Well, I will have to wait overnight to see how good a job I did on those leaks, but I finished up all the little jobs and got it fired up again at least. I am crossing my fingers that the leaks are fixed. Just a few more little jobs to do before I am riding now.
I started the day by removing the right side engine cover so that I could replace the shift shaft...again...with the original shaft. I never saw that one coming...
First, the water pump cover comes off. I let the bike drain the residual coolant left in the hoses.
Then the engine cover comes off exposing the clutch and shift shaft. The teeth on the clutch basket were in the way, so I had to bump the starter to pull out the shift shaft.
The new/old shaft that I had fixed the other day then got a liberal coating of oil and installed in the bike.
Then the cover got reinstalled along with the water pump cover. All the bolts were torqued to 10nm and that job was done.
Here is a close up of the two grooves the drill bit cut into the newer shaft. They feel like they will be easy enough the smooth out. I will keep this shaft as a spare.
Then it was onto the new shift seal. A socket that matches the outer diameter of the seal makes a good arbor. I just tapped it into the engine case with my plastic mallet.
Then I reinstalled the kickstand kill switch jobber and got onto putting the exhaust system back on. I'm getting to be a pro at pulling that front header off and reinstalling it. I left the nuts loose to help get the crossover pipe installed
Then it was onto the rear header pipe. That was a quick job as well.
I spent a bit of time getting the crossover installed correctly. It is a super tight fit.
Once that was loosely installed, the end cans just slip right on and are bolted in place.
With everything installed correctly, I could tighten up all the nuts and bolts and call that job done as well. I went ahead and reinstalled my shifter, with a new bolt. I am assuming that new seal won't leak.
I installed the left side rear cover as well to keep that from hanging and keep me from accidentally ripping it off.
Then it was time to add fluids back to the bike. First up was the oil.
That was the easy one. Now it was time for the coolant. I slowly added it until the water pump overflow stopped bleeding bubbles, and then put that bolt back in. Then I filled the rest of the system until the radiator bleed screw started to overflow. Then it was time to put the hoist together again.
I double and triple checked the straps once they were installed to the handlebars and then slowly raised the front of the bike to 21 inches of the ground.
My beached whale....
Then I spent 15 minutes slowly adding coolant and squeezing the coolant return hose to force out any bubbles in the system. When it seemed good, I closed the bleed port and installed the radiator cap. Then I lowered the bike and disassembled the hoist. After spending 15 minutes completely cleaning all the oil and excess coolant off the bike with rags and contact cleaner, I reinstalled the lefthand fuel tank and rolled the bike outside. With everything connected, I crossed my fingers and hit the starter. It fired right up like a charm....and then leaked fuel all over the place.
No problem. I shut it off and got a new connection gasket and installed it. The old gasket was dry and brittle. The second time I fired it up there was no annoying leak. I let the bike run for a full 15 minutes to make sure it came up to temperature and make sure the oil made it throughout the engine. The radiator fans both came on at 5 bars on the dash like they are supposed to and quickly cooled the engine back down.
I shut the bike off at that point and let it cool off before doing anything else. Once cool, I crawled under the bike and spent a bunch of time looking at all the trouble spots. Nothing was leaking and I didn't smell any burnt oil. That's a decent sign, but I will hold off finishing the bike until it sits over night to see if the oil leaks are well and truly fixed.
At this point I only have a couple of jobs left to do. My rear brake light isn't working and neither is my license plate light. I need to figure out what is causing that and fix it before putting the body work back on for the final time. And that is it. I am hoping to get some saddle time in either this weekend or at least next week.
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