1 year standing engine help needed

[Mavirick]

Hi all

I have a RVF400 and it was stripped down to be refurbished but I got transferred away and a long story short the bike was put into storage at my little brothers house.

So here the problem started the motor was out of the frame and carbs were off covered in a plastic sheeting, his dogs ate the plastic sheeting and the motor was standing all naked and exposed.

there was no oil in the motor, carbs off and the spark plugs was left in, the motor on the outside is extremely filthy and allot of dust on it and i can see there is some of that grime in the carb ports.

What should i do to get this motor turning over and started again with minimal damage( I must add the motor is a beast and before the bike breakdown for restore it was running brilliantly)

Kind regards
MAV

[Drunkn Munky]

Did you cover or plug the inlets on the engine?

[owen_captain]

Hey boet

I've just rebuilt an NC30 which had been a non runner for 5 years. If the motor is off the bike, then I recommend a complete stripdown, if not then what are you waiting for bra. take out every bit and clean up properly with some parafin, this includes gears, rods n pistons, "alles". Take you time, don't rush, be thourough. It's worth it. This would be a good time to inspect your rod end and main end bearings, piston rings, etc. When I did this, I basically took everything out of the motor. The sub assy splits in 2, so you are gonna have a lotta bolts with different sizes. be sure to have a map of where things go back, because it is very easy to mix things up. Check your crank and rod journals for wear, because these360 degree cranks are prone to bearing wear which ultimately lead to an expensive bearing knock. DO NOT mix up you Rods as I think they are "weighted" and front ones to the front and rear ones to the rear. If the motor was exposed to the elements with out oil in it, there could be a speck or two of rust on your journals this would be good to get it polished up and have your bearings replaced. Honda SA does sell these parts to order, but are very pricey (might be cheaper getting them from the UK and shipped over).

Same story for your Carbs boet. strip and clean. only prob here is there are tiny bits so be careful. you might want to get a carb kit too, because the seals and rubber bits tend to go brittle and give. there is a thread some where here which can guide you. I have some issues even now after riding the bike for over a year which i think is still as a result of it standing so long and one main one is my float needles. no matter how i set them, they still seem to get a bit of fuel into the piston chamber when the bike is standing a week or 2 as they are a bit pitted and the rubber tips have gone too hard. So I am just waiting a a new set and that should sort my troubles out. this however is an expensive fault as the oils for these bike are so dam expensive, so what i do now is after riding, i close my tap and idle the bike till it switches off . you dont want to ride you bike when the oil has fuel in it, for thousands of reasons which i wont really go into, but it is just something to be concerned about when you do get everything up and running.

Then there are things like fork seals as well. now would be a good time to do it with the bike completely stripped down. . There are also a couple of shaft oil seals. there's one by your output shaft, one by your clutch lever and another by your shift changer. I took my samples to "Bearing Man" and they gave me exact matches for a couple of Rands, I recommend it. For your crankcase gaskets (the two sides and the sump) i suggest using Valemoid gasket paper (2mm) and cut your own gaskets, very easy to do if you got a stanley knife and a good old paper punch to punch out the holes or a belt punch if you have one lying around. There are a couple "o" rings as well, but those you can get from anywhere

When you assembling, make sure you don't have any spares cos the guys that worked on mine before i had it, left out key components. I found out the hard way. lol With the bike torn apart, now would be a good time to get into all those nooks and crannies of your framework and clean up in there 100's.

Any ways, good luck. And keep us updated

Cap

[owen_captain]

there's one by your output shaft, one by your clutch lever and another by your shift changer.

OOps, not "clutch lever", clutch pin or rod or whatyoumacallit. The one inside the motor

Cap