XR600R Engine Swap Pt.1

[Tim in Holland]

As I had a free afternoon I thought I'd make a start on the XR engine swap after it gave out on me just outside of Helmsley at the end of October.

One XR up on its newly purchased stand.



One replacement engine from a breaker, with guarantee fast running out, must get it in!



Remove side panels:





Remove tank and seat:



Undo front sprocket stuff, and various control cables:


The complicated wiring, 4 of the 5 connections that had to be undone:



Carb removed and strapped to frame:



Exhaust removed too:



Drain the metal flake effect oil, not good:





Remove all engine mounts:



Then lift out engine:





Next jobs are to flush out the frame/headstock oil tank, clean the screen filter, clean the replacement engine, touch up a few bits of the frame with paint, mount the new motor, get a front sprocket that matches the splines on the output shaft, connect 5 wires, oil lines and control cables, change oil and filter on new motor, fit bodywork and start the beast up.

[Neilios]

Good work, get it finished.

[Pieeyedpiper]

Must be nice not having to take the swing arm off to remove an engine!!

[Tim in Holland]

The output shaft on the replacement motor has fewer splines compared to the one I've just taken out, does this mean it's from a different year? From the engine number it would look to be slightly earlier but I'm unsure.

[catteeclan]

Sounds like an earlier engine. This might help,

JT Sprockets: Catalogue

Select Honda 600-699cc.

[Tim in Holland]

Thanks for that, the motor was meant to be out of a '94 bike, although oviously it wasn't its original motor, I shall do some digging about on the engine number to try and verify its year of manufacture, at least it's the single carb model, although I may have to adapt the wiring connections.... but at least there are the same number of wires!

[BearTaylor]

Interesting project. Are you going to rebuild the original motor?

[tractot4play]

The output shaft on the replacement motor has fewer splines compared to the one I've just taken out, does this mean it's from a different year? From the engine number it would look to be slightly earlier but I'm unsure.

hi tim,as far as i know there were only two different shafts for the xr600r.the mid eighties dual 85-87 and the newer single carb model.i think you have a dual carb bottom end mated to a single carb top end.dual carb has 6 heavy splines.age would not bother me as long as everything works as it should.best of luck tractor.

[Tim in Holland]

Finally putting this back together, quick question, the big oil crankcase breather pipe, does the top end attach to anything?

I can't see anything to attach it to, or anything in my photos I took. The middle branch attaches to the crankcase, the bottom down near the swing arm to atmosphere, and the top branch??

[catuk]

Hi, I think it's similar to my XR250, it vents to air, here's a picture of mine. There is a bendy tab that holds it to the frame.

www.hondaxr250.com