[steinberg]

Ah yes, from that angle they don't look quite as good, but I've seen a lot worse - in photos, at least. The alternative is to fit a Stefter or KK sprocket which also utilise the short splines on the outer edge - but I suspect the longevity of that type of quick fix is debatable. I bought 2 Stefter sprockets years ago just in case I needed a quick fix at some stage, but I don't think I will be needing them. You're welcome to have one for free if you'd like to try this approach..... probably best to google it first and see if you like the Stefter solution or not.

 

[een705]

Lol I did mean on the brake pedal. The output shaft splines dont seem to bad and would last years, but if money and time are not an issue and you are not happy you may as well do a complete rebuild. I would use oem cylinder head and base gaskets.

 

[Vernon240]

Ah yes, from that angle they don't look quite as good, but I've seen a lot worse - in photos, at least. The alternative is to fit a Stefter or KK sprocket which also utilise the short splines on the outer edge - but I suspect the longevity of that type of quick fix is debatable. I bought 2 Stefter sprockets years ago just in case I needed a quick fix at some stage, but I don't think I will be needing them. You're welcome to have one for free if you'd like to try this approach..... probably best to google it first and see if you like the Stefter solution or not.

Thanks Steinberg, that is a very kind offer! I may well take you up on tath, but I'm going to investigate getting all the gaskets I need for a strip down, as I feel shaft replacement is probably the best solution here.

So, I've emails rugged roads after a call...the person that might be able to answer my question was away.

They have gasket sets for the RD07A but not the RD04...so what's the difference? the RD04 and 07 share barrel and head gaskets...but beyond that not sure! I'd rather use OEM honda gaskets if at all possible!

Lol I did mean on the brake pedal. The output shaft splines dont seem to bad and would last years, but if money and time are not an issue and you are not happy you may as well do a complete rebuild. I would use oem cylinder head and base gaskets.

Lol I did mean on the brake pedal. The output shaft splines dont seem to bad and would last years, but if money and time are not an issue and you are not happy you may as well do a complete rebuild. I would use oem cylinder head and base gaskets.

still, it got me looking at the splines more closely! Time isn't an issue..and while spending money is probably always an issue...this is fine....so I think I'm going to go down the replacement shaft route here. I need to clear some space in the workshop, which I'll do tonight, set up a spare table to lay things out on while I disassemble.

 

[een705]

Looking forward to some rebuild pics when you have all the gaskets

 

[Vernon240]

Looking forward to some rebuild pics when you have all the gaskets

Gaskets and output shaft on order! I need to resurrect an old table in the work shop and give myself more space in there to be organised! Lots of pictures will be taken, especially for reference purposes

 

[Vernon240]

Well, supplies bought to prepare the engine strip down area...some wood to make a simple cradle and some sticky backed plastic...all will be revealed. I was also able to pick up some vapor blasted parts and plated parts..accompanied by my oldest daughter who, at 16, takes an interest in the stuff I do, which I like. Plus she gets to meet the dog at the platers! Gaskets and new output shaft in transit, so I'm committed...or maybe should be!

These have been vapor blasted at TSR, here in Sevenoaks. I'll do some fin straightening before paint!

This gives you an idea of the surface finish on an alloy casting..

A few miles away, I picked up the plating, which has come up really nicely!

the fact that these were propetrly prepared really helps the finish. It all looks like new.

More updates as it happens!

 

[Vernon240]

I needed to prepare my work spaces and get somewhat organised...so cleared up the work shop and build a spare table. It's pretty sturdy, so seems to be fine.

This is my main work bench. It was more used for woodwork by the previous owner, but very old, so I used a sheet of plywood covered in sticky back plastic for the last engine rebuild I did...so flipped it over and recovered for a clean surface.

I can lift the engine, but heaving it up onto the table was a bit of a risk...it would be stupid to put my back out when I have an engine crane, so pressed that into action.

Ready for the off, but not that steady, so will make a wooden from to support it...I think..I'll do that tonight.

.And of course, could not resist having a quick peek inside. All the access covers were loosened while the covers were still in place..far easier than trying to loosen them with the covers off the engine

.
The plan is to get this stripped down by the end of the long weekend...but there will be family time, as the weather is forecast to be good..at least for the UK. After building car engines, this is my first foray into bike engines. Wish me luck!

 

[Vernon240]

delivery this morning...

A slight difference!

Zero play..and no, this sprocket won't be going back on.

That shaft into that engine. How hard can it be?

 

[steinberg]

Good luck with the engine strip/rebuild.... not that you'll be needing luck, I suspect!
Will be interested to see it progressing.

 

[Vernon240]

Well, we had a long weekend in blighty, so I was hopeful to get a lot done...but while I did get a fair amount done, lack of rotor puller for the alternator stopped play. I have multiple pulley pullers, but all more car suited and just could not get a grip on this thing!

There were also some frustrations, so I'll pass these on as well. One thing I have established while not particularly difficult, this is very time consuming, especially when you are referring to te manual and deciding what comes off next and what needs to come off...pretty much everything is the conclusion!

So, first..and funnily enough, the biggest fristration, was takin the tension off the time chain tensioners. I move the crank to the right position and on compressions stroke..so all valves closed and measure as per the manual the maximum a metal wedge protruded. Above a certain amount, and your chain needs replacing on that side. Both mine were fine:

You are measuring this height here at a certain crank position.

So, all find and dandy. There is a wedge behind this..which slowly pops up and down as you change crank position..very slowly. You need to push the thick wedge down.grab this wedge, pull up and you'll see a hole...put a pin in it to hold it in this position. I used a split pin. But you think, 'ok, simple enough' oh no, grabbing this thing is a total PITA. There is a fair amount of tension and finding something that can grab onto it, pull up and then slide in a pin took me ages. I probably struggled for a good 30 mins...maybe more, to get this done! As the end was on a table, I ended up standing on a stool over this thing, pulling up and finally getting a pin in! One trick is, the manual says get the engine to TDC..check the wedge clearance, than grab the thin wedge....but at this point, the wedge is at the lowest. Turn the engine where this wedge is at it's highest and work from there..there is much more of the wedge to get hold of.

Finally done.
.
here the sprocket is loos and the cam shaft is out:

The rest of the strip down goes pretty smoothly. the parts will stay here until re assembly

Once the covers were off, undoing the nuts for the clutch and the alternator rotor were the toughest part/

I made the recommended locking tool as shown in the haynes manual!

Also useful in the zombie apocalypse!

Which worked well on the alternator bolt...but needed my longest breaker bar!

But even un staking the clutch center nut would not see it freeing off. Part of the issues that the engine is out, so starts moving, limiting the amount of leverage you can apply, so a tip might be loosen these off with the engine in the bike.

So I opeted for a Clark CEW1000 impact wrench...

 

[Vernon240]

Here goes...

About 10 seconds and it's off. The same for the primary gear bolt. I'm sure I'll find other uses for this, as I purchased it specifically for this job, but I think it will come in handy for undoing many things!

Not mt cardboard cylinders to sop piston damage..

Here is where I left it. the only thing left to come off here is the gasket!

All the parts bagged and labeled

and in other news, my engine mounts, painted with smoothrite actually came out OK

Just need to toch in where this one was hanging up..

But it will be undera bolt anyway..OCD strikes again!

As my radiator fan mount is steel, time to get that primed and painted:

Acid etch

Masked the rubber parts, primed and then masked the threads for the top coats:

 

[Vernon240]

This is Eastwood radiator black Satin. I need to buy more for the radiators themselves, but currently out of stock everywhere.

 

[mrfixit54016]

Nicely done. Those wedges in the cam chain tensioners are the worst! Make sure to use lock-tite on the cam sprocket bolts when you reassemble.

We are seeing the spray paint shortage here in the states as well. Makes it really tough when you think you can just stop by the store and pick up what you need for a project, and then 5 stores later you still can't find the paint you were looking for...

 

[Vernon240]

Nicely done. Those wedges in the cam chain tensioners are the worst! Make sure to use lock-tite on the cam sprocket bolts when you reassemble.

We are seeing the spray paint shortage here in the states as well. Makes it really tough when you think you can just stop by the store and pick up what you need for a project, and then 5 stores later you still can't find the paint you were looking for...

Yea, the manual says 'just do this' like it's easy..and you are struggling to 'just do this' an hour later!

Interesting to hear the paint spray issue there. Typically I'll order on line, as Eastwood is not typically stocked by many places here. Old school parts places are getting rarer here and the mainstream places don't hold that much specialty stuff, which is a shame.

 

[Vernon240]

The tool came to remove the rotor, so work progresses!

Some gasket cleaning needed, but otherwise looking good!

On to some blocks...and...hmm, still plenty of oil in the engine..

Manual at the ready, time to start undoing bolts as evenly as possible and kinda diametrically opposite, but not particularly easy

and we have separation. It came apart surprisingly easy and minimal sealant inside

Gears out and ready for surgery

and back together

Tomorrow, more cleaning of the halves, especially the gasket surfaces. All the bearings look good as far as I can tell. the oil seal that I've disturbed on the pump outlet facing up will be replaced.

Nearly ready

How I left it tonight...there is some plastic sheet (the stuff you can use to cover furniture for decorating) covering it up

And the whole reason for this escapade

So far I'd say the job is very time consuming and fiddly. Time consuming as I'm kinda feeling my way through this. If I were to do it again, I think I'd be a lot quicker. Having some sort of firm stand, equivalent to a car engine stand, would really help undoing high torque bolts as at this point there isn't much to hold onto! I can predict fun times torquing bolts up again!

More as it happens!

 

[GSPD750]

Good work. Any radial play on the output shaft bearing? If so now might be a good time to replace it. Here is a vid of mine some years ago
and was the reason for splitting the cases on my RDO7A. Mine was quite excessive and reared it's ugly head when I was 2K kms from home.
I managed to get home uneventfully other than some oil leakage as it was ready to grenade. Another reason why chain maintenance is so important
on these bikes and to avoid over tension. A non-cushioned front sprocket could also be a culprit to radial play. My output shaft splines were fine though. It's a double row ball bearing by the way and the vid is a good indication on how much crap these engines can take. Their is zero play on that bearing when new however an older AT may show some negligible play I'm sure.

 

[Vernon240]

Good work. Any radial play on the output shaft bearing? If so now might be a good time to replace it. Here is a vid of mine some years ago
and was the reason for splitting the cases on my RDO7A. Mine was quite excessive and reared it's ugly head when I was 2K kms from home.
I managed to get home uneventfully other than some oil leakage as it was ready to grenade. Another reason why chain maintenance is so important
on these bikes and to avoid over tension. A non-cushioned front sprocket could also be a culprit to radial play. My output shaft splines were fine though. It's a double row ball bearing by the way and the vid is a good indication on how much crap these engines can take. Their is zero play on that bearing when new however an older AT may show some negligible play I'm sure.

I did check and actually bought a new bearing, just in case, but I can't detect any wear at all in the bearing. It seemed really good on the bike and now apart, also seems absolutely fine, so I think I'll leave the original in there and save the new bearing for next time! Hope I don't regret that decision!

that is some play in your bearing for sure!

 

[Vernon240]

Having taken the gears out again to check that bearing, I can't detect any play in it whatsoever, so everything back in and time to make sure all is clean and the cases are ready to go back together.

the black grease is a mix of engine oil and graphogen paste..just to give everything a chance to be lubricated before the oil pump does it's job. I've also replaced the '0' ring on the exposed pump output.

And the other side

and a very thin smear of Hondabond

and we have a one piece bottom end!

Look at at lovely output shaft!

the next step, evenly tighten all the bolts in stages and torque them to their final settings. They are not too bad, as the torque settings aren't too high.

Next up, clean all the barrel mating surfaces. the gaskets left this material on the surfaces. I found that cellulose paint thinners cleaned it off really well

Barrels going on. I did consider using a piston ring compressor, but it's not that practical..far easier to feed the rings in..it was a fairly painless process. Don't ask if I put the front barrel on the rear by accident. It never happened, right?

 

[Vernon240]

and looking even more like an engine!

Time to clean the cylinder heads

I cleaned the exhaust ports..this one was quite pitted, so my need some assistance in sealing....we'll see..

Clean and ready to go..

I did consider stripping these down, but the engine was running fine with no issues, so fingers crossed on these. Many car rebuilding tools...bore guages,..valve spring compressors etc are too big for these. But hey. I may regret this decision...we'll see!

First gasket in place..they only go on one way..something else I can't screw up!

Looking good!

Torquing all the bolts up involved me kinda having to give the engine a bear hug to stop it moving, but we got there!

More of he grophogen/oil mix:

This is nice...but wrong, you have to have the gears and chains plus cams all in place at the same time...cams out again then!

Getting there!

 

[Vernon240]

I had to put the flywheel/generator mangnet on, along with the side cover to reference the timing marker:

FT is TDC for cylinder 1.

So timing the front was fine:

althought I could not get those horizontal markets exactly horizontal, but this is the best I got..and I did release the chain tensioner as well.

I went by the manual according to timing the rear cylinder, but I'm still no convince I got it right..the intructions aren't that clear..like it says when installing the rear cam, reference the front cam..then install the front cam..err I've already that! You can be at TDC on both the exhaust and intake stoke..but it all spins nicely, nothing touches, so the worst issue will be it won't run.

so looking like an engine again!

Final job was check valve clearances. Exhausts spot on, inlets just too tight, so eased them off very slightly.

I'll need a new nut for the clutch...forgot to order that...the friction discs look almost new and measure up with very close to as new specs, so happy with them.

....and all tucked up for the night. I just like to cover engines when they have exposed innards..

Not many parts on the desk now!

but a few left in the boxes

More as it happens!