john blaze
Registered
Whoa, Kelford, quality stuff, we even know those guys down here in South Africa. But they are also into performance applications for cars.....you know Sierra xr6's, Xr8's and even Barra turbo's. Lovely Stuff
112,500Km Service on my '99 'Busa
- Thread starter Kiwi Rider
- Start date
That surprises me. If the cams are out it’s relatively simple to lift the head isn’t it or does lifting it compromise the cyl to base gasket?
Wuzza., the situation is this . . .
I have not removed the engine, and to remove the cyl head the engine must come out of the frame. That's a job for winter, and it will happen.
There is another few months of Summer left and I want to make the most of it, if I take the engine out it will be off the road for weeks.
I reckon I can wring a few thousand more miles from it before an overhaul.
Ok, so I received my new tensioner guide from Japan today! Yeeeehaaa,
also rang Kelford Cams and was told my camshafts will be ready to pick up on Thursday . . . that means I will be installing them and shimming the valve clearances on Thursday and Friday nights, should be riding on Saturday, forecast is fine, light winds and 30degC.
Pics . . .
Paid $120 for this . .
Here it is in place . . .
Getting closer!
also rang Kelford Cams and was told my camshafts will be ready to pick up on Thursday . . . that means I will be installing them and shimming the valve clearances on Thursday and Friday nights, should be riding on Saturday, forecast is fine, light winds and 30degC.
Pics . . .
Paid $120 for this . .
Here it is in place . . .
Getting closer!
Ok, here they are!!
Finally, after 3 weeks at the machine shop, the cams are ready to be slotted back into my motor . .
Finally, after 3 weeks at the machine shop, the cams are ready to be slotted back into my motor . .
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Nice Kiwi , lets get it done bro !!
PS , they finished my swingarm 2 months early , should get it next week !!
PS , they finished my swingarm 2 months early , should get it next week !!
I'm fitting the cams on Sunday, the shimming is gonna take a few hours I'd imagine . . .
That's pretty decent about your swingarm coming early, I bet you are super excited eh? Is it gonna be under $2K ? Are you gonna fit it yourself, or 'get a bloke in' ? lol.
This is classic Kiwiana,How bout some captioning?
kids always make me laugh the way they say words.
Never enough Kiwi's around anytime I've got a job on !! Yes excited for sure , and you talking US $ ..... bought another ti swingarm axle and brake caliper mount , new chain and even more bits on custom order , some of which that won't make the initial fitment . And yes , I wouldn't trust anyone else to do this job , I will do it myself and really enjoy fitting it all up !!
Here we go . . .
Fitting the cams, timing the cams, installing the cam chain tensioner, 2 rotations of the crank to bring it back to TDC firing on No 1 cyl.
I checked all the valve clearances and below is a series of pics from today's efforts.
Before cam installation . . .
After cam installation . . .
Crank at TDC firing No 1 Cyl
Here's the re-ground "Stage 1 Yoshi Performance Grind" cams prior to installation . . .
Feeler blades laid out in incremental numerical order (sort of lol) to measure clearances and to be able to calculate new shim thicknesses and gain correct valve clearances.
My diagram showing clearances before replacing cams . . .
Here's the ammended diagram, the current clearances in thousandths "
shown at the bottom of the page.
It's a big variation and way greater clearances than what I thought it would be . . .
So that was my work today, took about 2 hours just taking my time.
Tomorrow I will order the new shims and will fit them when they arrive, will get into it on the week nights coming up.
Fitting the cams, timing the cams, installing the cam chain tensioner, 2 rotations of the crank to bring it back to TDC firing on No 1 cyl.
I checked all the valve clearances and below is a series of pics from today's efforts.
Before cam installation . . .
After cam installation . . .
Crank at TDC firing No 1 Cyl
Here's the re-ground "Stage 1 Yoshi Performance Grind" cams prior to installation . . .
Feeler blades laid out in incremental numerical order (sort of lol) to measure clearances and to be able to calculate new shim thicknesses and gain correct valve clearances.
My diagram showing clearances before replacing cams . . .
Here's the ammended diagram, the current clearances in thousandths "
shown at the bottom of the page.
It's a big variation and way greater clearances than what I thought it would be . . .
So that was my work today, took about 2 hours just taking my time.
Tomorrow I will order the new shims and will fit them when they arrive, will get into it on the week nights coming up.
Here's my new calculations for shim size in millimeters . . .
the shim '268' is actually 0.268mm . . .
so the new shim size 0.882 is actually printed on the shim as '882'.
Confused? thank God I'm not lol.
Good thing I'm pretty good with math equations huh?
Any questions ?
The calculation is as follows . . .
Original shim thickness (Y) + clearance measured between bucket surface and back of cam lobe = X
Y + X minus correct clearance ( intake cam 0.25mm) = new shim thickness.
the shim '268' is actually 0.268mm . . .
so the new shim size 0.882 is actually printed on the shim as '882'.
Confused? thank God I'm not lol.
Good thing I'm pretty good with math equations huh?
Any questions ?
The calculation is as follows . . .
Original shim thickness (Y) + clearance measured between bucket surface and back of cam lobe = X
Y + X minus correct clearance ( intake cam 0.25mm) = new shim thickness.
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Ok so I got the decimal place in the wrong spot lol . . .
"the shim '268' is actually 2.68mm . . .
so the new shim size will be 3.26mm (326 shim.)
So now I'm re-doing all those calculations
It's ok, I know EXACTLY what I'm doing . . .
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When your Busa needs the valve clearances checked at 24,000km, I doubt if any of the 16 valve clearances are outside of the specification.
Maybe one or two may need changing, but usually they are all ok.
Remember, this is a major job here, cams have been ground and ALL the clearances have been altered.
So I'm starting from scratch, not really for the home mechanic or the faint-hearted to attempt.
I've got ya, I've been following along....the valves in my oil boilers are so easy (screw type) and I've always done my own. Bucket and shim is a whole other animal.When your Busa needs the valve clearances checked at 24,000km, I doubt if any of the 16 valve clearances are outside of the specification.
Maybe one or two may need changing, but usually they are all ok.
Remember, this is a major job here, cams have been ground and ALL the clearances have been altered.
So I'm starting from scratch, not really for the home mechanic or the faint-hearted to attempt.
I thought I'd open up my starter motor to see how she looks after 20 years and 112,000kms.
Not too bad at all to be fair, I expected more wear on the brushes, but they look fine . . . . I'll give it a good clean and she'll be good to go another 100,000kms lol.
Not too bad at all to be fair, I expected more wear on the brushes, but they look fine . . . . I'll give it a good clean and she'll be good to go another 100,000kms lol.
jeffgordons24
Registered
KIWI JEEZEEE you really tore things up there lol. You my friend are a very experienced and talented mechanic. I wouldn’t be able to venture that deep into my engine. I mean I supervise engine rebuilds all day long (diesel) and I could do one myself if I had to...just not “my” motor. I get discouraged seeing my things in pieces. It’s like going to a restaurant, I want my food brought out prepped cooked and plated. I don’t want to see it raw or being cooked. Really cool though I enjoy seeing the updates and your progress. So you didn’t have any performance issues right? You just went in for some maintenance and found some surprises?
I am a little concerned on the condition of my engine because...well I got my bike when I was young (18) and let’s face it all an 18 year old is thinking of is looking cool and getting girls. The Busa was my trusty side kick for this into my 20’s. It spent its first 7k miles on one wheel more than 2. After the first set of fork seals I toned the wheelies down to 1 per ride. I’m being truthful when I say I changed my oil once per season. My seasons were 2-3k miles IF that. It only has 13k miles but that is HARD miles. I street raced it routinely and lost to no one. I honestly don’t think drag bikes have it as hard as Blue Phoenix did. (Probably where my second gear went) I now feel bad about my lack of consciousness for proper maintenance when I was young. I guess at some point I will drop it to Powerhouse and just let frank work some magic.
I am a little concerned on the condition of my engine because...well I got my bike when I was young (18) and let’s face it all an 18 year old is thinking of is looking cool and getting girls. The Busa was my trusty side kick for this into my 20’s. It spent its first 7k miles on one wheel more than 2. After the first set of fork seals I toned the wheelies down to 1 per ride. I’m being truthful when I say I changed my oil once per season. My seasons were 2-3k miles IF that. It only has 13k miles but that is HARD miles. I street raced it routinely and lost to no one. I honestly don’t think drag bikes have it as hard as Blue Phoenix did. (Probably where my second gear went) I now feel bad about my lack of consciousness for proper maintenance when I was young. I guess at some point I will drop it to Powerhouse and just let frank work some magic.
I gotta say Steven, you should be doing your own maintenance and checks on your engine . . . it just ain't that scary at all!
Why let someone else in there? Ok, Frank is an exception, even I would be happy to give my bike to Frank for maintenance/repairs, but my philosophy is this . . . why pay someone else to do a job I can easily do?
I just find it hard to trust anyone else with my bike, after all, it's my body on the line if anything should go wrong due to someone else screwing up the work on it.
The bike had no performance issues at all, ran very nicely.
I went in for a look at the cams and did not like what I saw.
So yes, you got that right in one shot lol.
As far as BLUE PHOENIX is concerned, you say it has had a hard life, well, these motors can handle that with ease. They are built strong and fit for the job at hand, and I doubt yours will have any issues.
Take the tappet cover off (EASY!) and get a light shining on the cam lobes. . . what do ya see? You will soon see any damage if there is any, have another look at the pics I posted of mine, make a comparison.
If you are really keen, take out the spark plugs and do a compression test and a leak down test. It's all easy stuff man, just don't be worried about the fact that it's your baby that you're performing surgery on.
It will create an even stronger bond between you and BLUE PHOENIX !
I'm trying to help here bud, PM me if you ever need any advice or encouragement ok. Always willing and ready to help where I can, we are family after all!
ali123
Banned
u gonna run a comp and leakdown test? im interested in that result.
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