engine case cleanup

john69

XS650 Enthusiast
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I decided to attempt cleaning and polishing the engine cases on my 81. With the help and information posted on this site and given my basic lack of mechanical skills I was able to remove and polish the left side case to an acceptable level of finish (I especially appreciated the advise to use paint remover, worked great on the factory coating). I have read a lot of people will do the right side case without removing it from the engine. This leads me to believe there are a few obstacles one might find in the removal and reinstallation process.
I am looking for insight into the removal of the case and the degree of difficulty I should expect to encounter.
If I were to leave the case on for polishing I think using paint remover could have some undesirable consequences.
 
Pulling the right cover is pretty straightforward. Drain the oil (or lay the bike on it's left side), pull the kickstarter, tach cable and footpeg... remove screws and off it comes. watch for loose washers/spacers on the tach drive and kickstarter shaft. You'll need a new gasket.
 
Pulling the right cover is pretty straightforward. Drain the oil (or lay the bike on it's left side), pull the kickstarter, tach cable and footpeg... remove screws and off it comes. watch for loose washers/spacers on the tach drive and kickstarter shaft. You'll need a new gasket.

NOTE: there are a few small steps and one important caution if you decide to pull the RH side case cover off:
  • get a new gasket for the engine case-cover (never re-use old gaskets - they are dirt cheap and it isn't worth the hassle of having a leak later);
  • lay the bike over on its left side (that makes it way easier to access everything and you don't even have to drain the oil); I use a car jackstand with a rag on top - placed under one of the left side exhaust stud nuts. If you set the bike down gently, there will be no damage.
  • remove the tach cable from its fitting, RH footpeg, rear brake pedal and kickstart levers from their respective shafts (and be sure to mark which spline each was set on BEFORE you remove the levers - makes it much easier to get the bike back in proper adjustment later);
  • remove all of the socket-head capscrews (aka Allen bolts) that secure the case-cover to the engine block (I think there are 11 of them - and the bottom six screws should have a little copper crush washer to help seal-in the oil);
  • NOW - this is the key step: PUSH the kickstart shaft IN as you wiggle/pull the case cover OUT and off.
You do not want to pull the kickstart shaft off with the casecover as getting the mechanism re-engaged is not easy.

As Jim says, when you get that case-cover off, watch out for washers / spacers etc. on the kickstart shaft which may be stuck to the inside of the case-cover and just slip them back onto the shaft before proceeding with your polishing job. If you lose one of those special washers, they are not easy to replace.

One more thing - cover the open RH side of the engine with a clean rag while you are working on other stuff. You don't want any debris in there. Also, when you are re-assembling that case-cover onto the engine, use a new gasket and NO gasket goo. As long as you put the copper crush washers back on the lower six screws and use a torque wrench set to about 5-6 ft-lb to tighten the bolts in a criss-cross pattern, it won't leak.

Cheers and ask if you have any more questions.

Pete
 
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Thanks Pete, good info. From your description I take it you think it is worth while to pull the case for polishing?

Yup - it is not difficult and the only real potential pitfall is if you allow the kickstart shaft to come off with the case-cover and disengage the mechanism inside. I have never actually made this error - but it is reportedly a pain to get things plugged back in.

Other than that, getting the case-cover off is not a big deal and would make cleaning and polishing MUCH easier. Getting it back on is easy too and if you are careful with the little SHCS (the Allen bolts), and use a new gasket and torque wrench, it won't leak.

Pete
 
Yup - it is not difficult and the only real potential pitfall is if you allow the kickstart shaft to come off with the case-cover and disengage the mechanism inside. I have never actually made this error - but it is reportedly a pain to get things plugged back in.

Other than that, getting the case-cover off is not a big deal and would make cleaning and polishing MUCH easier. Getting it back on is easy too and if you are careful with the little SHCS (the Allen bolts), and use a new gasket and torque wrench, it won't leak.

Pete
One more question Pete, Is saving the oil the only reason for laying the bike over. I think I'll do an oil change at that time and make sure I don't drop the bike.
 
No - you can certainly do all of this with the bike vertical on the centre or side stand.

The key reason I laid it down was that I was fixing the #4 starter gear issue on one of my bikes and it was BEFORE I had my hoist and my knees didn't like bending as much. Laying the bike down simply made it easier to just sit on a cushion on the floor and work inside the RH engine case.

Doing an oil change - at ANY time is always a good thing!

Pete
 
One more suggestion - to avoid damaging the seal on the kickstart shaft, I would put a few drops of oil on the shaft BEFORE sliding the cover off.

If the seal does happen to get damaged, installing a new one is easy and cheap.
 
You shouldn't need a new gasket if the original is on it. I and others have had that cover off a dozen times with the same gasket. Average new gasket would not be as good as the original you replaced.
 
I'm in the leave the cover on for polishing crowd on a daily ride if there's no reason to go in, with brake lever and foot ped off there is good access. If you do remove the cover; the factory glues the gasket to the cover AND puts a bit of adhesive on the cases at the front and rear case seams. So a factory gasket seldom comes off intact.
 
Mine was glued on the cover side only. Only randomly so now, and still no leaking. You can get oem ones on ebay for nothing. Good to have a backup anyway if your original tears, or if it doesn't tear and you get past a dozen uses ;) Yours is the same year as mine.
Unless you want to take the exhaust loose, you'll also need about a 6" long 1/4" extension and a 1/4" drive hex bit. That is to clear the exhaust to get one of the lower cover bolts. I use I think 3/16" for that one only since I don't have the right one in 1/4" drive. It's just a hair loose.
 
I have both the long set and a short sets of those hex bits.
I also have a set of their T handled ball end Allen heads.
I like these. I think I use them as much as the others. The only real advantage with the 3/8 drive sets is you can get a adapters to drive them with your drill.
Leo
 
I took your advise and went to Lowes this morning and picked up a set of 4 inch hex bits. They worked great! lots better then taking off the mufflers which looks like another challenge unto itself.
 
you to use a torque wrench when installing the screws.

And please do use a torque wrench. H-F has the "click" type torque wrenches fairly cheap and even if they might not be absolutely accurate, they should be pretty consistent. That means that while you may not have things torqued to precisely the correct value, the fasteners should all be the same tightness and so whatever you are putting together should remain flat and it shouldn't leak.

To continue for a moment, the RH and LH engine case-covers are secured by a whole bunch of M6 metric socket head capscrews (SHCS) or "Allen" bolts. The correct torque for the M6 size fastener on most Japanese motorcycles is 7 ft-lb or 84 in-lbs.

Since our bikes are all at least 37-49 years old and many of those SHCS have been run in-and-out of fairly soft aluminium a few times, most folks torque them to a slightly lower value - say 5-6 ft-lbs or about 60-72 in-lbs.
 
And please do use a torque wrench. H-F has the "click" type torque wrenches fairly cheap and even if they might not be absolutely accurate, they should be pretty consistent. That means that while you may not have things torqued to precisely the correct value, the fasteners should all be the same tightness and so whatever you are putting together should remain flat and it shouldn't leak.

To continue for a moment, the RH and LH engine case-covers are secured by a whole bunch of M6 metric socket head capscrews (SHCS) or "Allen" bolts. The correct torque for the M6 size fastener on most Japanese motorcycles is 7 ft-lb or 84 in-lbs.

Since our bikes are all at least 37-49 years old and many of those SHCS have been run in-and-out of fairly soft aluminium a few times, most folks torque them to a slightly lower value - say 5-6 ft-lbs or about 60-72 in-lbs.
Good to know Pete. They were a bugger to break loose on both sides, big snap with each bolt. Do you ever use anti seize on your case cap screws when re-assembling?
 
I'm in the leave the cover on for polishing crowd on a daily ride if there's no reason to go in, with brake lever and foot ped off there is good access. If you do remove the cover; the factory glues the gasket to the cover AND puts a bit of adhesive on the cases at the front and rear case seams. So a factory gasket seldom comes off intact.

Hi, I’m a little late to this discussion, but I have done it both ways. On and off. If your cover does not have a lot of corrosion that needs to be removed, you could get by with just paint stripper then ( my personal fave ) Blue Magic metal polish , available at your nearest Walmart.

That was what I did on this cover here.

59287FFE-CCF4-4AAE-AA40-ADE10E53E912.jpeg

BFD3C0BB-6D08-430B-89BA-5F0FB1CC297A.jpeg


My other 650 had some significant corrosion on the bottom half of the cover that needed to be sanded off first, which was easier with the cover off.

Having said all that. Polishing is FUN! If you want to pull your cover and really work it, then have a ball and good luck!
Bob
 
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