Project Linkin's FZR250R 3LN3

Valve shims still nowhere to be seen, but we have the new base gasket, and Dr. Murdo is bringing the helicoils over today.

For now, will fit the spare pistons & bores with the new top and 2nd rings. The original pistons I pulled out we may experiment with machining the oil ring groove.

 

Ended up needing 2 helicoils for the long thread. Dr. Murdo is going to experiment with machining the old pistons to see if it can be done without breaking them. Old oil rings are either out of spec or very close to it.

Old thread



Job done

 

Checked the valve clearances with the head off by using the cam caps. Easy to do with the head off, as you don't need to worry about the timing of the crank. As usual, all but one the valves were out of spec.





On another note, valve shims were posted on the 4th from the USA. Then went to Dubai and left there on the 11th. Landed in Australia and departed Sydney airport on the 12th... and then took a week to be processed by AusPost and scanned into the Granville sorting facility (which happened last night, after I rang AusPost).

USPS tracking has been useful. The AusPost tracking says stuff that doesn't even match up with USPS

 

That's the one and I found it somewhere in the service manual.

 

That spec is from the FZR400 service manual

 

The FZR400 too, apparently.

 

Valve shims changed out. Piece of cake with the head off.



Rearranging shims where possible to avoid using up the shim kit. We added the shims from Brian's spare engine into the kit as well.



PS: Can upload a spreadsheet template if anyone wants it. Send me a message.

 

Have done a "test fit" with chinese base and head gaskets... the bad news is that ANOTHER head bolt has a problem... the one centre lower one. Won't torque up properly. Also there are gaps between the head and the bores. Unsure if this is from the sanding, or because we used different bores.

Bad or no torque + chinese gasket = leaks... water leaking from the base and oil from the head.

So... need to have the new bores and head sanded/machined again.

Tossing up in my mind whether or not it's worth it, since I could put the new piston rings and OEM gaskets onto the yellow bike...

 

Decal kit arrived. This will be saved for the 3LN6 I think, due to the difficulty in finding OEM decals.

 

So the issue with gaps between the head and the bores has been solved. The EvilBay bores are the cause. The original bores fit fine with no gaps.

2nd attempt at re-assembly halted though, due to one of the helicoils failing... caused by a little bit too much torque, due to an oopsy with the torque wrench. Completely my fault.

3rd attempt (and hopefully final assembly) begins tomorrow









So close!!!

 

Third time's the charm! Another success at the fizzer factory. Two of three registered fizzers going... one to go.

Took it up the street to bed the rings in, still dies at the correct idle speed. Got to change out the water for proper coolant & burp the cooling system.