It's ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!

[Jamz]

I can now Officially swap the engine in a ZX9R!



It's actually really easy to do - but a hell of a lot of work.

I wouldn't have liked to try it without a big hoofing great load of tools and a mechanic on standby to answer my stupid questions, but we got it done in around 20 hours taking it nice and steady and including fish and chips and Hobgoblin!

It never fails to amaze me how easy working on bikes is - I just lack the confidence to TRY most things, but once I have I wonder what all the fuss was about!

I can't believe that I have actually paid other people in the past to do jobs like:

Stripping calipers/changing pads.
Changing chain/sprockets.
Full clutch basket strip and changing clutch plates (seriously - it's a 20 min REALLY easy job!)
Oil/filter change.
And now even checking valve clearences, adjusting them - although this is head off on some bikes.
New engine.

Do you do all your servicing yourself?

What jobs won't you touch?

How much do you think you've spent/saved in the last 12 months on your bike by booking it into a garage/doing it yourself?

[Scott221]

Nice one mate, Wana fit a zxr 444 bore to my bike then?

[Brett]

If you like it that much you can do mine if you want! I just can't do it, wether it's cos I've never had to, having always had my little bro to do it, or I just dont have it in me I don't know. Just changing the water pump on my zxr was a real trial for me, which involved blood, sweat, tears and lots of scrapped knuckles. saying that though, I have got a little better, although not much.

[Jamz]

Nice one mate, Wana fit a zxr 444 bore to my bike then?

Now you'll notice I didn't put MY limits - but that's them lol!

I used to say I'd do everything but was terrified to touch the cams and stuff - actually taking the head off and getting the cams out, I'm not sure about.

BUT, now I have the old lump and I have to take the head off that to find out once and for all what actually happened. My latest guess is the piston ring came off and the valves on the first cylinder lunched it... I'm looking forward to having a go at it anyway!

I suspect taking the head off an engine is the hardest part, because you have to make sure you don't fk up the timing and stuff?

And that's what you have to do for the 444 kit...

Brett - even getting stuck in that much is more than most people ever do! Keep trying and it will start to come together!

I've been tinkering for around 7 or 8 years now, and it's only the last year or two that I'm beginning to 'get it'.

And with the cheap parts from Ebay you'd be a fool not to try!

[zimm]

I can now Officially swap the engine in a ZX9R!

Nice one

Do you do all your servicing yourself?

yes

What jobs won't you touch?

i'll have a crack at anything, even if it means buying tools its cheaper than paying someone.

Nice one mate, Wana fit a zxr 444 bore to my bike then?

bring me the bike and the parts and i'll do it for a reasonable fee, you'll have to sort out your own dyno setup though, my garage isnt that well equipped.

[Brett]

I'll keep at it, I can't get any worse.

Can I?

[RedexRobB]

I can and do everything except for the engine. The only bit of engine work i have done is changing the clutch plates ona CG125 and checking the waterpump on the ZXR once. Other than that ive not mustered the confidence to strip an engine yet, but having siad that im planning to the get an extra engine for the ZXR at some point and do some work on that,

[masterofinsanity]

How much do you think you've spent/saved in the last 12 months on your bike by booking it into a garage/doing it yourself?

would you like to guess?

[Caz]

i do pretty much everything myself... except my valve clearances - And the only reason I dont do those is
a) I cant be bothered with the hassle
b) I dont have a shim kit so I'd be off the road for a while getting new shims etc

everything is a bit small on bike engines compared with what I am used to ::smt020

I prefer doing the servicing myself - it gives me a good opportunity to clean the bike properly, lub everything, do a bolt check, check that nothing is wrong with the bike.

yes, its nice to save the money.... but thats not ultimately the reason why I service the bike myself. I dont trust anyone working on my bike except me, and one or two other people.
I know when I work on my bike, that I do it properly. If I dont have the correct tool for the job, I'll buy one or make one....

.... a girl can never have too many tools

/Caz

[rene]

Only ever taken one bike to a garage and that was my moped for its first service. Apart from that I’ve done everything myself. I’m yet to play around with cams because I'm toad scared of them but I will have a bash at them at some point.

The only gay thing about doing stuff yourself is it takes forever! I started changing my fork seals on Thursday but because the seal retaining thing wouldn’t “pop” out I ended up having to destroy it removing it. New ones are ment to be in today…Shop wanted £200 to change them I’ve spent coming up to £25 so far..

[deviant]

.... a girl can never have too many tools

that goes for boys too . Next on the list is probably a bigger torque wrench so I can achieve the monster torque on the ZXR clutch nut. Oh and in the longer term a milling machine and lathe.

A couple of people have mentioned trust. I've put a bike into a dealers once, and ended up with a £600+ bill when I could have bought another engine for half that. I've put the car into a dealers once and the buggers didn't torque up the wheelnuts properly. I'm done with paying people to do work for me.

I didn't used to be prepared to delve into the top end, but I'm getting braver on that, particularly now I've got two engines.

[zimm]

Oh and in the longer term a milling machine and lathe.

oh if only my landlord was more accommodating ...

[Caz]

Oh and in the longer term a milling machine and lathe.

oooops..... we recently seem to have acquired this in our garage

We have a brick built shed in our garden, and I've been saying from day one that it should be a workshop..... looks like im finally getting my way

A couple of people have mentioned trust.

at the end of the day, no one is going to treat your bike like their own exceptyou. It's just another job to them. I'm mechanically minded (hah - i'd be very worried if I wasnt!), and if I see something else that needs changing whilst Im servicing the bike, I change it...... garages just dont do that IME

[Jamz]

I'm 100% with you on the trust thing.

Last time I left my bike at a garage he drained the fuel out of my tank and (allegedly) told me he'd put on a new reg/rec unit - which is odd because a few weeks later that actually split into pieces.

And there's ALWAYS a selection of bolts missing, or the brake reservior cover, or sump plug loose, or indicators wired in wrongly...

All mistakes I can happily make myself and know what I've done wrong so I can sort it out.

[deviant]

oooops..... we recently seem to have acquired this in our garage

We have a brick built shed in our garden, and I've been saying from day one that it should be a workshop..... looks like im finally getting my way

you bugger . I'm not jealous at all . I was all set to order one of those, but then I spent the money on the replacement engine for the ZXR, and I haven't had the cash spare since.

let me know how you get on with it.