My spare RRX engine

Thought I'd start a thread about my "winter" project. Gettin my spare RRX engine ready for swapping into my chassis. Nothin wrong with my RRW engine, but the RRX has about 20,000 less miles on it and I'm gonna paint it. It was bought about 3 years ago with a knocking noise and a load of burnt on oil all over it! Well the knocking noise eventually turned out to be a knackered number 3 big end bearing and con rod. Masterblader is currently working his magic on the replacement crank, rods and pistons. More info as it gets sorted! Meanwhile I took the engine casings and head from Orpington back to my place near Rye for some TLC. Bloody ell! the oil is baked on and underneath is a thick layer of oxide and Honda paint! Muc off, brake cleaner and even caustic soda wouldn't touch it, so I'm forced to use the mechanical method of drill n rotary wire brushes. So here's a few pix of the starting point and after 2 hours and 3 destroyed brushes later;





After a bit of brushing:



Meanwhile back in Orpington;
Replacement crank, eBay dealer from Herne Bay, crank, rods,pistons and all bearing shells, £50 delivered to Romney Marsh Bike Jumble

The Master

With a full set of craftsman's tools;

I see a hammer, no other tools necessary.

Arnt you going for a big bore while it's in bits ?

I don't need the extra power mate. I don't use the power that it's already got. Anyway this is another budget project, as usual!!! Mique hasn't got many tools, but he does have a lot of hammers!!!

The wire rotary brush was the only way to go Alan after that mess on the engine, the results look fantastic mate. Here are some pixs of the first rod and piston assembly that has been worked on but needs finishing so far have shaved off 9 grams target being eight. The snap- on tools are tucked away the garage has yet to be sorted out with security etc:

Wow nice polishin Mique. Yeah, you were right as usual. Just come in after another coupla hours . Used all my big brushes and most of my littluns. Think I've cleared the worst of it now. Gonna get some more brushes this week and hopefully finish cleaning it next weekend. whadya reckon???

Spend £60 and get it bead blasted you tight git

PS a GSXR 600 K5 tail unit would look ace on your blade fighter?

I know mate , I did ask?? How much???? Dunno if I'd trust the local blasters with my crankcases? Anyway they're nearly done now , for a £15 worth of brushes???

Thats looking good now Al at the rate you're going mate should be able to tie up this motor by the end of next week.

Looks good mate.

Are you balancing the bottom end, or is the shaving of the conrods to do with something else ?

Keep the pics coming, i like looking at engine work.

Ive always wanted to buy a old engine just to strip down for a look, see how it comes apart, then have a go at rebuilding it, winter project maybe.

It aint as difficult as most people think mate. Easier for me as Masterblader is THE MAN who knows what he's doing. I used to strip and rebuild my old Suzuki GSX1100 engine when I was racing. Just gotta follow the instructions in the manual, keep everything clean and have a little mechanical sympathy. Give it a go!

Thanks for the compliment Alan TBH if I knew what I was doing we would'nt be in this predicament. The RRX motor had minimal damage on the journal and was retreivable but did'nt expect the conrod to be as fragile as that, other motors that had far more extensive damage the rods were replaced. Reducing weight from rotational and reciprocating mass pays huge dividends Shadow, on face value 10 grams off reciprocating mass at 12k revs is equivalent to a Kg times four (piston and rods) = 4Kgs. Piston speed is instantly noticeable with the best ever throttle response. The crankshaft itself offers the biggest weight saver but have to work within budget as this is purely for road use.

O right, it adds up when you look at it like that, 4kg less for the engine to spin up.

How much could be shaved out of the crank, on this engine ?

The amount taken off a crankshaft is based on whether its for road or race.
On a blade motor as much as 1.5kg for a race prep: road use 0.5kg. A heavy
crank would produce more torque so this work is best left to the cranksaft specialists. This crank would just get a polish as the rods and pistons will have a full dressing lightened, polished, weight matched and balanced.
The camshaft and timing gears will shed around 30gms each effective even though they travel at half crank speed.

Interesting, thanks for that.