Engine strip down & rebuild

[nickwin100]

Hi everyone

I'm about to remove the alternator rotor on the RE5 I'm restoring. I notice that the factory tool for this is a sliding hammer type puller. Is this what you would recommend I use? I have other pullers but they are all of the three legged grip with centre spindle type. I don't want to damage the rotor by trying to remove it with the wrong tool, so would welcome some advice on it's removal.

Also, the engine in my restore bike is still seized solid. As ive been stripping the bike down, I have tried to poor some engine oil in the spark plug hole, fuel intake (with port valve opened) & exhaust but the rotor seals or rotor seems to be close to the openings? I was a bit concerned to use a penetrating oil in case of damaging the seals, so have not tried spraying anything into it. I"m now planning to continue with the strip down & get the engine proper on the bench & take a better look at it. Any ideas/comments?

I'd welcome any advice any of you may have on these two points.

Nick

[re5man]

Hi Nick,I've got a proper unit on the bench at the moment.Mine will spin over but the apex seals are stuck down.I've been using engine oil and penetrating oil and turning the rotor so each seal lies in the pooled oil at the bottom of the unit.To be safe I limit the time they are soaking in penetrating oil only.I use a small piece of wood to tap the seals every so often to try and jar them free.[so far no go] but hopefully with patience they will free-up.Are you saying your unit won't spin at all? Best,Shaun.

[nickwin100]

Hi Shaun, thanks for the comments.
What type/brand of penetrating oil are you using?
I don't have the engine completely stripped down yet. It's still in the frame & I'm slowly dismantling it. The engine is completely stuck solid & will not turn over at all. Perhaps there is some other problem with it, I'll get to see when I get it dismantled.
How do you yourself normally apply pressure to pull the alternator rotor? Do you have a hammer bar puller or do you approach it on a different way?
Nick

[Jess]

Nick,
Take a bolt that fits the alternator rotor (I believe it is 14mm x 1.25mm pitch) I am not at the shop so I can't be sure... It needs to be significantly longer than the bolt that hold the rotor in place.

Use a shim so that you don't damage the end of the crankshaft. Use an impact driver to screw your "puller" bolt into the rotor. The rotor is just on a tapered shaft. It should just pop right off with a few whacks from the impact.

I have one factory slide hammer puller. It is the only one I have ever seen. It has never been used and lives in a display case in the museum.

Any high quality penetrating oil will do fine. I am not sure what is available in the uk, but I use PB blaster or Kroil.

Good luck!

Best

Jess

[nickwin100]

Thanks Jess (& Steve & Shaun) for your advice.
Nick

[nickwin100]

This does not look good. Found a chunk missing from the water pump impeller!!!...I'm wondering if this is why the engine is seized, that it has overheated in it's past?....Strange thing is there is no sign of the broken parts from the impeller.

Having found this, whilst I'll still try to free-up the engine now I am about to move it onto the bench, by soaking the rotor seals in oil, I will not use it for the rebuild but will proceed now to strip down the spare engine & use the proper unit from that.

I was wondering if anyone has seen/experienced anything like this before?

To give you all an update on how I am doing with the project so far, I've posted a few more photos on my flickr site & have included a link to it below. I am not getting as much time as I had hoped to work on it, so progress is slow at the moment.

Here's the link to the photos (click on "dismantling the RE5 restore bike" for the latest pics):
www.flickr.com/photos/nickwin100/sets/

Any comments or advice any of you have on anything you see is always welcome. I'm new to this so any tips/guidance is always much appreciated.

Nick

[Jess]

Nick...

My Bet is that someone attempted to use a puller to try to get the impeller off the shaft.

That is the only way I have ever seen that particular failure.

Best,

Jess

[re5man]

Hi Nick,as Jess says maybe someone has tried to use a puller on it to remove it from the shaft.Got one exactly the same which I removed from my M.I've just installed a new oil seal and water seal unit on my RE5,managed to remove the impeller after removing the circlip and easing the impeller back and forth on the shaft using penetrating oil until there was room to use a flat screwdriver levering on a piece of wood and locating the blade of the screwdriver carefully under the extended tail-piece of the impeller surrounding the woodruff key located in the shaft.This seems to be the strongest part of the impeller.Worked for me.Cheers,Shaun.The M which the damaged impeller was removed from was not seized,only the apex seals were stuck down,currently being soaked.The penetrating oil I use is FIC Penetrating and Release Agent made by Future Industrial Chemicals of Kensington .London.Don't know if it's still available.

[nickwin100]

Hi Jess & Shaun,

Thanks for your comments. I've just got the proper unit on the bench & what I see looks terminal to me. There seems to be a core plug missing on one side of the engine casing (the hole on the right hand side of this picture). Am I right?



Nick

[steveuk]

Hi Nick, there should be 4 of them on that side there is 2 more underneath those 2.

steve

[ziggystardust]

Shaun,

Did you sell an A model late last week?

Someone I know bought one from someone in Cornwall.

Lee.

[nickwin100]

Hi Steve,
Yes, there are 4 holes. 3 have plugs fitted but 1 hole does not. It looks like there was a plug in it but it is missing. What I'm concerned about is, if it is missing, why did it come free & where is it?
Do you or anyone know if all holes are meant to be plugged &, if they are, has anyone seen one missing before & what could have caused it to come free. I'm concerned also that I cant find the plug.
Any comments/thoughts welcome.
Nick

[steveuk]

hi, there should be 4 plugs in, is it wedged in the back of the counterwieght. you have me worried now on the re5 i was working on before this latest one the engine was siezed and when i freed it a round metal cap fell on the floor and i could not find what it was, i did not notice the core plugs behind the counterwieght so was it one of those, i will have to take the clutch cover off and have a look which is not a problem as there is no fluids in it as i am still trying to free the apex seals. but on my latest project they are all there as i have the proper unit on the bench waiting for new gaskets to arrive from Jess. so fingers crossed but it does not look good!

steve

[nickwin100]

Thanks for the reply Steve.
I'll have a look again tomorrow. I looked very closely when I moved the proper unit to the bench but could not see a small disc. The rotor is seized solid but I've started soaking the apex seals in oil. However, with this disc missing I'll be using the other engine for the rebuild. Will still try to free-up the engine & see if I can understand what's happened to this small plug & what has caused it to fall out. If anyone has come across this before I'd be interested to hear about the experience & if there is a chance the engine could still be recovered/repaired.
Nick

[re5man]

Hi Lee,no not mine,did hear a while back that someone in North Cornwall[Bideford] area had one,not seen any advertised.I know someone in the Exeter area has an A model,as he had it MOT'd in Bridge Motorcycles.Does your friend who bought it live up your way?Cheers,Shaun.