The alternator didn't hold up very long. There was another broken coil. The alternator is just too old, even if I fix the break, it won't last long.
It is about $150 to have the alternator rewound, I've decided to do it myself. I've ordered the magnet wire, and I'm going to pick up some epoxy. The wire should be here next week.
I have an R6 shock on the way also and I'm going to rebuild to forks too.
Fun, fun, fun!
Now that all the engine problems are out of the way I'm going to switch my focus back to suspension.
The suspension on the bike is stock. The rear shock is mushy and the forks are so soft they almost bottom out under hard braking.
I already have a set of Progressive Suspension fork springs in the box, and a liter of 15 weight fork oil. I'll be putting them in soon.
To take care of the rear end, I just won an ebay auction for a stock R6 shock. I also ordered the bushings necessary to make it fit. Pictures and specs will be posted soon.
I took it for spin in the morning, the bike runs really well. I put 130km on it riding up to a friends cottage. We went for a ride to really rip on the bike and everything held up. I had a problem with the fuel line leaking, but that was a quick fix.
Here I am putting in the last bolt.
As for the alternator problem, my "hack" fix has worked great. The headlights hardly dim at idle and the turn signals work at idle also.
I'm taking bets on the next part to go... what's your guess?
The assembly took about 4 hours. I had to clean the carbon out of the exhaust ports and clean and lube the power valves. The carbs are sync'd, rad fluid is filled up...
Note to self: The bike starts a lot easier when the ignition is turned on.
The bike fired up and ran better than ever. The exhaust pipes heated up together (one used to get hot very fast). The pipes smoked equally (again, one used to smoke more). It idled well and got up to temperature without trying to over heat without air over the rad.
It's cooling down right now, and I'm going to re-torque the head and cylinders. I'll take it for a spin in the morning, get it up to temperature and let it cool again. One more quick spin to really beat on it and make sure everything is holding up... let it cool, then it's good to go.
The barrels are off and everything looks really good. The base gasket was really broken, I'm surprised it didn't leak more! I cleaned all the carbon off the power valves and replaced the o-rings and seals. I'm almost finished cleaning the carbon off the pistons and then everything can start going back together.
The alternator is ready to go back together too. I put epoxy over the solder joint, it should hold everything in place.
There are new pictures in the photo gallery
All the parts are in... I had to drive to the other side of the city for the second base gasket... oh well I didn't even need it tonight.
Besides the base gasket leak, I had an alternator problem. The system was only making 5 volts at idle, and 10 volts at 5-6000 RPM. After some quick testing I found there was a break in one of the coils.
After pulling the flywheel off the broken coil was found by measuring the resistance of the coil while poking at the windings. The break was found under some windings and was not accessable to fix. So instead of spending $600 on a new alternator I just cut the broken coil out... hopefully it works.
The head came off without a problem, besides some carbon build-up it's not too bad. I'm still waiting to see how the cylinders look.
That's it for today... tomorrow the barrels come off and hopefully the whole thing goes back together...
Well, some of the parts are in... I'm still waiting for the base gaskets and the flywheel puller. If they come in today I should be running by the weekend.
Here are a few pictures of the tear down to replace the base gasket.
I found that the carbs were not syncronized and some of the rubber hoses where in bad shape.
The inside of the carbs where nice and clean.
I had previously adjusted the YPVS (Yamaha Power Valve System) as it was out a bit and loose.
I'm hoping the inside of the cylinders and pistons are in better shape.
After the parts come in, the barrels will be coming off. Fun, Fun, Fun.
I just created this blog. Hopefully I will actually update it.
This will be a record of the maintence done on my RZ350.
I've already replaced the tires, front brake master cylinder, upper fairing and upper fairing bracket.
Now the cylinder base gasket it blown and the bike is currently stripped down waiting for the replacements...
More to come...
