! 110% recommend CRC Gasket stripper for removing carbon deposits, so much better then WD40, litreally can watch it eat the carbon; not good on paint though..



Other bike related news ; Disassembled the carbys, stripped all heads because ya know, JIS vs phillips, going to have them all replaced with Hex or allens,

Other then part cleaning and that not much has happened, engine will be partly rebuilt this week with a full transmission spec by the great guys here at the local suzuki repairer, just feel they will do the job spot on and make it a very smooth bike, as well as need to get OS pistons and regrind and hone the cylinders, lots to do.

Front is starting to work itself out, I found really cheap (several hundrad dollars cheeper then frieghtt of a GSX or GS500 wheel) untouched kawasaki ZR6 Front wheel which ! comes with a lot of benifits, 1) Same Disc Brakes as GSX forks and calipers I already have, 2) Larger axel hole, to help match the GSX ones, 3) 120mm front tire on a 120mm rim, no ifffy buisness with a 120 on 110! (much of a muchness but im clutching straws at this point)


So the to do list !

-new pistons and the works+
-reassemble the engine
     -new gasskets
     -new O-rings
     -valve maintance
-wear in the engine

-Shock and swingarm set up
-Lunchbox Air intake
-Carb Rebuild/ReJet (Stripped and cleaned carbs ! now to rejet)
-New Pipework (stock one was crushed ) (am considering a split exhaust, slash cut slim pipes down either side make it look real pweettyy...

-Front Fork set up
-Custom triple
-Custom Front axel
-Custom fork brace
-Custom Spacers for forks to take axel


-Instruments/Lights/indicators
-Seat replacement
-Fuel Tank repaint
-Frame Alterations to suite
-Rewire Harness (some other electrics I want to do as well)

8 3 16

More action !!
Have set myself a goal to have this reassembled and looking good in a month and halfs time ! maybe 2 months at a stretch,

As for todays progress, I have stripped down the carbbys, the previous time this was done someone has wayyy over tightened the bolts and consequently they got hell stripped, Vicegrips to the rescue! replaced with matching Allen heads



and here is the underside of a cleaned, gutted and rebuilt carby ;



Now to get new jets, seals and continue tinkering

10 4 2016

Crankcase is back together !!! with the covers and all the things all going back on !!!


Cylinders still to go; then valves, then back into the shop to service all that top to bottom;
Fuel tank has been painted! and forks and others getting done in a satin black -
then to find someone to do custom seats, put in all the new lights and bells and whistles, weld in U section on back and then fix up the front end!

23 4 16

Much Progress !!! - some good, some bad, some ugly,

have reassembled the engine, had to redo the shims while their and learnt the hard way that without the shim tool one must dissassemble the cams and what not to actually get to the bottom, anyway ! went from 280s ish down to 250s, one or 2 shims are a shim size off however they do the trick at present;
have even put the engine into the chassis, and my word was that a challenge !



after this proceeded to reassemble the heart off the bike, carbs recieved a good clean and has been upgraded to a K&N air filter - will need to rejet which is probably why at present it is running very not okay, slow response and is unable to ideal at all :/ however it is running !

Lovely new spray painted tank went on and the project is finally coming together, recieved the forks after a fork service by suzuki, now to have a custom axel made up to mate the wheel, then some spacers and what not to make it all work lovely, a custom fork stem for the GSX triples I have and then this girl might see a front wheel for the first time in months s!!

the other major things left to do

Indicators and electrics -
        Indicators will match similiar those in the picture at top, I have decided Im going with a universal electric one, something like this;
http://www.apbauto.com.au/shop/speedometer-80mm-cable-electric-trip/
        centrally mounted with a little say 40mm tacho mounted off to the side of it

Seat -
no idea how this will be done yet

metal and frame work -
need to weld some things on

Gaurds cut and aluminium plates to complete the look made up and painted -

Repaint portions of the engine with some grey tone to cover up scratchs

Fix exhaust

And then ! finally ! have it tuned and rejetted!

oh gosh so much more to do :/

20 5 2016 -





Yes Yes, the update has been awhile coming, but now its here!!! and boy has there been some updates - I have moved house too so the garage is a little different looking - This photo shows my bike in the old shed, however clearly see ! a lovely Yamaha wheel on a custom made axel bolted up to some GSX-R Tubes and triples, GSX-R Twin Brakes, New Handlebars Front headlight.

And one in the rollar door of the new garage !



Since these images I have also mounted a KOSO Tacho! which was actually relativily easy and as this is a 2009 bike it has a RPM pick up so no botched wrapping wires around ignition coils and hoping for the best jazz! right into the pick up! I do like the Tac a lot and will share a photo when the KOSO Speedo I am after arrrives ! getting it out of Germany ! You can see it off centre on the last photo atleast from behind, but hopefully the 48mm  Tacho with a central 68mm speedo unit will look boss!

I have also bought a Delv Header with a nice muffler that matchs my look all hooked up too it, will need to weld in a bracket to support the whole thing but that will come later! it does look nice in Stainless steel,  not sure if I will keep it this way or have it treated to Black and fit the look.. but will wait and see what happens.

The Axel Was made up by a local machinsts and goes from the big end down through the bearings in the wheel and then stepped down again - Later I will show an image of this by itself.

The calipers have had slight machining to ensure the Brake disc which was the same size off the old GS500 runs true through the middle, the speedo however is not usable at all and will be needing an aftermarket system to get that to work, which will hopefully work well using the bolt replacing on the brake disc method

The tyres and Wheel bearings will be replaced when the thing is finished up, and tuned, and running and awesome..

The seat is the next major thing, bend up some square bar and have it welded onto the back tube frame, have the original seat lock thing welded into place so that the bike still has some security of the battery and ignition and what not; more to come!! still very much underway!

Hope you all are enjoying this build so far and keeping up with it!

Another update ! 1 6 16

More has been done and slowly slowly getting there, I read through all my previous posts and had to have a laugh when I noticed the comment I made about hoping getting it done in 2 months; but I digress.

I have now successfully wierd in both the Tacho and Speedo, these Koso gauges arent bad at all for the price, the postage out of german for the speedo took forever ! but now its here and the fun starts - I learnt a lot from this 'fun' time;

#1 Dont wire at 4 am in the morning, no matter how long you have spent wiring
#2 Read wiring diagrams, just because their is an international standard for this stuff, doesnt mean suzuki listens to it.

In short, wiring gauges ground into the solid black wire is a bad idea, works fine until you use the left indicator then the gauges blink at you, took far to long to correct this; anyway here is some photos !

Here is the wiring before working on it -


And Here is the wiring after -


I have kept the original gauge cluster plugs on the wiring, couple reasons, mostly its really easy to hook up and test the gauges prior to cut and soldering if they work, also by leaving them in place I have the potential to add any gadget or gizmo I want later with an easy access to switched power - very handy for USB power and other gizmo;

And here is the final result - The middle gauge JUST clears the key location by enough that im happy to have the key tucked in behind the cluster, plus i really wanted the speedo centre -



So that sums up me trying to install the gauges and now they are on! the speedo is a active magenet attachment type which is all I could come up with for working with my build as this 09 GS came with a mechanical speedo that now does not fit, neither would any other speedo on the market as its all a custom job - so active magnet speedo it was ! however will have to think abit about how to mount the pick up onto the front assembly.

The other thing I have accomplished, or tried to was bending up some square tube, trying to make the U bend for the back of the bike but I couldnt get a nice round curve with just heat and a wooden guide, but here is a photo of fire using a bunson burner design on steriods I use for steel melting -



4 7 16

So with that failed attempt at square tube bending I went and had one made up by a local shop, although not the perfect as I wanted I suppose it will have to do and suffice. Now it has been welded in place - Here is a photo of my lovely new shed though ! this took 2 days and a lot of effort to put together but now its done! and on a rental house!



And slowly my motorbike is coming along, I feel getting closer and closer to it being finished even though there is still quite a bit left ! However now I have both indicators in, and the break light wired in! as well as the cross member which will hold the little bracket which connects to the seat release mechanisim, still not sure how I will make this work BUT ! im sure it will come together,

Also need to work out mud guards and those other minor things - but getting close !

Heres the indicators, the brake light is a bulb type and well not overly satisfied with its build quality or how when the brakes are applied it only marginally brightens the light, could be rather unnoticeable, but yes anyway; the Indicators are LED type, and surprisingly very bright, I had to install load resistors to make them function properly even with an LED flasher they just wouldnt work until a resisting load was added, oh and also I bought and added these LED light bolts, which illuminate the license place but are sneaky hidden bolt ends, quite sleek I must say! :

I als managed to drop the tank again ! god damnit - have used flat black spray paint to cover it, then wipe it back, which has for the best part filled in the cracks - until I can get a colour matched can to cover it good and proper like -



31 8 2016

Finally got out to the garage after the chaos that is the end of another year - more little jobs done! I have welded on the key barrel for the seat catch, as well as welded on a bracket for the seat latch and paited the whole lot in flat black ! Ia also mounted a newer spring set up, which has the nitrogen cannister, when its on the road and ride-able i am hoping to have painted aluminium cover plates that will hide these sort of details! either way hereis the new spring!



I also was struggling finding a way of mounting the lower exhaust to the bike to help support it so it wasnt just hanging off the engine - found a good fix and the muffler came with a support bracket just long enough to make this work!



and here is the seat latch release key and latch welded onto the bike in place!



Also made some progress on the seat build as well! finally got the base cut out of marine ply, with a couple groves cut in it to make it run into the tank, make for a much nicer cleaner fit when all finished, but its coming along!



And word limit! post continued on in next post by me..

Oh yeea, that will buff out.
9 bills sounds awfully steep ... but then again, I dunno what gum tree is, so it may be some funny $$$ so I guess 9 is OK
Cool.
Buddha.

It is a bit steep Buddha.  With it looking like that and no books/ no history I would have thought maybe haggle to 6 or 7 hunj? ... still as parts that thing would be worth more probably?

Still. .. Gumtree is Aussie CL kinda. .. free ads but owned by Trading Post which is also like CL but paid advertising. .... and a undamaged 09 with 50k is likely to be $5-6k?. .

Interesting to see your project develop Biga! .. where in The Land are ya?

Take a good read thru the service manual in regards to rebuilding the engine. Take note any time it says "do not reuse XYZ part, replace with new". You'll need new gaskets all around, along with piston circlips, valve seals, maybe piston rings (measure the cylinder bore), valve seals wouldn't hurt either....., etc. And all that stuff should be bought directly from Suzuki (either online or from a dealer).

It is of course up to you how far into the engine you decide to go, but in general a GS engine is pretty robust.

Good luck with the mod!

That is nice looking GS you found online. Keep us updated!

Sadly the only mechanical thing I know how to do is change the oil. : ( 

Quote from: The Buddha on November 29, 2015, 08:43:31 AM
Oh yeea, that will buff out.

9 bills sounds awfully steep ... but then again, I dunno what gum tree is, so it may be some funny $$$ so I guess 9 is OK
Cool.

$900 AUD which (assuming you are thinking in USD Budda) is about $650 at the current rate,

Have the offical suzuki manual printed out and hard copy, I dont actually mind it; seems very easy to go through, Im trying to pick up a hayens manual to compare to and see how it goes about what with is.. but so far the engines all come down pretty well; Re-doing every Seal, bearing, Heads, valves, Bore, clutch pack, and oil, Due to the fact this was a critical incident  for the bike am ensuring that I can put the engine back on track to make 100k+

Hello Janx, I have managed to seperate myself from the big nasties on the mainland thanks to the bass straight figure the weather is too tame up that way..

Anyones opinions on replacement Forks ? Suzi new ones are $1280AUD each!!!

Cheers !



AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD ! continuing on the post here as i didnt realise there was a word limit and that I would get so far as hitting it, Opps..

So in updated news, have contacted a local guy who is going to do the upholstry work on the bike seat all nice and neat like I wanted, the bolts I bought to mount the ignition barrel on were the wrong size (odd suzuki cylinder is the right size lines up and fits perfectly but GSXR triple take bigger bolts for the key cylinder..) so hopefully get the right ones this week

And most importantly started on making up the bracket to hold the speed sensor on !






due to the fact I have gone with a none custom set up with the speedo it means I dont have an option for a mechanical system, going to use the hall effect sensor that came with the speedo I bought, but the crap alaminium ones that came wont work, so little bit of engineering to get it towork but should be good! angle grinder to the rescue !

And here it is all done up, replaced the bolt with an Allan countersunk head so that the sensor could comfortably fit through the hole and pick up the 5 magnets inbedded into the disc brake bolts !



So that was a rather painless mod to get that mounted ! Next up was finally bolting the key barrel in! First some adjustments needed to be made, although the key barrel is the same apprently the GSX650 keys came with larger bolts then the GS500, SO i had to drill them though, Also I wanted to put allens back in not securtiy bolts or Hex (which wouldnt work)



I then had to retap the threaded end because the triple has some really odd thread (either imperial or something odd) So retapped !



Also just so everyone knows ! a GSX650 Triple will accept a GS500 key barrel AND the steering lock Will work !!! WOOHOO !



Now April, getting along well ! when I can fit this project in, currently the bike is running only on one cylinder but I reckon thats just in the carbs.. soon should be into the machnics for a full inspection and clean and wheels and the like..

I have gotten the seat back ! finally !, its a little shorter then what I had pushed for but, it works.. little adjustment of the catch (think im going have to put some rubber spacers in there to allow the catch to rotate and line up with the latchs in the seat bracket, at present one side goes in not the other due to being twisted off centre, I might make something to nicely cover the gap behind the seat, or I might just ignore it because screw it...





As yeah said, not to sure about the shortness of the seat comparably, but maybe it will grow on me.. a lot of work in it so far!! ..

Next on the list is I have some carbon fibre coming.. time to get some foam or something to look at having mud gaurds made up ! hopefully project coming to an end.. slowly.. will also modify how the licence plate sits a little.. make it much higher angle and look a little better !

15 May 17

Small update, I have now made up an aluminium bracket to mount the rectifyer on under the seat, rather happy with how this turned out, kinda neat job, I had to bend the side profile over a bit far to miss the resistors mounted on the frame (didnt account for them when measuring the width, opps!) however now the wiring neatly fits under it and the bend holds it all in place! so in the end pretty happy !

In my hood that bugger wont fetch $650, closer to $65 and that's only cos I overpay for things.
Of course I have no desire to own a 01+ unless one showed up @ my door cold wet and shivering (and importantly running) for under 3 bills ...

If it was an 89 I'd double my original offer of $65 ...

Anyway we are obsessed with a throwaway culture. Especially on things that shouldn't be thrown away.

Cool.
Buddha.

Awesome thread!! Good luck with the project, can't wait to see more. Welcome to the site 

I totally hear ya about how expensive the forks are... when I bought my GS, the forks on it were slightly bent.  I kept an eye out on the For Sale section of the forum and bought a used set for $100 I think ? Make sure you check there 

QuoteIn my hood that bugger wont fetch $650, closer to $65 and that's only cos I overpay for things.

Haha, wow Budda, id like to know where abouts you live, I live on an island, off the coast of an Island, that is a western culture in the heart of Asian major centres, bits and bobs down this way are quite expensive!

QuoteI totally hear ya about how expensive the forks are... when I bought my GS, the forks on it were slightly bent.  I kept an eye out on the For Sale section of the forum and bought a used set for $100 I think ? Make sure you check there 

I have ended up buying a set of GSX forks for about $200 and garunteed straight, I know they are 41mm, means lovely new triples (fortunatly have a machine shop I can just drop into for such things), but better choice for my weight and ride.

I think Ill just keep updating the main post instead of multiple running posts! more to come..

sounding good so far, can't wait to see some more 

Thanks guys, Have a couple of questions from the main running thread to ask ;

Dual disc brakes set up off a GSX650 fit between the standard distance of a normal GS500F front fork set up ? vital to know for my new triple design;

The design itself will have;

- Same distance between main bolt and centre line of forks
- Same distance between fork edge and fork edge,
- same Rake, trail, and traverse of orginal stock set up
- New bearings, press fit yoke,
- Similar instrument set up, not sure yet how ill mount them
- Same handlebar arrangement, I kind of like the handle bars over clipons but will look into a custom handlebar and see how it mounts up

great intro and read,....subd!

Bump-date

Have gotten a front wheel, with all its 120/70-17" glory (why yes, it is not a GS500 front wheel but an evil kawi front wheel, std with compatible disk rotors and much simiplier interchangable wheel bearing to take the new custom front axel that will be going in this frankanbike)

Have a new speedo drive because I like speedo drives and mechanical speedos and stuff,

adding the following stuff to my growing list off things to make this thing breath new life..
Engine crank and Fork seals are off to be speced and resealed;
OS pistons and cylinders off to be married together;
Carbby jets and replacement bolts (phillips on a seized JIS, not pretty)

Little bit of a project i must say,

Updates -

Started tearing down and cleaning the carbys, looks pretty good so far !
Having the fuel tank and lower front forks repainted on the weekend, progress is happening !

More questions;

Where Can I buy a good set of jets here in australia for a resonable price ?
Where can I buy good O rings and what not for my carbys here in australia
How do you disassemble the needle and air 'gate' on the carby to put in a washer to delay the opening of the main jet?
Where can I get the K&N Lunch box filters here in australia for a resonable price?

Any help would be great !!

Quote from: Biga800 on January 05, 2016, 04:37:06 AM
Updates -

Started tearing down and cleaning the carbys, looks pretty good so far !
Having the fuel tank and lower front forks repainted on the weekend, progress is happening !

More questions;

Where Can I buy a good set of jets here in australia for a resonable price ?
Where can I buy good O rings and what not for my carbys here in australia
How do you disassemble the needle and air 'gate' on the carby to put in a washer to delay the opening of the main jet?
Where can I get the K&N Lunch box filters here in australia for a resonable price?

Any help would be great !!

I got mine from here.. http://www.mikunioz.com/

I still have mine as I didn't need to change jetting after my pipe chop, also have a spare K&N lunch box filter because I ordered one and it took too long to come so I ordered another. PM me for more details.

Quote from: Biga800 on January 05, 2016, 04:37:06 AM
Updates -

Started tearing down and cleaning the carbys, looks pretty good so far !
Having the fuel tank and lower front forks repainted on the weekend, progress is happening !

More questions;

Where Can I buy a good set of jets here in australia for a resonable price ?
Where can I buy good O rings and what not for my carbys here in australia
How do you disassemble the needle and air 'gate' on the carby to put in a washer to delay the opening of the main jet?
Where can I get the K&N Lunch box filters here in australia for a resonable price?

Any help would be great !!

Hey I'm from Aus too.

I got a carb rebuild kit from here: http://www.motorcyclespareswarehouse.com.au/

Minor update 31 Jan 16

Have received back the bottom end of the engine from the Suzuki guys and got nearly half the qoute dropped as it went back togeter painlessly, atleast for them! also from what they told me the bottom end looks pretty darn good for a 50k bike, everything was in good spec and no need to worry.

the cylinders are at the cylinder place getting O/S pistons bored in, and i have all the things I need to put this tuned up girl together, am tempted to make a bit of a How-to out of it, lots of photos and what not on putting back together the clutch side of the engine unless someone can tell me of a good one that someone has already made (would probably help me oodles amount also)

Still cant find a nice seat I like - and have to get some bent steel box to round out the back end of the frame after I have lopped the rear down to size; lots left to do

Major update !

The engine is back in the frame !! and the tanks on the carbys are on and it turns over and starts Woohoo!!

Although now it runs like a bucket o' crud and will die at 0 throttle, putting this down to having not yet rejetted the Carbs however replacing with K&N filter, will try with original airbox and see if it runs just nice with that, however I have noticed the bike runs really lean - hoping a mechanic down where I live can give it the right stuff after ive changed the exhaust a little (nice low baffled slash cut exhaust)

now to continue on with the list and hopefully get her on the road soon !

woooohoooo! glad to hear it 

need some pics though

poor running is likely down to the k&n as you expect, good call on popping the old airbox back on for diagnostics the gs carbs are an absolute doddle to work with, nothing to be scared of. theres a great jetting matrix resource on here as well to help get it into the right ball park with very little work.

seriously though... just how much of a pig is it to wriggle the engine back in! takes an age doesn't it.