The Build
Preparation
Getting Started
The Chassis
The Bodywork
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
December 2007
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April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
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Anglesey June '08
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Saturday 6th October 2007
After a week in Croydon pining for my garage I nipped off this morning to try to get some peel rivets and spark plugs. No joy on the peel rivets so got some 4mm washers instead and I'll try them with some standard rivets. Halfords had 3 CR9E plugs so I didn't bother but did get some instant gasket. Went to Busters round the corner ... guess what, they had 3 too. So I didn't bother and went down to JT's to find they had 3 less than either Halfords or Busters!" Grrrr ... wished I'd bought the 3 in Busters and nipped back to Halfords. So back up to Busters but they then helpfully pointed me to a motor factors across the road who also sold them. Also came across a couple who'd come to grief on a Honda 125, she was OK but he wasn't moving much. He seemed pretty stable and I was going to stick around till the ambulance arrived but an ambulance service first responder had arrived at the same time as me and took charge. Once he decided to give some oxygen I decided it was time to bugger off and carry on with my errands. Why do people want to give oxygen to someone who isn't the least bit compromised from a cardiorespiratory point of view? Absolutely pointless and tends to over-dramatise the whole situation.
Anyway, got back just after 12 and made a start on the car. It was difficult to get at the starter clutch cover (which is what's leaking) so I took some of the coolant plumbing out - I want to redo this anyway as it doesn't work very well at present, I have the hose from the reservoir coming into the bottom tube just after the water pump so when I switch on the water pump pushes a load of water up into the reservoir. Once I had a bit of space it was easy enough to remove the cover although it did need the cover over the starter motor removing along with the cogs connecting it to the starter clutch. After cleaning it all up I used some of the instant gasket and refitted it all then stuck the new plugs in. Redoing the plumbing proved pretty easy and by 2.30 I had the oil and coolant back in and the car back down on its wheels.
Rather disappointingly it started then died after a second or so so I left it for a while. Unfortunately that was the story for the day - if I left it a while I'd get a quick burst but couldn't get it to keep running.
I carried on with a few other jobs - using the standard 4mm rivets with washers behind worked fine for the bonnet latches and I got all of those fitted. Once that was done I could bolt the bonnet back on to it's hinged mount which then meant I could determine the position of the holes for the bonnet pins on the rear tub. With some masking tape on the underneath I then stuck the tub in position and a bit of pressure left some marks on the tape to show me where to drill. Once the holes were opened up I could fit the plates onto the outside of the body.
It's all shaping up now - the bodywork fit is pretty awful to be honest, but I'd heard that criticism of the Fury before. I've stuck some foam tape between bonnet and sidepods and will stick some on the rear tub too - it generally stops it moving around and will stop it rattling about. Tomorrow I need to have another look at the engine, I'm really not sure what's causing the problem. It seems as if it's not getting fuel after the initial start. I might need to ask some questions in the BEC list ...
Sunday 30th September 2007
First job was to fit the front indicators and headlights then clip the cables and connect them up. All that worked fine so it was onto the rear lights. These also went on fine and I fitted the fog lamp I'd got from Demon Tweeks, it's marginally less clunky than the one that came with the kit. All the lights worked first time apart from the fog lamp but that just needed the bulb twiddling round a bit in its holder.
Next up was cutting a hole for the fuel filler cap - with removable bodywork having a nice flush fitting cap isn't an option so it was just a case of making sure the hole was centred on the cap and was just big enough to get my mitt through to unscrew it. A bit of rubber trim stops it removing skin.
I fitted the brake bias adjuster next. Just a matter of drilling a hole from the sidepod into the footwell, a hole through the bulkhead then fitting the knob on its bracket onto the sill, cutting the cable to length and fitting it.
Fitting the wing mirrors was OK but one of them is a bit droopy so I'll need to think of some cunning plan to stop it drooping - the screw holding the mirror onto the bracket simply doesn't have enough force to keep it up.
After doing this I had another look at the engine. I'm still puzzled, I can get it to run for a short burst but then it dies. There's a good spark on all 4 plugs and a puff of fuel/air mixture from each cylinder. That's all that's stopping me taking the thing up the drive now. Frustrating seeing as I had it running great for a while last Saturday. Grrrr ....
Monday 8th October 2007
Had some good advice on the BEC list - including turn back the clock and fit the bike clocks and diagnostics :-/ Gordon suggested hard wiring the fuel injection pump so I tried this at lunchtime today with no success. I then had another go at checking the voltage across the FI pump terminals and found that it was indeed stepping back up to >12V as soon as the engine was cranked. So that was that problem excluded ...
What happened next was that I just turned it over without touching the throttle - this had previously resulted in it starting at an idle but dying as soon as I tried revving it. This time I left it idle a few seconds then increased the throttle opening very slightly. All remained well so I gently increased the revs some more and she kept on going :-) I let her warm up a bit then shut off and tried again and she started no problem. So I nipped in for the camera and took a quick vid - it's hosted on my home PC so it'll be a fairly slow 55meg download but if you're really interested it's here. I think what looks like black smoke actually isn't but is condensation forming on the cold garage floor. Better get back to work - a quick test drive on the drive will have to wait :-(
Tuesday 9th October 2007
After working till midnight last night (no, GPs don't earn megabucks for working a couple of hours a day and I reckon it would have been more expensive to have a plumber out for 4 hours than I earned from 8pm till midnight!) I got up late this morning (7am) and was working till 6.30pm. As soon as I got home I got changed, tidied the cars sitting on the drive and cleared the R1 and the Aprilia out of the way. The Busa started without issue, the clutch worked fine and I coaxed her out of the garage and onto the drive. I drove her up and down a few times, reverse is fine, the lights work, the brakes work and I got up to 3rd gear. Well chuffed!
A combination of a lively engine, very sharp clutch, damp drive and brand new unscrubbed tyres meant I had either wheelspin or stalls :-) Still quite a lot to do but actually driving the car is a massive milestone.
I made another find during the day too - I asked Tim Hoverd about sourcing a spring for my throttle cable and he said he got a box of springs from Screwfix. I remembered they'd recently opened a branch in Swansea so nipped up there at lunchtime. I ended up coming away with a box of 200 assorted springs, a box of assorted split pins, a 50m roll of gaffer tape and 9 rolls of variously coloured insulating tape for 16 quid!
Over the last couple of days I've been catching up on Tim's web diary and reminding myself why I started building the Fury - to enter the RGB race series. I've ordered my 'Go Racing' starter pack from the MSA and will get myself booked on an ARDS course ASAP - Alan was going to do it too so we'll try to get a day together at Pembrey. I've also been checking the regs and realised that I have a problem with my engine - it's too low basically. Even with the very shallow dry sump it hangs down below the bottom chassis rails. The ride height limit is 75mm for RGB so I'll need to somehow raise the engine a bit. I suspect actually it shouldn't be too difficult, I should be able to do it with some aluminium spacers under the engine mounts. In any case I don't need to worry too much about that till the car actually needs scrutineering.
Wednesday 10th October 2007
I've been trying to find a bung to fill the lambda sensor boss for some time. The weekend before last I nipped round to see Glen in the local garage to see if he had an old sensor or a spark plug that might fit, but no joy. So I've been using an old wine cork held in by a jubilee clip until now! Sorry, no pics. I nipped to the local ATS at lunchtime and the boys there had a couple - I think new manifolds come with a blank plug in them. Come the evening I removed the cork and was pleased to find the bung fitted fine. Another job crossed off the to do list.
I've also not been getting a coolant temp reading - the DigiDash has been complaining that the sensor wasn't connected. Which was odd because it was connected and was indeed working a while ago. I assumed the sensor had gone faulty but when I swapped the wires round with the oil temp sensor I did get a reading. On checking the wire with the multimeter I was getting continuity and after simply remaking the connections with the DigiDash loom it worked fine. Odd.
I was running out of time as I wasn't allowed to play out for long this evening! I decided to fit a return spring at the pedal end of the throttle cable. I hadn't really sat down and thought about it and fitted a compression spring then realised that was pushing in the wrong direction! So I removed that, drilled a hole in the bracket and fitted a tension spring. Trouble is now it pulls the pedal too far so I need to make a stop but that'll have to wait till tomorrow.
Thursday 11th October 2007
All day meeting up in mid-Wales today. Weather forecast's good so I decided to take the R1 out for a spin. Up through Llandeilo, Llandovery, Newbridge-on-Wye, Llandrindod to Gregynog. 100 minutes of some of the best driving roads in the UK. Some of the numbest fingers in the UK too by the time I arrived, it was a bit parky first thing!
I managed to get home at a sensible time so squeezed in a couple of hours tinkering. I put some of my Tesco heavy duty foil on the underside of the bonnet just over the manifold and got on with the accelerator pedal stop screw. I also tackled the seat I made months ago - since fitting the harness eyebolts it won't fit in so I got out the stanley knife and a carpentry chisel and hacked some recesses in the base.
When I drove the car the other night it was quite tricky - in addition to getting used to trying to control a bike engine's clutch with my left foot again the pedal heights were all wrong. The brake pedal was quite a bit lower (further away) than the clutch and the accelerator pedal was quite a bit higher than the clutch. So I slackened off the locknuts on the brake master cylinder pushrods and wound them out a bit, also wound out the foot plate that screws into the end of the pedal. The accelerator pedal was still too high so I removed it and straightened out the kink that was there and refitted. They all felt much better now, but I still can't heel and toe properly cos there simply isn't room for me to do it how I normally would by rotating my right knee inwards and twisting the heel of the right foot out as the steering column is in the way of my knee. I suspect I can probably just do it with the border of my right foot, I'll have to try it when I finally get to drive the car properly.
My pack had come from the MSA during the day so I had a quick look through that. I'll need to speak to my GP to get a medical and give Alan a ring to see if he's up for doing the ARDS soon. I'd ordered a couple of bits and pieces from Rally Design on Wednesday but they didn't arrive.
The car's really very close to being usable now, only a few small jobs left. I need to fettle the rear wheel arch - when fixing it I've somehow managed to bend the rear end of it too far down. I think I'll be able to get away with cutting a slit in it and releasing it back out a bit then fix it with some glass cloth and filler. I also need to:
- Fit some spacers under the engine mounts
- Fit a couple of hose clips to some of the oil breathers
- Bleed the brakes - I think they're OK, they feel better since the pedal's raised a bit
- Fit the headlight covers
- Make a passenger seat
- Have a look at the fuel gauge sender - it shows just under 70% when it's full and doesn't reach empty. I'd hoped there'd be a software calibration but there isn't.
- Make an aluminium panel over the boot
- Fit a fire extinguisher
- Wire up the indicator repeaters
- I also want to have a look at Power Commander and DigiDash connectors to see if I can fit sockets on the dash to plug into, but that can wait (as can the engine mounts for now)
Friday 12th October 2007
Got going on the passenger seat this morning. First job was to make some cardboard covers for the eyebolts and blank off the void on the outside of the cockpit then added some bits of cardboard to give it a bit of shape where it goes above the tunnel and bulkhead.
Next remove all the black plastic bin liner, stick it back in a new bag and mix some more and repeat the process. Once it's set pull as much of the black stuff off as possible and trim/surform it to shape - I've found the easiest thing for cutting it is my tree saw. I then got David to come out and check he fits in it too. Here's the finished lump of foam - just needs covering with some gaffer tape now. The seats are both a bit lop-sided as the seating space is quite tightly constrained on the outside of the car by the roll cage. You can see the process doesn't really make much of a mess of the garage ...
Saturday 13th October 2007
I decided to get the headlight covers out of the way first this morning. Again not a job I've been looking forward to - I had originally planned to bond them on with Sikaflex but decided it wasn't a good idea. First off there's access to the indicators for bulb changes etc. Secondly I well remember the Ultima was a PITA in that water would get in from behind the lights along with all the crap thrown off the wheels. So I've decided to screw them on with some self tappers. I much don't fancy drilling perspex and for most of the way round the recess in the bonnet to fix the perspex to is very narrow. The covers also aren't a perfect fit, so I need to get the screw holes very close to the edge of the perspex to add to the fun. In the end it went fine, I just used the drill on the screwdriver speed and there were no dramas at all drilling the covers. Fixing them went OK too although to get the screw into the lip of the recess I've needed to put a couple of them in at odd angles so the screw head isn't flush with the cover. The perspex actually seems pretty flexible so I'm not too worried about it.
Onto the seats next. David found the driver's seat a bit tight on the hip so I removed some of the tape, surformed it back and re-taped it. A quick trial with the harness confirmed that I'd need to chop quite a few chunks out of the bottom of the seat to accommodate the crotch strap and cut away the sides to allow access to the lap belt buckles. This didn't take long and I had the driver's side done.
I chopped the required bits off the passenger seat then set about covering that. When I came to fit it with the harnesses I discovered that the eyebolts are in funny positions on the roll cage and that it would be better just wrapping the shoulder straps directly round the cage crossbar. I then did the same on the driver's side and chopped the surplus off the shoulder straps (they're designed for a saloon car with a roll cage so are very long).
I stuck the headrest onto the roll cage next then had a look at the aeroscreens. These looked pretty simple to fit, the only complication being that they overlap where I've stuck the mirrors. I wasn't too phased, at the end of the day the mirror position is more important. I soon worked out that I could use the mirror mounting bolts for the tail end of the screens. I fixed these with some 5mm screws making sure I didn't do them up too tight.
I made up some fly-leads for the indicator repeaters next, then I could stick the tub back on. After a bit of tidying and moving other bits of machinery around it was time to take her out for a quick play on the drive and take some photos. After driving up and down a few times the water temp rose up to just under 90 degrees then stabilised. I didn't get the oil temp above 40 odd. The speedo needs recalibrating as it thought I was doing 60 in 1st gear on the drive! I also need to lower the oil pressure warning threshold - it's currently coming on just below 50psi and the pressure's dropping to 20 or even a bit lower when the engine's warm and idling at 1000rpm.
I'm well pleased with her and want to get her out onto some open tarmac! I'm getting used to the clutch but our drive's a bit greasy as it's a damp day and there are quite a few leaves about so most starts result in some wheelspin which is surprisingly controllable.
Sunday 14th October 2007
A bit of a late start in the garage today as David and I were playing in the first Winter League match up at the golf club. A nice 5&4 win was a good start to the campaign :-)
Really not a lot to get done now. I stuck some hose clips on the remaining oil breather hoses then made a start on fitting the fire extinguisher which arrived on Thursday. I was going to stick it in the passenger footwell till I realised firstly that that wouldn't leave much room for passenger feet/legs and secondly that there's plenty of room for it on top of the passenger sidepod. Once the actual bottle was fitted I fitted a nozzle into the bulkhead facing into the engine bay roughly towards the fuel swirl pot and fuel injection pump then fitted the other one in the dash behind the wheel facing the driver's midriff as recommended in the fitting instructions. Plumbing them in didn't take long then I fitted the release handle and cable in the middle of the dash next to the main cutoff switch.
While the bodywork was off I decided to have a look at the fuel gauge sender. Once I took it out I could see that it was expecting the fuel tank to be almost twice as deep as it actually is. It's basically a hinged rod with a plastic float on the end and while ETB who supply the DigiDash recommend cutting the rod and rejoining it I didn't like the look of that and decided to stick a couple of Z bends in it. After a bit of fiddling about I was happy that it would be telling me the tank was empty at about the right time and stuck it back in. The dash does allow me to set the low fuel warning as a percentage so I'll be able to get pretty much exactly what I want anyway.
The car's pretty much ready to go now. I've been looking around and there are no local trackdays really, although there is one next Friday up at Anglesey. Even though it's in Wales it's at the opposite end and would be a 4 hour plus drive especially with a trailer. It's meant to be really good though and the day is with Bookatrack and is open pit lane so I am tempted. Unless I can blag my way onto Llandow somehow ...
Friday 19th October 2007
Well the big day finally arrived! I did get out and overall am extremely happy although it wasn't an unmitigated success as I've come home with a sick engine.
I spent Wednesday and Thursday evenings prepping the car - it's surprising how long little jobs take, like just checking the tyre pressures, raising the ride height as far as it would go and giving the wheels a clean. I also had to make and fit a boot floor - I decided it probably wasn't a good idea to have a gaping hole between me and the diff and fuel tank.
I agonised all week about whether to trek up to Anglesey, the weather forecast was great - dry and at least partly sunny. I spoke to Llandow on Tuesday who confirmed they do testing most weekdays and that strictly speaking you need a race licence. I have been there quite a few times in the past but not for a couple of years. After weighing up all the pros and cons I picked up the phone on Thursday and had a chat with Llandow who booked me in for Friday morning. Once that was done I felt a lot of pressure was off, it's only 30-odd miles away, isn't a terribly difficult circuit and I know it really well.
So I was up well before dawn getting all the tools, jacks etc. ready and loaded into the Cayenne. I'd have had to leave before 5 to get to Anglesey, as it was I stuck the car on the trailer at about 8am and left about 8.30.
The roads were busy but it still only took 50 minutes to get there. I signed on, coughed up my £70 for the half day testing and had a chat with John, the Chief Marshal there. I remember him well from previous days. By then it was glorious sunshine with not a cloud and it was just starting to warm up a bit after a chilly start. I got the car off the trailer, left her idling to warm up and got my race overalls and boots on. I had the circuit to myself although 3 guys had just arrived with a rally Mk II Escort on a trailer. I nervously tiptoed out onto the circuit and just took the car round quite gently watching the oil pressure/temp and the water temp. Everything felt fine, not dissimilar (unsurprisingly) from my old FireBlade engined Westy but with noticeably more drive low down the rev range. After about 3 laps I wasre-familiarisedd with the circuit and was confident there was nothing obvious awry with the car so I pressed on a bit harder. On the way into the bus stop chicane when I was going particularly slowly the oil pressure warning was coming on - it was set to 50psi but the oil pressure's been dropping pretty low when the oil's warmed up running the engine up at home.
Happy everything was working OK I pulled in to the paddock again to check everything over. All looked pretty normal, I was pleased to see that the light recesses clearly hadn't been touching the wheels, it clearly only happens on full lock while manoeuvring. Coolant level was unchanged and the coolant had only gone up to 60 degrees, the oil to just over 50. After letting her have a rest for a while I went back out and once the tyres were warmed up I bit pushed her a bit harder. The handling's great, it seems like there's a little more feel on the limit than I had in the Westy and certainly quite a lot more grunt - 3rd gear was about right through the bus stop and it was easy to get the back end out a bit even in 3rd. The diff's clearly geared pretty low but actually about right for Llandow - I wasn't quite getting to the limiter in 6th down the back straight before the chicane. After this session I checked the tyre pressures and let a bit of air out and tightened all the wheel nuts. Everything still looked fine in the engine bay although there was a bit of oil weeping from somewhere.
I basically did a few sessions with the track to myself - the Escort was cooking its brakes so they never stayed out for long and I think we were only ever on track together once. After the third session I was happy with everything and felt I was generally getting about as much out of the car as I was likely to. I really felt comfortable and confident with her - there were no issues at all, the car was just great to drive. She's definitely a noisy little f****r though, popping and banging like a good 'un on overrun, doubtless the flames must be a wonder to behold :-)
I came in at about 11 after a session and there was definitely a noise - I wasn't sure if it was just some vibration or resonance in an aluminium panel but decided it wasn't and was definitely a knocking coming from the engine. So I switched off and packed up. I had to start her to get her back on the trailer but once I got back home I pushed her back into the garage. I guess I now know why the oil pressure's been marginal on idle when the engine was warm, I was guessing the noise was coming from a big end - I spoke to Andy when I got home who felt the same.
To be honest I'm not that upset. I never really had much faith in this engine anyway - it looks like it's generally had a hard life with gasket sealant everywhere and some of the casing bolt threads stripped. It needed to come out for me to sort the engine mounts and having checked the RGB regs the dry sump hose which is jubilee clipped onto the sump spigot won't do (needs to be a swaged or screw on fitting) so I was going to need to come up with a fix for that over the winter.
I had a look at the DigiDash when I got home - apart from the formal logging facility it displays max speed, oil temp and pressure etc., and also has 2 axis g sensors. I reckons I did over 150mph (which means I've got some work to do on the speedo calibration since it's unlikely to have been much more than about 120!) and pulled a max of just over 1.3g laterally and just under 1.3g acceleration although those could be the wrong way round.
No, I shall go out for a few beers this evening a happy man. I'm not worried about rebuilding the engine, I can make sure everything else in there is OK, make sure there are no places it can leak oil, get the threads helicoiled and fix the gear position indicator (so I'll have a neutral light). The fact is I'm really pleased with the way the car drove, the fact that I don't need to spend ages refashioning bodywork to avoid it fouling and the fact that I now know I can go for a test session nearby more or less when it suits.
Friday 26th October 2007
Haven't touched the car all week but have been doing a bit of shopping. Ordered some plastigauge from eBay which arrived this morning, also bought myself a new 3/8" drive socket set from Machine Mart along with some T-handle allen keys. Nipped up first thing this morning to Halfords and bought a new 1/2" drive ratchet. My old one is just that - old - and occasionally the ratchet slips. Haven't injured myself with it yet so decided to quit while I'm ahead! I got a Halfords Pro one for £29 which is very nice and has a 72 point ratchet so nice and fine.
I've also been asking around about cranks and Andy recommended SEP Kegworth who it seems have a good reputation. There's also a brand new crank on eBay from Powertec who do the Radical engines, but that's almost £300 plus the cost of the shells etc. I spoke to SEP who couldn't do an exchange as they don't have a Busa crank but will fix my crank for £182 + VAT which seems the way to go.
I made a start on the engine removal process late morning. First jacked up the front so I could get a container under the sump and drained the oil. Then disconnected all the electrics, coolant hoses and fuel hoses and removed the exhaust manifold. By now the garage floor was covered in coolant with quite a bit of engine oil and was about to get worse as there's no way to disconnect the dry sump hoses without getting more oil everywhere. Once the propshaft was unbolted and the rear engine mounting bolts undone it was time to try lifting the engine. I supported it on my quick lift jack which worked to a point until the jack hits the bottom of the chassis. When I fitted the engine I managed OK lifting it with the 2 boys but getting it out is more tricky due to there being no space in the engine bay and the sidepods mean you're leaning over quite a way.
I've toyed with the idea of getting an engine crane loads of times before but didn't mainly because of the space they take up when you aren't using them. I'd considered getting a small electric hoist and mounting it to the garage joists (they're 9"x3"s) but once it's lifted out you would then have to swing it over to lower it or move the car which wouldn't be ideal. So I bit the bullet and went back to Machine Mart and got a one tonne folding crane and a couple of straps.
Once back home it took the best part of an hour to put the thing together and by then it was gone 4.30. Supposed to be going out at 6 with some friends so not much time left now. I had to jack the car up a bit to get the legs out but then it was a doddle getting the engine out - having such fine control of the lift means you can guide it out without damaging any of the bits and pieces around it - like the dry sump tank etc. I just had time to move the car and use a load of sawdust to clean up the oil and coolant. I can make a start on stripping the engine in the morning.
Saturday 27th October 2007
I decided to leave the engine on the floor to start with, it's pretty heavy and is probably easier to work on down there anyway. I do have a PDF of the genuine Suzuki manual but plan to use Mr. Haynes' finest mainly because I can't be bothered printing out a load of pages.
One thing I have noticed is that the clutch pushrod looks pretty poorly - I was worried about this in the first place since there's no positive location for the end of the pushrod in the slave cylinder. I'll give Powertec a ring before reassembling.
First step is removing the cam cover and plugs. The manual then tells you how to line up the timing marks on the crank and camshafts and although I had my suspicions it didn't matter as the whole lot was coming out anyway I did it just in case it did make a difference to how some component was removed. With the cam cover off the cam carriers can be removed - just a case of following the right sequence, and Mr. Suzuki has made life easy by labelling the inlet and exhaust and by numbering each bolt. Once the camshafts are off I'm relieved to see the journals look absolutely fine. Baz from the BEC list suggested checking them with some plastigauge and although I respect his advice highly my other adviser (brother Andy) reckons damage is unlikely and in any case is non-critical. Seeing as they look fine I can't be bothered with the hassle of reassembling it all with the plastigauge and move on.
Removing he head is straightforward although a little nerve-wracking - the bolts are torqued up pretty tight and you need to use quite a lot of force to start them off. Once they're all moved it's again a case of following the right sequence to undo them all evenly. Pleasingly the head gasket came off undamaged so I can save myself the £50 of replacing it. The pistons all look fine as expected.
Removing the cylinder block is easy enough then it's time to get Chris to help me lift the engine onto the bench. The problem is easy enough to diagnose - the number 4 (counting from the left) big end is very tight and number 3 isn't much better. The other two are moving freely. Once the pistons are removed I scribed the number inside the skirts - they're previously unmarked although I'm confident the engine has been apart before.
Onto the clutch next. I marked up the cover screw hole that's stripped so I can helicoil it later and removed all the plates easily enough. I don't have a clutch basket holding tool and am reluctant to try using a screwdriver or other similar implement to try to lock it to remove the clutch nut. Time for my trusty electric impact driver - it worked well when I stripped my FireBlade engine. It basically spins up its internals before suddenly engaging the drive to the output shaft. After unstaking the nut and having a go it didn't appear to be working but I persevered and sure enough it moved. Once the clutch was out of the way I could remove the gear position switch and the oil pump.
The alternator is the next bit to come off. I don't have a puller and didn't bother trying to prise the rotor off with anything else as I know it's futile! I'm a bit stuck now but decide to carry on as I can still get the crankshaft out with the rotor still on it. Quite a few other bits and pieces need to come off now including the gearshift mechanism, starter clutch and starter motor. I made up a tool to hold the starter clutch - just a pair of 8mm bolts through a steel strip. Then the sump can be removed.
Next is to undo all the bolts holding the crankcase halves together. Most of these are round the edges but there's one in the middle that seems to turn very easily. I initially thought I must have slackened it earlier but no, it was easy to remove mostly because it has previously been sheared and is just stuck in with some clear silicon sealant! Once all the other bolts are the 10 bolts through the crank journals can be undone, crankcase halves separate easily enough and the crank can be removed. I'm not really sure what to look for but the main bearing shells and the crank look fine. I'm assuming any damage would manifest as scoring and there certainly isn't anything visible - the pic below is a bit misleading making them look like they are marked.
Inspecting the crankcase the sheared bolt is visible in the pic below. My experience is that once a bolt has sheared it's generally not too difficult to move so long as it isn't corroded in situ and this one's been immersed in oil all its life. Once it's sheared there's no tension on the thread. I'll try drilling it and use an extractor on it. Dunno if I'll be able to buy a single replacement bolt.
By now I've got a fine collection of bits arranged on the garage floor! Looking at them like this it all looks a bit daunting but I know from experience that so long as they're kept grouped together reassembling them isn't too bad so long as you're systematic.
The goal of the whole exercise has been to get the crankshaft out, and here it is. I'll speak to SEP and see if they need the alternator rotor removing before I send it off to them. I suspect they can probably get it off easier than I can. You can see that two of the conrods are happy to sit sticking up in the air which they shouldn't!
Monday 29th October 2007
I did get the alternator rotor off yesterday afternoon - a couple of taps with the normal hammer via a block of wood did it. I got the crankshaft packaged up with a load of bubble wrap and cardboard and rang SEP this morning. They'll have a courier collect it tomorrow. £192 plus VAT to recondition the crankshaft and replace the big end shells, they'll also supply a set of new main bearing shells for about £50 but apparently there are sizing codes on the crankcase that I'll need to find. It'll take 3-4 weeks but I'm in no rush and it's a whole lot cheaper than buying another crankshaft. I've quite a few other little jobs to get done in the meantime anyway.