Engine rebuild or swap
 

Hello y’all!

So here’s the deal. Bought a 2000 Superhawk (firestorm here in europe) just over a year ago, and about 6 months later it let me down. Engine shut down at a red light with a very bad noise in the engine. Took it to the mechanics, verdict was CCT failure, snapped/bent valves, hole in the front piston… ): According to him the rear cylinder is intact, but he couldn’t guaranty the bits under the front piston were fine or not.
http://s30.postimg.org/y9ow56lrx/IMG_0865.jpg http://s30.postimg.org/f75ii9arh/IMG_0866.jpg http://s30.postimg.org/qi866mhml/IMG_0867.jpg http://s30.postimg.org/b4ehj6gn1/IMG_0871.jpg

It did look like too much trouble to try to fix it then as I didn’t have a place to work on it, and the mechanic was asking way too much money for the job. So the bike has been sitting (covered) in a friend’s garden since june last year.

I just got hold of a garage, and have all the time in the world at the moment , so I thought time to put this old lady back on the road. I’m no mechanic, but I’m pretty handy and again have loads of free time.

Now, my main question is do I get a whole engine and do a swap or do I try to get a front cylinder head, front piston, cam and cover and put this all together myself?? The 2nd option works out a lot cheaper, but I need to be sure nothing else has been damaged…
Are there any parts that are likely to have been damaged when CCT failure?
Anything bad that could result from those 6 months of staying outside engine opened?

Any input would be welcome.

Cheers

If you have tools, time, patience, and the money for the parts, then you'll learn a lot more doing it yourself.

If you want it done quick and have the money, then an engine swap would work, but you'll never know what is wrong (if anything) with the donor engine.

James

How exposed was it in your friends garden? Moisture buildup in the bottom end if it has been open since June, any parts or shavings get through the hole in that piston? I'd think about sourcing an engine if funds and avaliability allow it. Tear down the old engine as a learning experience and have a working bike at the same time.

Yea i'd go for the complete motor swap.. with that much damage I wouldn't trust "repairing" your blown motor without a complete tear down to bare case and clean out the debris.

ok so I'm starting to think that doing a swap is the wisest option.

Is there anyone here with experience on removing/fitting the engine? Will I need any specific tools for the job? I tried googling it without luck.

I would also look at the uk site over at www.vtr1000.org

There might be some guys close to you that can help out either with a engine or lend a hand.

Yeah I've got an identical thread going on there :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I'm bringing the bike home tomorrow but from what I could see today when I went to see it, the damages are far greater than I remembered... The rear valve cover is missing, and has been missing ever since the bike is in the garden -- I couldn't take a proper look, but there was a lot of rust all over!
I'm gonna start looking at used engines tomorrow, and I will open the broken one in the coming days to see what's salvageable.

Again, is there anything I should know about swapping engine? Any specific tools required?

The only specific tool is a castle nut removal for the motor bolts. Worst case scenario you can make one of your own out of a socket and a grinder Although it is tricky to get these torqued right, it is entirely possible if you do it correctly. This is an important part of getting the frame in alignment when re-installing:

Attachment 22943

You can see these nuts on the side of your frame. Other than that it's standard sockets, wrenches, etc as far as I can remember.

The other difficult part is figuring out how to suspend the bike when you remove the motor. With this bike you aren't able to use regular stands because the rear swingarm is attached to the motor block. You'll only really need to suspend the rear as the front can rest on the front wheel, but it is necessary to find a spot before you start taking things off. Most people manage to use tie straps and hang it from a structure of some sore.

http://cdn.pnwriders.com/images/smilies/plusone.gif for the engine swap.

That way you get a new motor in the bike and get it running. Then if the other one can be rebuilt, you can sell it afterwards, and if not, start parting it out on ebay.

Ordered some cnc machined socket on ebay today :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

what about aligning the engine when putting it back in? Anything I should know or is it straight forward?

The service manual is in the Knowledge Base here. It will tell you everything you need to know.

Actually, I be nice and get it for ya.
Click here for pdf file
If that one doesn't work, Try this one

that frame castle nut tool should be the only job specific thing you need. It's very important to follow the procedure for getting all the frame mounts tightened in the proper order. In the manual it says if you miss a step to loosen all the mounts again and start over from the beginning. It's not hard just gotta do them in the right order to the right torque.

here's a time lapse I made of doing a frame swap.. . I supported the engines on blocks of wood/jack, then took the frames off the top, leaving the motor/swingarm on the wood block.

Do you have to remove the front suspension just to drop the motor?


Never mind, found the answer.

What size socket did you use?

19mm 12 point socket.