I have received my repainted Tank, s/panel, oil tank back from the painter bloke. I have no idea if the finished result would wow them in the show class (originality) but I think it is superb. The posted photo does not do it justice. I am, as they say " well chuffed" albeit a chunk poorer
Last edited by Admin on Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
I'd say it's a winner. That paint must be a sight to behold in the light of day. Beautiful and the rest of the bike is mighty fine as well. Looks like you got some good advice from Wayne and Garbriel here on the forum as well. I'd be stoked too. Enjoy!
A big thank you to Wayne & Garbriel (+ those snippets from the archive) The input received was spot on and the paint sprayer did the rest. It is a very high quality job, there is no "raised edge" to the striping and the colour in sunlight is supurb.
Like other aspects of the bike "how the hell do you keep it undamaged and pristine":lol: I am not too good on keeping things pristine, just look at the state of my garage in the background. Oh well at least it will have a good start on it's next 20,000 miles
Thanks Lane, The guy who did the paint runs a small shop in Bristol and turns out first class work. He was as interstested as I was in getting it right and the help from the forum set us in the right direction.
Only real specifications are rod side clearances, and I set mine as wide as possible, .024/.026, and getting the crank true. Suzuki says .002 (two thousandths) out of true, I like .0005 (one half a thousandths) much better. the straighter the crank, the better it works.
Press pressures should be near 5 tons, less can allow for twisting of the flywheels on the center/big end pins as the engine runs, mis-phasing the crank.
I have found that tig welding the pins is useless, as the tig just overheats the hardened metals and they crack at the edges of the welds. I use a 110 volt mig welder, and to date, haven't had an issue with failure of welds and/or retention of crank pins. Mig weld just adds metal and doesn't change the metal hardness to the point it cracks away from the welds.
Yamaha used to offer a center splitter/assembly tool something like that, but it was a lot easier to use, and the Yamaha center axle/flywheel are splined, so there isn't a problem with alignment.
In a free center pin alignment, if you haven't done a fair amount of cranks, even with marking them, it is easy to have to split the crank apart and assemble far too many times to get the crank phased onto the marks. What that does is make the press fit of the axle and flywheel get looser and looser. That ain't good.
I suggest sending the crank to someone who has the right tools, and the knowledge to do the alignment correctly, on the first pressing and align.
this weekend i scored my s32-2 left cylinder and pistons w/rings from ebay. after scratching together my first motor with bits of ts and tm parts, the nos stuff is falling from the sky. no excuses now.
Thanks for the information. I'll bring the crank to a professional rebuilder but thought to provide him Suzuki's crank rebuilding specs like rod side clearances or flywheel distances from each other.
I think with only mild porting welding crank pins is not necessary ...
If the rebuilder is a professional at doing T500 cranks, he already has specifications available and/or known to him.
As far as welding the pins, it all depends on just how much tonnage pressure the crank goes back together with. Over 4 tons, no welding, under, weld. All this depends on how many times the crank has been apart, and how many times it has to be redone to get the phasing/true correct.
For those who need to replace a NLA gasket, Harbor Freight has a neat little gasket punch set for around $6 to knock out your screw and bolt holes. Item # 03838. It covers the range from 3/32" to 1/2" (2.4mm to 12.7mm). I usually avoid Harbor Freight , but this is a good buy.