NC29 Race engine project

[greggo]

While I am still waiting for the rings to arrive i've been doing some of the 'smaller' jobs. Like painting, looking for a new job, repairing tyre warmers and fitting some of the chassis bits together.

So far I have put the steering stem on (with new bearings), the dash, footpegs, rear shock and reservoire.


this is last years bike looking thoroughly ravaged (and my god it's filthy)

This is my 'paint booth' - 4 sheets of cheap plasticdrop cloth in my friends conservatory thingy.

And the handiwork...

Certainly better looking than this...

[PARUS]

Are this your garage ? Looks comfortable :)))

[greggo]

No!

My place deosn't have a garage. Just a gravel driveway and a carport.

My race bike lives in my friends conservatory! Which is where I make a massive mess.

[greggo]

So I sat down at the weekend to do some more, and get the engine together now that I have the right rings.
Lots of boxes of bits

So first up I checked the ring gaps in the cylinders, and everything was honky dory for the rebuild to commence with gaps still within tolerance, and no significant ovalling of the cylinders.

Sweet.

So I started putting pistons on rods, and into barrels.

I got to the last piston and the last little end circlip and.....PING...no more circlip. You fvcker. End of play only an hour and a half into the build. I wasn't happy. No bike shops would have them in stock around here, so it wouldn't be for a couple fo day I could sit down and do more.

So I started tiling the splash back instead....

[greggo]

So with a whole lot of spare circlips I sat down tonight to do a little more.

I assembled the gearbox and selector mechanism, this is with a complete set of VFR gears, on a machined VFR input shaft, and a NC29 output shaft. (Although NC29 and 30 output shafts are interchangeable it seems).

Everything in the box spins nicely, and the gears mesh and change just so. Shmick. I put a new roller bearing on the input shaft as it had been pressed on and off and felt a little nothcy to me.

Next up I put in the crank shells, and assembled the rods onto the crank. Too easy. Everything torques up and off we go to seal the crank case halves. A smear of sealer away from the oil galleries and everything torques together without a hitch.


I managed to get the oil cooler, sump pan, starter clutch, timing rotor and cover onto the engine before a lack of light finishewd play. I really wanted to get the clutch housing in tonight, as the clutch is the part of the input shaft is the last bit of machining that needs to be fitted together (and has the potential to cause a headache). Unfortunately it's too dark now, and I can't see to line up the primary drive and the oil pump drive to get the housing on.


Hopefully this weekend I can get the head on, and the engine into the frame. Cross fingers!

I somehow doubt though, that I will make ti to our first race on the 6-7 of march.
P.S. I apologise for the quality of photos, I have to use my phone as my digital camera died due to condensation while diving over xmas.

[CMSMJ1]

Great work Greggo.. I love to see engine work being made to look easy. Gives me confidence that when I take mine ot bits that it will go back together OK.

You got nearly 5 weeks..surely you can get it sorted

[PARUS]

Greggo,

Have you got a pucture what had been machined on VFR input shaft ? Are they interchangable with NC29?

[greggo]

Here is the good oil on the gearbox shaft. No the Input shafts are not interchangeable. But the output shafts APPEAR to be.


A = NC30 Input shaft
B = NC29 input shaft
C = Notice the lack of cut away on the NC30 shaft, the NC29 runs a smaller toothed gear here than the NC30 and the cut away is there to accomodate the smaller diameter gear, because you intend to use the NC30 2nd gear, DO NOT MACHINE THE CUT AWAY
D = Integral first gear, this is the bit you want the most. Press off the bearing (incidentally a common bearing is used on the VFR and CBR) at E and have the machinist cut away the integral first gear (from the bearing side) until it matches the width of the NC29 first gear. Your machinist may also machine down the section of shaft the bearing is pressed on to to match the NC29. It is pressed onto a raised collar that is different in diameter to the rest of the shaft. The other alternative is to make/find a new spacer that sits between bearing and oil pump drive that will go over the collar. You can't see the collar in the picture as the bearing is on.
F/G = Clutch mount and clutch centre nut thread. Machine down the end of the NC30 shaft to match the length of the NC29 shaft. Then have a new thread cut onto the end. The actual distance for the clutch centre splines is already correct. (or you'd be farked anyway.) This is not a common thread, and requires specialised machining (apparently).

EDIT** You can see a small oil hole on the NC29 shaft between E and F, the machinist will need to drill a similar hole in the NC30 shaft as it does not have one.

[greggo]

Okay so I got the clutch basket on, and the head.

I always finding getting the primary drive tensioner gear, and the oil pump drive on the back, a real pain in the ass to line up and get on. BUt I got there in the end. I haven't torqued up the centre nut yet, i'll need the rattle gun at my friends place for that as I've never found a decent way to stop the clutch form turning. Particularly when there is no tension on the plates. The clutch is all new Barnett plates and steels.

The engineer when he machined the input shaft didn't put a cut away for staking the nut. Any thoughts?



With the clutch on I put the cam drive in , and the head on. For some reason when doing up a couple of the nuts on the head my torque wrench wouldn't click. I think it may have some issues, but hopefully I haven't over torqued them!


I can't put the last bits of clutch in, or the cams on, until I get the bike to my friends place at the weekend. But I'm pretty confident at the end of Saturday I should have the engine in and be sorting out some of the niggly stuff, like finishing the wiring loom! YIKES!

[Cammo]

Looking good Greggo.

I didn't realise the input shaft needed so many mods, impressive work!

The vfr gearbox will be well worth your efforts.