Yet Another ER5 Project

[KiwiBob]

Its worth asking on the Kawasaki ER5 UK facebook page ... There was one on there in November for £60(Manchester too)

[fastbob]

7 hours ago, Fozzie said:

The 600mm pry bar had to be used, and it still took an hour. There were consequences, and possibly a bad discovery. 

 

The offending article, the thermostat housing. I removed the gubbins around it and it wouldn't move. 

 

After 3 days of WD-40 baths, heat, and finally a vinegar solution to dissolve the internal rust (can't leave it in too long, it eats alluminum, and had to be flushed with deionised water) I had enough. And decided it was coming off, regardless of the force required. With the below being the result, a 600mm pry bar. 

I still can't get my head around how tight that was in there. Evidenced from the bent metal work, I tried my best to keep it square as it lifted. In the end the right leg popped out first. With the left giving up quickly after that. 

 

The consequence, I've cracked the valve cover, and marked the jackets either side of the cover. All will need to be replaced. Luckily, they tend to come as one part on eBay. But... There's a possible problem.

 

After a quick inspection, there was some pretty big damage to one of the cam lobes. 

 

I can only guess at what did it. Is this normal wear? A sign of previous poor lubrication? Or is the clearance too big and its accelerated the wear? This needs to be answered before I go any further. As at the moment, this engine could be a dud. 

 

Any suggestions welcome!

 

Ive got everything you need . 

Edited March 30, 2022 by fastbob

[Fozzie]

16 hours ago, fastbob said:

Ive got everything you need . 

 

Thanks for the offer, we will have to sort something.

I'd ordered the thermostat pipes, and valve cover before my post. But do I spot PAIR delete blanking plates? I'll be chatting to you soon about getting those (Will take whole thing if you don't want to part it out), and the exhaust side cam shaft. 

 

You don't happen to have a spare starter motor you'd be willing to sell? Mine came out, and then each bolt holding it together gave up very easily, and the insides don't look too happy. Large, thick deposits, felt like clay. I can see why its been jamming up.

 

The reason for the engine being dropped, to drill out and remove the starter.

 

These gave no fight at all, I gently rocked the bolt back and forth, gave it a light turn, and snap... Long, rusted, thin bolts are irritating.

 

Not sure if this is something I can salvage, a new starter motor is £160 on eBay. Used ones appear for £50, might be better to use my rebuild kit on one of those, and give it a lick of paint. 

[fastbob]

No starter motor I'm afraid but you're welcome to the blanking plates and camshaft . I believe they are interchangeable by repositioning the sprocket but I've got the other one somewhere . 

[Fozzie]

I tried to redeem myself after getting so stuck, and had a go at the exhaust studs. My technique for getting them out is to heat them up, and let them cool naturally, then heat them up again, and blast with WD-40. Once cooled again, I use 2 nuts, one acting as a locknut and gently apply pressure on the spanner. I never swing my weight on them, I just rock back and forth with the occasional shock motion. 

 

All 4 came out, one was shorter than the others, and this was where I discovered one had previously been drilled out. It only has a few threads, so I may drill out and helicoil it. 

 

New valve cover in the post, along with the coolant pipes as well. I will be seeking out Fastbob's PAIR block off plates soon, but I'm due to start work on the Blackbird next week to get it serviced/sold. 

 

The new to me pipes show signs that they were stuck once as well, looking at the pattern of corrosion. The O-ring looks like if replaced it will seal, but one side is a bit off shape.

I'll be tidying these up with a dremel and wire brush attachment, try and take off a small layer of material. I think you can get a teflon based lubricant, that sticks to metal. I'd like to create something between these hoses and the engine, try and prevent the corrosion occurring again, but this bike will have been used in all weathers and with me likely won't see much rain, so perhaps overkill?

 

Won't get much more done now as I'm on the Honda next week (will put some pics up here, why not?). But I'm running out of dosh to throw at the project for the minute, but will get a fresh batch of bits ordered end of next week. 

[fredc]

52 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

a teflon based lubricant, that sticks to metal.

isn’t that an oxymoron 

[Fozzie]

34 minutes ago, fredc said:

isn’t that an oxymoron 

 

Possibly, I'm assuming while it's wet it adheres to things, and the non-stick coating forms as part of the drying process. 

 

I saw something like it being used in a boat yard. Guy said he wouldn't let copper slip touch anything on his boat, and he seemed to know his beans, as he was a chemical engineer apparently. I need something that goes on wet, dries, and leaves a non-stick layer. It seems very heat resistant on metal pans, so a coolant jacket doesn't worry me too much. 

[Fozzie]

I had a week off last week, and decided to do up my Blackbird over in Wales at my old mans workshop. I budgeted 4 days to replace parts, touch up bits with paint, and make a variety of checks (especially to the combined brake system, which has plumbing running throughout the bike), and 1 for troubleshooting, I ended up using 2 for everything... As it turns out 1998 Honda's come apart a lot easier than 2003 Kawasaki's

 

It had a weird issue, it cuts out when the handlebars are turned to the hard right. I was guessing a vacuum hose was being pinched. 

I won't start a new thread, this will do as a "Why I've not been working on the Kwak" post. 

 

The bits to be installed on the bike

The sparkplugs looked new, a shame. The far left one looked a bit oily, but how it got that way I don't know. It has been sat for several months, and I believe the valve cover gasket could have allowed a slow weep by the part that seals around the spark plug holes. It's only a couple of drops, so I'm not particularly worried. 

Front and rear wheel bearings, before and after...

Rears didn't look too bad, sprocket carrier bearing too, all seemed mostly ok. But they are original to the bike, so was worth the replacement.

 

Then I took to doing the brakes, all pistons came out very easily, with only a few taps with the slide hammer. A surprise actually, as they looked fairly crusty. I got them back together with new pads, on a later ride, they worked like new. 

 

I didn't snap much from the next bit, as when I do carbs, I tend to get lost in my own world keeping track of all the little bits. I gave the bowls and jets a good clean, and balanced them up later on. New air filter to top it all off. 

 

I didn't capture the chain swap, as straight away my chain tool snapped the press pin. But I took an angle grinder to it in anger at my own stupidity, and got the new chain on quickly. Torqued up, tightened to the right spec. This made a fair mess after it was all done...

 

I lubricated all the control cables, bled the brakes a few times as the back was really spongey. The trick seemed to be to bleed via the furthest nipple (2 per caliper), and do it the traditional way, rather than a vacuum tool. But very quickly, pumping the pedal, and cracking the nipple open and closed in quick repetitions. Eventually a big slug of air came out, which was clearly moving down when pumped, then drifting back up to a high point if I didn't repeat the procedure quick enough.

 

The cutting out when the handlebars were hard to the right was a snagged clutch switch cable, I ran it the right way, made sure it wasn't damaged, all was well!

 

But that's it, all ready to sell. It's too big a bike, and not suited to me, I'm after a CBR600F (2004 onwards), SV650 (2011 onwards), or a Z750S (2004 onwards). I need something to get me about and have a bit of fun on, but nothing that lights the world on fire. I want to put more time and money into projects basically. 

 

In case anyone wants it, a 5 owner, 40k mile, CBR1100XX Blackbird, 1998 model, in great fettle... 

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Fozzie
Spelling

[MikeHorton]

the old girl will have a very happy owner soon I'm sure! 

[Guest]

That looks corking.

[Fozzie]

Got some bits done on the ER last night, as parts trickled in. My starter motor was beyond saving, as while the exterior looked ok, the interior showed it had clearly been hammered or hit with something. Bits of the inner casing had come off, and the windings looked scorched, not something new brushes was going to fix!

 

So a £50 jobby from eBay, and if it doesn't work when the engine goes back in, the bolts holding it in are new. The threads needed some cleaning up but it should come out easily from now on. I also swapped the JIS screws for allen cap bolts of the same length, a little blob of thread lock holding it in.

 

After spending an hour getting bits of gasket off, and a new one on to get the generator cover back on, I moved onto the hot water pipes on top of the engine. Cracking a valve cover to get out suggested something was holding them in tight, and the corrosion/scale down both was added a good 1-2mm of thickness. So I got to it with a dremel, and steel brush. Turning a corroded mess, into something a lot cleaner.

 

 

Pipes now slip in and out with a bit of resistance from the o-rings. I'm going to give these pipes a good going over with a drill mounted steel brush, fresh o-rings (when they arrive), and a couple of coats of stove black paint as I don't like dissimilar metals in constant contact like that. 

 

Couple of bits to do on the top of the engine, including a new exhaust cam shaft to swap out for my old tired looking one. Then the engine is going back in the bike, and I can move onto cleaning/repairing the carbs. After that the bike will be back together, and run for a while. I plan on using it for some daily stuff for a couple of weeks, just to make sure it's running reliably before I take it apart and do some major modifications. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Fozzie

[bud]

Good idea about running it for a while. Last thing you want is diagnosing problem on a freshly built bike.

[Fozzie]

Been a tad busy lately, had a holiday, and then had a CBR600F my girlfriends dad owns come through the garage. It got a full service, but the tyres are knackered, and the head/wheel bearings are feeling fairly horrible. Bike has a weird side to side sway as it goes down the road, which is quite gentle. I thought the front wheel was bent, but this sway should become a horrible shake/vibration at higher speeds and it doesn't. Pic of me mid service.

 

 

But back to the ER, and I have a problem, possibly a big one. I was about to swap out the camshaft provided by @fastbob, when I thought I'd look at the valve clearances. See how bad it was. I set piston 1 at top dead centre with the marks on the engine, and the manual says little dots on the cam sprockets should face up, and the "IN" marks be at the top..

 

Well... Both those cam lobes are meant to be pointing up... And...

 

I'm now thinking that screechy, chirpy noise it was making at idle was more sinister. The pen markings on the cam bearing suggest to me this engine has had someone in here replacing bits. They've bungled it up, the bike probably ran but not well and they sold it.

It did feel quite angry when I rode it, a lot of vibration, and I thought it was an old bike needing a proper service. So I rotated the engine so piston 2 was at top dead centre as this requires the line markings on the cam sprocket to line up with the head (and how I prefer to time the engine), and took out the cam shaft, moving it so that the marks on the cam sprockets line up with the head as the manual states. See pics below, after I'd moved the outlet cam shaft over a few teeth. 

 

 

The engine would also barely turn over by hand, it nearly needed a breaker bar and undid the bolt, and I found out why. The cam chain was stupidly tight, and when I took the cam chain tensioner out, it didn't pop out as many would. I noticed the plunger was fully extended, it has a ratchet device you push in, to reset the plunger back into the body. You then bolt it up, and the cap bolt engages the ratchet, which applies the right tension... This engine is going to need a cam chain now... As the last owner replaced the tensioner, and didn't reset it first. 

 

But can someone sanity check me before I throw this engine back in the bike... I'm not being crazy am I? This engines timing was pissed? I used the "C" mark on the rotor to line up piston 2 at top dead centre, screwdriver down the plug hole to confirm. The lines on the sprockets now line up, the lobes are both pointing up on inlet/outlet, although the exhaust lobe is just ahead of the inlet lobe. Which is what the Haynes manual shows in its (admittedly, hard to see, black and white) picture, and what I expect as after combustion stroke, the exhaust valves open, but the inlet valves tend to open as the exhaust valves are closing. And seems to line up with what I'm seeing.

 

It's going back together, PAIR removal plates installed. But this engine is going to need pulling apart a lot more aggressively than first thought later on. No matter, I like a challenge.

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Fozzie

[fastbob]

5 hours ago, Fozzie said:

Been a tad busy lately, had a holiday, and then had a CBR600F my girlfriends dad owns come through the garage. It got a full service, but the tyres are knackered, and the head/wheel bearings are feeling fairly horrible. Bike has a weird side to side sway as it goes down the road, which is quite gentle. I thought the front wheel was bent, but this sway should become a horrible shake/vibration at higher speeds and it doesn't. Pic of me mid service.

 

 

But back to the ER, and I have a problem, possibly a big one. I was about to swap out the camshaft provided by @fastbob, when I thought I'd look at the valve clearances. See how bad it was. I set piston 1 at top dead centre with the marks on the engine, and the manual says little dots on the cam sprockets should face up, and the "IN" marks be at the top..

 

Well... Both those cam lobes are meant to be pointing up... And...

 

I'm now thinking that screechy, chirpy noise it was making at idle was more sinister. The pen markings on the cam bearing suggest to me this engine has had someone in here replacing bits. They've bungled it up, the bike probably ran but not well and they sold it.

It did feel quite angry when I rode it, a lot of vibration, and I thought it was an old bike needing a proper service. So I rotated the engine so piston 2 was at top dead centre as this requires the line markings on the cam sprocket to line up with the head (and how I prefer to time the engine), and took out the cam shaft, moving it so that the marks on the cam sprockets line up with the head as the manual states. See pics below, after I'd moved the outlet cam shaft over a few teeth. 

 

 

The engine would also barely turn over by hand, it nearly needed a breaker bar and undid the bolt, and I found out why. The cam chain was stupidly tight, and when I took the cam chain tensioner out, it didn't pop out as many would. I noticed the plunger was fully extended, it has a ratchet device you push in, to reset the plunger back into the body. You then bolt it up, and the cap bolt engages the ratchet, which applies the right tension... This engine is going to need a cam chain now... As the last owner replaced the tensioner, and didn't reset it first. 

 

But can someone sanity check me before I throw this engine back in the bike... I'm not being crazy am I? This engines timing was pissed? I used the "C" mark on the rotor to line up piston 2 at top dead centre, screwdriver down the plug hole to confirm. The lines on the sprockets now line up, the lobes are both pointing up on inlet/outlet, although the exhaust lobe is just ahead of the inlet lobe. Which is what the Haynes manual shows in its (admittedly, hard to see, black and white) picture, and what I expect as after combustion stroke, the exhaust valves open, but the inlet valves tend to open as the exhaust valves are closing. And seems to line up with what I'm seeing.

 

It's going back together, PAIR removal plates installed. But this engine is going to need pulling apart a lot more aggressively than first thought later on. No matter, I like a challenge.

 

Hang on there ! If you had the cams out without removing the tensioner then it would fully extend the second the cams were dislodged . You needed to have first removed the tensioner internals followed by the body . Install the cams with no tensioner then fit the empty body first followed by the spring , rod and end cap . Hope this helps . I'll PM my phone number so you can give me a bell for a chat about it . Oh yeah , the other bike has tight steering head bearings ..

[Fozzie]

So after another week of doing other projects, including steering stem bearings, wheel bearings including the sprocket carrier bearing (which was more grumbly than me on Monday mornings). To drop the triple tree, I had to remove the ram air scoop, which meant taking the bike apart way more than was reasonable. The bearings inside were badly greased, and the race wasn't even seated correctly. Found the cause of the weird swaying side to side. I took the bike for a fresh set of Pirelli rosso tyres, and she rides like new. Little pic of the day:

 

But onto the Kawasaki, I confirmed with Fastbob that the engine was out of time. And the cam chain tensioner had been replaced previously, but installed without the plunger reset. It was putting max tension on the chain, which will likely now have a tight spot and need changing very soon.

The starter motor wasn't buggered, it just couldn't turn the engine as the tension on the chain was so great, that I couldn't turn it at one point even with a breaker bar on there. It span freely once the cam chain tensioner was removed, and when the plunger was reset. I couldn't find a tight spot when checking tension of the chain afterwards, and I didn't hear the tensioner click out anymore as I slowly turned the engine over. Whoever was in this engine last, was a bit of an amateur, being kind.

 

So I've rectified it all, and put it back together, and putting it back in the bike. Here is some pics and narrative.

Engine back in the bike, everything set as it should be. And sitting on all new engine mounting bolts/nuts.

 

Rad weld... This is too goopy to be rust. It needs a new radiator going forward.

 

Fresh plugs

 

Carbs cleaned, and I found marks to suggest the fuel level was recently set. I'm guessing these aren't original carbs to the bike, or if they are, they've had new hardware as the float needle looks new. There was no serious fueling issue, so a quick clean is all I'm giving them for now. A soak in the sonic cleaner will come later.

And back on the engine, and I'm gradually getting everything together. Fresh coolant and oil, and I will be trying to start it soon.

 

That's it for now, hopefully some life can be breathed into it soon. I'm already itching for the next stage, even the loom will be getting a deep clean. Frame powdercoated, engine painted etc. But need to make sure I know what work needs to be done to make this bike reliable, and last a good long while longer. 

 

[Fozzie]

A big update today from bits and bobs of the last couple of weeks. So I got the ER5's engine all plumbed back in, but had a small issue. The fuel line from the tank split, and a good 3-4 litres of fuel leaked onto my garage floor. Place was unusable for a couple of days thanks to the fumes, which have since subsided. 

 

If you look to the left, the tank is on a box, and the floor is soaked. It ran the length of the garage.

 

I have an auxiliary fuel tank, so emptied the tank into this and a spare fuel can. And... Well that's not the colour petrol is meant to be. It's not rust, I checked the tank, I believe it to be a varnish left by old fuel residue (maybe when the bike sat for a year). I've then put some fresh fuel in, and the ethanol in the fresh fuel will have eaten that varnish. I'm running the old stuff through my generator, and getting fresh stuff in the tank when I get new fuel lines on it. 

I got my fresh stainless steel exhaust on the bike. Filled up with oil, finding a slow leak on the generator gasket which I'll try to fix. I think something is stopping the gasket make a seal, so will get to the bottom of that. 

 

Now for the dramatic bit, would the bike start? Yes! After a prime of the fuel system, and switching to on, it fired right up... Then about 10 seconds later, began heavily mis-firing. It wouldn't idle, and you needed choke to make it run at all. All I did was clean the jets and carb bowls, but I assumed that something bad was going on in the carbs. They are well known for issues. But then, I spot this...

 

Now is that fuel coming out of the bottom of the exhaust there? Or is it coolant coming from the head gasket? I had a horrible couple of hours thinking about it, and later going to see my old man to ask what he thought. I've flushed out the cooling system, and found what looks like rad weld on the thermostat... But then the question was raised... What if I've dissolved and flushed some dodgy head gasket repair? F**k! But I'm still hopeful the issue is fueling. So my old man comes down this morning to help me get to the bottom of it. 

 

After messing around we found the problem, see those jets on the mouth of the carb? Fuel shouldn't be there. It was hugely over fueling. But on centre stand the fuel was draining into the engine (Luckily the fuel supply is vacuum fed, it didn't pour into the engine).

 

I didn't get many pictures, but when checking the carbs he thought the fuel level was too high. The manual shows how to do it with some clear height, but my old man said we should set the float height to the 17mm +/-2 specified. It was a tricky task, as I used a steel rule on the carb body which he held up and level. Then he blew through the fuel pipe until we found the exact height that made the float shut off the hissing air. We found it was just over 19mm, on the edge of that tolerance, and got an exact 17mm float height after some bending of the tabs. While doing this, we found some sticky residue in the left hand main jet, holding the float needle from closing, looked like old glue. 

Back together with bits from that rebuild kit I was putting off. 

 

I also found why it would be slow to return to idle, the last owner had used a non-JIS scredriver on the carb clamps, rounding the heads. I replaced the below with a spare steel one I had lying around, I've ordered 2 new ones. It was letting too much air in on cylinder 2 as it couldn't hold the airbox housing on. 

 

Going for the restart, I think my old man thought the head gasket was bad, or the timing was off. He asked a fair few times "are you absolutely sure?". Yes, I spent half an hour turning the engine over many times and re-checking. Counting the pins on the cam chain and cross checking the manual. But... It lives! And it's idling/revving up well. I need to get it out for a little ride around the private carpark next to where I live to make sure it rides properly, but have a listen. No more fuel leak out of the exhaust, and looking likely I'll be out riding it soon (within a mile of home, as I'm not that confident yet!)

 

A

[Fozzie]

Post was getting long, so a summary of what has happened so far. 

 

1. Bought a £500 Kawasaki, had been stood a while, but ran albeit in a grumpy way.

2. Starter wouldn't work, thought it was buggered, but when checking the valve timing, found the cam chain tensioner had been installed at full extension by a previous home mechanic. No slack on the cam chain, so tight the engine would hit a tight spot and wouldn't turn even on a breaker bar. Starter motor had no chance, it was probably fine but couldn't spin the engine up, and when it did manage the engine felt weak. I think it was repaired for an MOT, and to flog it (to unsuspecting me). 

3. The engine was severely out of time. The exhaust valve was only opening right after combustion, so that super loud "chirp chirp chirp" was high pressure combustion gases firing out the exhaust. I've reset this.

4. All back together, the carbs over fueled the bike, flooding a cylinder near to the point of hydro-locking. It looked like a head gasket failure, but me and my dad sorted that out today working together. 

5. Don't buy a £500 Kawasaki that the guy is happy to deliver to you in a van, rather than ride, when it had MOT etc. But it's been a good way to spend some quality time with the old man

 

[billy sugger]

Well, not only have you learnt a bit about stripping/fixing an engine you could probably make a tidy profit if you choose to sell it on

[fastbob]

I need to turn my attention to mine . It runs and rides great but I limped home on one cylinder when I took it for a long run . Probably just the usual float valve issues despite the big inline filter I fitted . As soon as I'm satisfied that it's reliable I'll flog it  . 

[Fozzie]

I got the bike together last night and took it for a ride around the car park next to mine, big open space. It is ok at lower RPM's, but it has a weird hesitation at 5-7k, and then seems to scream on through. 

I was thinking maybe a split vacuum hose, fueling issue, but I spotted that one of the coils has a weird... Hard to describe. Looks like furry metal building up on where it mounts to the frame. Suspecting that isn't any good, so will swap out the coils and spark plug caps, they're cheap enough. 

 

[Fozzie]

And as a little bonus. Look at what I sorted out the other day? A Yamaha R1, 1998 model, in the rare red/white scheme. It had leaking fork seals, and needed a full service.

 

 

Leaky seal

 

Some muscle and a fork spring compressor tool/holder to push the space down and expose the locknut holding the fork cap on. Once this is off, it pretty much all slides apart.

 

Not the worst I've seen, but needed a good clean and a fresh seal

 

Back on the bike, all cleaned up. I did the right hand side in half the time once I got my eye in. 

 

Fresh plugs, air filter, oil filter, oil, new sump plug. She was right as rain, and back to her owner the same day... I did take the long way back to his house... It don't half pull.

 

[Tiggie]

Probably needed a nice long test ride after servicing too 

[Fozzie]

3 hours ago, Tiggie said:

Probably needed a nice long test ride after servicing too 

 

He did ask if he'd find 3 gallons of fuel missing, even though we live 8 miles apart...

 

Told him if that were the case, it has a fueling issue and I'll have to have another look

Got a K5 GSXR1000 to do next, same job, front forks misting. That will also develop a similar fueling issue...

[Fozzie]

Sorry for the absence of updates, the project is trickling along, but I've been swamped with a number of other things. Work was a nightmare. 

 

The ER had a new battery put on it the other day, it's running ok but there is a fueling issue I'm chasing down. The bike has been moved to my old mans place in Anglesey as it has a lot more kit, including a welder and ultrasonic cleaner. The carbs will be getting a dip soon.

 

Keeping me busy at the minute, are these two. 

 

 

A Kawasaki ninja, and GSXR. Both from the late 90's. They don't need a huge amount to get going so they are getting a big service, fresh MOT, and then sold on to hopefully produce a cash pot I use to get the ER going. I'm going to try and not take on anymore work this year to get it hammered out. 

 

Given the engine was badly botched by a previous owner, and shows a lot of signs of a hurried rebuild, I'm likely going to pick up a good donor bike, a bunch of bits, and make 2 bikes. With the Sunday best being the one I turn into a scrambler. 

 

[skyrider]

On 30/06/2022 at 11:11, Fozzie said:

So after another week of doing other projects, including steering stem bearings, wheel bearings including the sprocket carrier bearing (which was more grumbly than me on Monday mornings). To drop the triple tree, I had to remove the ram air scoop, which meant taking the bike apart way more than was reasonable. The bearings inside were badly greased, and the race wasn't even seated correctly. Found the cause of the weird swaying side to side. I took the bike for a fresh set of Pirelli rosso tyres, and she rides like new. Little pic of the day:

 

But onto the Kawasaki, I confirmed with Fastbob that the engine was out of time. And the cam chain tensioner had been replaced previously, but installed without the plunger reset. It was putting max tension on the chain, which will likely now have a tight spot and need changing very soon.

The starter motor wasn't buggered, it just couldn't turn the engine as the tension on the chain was so great, that I couldn't turn it at one point even with a breaker bar on there. It span freely once the cam chain tensioner was removed, and when the plunger was reset. I couldn't find a tight spot when checking tension of the chain afterwards, and I didn't hear the tensioner click out anymore as I slowly turned the engine over. Whoever was in this engine last, was a bit of an amateur, being kind.

 

So I've rectified it all, and put it back together, and putting it back in the bike. Here is some pics and narrative.

Engine back in the bike, everything set as it should be. And sitting on all new engine mounting bolts/nuts.

 

Rad weld... This is too goopy to be rust. It needs a new radiator going forward.

 

Fresh plugs

 

Carbs cleaned, and I found marks to suggest the fuel level was recently set. I'm guessing these aren't original carbs to the bike, or if they are, they've had new hardware as the float needle looks new. There was no serious fueling issue, so a quick clean is all I'm giving them for now. A soak in the sonic cleaner will come later.

And back on the engine, and I'm gradually getting everything together. Fresh coolant and oil, and I will be trying to start it soon.

 

That's it for now, hopefully some life can be breathed into it soon. I'm already itching for the next stage, even the loom will be getting a deep clean. Frame powdercoated, engine painted etc. But need to make sure I know what work needs to be done to make this bike reliable, and last a good long while longer. 

 

that front bolt looks knackered could be some ape has been tightening it up