XL600R - Yet Another Rebuild - 1986

[Hedchange]

Got a box of goodies from the parts store and a new connecting rod yesterday.  Looks like after the connecting rod gets put back together i can slap the crankcase halves into one piece.  Changing all the seals and the spring internally and externally on the motor.  Might as well since i am in there.

 

After going through all seals that i had ordered i realized that i missed the big one.  Missed the CS seal so had to go to Honda today and order another one.

 

Might make it over to XRs only tomorrow and drop the crank to get the bearing pulled off and the rod replaced.  Need it get it back together before i LOSE all the little pieces.  Will update up with pictures when i get a chance.

 

Other then that been stripping the motor and cleaning it up getting ready for paint.  Looks amazing.  Thanks Carter for the Dupli de6853 color info.  Looks amazing with two coats of clear on it.  Couldn't find any VHT SP121 in the stores :/   But this universal red is nice.

[Carter Pewterschmidt]

Other then that been stripping the motor and cleaning it up getting ready for paint.  Looks amazing.  Thanks Carter for the Dupli de6853 color info.  Looks amazing with two coats of clear on it.  Couldn't find any VHT SP121 in the stores :/   But this universal red is nice.

This engine wears red well.

 

[Hedchange]

Thought i had ordered all the seals and realized that i had missed one.  The seal for the Cranshaft on the right crankcase cover.  Took me forever to find it.  Did not thing that it would be on the clutch fiche but there it was.  Went to dealer today and bought it.  Surprised they had it and did not have a CS seal that pretty much goes into every damn xr made.  But anyways dropped off the head, cylinder, crankshaft and new rod off at XRs only to get everything take care of. 

Looking at truing and putting on new rod, cut new seats on the valves, (hopefully the seats are still salvageable) possibly getting xrs only black diamond valves but not sure because i do not know if they can use OEM springs and i do not want to splurge on a new set of springs, ill stick with OE valves if that's the case, seeing if the cylinder is in good enough shape to take off only .5 mm and go up to 100.5 and get a wossner 10.5:1 piston.  Think that's it.  Been working on cleaning up the engine ready for primer and paint. 

 

Not other mechanical break throughs other then parts arriving daily for this rebuild.  Almost done.  It is pretty much machine work left and the parts for the head/piston.   Need to get this crap off the shop floor before i lose everything :/

 

Thanks for everyones support and feedback.  TT is a great place to be.

[Carter Pewterschmidt]

You can run stock valve springs and retainers with any SS valve.

[Hedchange]

Thanks carter, wasnt sure as i have read that using stock valve springs might cause issues.   ?  good to know

 

Still haven't heard back from Xrs only and i am in meetings all day tomorrow so i might not get to talk to them. Also waiting for the dealer to call on a CS oil seal, exhaust studs and cap nuts.   Guess im not doing that either.

[Silent Echo]

Nice dude! Lot of work going into this. I was able to get my seats cut for $130, and my cylinder bored out 1mm for $69. Nice work man, keep it up!

[Hedchange]

@SIlentEcho - Thanks for the support.  This has been a very trying mission and my wife is not to happy about it as well.

 

Called Xrs only today and they still have not had a chance to look at the parts.  So we'll see what happens when they do.  Havent gotten a chance to work on the bike.  Work and school get in the way of the BRP.  But its fine.  Need to get it up and running fast because Diesel is kicking my wallet right now.  I might as well be through my money on the street ?  If i get out paying 750 the rebuild should pay for itself in fuel in 4 months.  Guess its time to man up and get my winter riding stuff together. 

 

Thanks again for everyone's feedback

[Silent Echo]

Since this is not going to be a race bike, I would just stick with the OEM valves. There is nothing wrong with them for your purposes. If you can get Kibblewhite valves for say, only $5 extra per valve, then I would do that instead.

I'm surprised that you are not just boring it out. My bike would burn oil incessantly, and it's because my cylinder wore only in the middle. So my top 2 rings set real good, and the oil ring would not seat and I burned oil. It's never very expensive to bore it out, and when it's done, it makes it a "brand new" cylinder for increased longevity. Do what you want my friend, but I was able to bore mine out, and put a Wiseco 11.1 piston in for a total of $210. That kind of security is worth it to me, but this is your bike, and your money.

Know again, nice job!

[Hedchange]

I am going to bore it out. I want to take out least as possible. Xrs only has 100.5mm piston so hopefully the cylinder is not that far out or I will need to get a 101mm. They want 185 for the piston and 40 for the bore. Not to bad. The black diamond valves that xrs only has are 37 a piece and end up being about the same price, maybe a few more dollars then the price off of partzilla.

I will probably visit xrs only on Tuesday to see what's going on with my parts and machine work

Good times

[Silent Echo]

Why take out as little as possible? You should be able to get an oversized OEM piston, or even a Wiseco. I only ask because I have heard very mixed reviews about XR's Only, so I would be hesitant to work with them.

[Hedchange]

Would if got an or piston but my wrist pin is toast and they are not longer available. Yeah they are kind of frustrating. I have only gotten a couple of parts from them and never work. But the other shops around me want 80-100 for a bore and 275 to cut seats. I thought that was outrageous. But as far as the wise I all I can find is a 101mm but its all 11:1 compression. And I am not looking for power gains but longevity as this is a daily commuter. ? xrs only is closed tommorow due to it being a federal holiday so I will take the trip and go talk to the shop and manager.

[davek18]

The compression will give you your power increase more so than the overbore.

[Hedchange]

Not really looking for a big increase just if at all any. Trying to get it to where I take out the least amount of material as possible so I can redo the top end more times without having to worry about replacing the sleeve. Also I don't want to have to worry about pinging and such using a 11:1 piston. I want this to run forever, or as long as possible with routine Maint and another large overhaul. But thanks for everyone's input. Btw this bike is used about 90% street commuting back and forth to work and the occasional trip through the desert when I feel like it.

[davek18]

I run mine primarily on the slab commuting.  I ran a 102.4 Wisco 11:1 for 20,000 miles.  I broke a crank at that time and decided to go with an XR crank to try the longer stroke so I could not reuse my Wisceo which was just fine.  I had contemplated throwing a set of rings on it and running it some more which I would have if I had stuck with an XL crank.  I don't think reliability is a problem with a good air filter and oil changes.

 

I have run the JE piston with the XR crank about 12,000 miles since, again with no issues.  102mm bore there and 11:1 compression also.

[Hedchange]

Good to know. Thanks for the advice.

[Silent Echo]

Yeah, I understand why you want to take out as little material as possible, but keep in mind that these cylinders are 30 years old and they are just barely needing a bore. Now I realize that that all depends on how many hours are on it, but a cylinder will last much longer than what you think it will.

I would go up a standard bore, and not worry about the 100.5mm. That's a little too much to worry about. Just go to a 101mm and then in 10years, bore it to a 102mm. I know that that is an exaggeration, but you get what I mean.

Now as far as those shop charges... That is ridiculous. The shop I went to has no competition, so they COULD charge ridiculous prices, but they don't. I have a hard time believing some guy wants $275 for cut seats :/

When I got my seats cut, it was slightly more expensive because the RFVC head cannot be cut by a machine, it has to be done by hand, so that increases the labor.

I would recommend just going to a 101mm with whatever piston you get for that. Try to stick with a solid name brand, I.E. Wiseco, JE, OEM even.

Of course, most of those are high compression pistons, but the power gain is enough to make it worth the additional 10 cents in my opinion.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Silent Echo

[Silent Echo]

Oh, and if you put a crazy high performance piston in, it won't decrease longevity much unless you run it hard. The MX bikes run at 14,000rpm's frequently during a race, that's why they get rebuilt at 10 hours. Quality oil and air filter changes will affect longevity more than anything else.

[Hedchange]

Good points. Yeah the shop around the corner from my house got sold recently and the new prices are labour 20% higher on average. He want 100 for a bore. Yeah I'll look into the another piston. I have a wise I in my cr250 a few years back and that thing ran like a champ. I am more worried about pinging on premium gas and then having to mix. We'll see. Thanks again

[davek18]

I ran my Wiseco and my JE both on pump premium.  You need to measure piston height and headgasket thickness  and chamber cc's to get the exact compression ratio, but both of them were well under advertised ratio.  I forget the exact number, but it was more like an actual 10.3 to 1 on both pistons.

[Hedchange]

Yeah that's what I am hearing.  They are way understated as far as compression.  Got everything together and going to finish cleaning and sanding the frame down and need to strip and paint the crank case.  Everything else is painted except for the rear hub but that can be done later.  Cleaned up all the case bolts with a fine 6 inch brass brush that the PO had painted with engine paint.  Finished painting the front tree but couldn't get the stem off.  Lowes didn't have a 30mm socket so i couldn't get it off so I just painted it.  They eventually need to be done but i like what BrianHare did on Thumper3's bike and added zerk fitting to the front of the frame.

 

Took off the case saver and cleaned it up a bit

 

Was painted but dont have a picture of it post paint.

 

Box of goodies from Honda - OEM all the way wherever i could.  Replacing all the exhaust studs, all external and internal seals along with all the external and inter springs.  The only spring that i am not replacing is the spring on the gear shifter internally.  Couple of bearings in there and a clutch disk, new copper washers for the oil pipe and randoms bolts here and there to make everything match.  PO just threw stuff together.

 

Masked the frame and prepped the clamps to get painted.  This is a fresh coat of paint.  Prepped with soap and water first and then scrubbed it with a scotch brite pad.  Sprayed primer on it and then put some gloss paint on it.  Going to put two coats of gloss and then a coat of flat so it matches the rest of the stuff that i painted and flat masks damage better anyways.

There is a crack on the back side of the frame where the swingarm bolt goes through.  Have to clean that up and get that bad boy welded up. Sorry no picture

 

 

 

Here is a pic of the stator cover painted with DE6853 DupliColor.  The PO had jbwelded the clutch cable to the cover because the tab had broke. I verified that XRs Only has a bolt on bracket in stock and possibly going to pick it up tomorrow.  I had cut it off with a dremel and then used a belt sander to flatten it out and make it uniformed.  It was stripped with aircraft remover, then primered twice with high temp primer.  Three coats of engine enamel and then two coats of clear engine enamel.  This should give the motor a long lasting finish and durability.

 

Now i am just waiting on my crank to be rebuilt and then i can put the bottom end together.  Wish it hadnt taken this long and hopefully i can remember where everything goes ?.  I believe i took enough pictures and with the fiche with the manuals i should be fine.