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Motor won't turn over even with a wrench on the rear bolt. Rear wheel doesn't turn easy enough to help, may be the brake is stuck. Spent most of my time today cleaning lots of dirt and grease from the motor. Pulled the oil drain plug and mostly water came out. Heads were already off and what I can see of the cylinder walls still look good. Removed the stator covers, front floorboards, crash bars and exhaust system. That gives me more room to work.

How long has the engine been sitting with the heads off?
You might have better luck turning the engine over with the front crank bolt. You can get more leverage.
When you said you thought you'd start in on this bike I figured you'd do an engine swap after seeing the heads had been removed.

I'm just checking the possibilities. Would rather freshen up the heads and install new gaskets than swap motors. The other motor had a poor showing when I did the compression check. Test conditions weren't the best either. No idea how long the heads have been off. Decision will have to wait at least a little while to see if this one will break loose.

I bought one a little like that (a '79) about a year ago. Cylinder walls didn't bother me as much as the rust on the gears and such. The crank is going to be an art piece some day. Pistons and rods look good and the bearings (marked carefully with position and the case markings) saved away. ~40% of the carb parts were useful. Some of the harness and switches were used on two other builds. The present project (a '78) had a rusted cross-member where the center stand mounts and the removable piece. I put the removable piece on the '78 and then a friend cut the cross member (and the gussets added in '79) and spliced that into the '78 frame. Also had a good front wheel and bucket of various parts (no starter motor). The frame had no other value because it had no serial number. I got my money back out of it, I guess. The engine block and trany were given to a friend that does metal recycle.

Spent the afternoon doing several odds and ends while soaking and rocking. The transmission seems ok as it shifts into all gears. Rocking the rear wheel and applying pressure to the rear bolt made no noticeable difference. Not sure if there is any way to tell what is causing the lock up. Still hoping it will break free before too long.

Water in the crankcase leads to rusted gears and both sides of the cylinder walls. It took sledge hammer and two crowbars to get my junker engine apart (after two weeks penetrant soak). At least it was instructional.

Rings on these seldom go that bad and heads are easy rebuilt. The other motor looks like your runner with this one a parts supply.

BTW, inspect the frame cross-member where the center stand mounts. They tend to collect water and rust out. Mostly important for the center stand, but that stand is very useful on such a heavy bike. In '79 they gusseted that cross-member.

Surprisingly, there isn't much rust to deal with. The exposed cylinder walls are in very good condition. The transmission changes gears very easily while rocking the rear wheel. Kind of makes me think something else is causing the problem.

Ran a good compression test today with acceptable results. Dry numbers were from 90 to 120, wet was 120 to 155. Number 3 was the lowest on both tests. This motor has been sitting for a few years so hopefully the numbers will increase as it gets some run time. Spent the rest of the afternoon stripping and preparing to pull the motor. Not much more than the drive shaft before it comes out. Rain keeps interrupting my progress. Gotta finish parting the 81 and clean up my work area. I'll have sell off some parts to make room real soon.

Motor is out, the circle clip was a pita as always. Most of the rear half is reduced to parts and a bucket of loose bolts. Next up is the front end and dash. Then maybe I can start on the 83. Two bikes in my small work area is not much fun.

Pulled the locked up motor out of the 83 today. Did a bunch of cleaning in the cavity and checked for rust on the frame. Still not seeing any more than normal rust for the age of the bike. I'm hoping that tomorrow I can set the 81 motor in the frame and start putting it back together.

ritalz wrote:Pulled the locked up motor out of the 83 today. Did a bunch of cleaning in the cavity and checked for rust on the frame. Still not seeing any more than normal rust for the age of the bike. I'm hoping that tomorrow I can set the 81 motor in the frame and start putting it back together.

Jealouze!
Am knee deep in house work.

You're making great progress!

Had to back off for a couple of days to work on other things. Setting up what looks to be my next car, a 2012 Equinox. Legal stuff may get in the way as it is coming from an estate. I'm sure the DMV will have me jump through several hoops to get the title transferred.

I did get the donor motor into the frame. Did a continuity check on the stator before hand so I hope it is ok. Inch by inch.

Making a bit of progress. Still have quite a bit of work before I am able to fire it up. Good thing I'm not waiting for this before I can ride. Not a very good picture and excuse my junk pile.


Can't seem to remember where these brackets belong. I think they are some part of the fairing mount. Anyone recognize them?

Those brackets attach to the fairing around the opening for the forks. The wider end with two bolts attach to the large fairing mount on the frame.
The bike looks much improved compared to the first pics if it!