82 XZ550 Project- got my work cut out for me! All input welcome!

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Recently I bought these 2 beasts on Ebay that I believe some of you are familiar with:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220623276595&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1154

So I got the bikes home yesterday with help from a mate- here they are in the carport:



Both are February 82, both have matching numbers! I've decided I'll use the one with the tank as my basis for the restoration, purely because it has South Australian rego plate on it while the other has Victorian, so registering will be much easier. Along with these bikes came a complete 2 piece fairing set and a box with radiator shroud, a couple of spare headlights and some other random pieces. I've certainly got my work cut out for me. No keys with either bike so getting the seat off was fun. A lot of loose ends of vac tubes and wires etc floating around, but on the bike with the tank (well, not anymore..) none of the wiring loom seemed cut and the TCI etc were all there, which is a bonus. I'm keen to get the engine out as I'd like a painted and finished rolling chassis sitting pretty in my shed in the next couple of months so the real fun can begin.
Question is, what's the simplest way to remove the engine? Ordinarily I'd use a block and tackle to lift enough to slide my little cart underneath, but that seems only to work with chain drives. I'd hate to undo the appropriate bolts to see the frame fold and collapse in the middle.. Might seem like a dumb question, but I've never removed a shaft drive engine from a frame (except my 50cc beast when I was a kid- leaving the entire wheel and shaft bolted worked on something weighing only around 25 kg). Would it be best to take the swingarm subframe away with the engine, or disconnect the shaft from the engine?

[Tiger]

 :) So, let the fun begin mate... ;)

The first thing I would get...is Luck's CD/DVD with the workshop/parts manuals, etc. It will save you a load of heart ache... 8)

To remove the motor, use a trolley jack. Once every thing is unbolted, pull the motor forward, away from the splines (on the drive shaft)...VOILA!!! (The right side frame down tube unbolts, to help get the motor out)

Take plenty of pictures with a digital camera, which will help come the rebuild. As you strip them down clean and box/bag the parts.

Once you know what parts are missing/broken you can start picking them up here, eBay, etc...... 8)

Best of luck with your project...

             8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Thanks Tiger. Just went for a wander out to the shed and had a closer look, you mean to unbolt the shaft on the engine end, under that rubber boot? That's the easiest way as I can see. I've got plenty of bags and boxes ready to go, would love to see a fresh and sexy rolling chassis in the near future!
I showed a couple of photos to a bloke at work today who's been riding for years, I think his eyes glazed over as he recognised the bike he'd clearly forgotten about from his youth.
Parts are definitely going to be an issue in Oz, so this forum will come in handy without a doubt. It'll be a case of patience I'm sure.. as is the case with my other project (cleaving an XT600 or TT600 engine into an XS frame)..
I'll definitely have to jump on aboard with this CD, could be the thing that saves my sanity!
BTW, any recommendations from anyone for sand blasting or using paint stripper on the frame/subframe? I've got a fairly hefty compressor which can sand blast like a mofo, but I have no real experience with using paint stripper, even though that seems quite popular amongst you lads..

[Tiger]

.... you mean to unbolt the shaft on the engine end, under that rubber boot?

No, that just slides out...its a male/female fit ;).

Remove the engine bolts from: the frame down tubes (left & right), foot rests, etc....but leave the top mount, (from the rear cylinder head to the frame beside the rear shock) till last.

With the trolley jack in place, take the engine weight, remove the top mount bolts and slowly pull the engine forward and off of the drive splines... 8)

          8).......TIGER....... 8)

[supervision]

 Welcome to the bike gang. If I was going to paint, I would take a bunch of pictures as you pull it apart, you'll thank your self later!!  Also blasting is perfect for painting. 

[QBS]

Welcome to the Group.  You seem to have the right attitude to become an excellent Visionary.  We're here to help.  Get lucky's CD.  Your hair line will thank you for it.

[Rick G]

I use the same method as Tiger, to remove the engine , but I remove all but the bottom rear bolt . once its out slide the wheel jack forward and the shaft will disengage. To reinstall I just reverse the procedure , with the engine tipped forwards the shaft can be engaged and the engine lifted up into place.

[fret not]

If you are going to use a sand blaster to strip paint DON'T BLAST YOUR TANK!  The metal is too thin and will distort, swell, puff up from the impact of the blasting medium particles. 

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Cheers lads, I have a ton o' photos already, everything I remove gets a shot!

Fretnut, cheers for the tank advice. The tank looks to be very straight but lots of surface rust inside. There's also two spots on the front side corners with what looks like car bog, I'm thinking the tank can wait as it's going to be some pretty serious work. I haven't even been brave enough yet to check out the underside yet!

On the upside, I've noticed that there are a few pieces that are identical from an 82 Yamaha XS250- things like front mudguard, controls, the seat looks pretty damn similar but I'll have to check that closer.

I work at a car parts store and staff discount is equivalent to trade price, which will be handy for paints and so on..

Too cold to get out to the shed tonight to take the engine out, so Tuesday day off will hopefully see a good start to the project!

[The Prophet of Doom]

Being down under you probably have 16R models. 
This can cause some translation issues from information presented here.  The 16R is closest to the 11U Euro versions - about half way between the US82 and 83 models.
For example,
brakes, handlebars and pegs match the US83,
carbs, tank match the US82
Gearing is different

Good luck with your rebuild.  There are about 10 Australasian ROV members to help you out.

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Looks like I'm going to have to use Rick's method of leaving the rear bolt till last, as there is no rear cylinder on the engine of the bike in question.
Roro, the serial number on this bike is 16R-000-181... I don't know which of the two bikes the fairing came from, did they come standard on the 82 models? It's hard to find any info suggesting they did.

[The Prophet of Doom]

There really doesn't seem to be an 82/83 distinction for the Australasian market like there was in the US.
My first one was manufactured late 83, by current in early 82 and I cannot recall any differences. 

My first one I got with just a few km on it back in about 84.  At the time Yamaha had started offering "free" fairings on new XZs, but with the naked tank stripe rather than the XZ550S colour scheme - I suspect these were just bolt-ons to improve sales.  I  tried to get one but they were some huge price - about half what I'd paid for the bike if I recall.  I was looking, but never did see a faired version till a couple of years ago, and have never seen the XZ550S colouring in real life.

My fairing is off a xz400D imported from Japan used.

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Well, had yesterday off so took the opportunity to get into it. I purchased a newer, better trolley jack to do the job and had no issues at all. I was even surprised at the ease in which the engine perched on top of the tiny cup and balanced there!
Then the work began, plenty of photos, taking my time. I even started cataloguing a list of parts that are identical to the XS250 of the same year, which I'm finding more and more, and which will be handy given that XS's are a dime a dozen here, but XZ's are much more scarce.

Then came the Swingarm Bolt.

As soon as I started having trouble, I jumped on ROV and found a few threads, tried any and all ideas presented.
At one point I welded a bolt sideways across the swingarm bolt, attached 650 kg ratchet straps to the bolt and to the opposite side of the frame, and attached the ends of these to my shed's steel framework, wriggling the free spinning bolt and applying more force, but it didn't budge.

Of course, it was drowned in proflo to try and free things up, but to no avail.

I tried hitting the shaft side of the bolt with a punch through that little inspection port on the shaft housing.

I made a tool that could go into a drill to turn it slowly while I belted from the other end, but the drill started smoking and was thrown over the fence to a vacant yard in a fit of rage.

My next option is to buy this tool from work:
http://issuu.com/repco/docs/abw_auto_service_tools?mode=embed&documentId=081125223955-e359e54ae53843d0ba58f2fe3622f387&layout=grey
(Page 46 of this catalogue, the 70744 bearing seperator. Except I'll need the smaller one, the 70743. If I can even fit it in the space allowed.)

Aside from that idea, it is blatantly obvious the seals and bearings are cactus, as is the bolt now that I've welded stuff to it and pummeled it relentlessly. This is my question to you geniuses, or genii if you will.. How feasable is it to turn the frame upside down, and cut straight down through the seal and through the bolt? I cant tell exactly where the seizure is, the seals turn with a bit of force, the bolt is all the way out, there's no grub screw ruining my life.. Would this theoretically work?
When I replace everything, there will be a stainless bolt and I will be looking into better options for seals and bearings etc, because I'm not going through this again!!

[Tiger]

 :) I just went through the same thing on Sunday past, at the beginning of my brothers Vision build >:(

As I have three complete spare swing arm/drive units, I decided to sacrifice the swing arm (which was missing the drive assembly) and cut it off with a 4 1/2" zip cut disc in the angle grinder!!!

The swing arm bolt goes through a long bushing, which in turn rides on needle bearings at either end. The bolt had seized in the bushing :o and as you now know, is a real bitch to get out...I chucked them in the recycle box!!! The needle roller bearings are toast also ::)

Thankfully it was right at the start, so that frame went back to 'bed' and another one pulled out of hibernation replaced it. The bearings, bushing and bolt got a good cleaning and had a s**t load of grease applied before reinstalling.

            8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Cheers Tiger.  So cutting isn't totally insane.. did you cut straight thru the guts of the swingarm, or thru that seal/bearing ba$tard on the opposite side to the shaft? I'm not so keen to destroy the swingarm itself as it is in great mechanical nick with no slop whatsoever anywhere. :-\

[Tiger]

 :) I cut the head off of the bolt first, thinking that would help...but it didn't...so I cut the swing arm. However, as I mentioned before, I had three (now two) spare complete swing arm/drive units, so wasn't to upset... ;)

             8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Cutting it seemed to work just fine. Both sets of rollers were well and truly frozen on to the shaft bolt, so no wonder it didn't move. I'll be talking to an engineer mate of mine very soon to figure out if there's a better way to machine a new bolt that won't effect structural integrity, but may allow for better bearings (perhaps not needles). As soon as some blueprints are drawn up, I'll post them. In the meantime, the frame has been cleaned and ready for sand blasting, also I'm considering chopping of the factory tabs that hold the wiring loom on and replacing them (once painted) with plastic coated stainless steel straps. Has anyone taken these tabs off? They're looking pretty ratty and a couple seem ready to snap off themselves after 28 years of work hardening.

[The Prophet of Doom]

I've removed most of mine as they wrere rusty as hell and replaced with black nylon zip ties

[Porpoise_of_doom]

Love your thinking Roro, i hit them with an angle grinder yesterday and filed them smooth. Then I proceeded to throw on a layer of paint stripper, then my mum rocked up and demanded to know what I was doing having a beer at lunch time. I demanded to know how she got through my house to the shed out back, and what she was doing in Adelaide (1200 kms from her home out of Sydney).
I've done the measurements on everything from the microfiche of the swingarm mount section, it's pretty obvious Yamaha never meant this to be a servicable part. A mate in engineering is on the case, hopefully soon he will have a viable/logical/cheap/easy way to make this part servicable in 5 or 10 years time if need be.

[Raj1988]

:) I just went through the same thing on Sunday past, at the beginning of my brothers Vision build >:(


            8).......TIGER....... 8)

This wouldnt be the frame you got off me would it with the ownership ? i spent a good half a day trying to pull that darn swing arm off the frame!!!!