Bike stalled and won't F'n start!!!
Yes I do. Yeah the head bolts have a certain sequence to be tightened and certain torque, then backed off and torqued again to another value. I did all the cam and cam journals with a torque wrench as well. Should be able to get her back together tomorrow when I the gaskets arrive. I'm waiting on headers for my truck too which were supposed to arrive tomorrow, but they haven't shipped according to amazon.
Finally got the gaskets today. Had to check valve adjustment (couple of the buckets and shims fell off while installing temp sensor, thermostat, intake runners, and installing cam chain tensioner. Cleaned up gasket mating areas and some other stuff today so tomorrow is install day. Once I get the head on the rest should be gravy. Learned a ton about engines and my bike in general with all the work I've had to do. I've reassembled the rest so many times I can do it in my sleep. I did disconnect a lot of crap to take throttle bodies/injectors off the bike so they wouldn't get in the way. Those harnesses for the injectors were a pain in the arse too. Should go on easier then they came off that's for sure. I will try to snap a few pics during reassembly if I have the time, which I should. Will move my bike to the other side of the garage so I have more room to work which makes things move along much faster. I'll at least try to hit pics of major reassembly steps. First of which will be putting the head back on.
All back together minus seats and fairings. I have some reassembly pics I will add later. Tomorrow after work I have to add oil and antifreeze and fire her up. Shouldn't be any issues, but just in case left off fairings and seats. Hopefully I didn't leave off any connections anywhere, especially radiator (lots of connections and I took them all off).
BlastOffMike
Member
Wishing you all the best! Hopefully this painful saga is just about to reach a happy ending. I mean, this has to be it, right?:thumbup:
Oh please God yes.
Just got back from a quick 10 mile or so test ride. Temps were good (engine ice) and no coolant or oil leaks. Rode like a champ. [emoji23] Gonna take the bike to work Friday (rain every day this week except the weekend is supposed to be nice) which is 20 miles one way mostly freeway so that'll be a better test. Don't forsee any problems though. Thanks to everyone for help and support through these rough times [emoji1]
Here's a bunch of pics from different stages of putting my bike back together. Nothing too hard, but definitely time consuming. Just be sure to put bolts and parts in bags with clear labels so you remember where everything goes. If you take your time and document along the way nothing should be too difficult. Cam swap seems like a cakewalk after replacing the cylinder head, because of all the other stuff that had to come off (radiator and all connections and all the throttle body connections to completely remove). Just a quick ordering of the steps I had to perform.
1. Remove seats
2. Remove fairings (including inner pieces)
3. Remove gas tank
4. Remove airbox
5. Remove throttle bodies (disconnect throttle plate and throttle connections first)
6. Remove rubber cover over the valve cover
7. Remove valve cover
8. Remove crankcase cover (set cylinder 1 + 4 to TDC)
9. Remove cam chain tensioner
10. Remove cam caps
11. Remove cams and cam chain
12. Remove cam guides
13. Remove oil
14. Remove coolant
15. Remove radiator (undo all connections to engine, throttle body connector already released)
16. Remove exhaust (don't lose exhaust gaskets, keep with nuts)
17. Remove cylinder head bolts 1-10 (refer to service manual as there is a specific order to tighten and loosen to prevent head warp and leakage)
18. Remove bolts 11-12
19. Remove engine mounting bolt (one per side)
20. Use hammer (if gentle and careful or rubber mallet) to tap on head to release it from the lower half of engine (there are 2 metal sleeve to hold gasket in place and mate the two halves so don't lose them)
******Don't drop anything into cylinders or valves********
I used old towels to cover areas while working to prevent any possible drop in there.
Tools/supplies needed besides the normal ratchet, screw drivers and allen wrenches are:
torque wrench capable of over 50ft-lbs of torque (so 3/8 or 1/2 inch drive) and smaller 1/4 inch drive torque wrench for camshaft cap bolts (tighter space).
Also need new oil, coolant, valve cover gasket, crankcase gasket, and head gasket.
Sounds like a lot, but I tore it all down in a few hours by myself including fluid drain. But I've messed with the cams and other stuff before so I was a little more familiar with some of the basic disassembly.
You definitely need to torque cam gear bolts (if you swap for FZ6), cam shaft caps(journals), head bolts, and engine mount bolts. I think everything else I went by feel on tightening. Those ones mentioned are critical and the head bolts have to be torqued in sequence.
The order I listed is pretty much the order I removed everything by the way. If you have any question feel free to ask. Installation is pretty much reverse, but I put cams and cam chain/tensioner back on before putting the radiator or anything back on to give some extra room. Take you time (allow lots of time and document everything, pics can be helpful too if you think you'll forget how to do something).
1. Remove seats
2. Remove fairings (including inner pieces)
3. Remove gas tank
4. Remove airbox
5. Remove throttle bodies (disconnect throttle plate and throttle connections first)
6. Remove rubber cover over the valve cover
7. Remove valve cover
8. Remove crankcase cover (set cylinder 1 + 4 to TDC)
9. Remove cam chain tensioner
10. Remove cam caps
11. Remove cams and cam chain
12. Remove cam guides
13. Remove oil
14. Remove coolant
15. Remove radiator (undo all connections to engine, throttle body connector already released)
16. Remove exhaust (don't lose exhaust gaskets, keep with nuts)
17. Remove cylinder head bolts 1-10 (refer to service manual as there is a specific order to tighten and loosen to prevent head warp and leakage)
18. Remove bolts 11-12
19. Remove engine mounting bolt (one per side)
20. Use hammer (if gentle and careful or rubber mallet) to tap on head to release it from the lower half of engine (there are 2 metal sleeve to hold gasket in place and mate the two halves so don't lose them)
******Don't drop anything into cylinders or valves********
I used old towels to cover areas while working to prevent any possible drop in there.
Tools/supplies needed besides the normal ratchet, screw drivers and allen wrenches are:
torque wrench capable of over 50ft-lbs of torque (so 3/8 or 1/2 inch drive) and smaller 1/4 inch drive torque wrench for camshaft cap bolts (tighter space).
Also need new oil, coolant, valve cover gasket, crankcase gasket, and head gasket.
Sounds like a lot, but I tore it all down in a few hours by myself including fluid drain. But I've messed with the cams and other stuff before so I was a little more familiar with some of the basic disassembly.
You definitely need to torque cam gear bolts (if you swap for FZ6), cam shaft caps(journals), head bolts, and engine mount bolts. I think everything else I went by feel on tightening. Those ones mentioned are critical and the head bolts have to be torqued in sequence.
The order I listed is pretty much the order I removed everything by the way. If you have any question feel free to ask. Installation is pretty much reverse, but I put cams and cam chain/tensioner back on before putting the radiator or anything back on to give some extra room. Take you time (allow lots of time and document everything, pics can be helpful too if you think you'll forget how to do something).
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Thanks! I did about 30 miles testing bike and today put 40 miles on round trip to work. No issues whatsoever. It was a beautiful day to ride too. About 67 this morning and 82 this afternoon. Bike seems as good as new, well better because of all the mods. LOL!
Oh yeah, riding to work tomorrow too. Next few days are forecast to rain after tomorrow, but nice towards end of week again. Gonna ride every chance I get.
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Another great 40 mile roundtrip to work. Weather was great, especially this morning. Rain next two days, and then nice weather Thursday and Friday. So riding to work those days. Bike is riding great too. So glad to have my baby back on the road. 
Beautiful ride to and from work again today and tomorrow as well. My mileage seems to be improving too. It seemed to be going down pretty bad, but stopped for gas on the way home from work and am averaging 47 mpg. Not too bad considering fz6 cam and fz6 cam map. She seems to run better every time I take her out. Thanks for all the help with my problems. Now it's time to ride like I stole it. :Sport: