COVID19 Lockdown Projects

Back in June 2020 we were going into restrictions and then what was to become a 14 week lockdown due to a second wave of COVID. Given I couldn't ride I decided to look around for a project bike or two with the goal of buy low, spend a little and flip them for a quick profit. My timing was good as the price of secondhand dirt bikes doubled due to the lack of stock and the fact we couldn't travel overseas or even interstate for quite a while.

Bike #1
I picked up the first bike in rough but running condition. It was a 2011 TE449 with only 2500km on the clock.

Before shots:




later that day:


The work done was as follows:

• Changed all fluids
• Replaced wheel bearings and seals
• Cleaned and re-greased swingarm, linkage and head stem bearings
• Replaced swingarm cover standoff spacers and o-rings
• Replaced Seat cover
• Removed large dents and repack exhaust canister
• Fixed small crack in clutch cover
• Replaced and loctited 6 new screws on the flywheel (2 were a bit loose)
• New chain - adjust tension
• Straightened bent radiator guards
• Serviced front forks
• Replaced right fork guard
• Replaced bent handlebar
• Straightened bent subframe (50mm off to the LHS)
• Thorough clean and shine

After shots:





This bike was sold to a friend and now gets used regularly.


Bike #2.
Another 2011 TE449 with 2600km on the clock. She was in better condition than bike #1 however only time would tell once I check everything.

Before photo.

Initial issues:

• Headlight, taillight and brakelight not working
• LHS radiator is pushed in

before:

after:

lower headstem bearing needed replacing:

Next up was the lighting issue. The front wiring harness had been butchered to wire the sidelight into the headlight. The 10A lighting fuse by the speedo was blown. I replaced the fuse and repaired the wiring and the headlight now worked.

This introduced a new problem. When the bike was running the rear brake light would flash. After about 3 hours of working through the wiring diagrams and tracing wires I found the front brake switch and flasher relay have the same connectors. I swapped them over and voila. The brake light works and so do the indicators.
Work done:

• Straightened Left Hand radiator
• Fitted B&B Offroad radiator braces
• Cleared fault codes - Oxygen sensor, Low battery
• Replaced broken 10A accessory fuse
• Repaired light wiring and replaced connector for headlight
• Serviced Front Forks - changed oil
• Repaired dent in front wheel. Clean wheel and refit tyre
• Apply Antiseize to all axle and suspension bolts
• Clean and apply grease to brake caliper slides
• Replaced coil pack
• Change brake and clutch fluid
• Replaced Horn with a spare
• Replaced front wheel spacers, seals and bearings
• Replaced rear wheel seals and spacers. Bearings OK
• Service Swingarm, Linkage, headstem and shock bearings
• Replaced lower rear shock bearing and seals
• Replaced lower headstem bearing. Grease and re-assemble
• Clean air box and frame
• Clean and refit air filter
• Replaced lower chain Guide
• Replaced chain slider on swingarm
• Fit Grip donuts
• Fit M6 helicoils for rear mudguard bolts into subframe
• Fit new rear sprocket - 50T
• Fit new front sprocket 14T
• Fit new chain
• Fitted lightweight Lithium 12V Battery - had a spare
• Fit StegPegz
• Fit new gripper seat
• Clutch lever action notchy - rebuilt master cylinder
• Replaced swingarm bearings and seals.
• Checked spokes. Tightened loose spoke on front wheel.
• Serviced started motor - water and gunk in brush assembly causing intermittent operation. Cleaned, adjusted brush springs for smooth operation, greased o-rings and reassembled.
• Straightened bent handlebar top clamp
• Replaced flywheel bolts (M6x12) with high strength loctite. Torqued to 15Nm with 263 Loctite.
• Fitted Force Accessories Clutch Protector

I'll keep this TE449 for a while. The 449 is great for longer distance high country riding. My 2 stroke TE300 is my main bike for enduro riding.

After shots:




Bike #3. 2011 SMR511 with a blown engine after 15,000km.





...a little too much play in the conrod bearing



Now I'm waiting for parts. It needs a new crankshaft, main bearings, piston, valves, valve seals and gear selector lever.

This won't buff out...


I was worried about having to get the cylinder replated...



However it came up perfect after a professional diamond hone and it was still standard sizing.

Nice work! I bought myself an 04 supermoto with papers.
Play around in the city with circuit specs for trackdays in the summer

Great work hhdwtmtw!!!
Keep us updated with the works and results with the SMR rebuild. As a husky rebuild lover I really like this topics full of pics and details, so please keep it up!!!

The last of the rebuild parts arrived this week (main engine bearings and valve shims) so the rebuild can commence.








The cylinder head is back together with new valves, valve stem seals and new shims for the correct clearances.


I need to fabricate a crank bearing removal tool. You can buy them but I have a friend with a machine shop so I'll make my own. It is used to quickly heat the inner race and slide it on or off the crankshaft.

The list of parts needing replacement is:

• New Crankshaft/conrod assembly - OEM 8531521
• New Piston - ProX
• New crank bearings (OEM part# 8520265 is $100Euro. The exact same bearing is used in later models and the KTM part# 77330082200 is only $44Euro)
• LHS balance shaft bearing (sealed unit but notchy so it's getting replaced) - local bearing shop
• Gear selector lever - OEM
• New exhaust valves (they were covered in carbon on the facing and badly pitted - OEM
• New inlet valves (they looked OK but at $50 each I thought I'll change them now rather than later. - OEM
• New valve stem oil seals - OEM
• Engine and top end gasket set - Athena
• New taillight (sourced from SWM as NLA from Husqvarna)
• New Headlight (burnt from PO using a 60W halogen bulb) OEM
• New shims for valves to set correct clearances - OEM
• New rear sprocket bolts (4 were loose) - local bike shop
• New chain sliders, chain, brake pads - OEM
• New wheel bearings and seals - local bearing shop

Tools required:

• Special Husky puller and adaptors to remove flywheel, oil pump gear and for gearbox gear removal/install - OEM
  The flywheel needed heat and an impact wrench to break it loose!
• Valve seal removal/install tool set. REQUIRED. Those little bastards do not want to come off with ordinary pliers.

Work to do on the engine:

• Fabricate crank bearing inner race heating clamp
• Install outer engine bearings
• Measure crank axial play, install shims to suit and fit bearing inner races to crank
• Install new balance shaft bearing
• Install balance shaft and crank
• Reassemble engine, cylinder and head
• Install engine in frame then put all the other bits back on the bike (airbox, throttle body, subframe)

Work done outside of the engine:

• Check and regrease swingarm, linkage and headstem bearings
• Tightened loose spokes
• Check all wiring and switches for correct function
• Serviced front forks
• Serviced starter motor
• Flush and replace clutch and brake fluids
• Had cylinder diamond honed and checked for damage

Check your rear sprocket bolts regularly. If they work loose, REPLACE them.

Great hhdwtmtw!!!
Thanks for the updates, I wish you good work!!
You make me want to buy and fix a 449 (I really like the design and mechanics of these machines)

Cases cleaned and the crank outer bearings installed tonight. I’m making the tool for the inner races tomorrow. Then I can shim the crank and continue putting it back together.

Today I fabricated the crank bearing heater clamp.



A clean and a bit of light oil on the bearing and into the ring and 200 deg Celsius of heat applied. It needed 1 x 0.15 shim to give the correct axial clearance of 0.3-0.5mm.



I then assembled the crank within the cases without the transmission gears, balance shaft and other crap to get in the way. The axial play was 0.33mm. Tick.




Onto the old crank inspection to survey the conrod damage. I pressed the crank apart in a 50 ton press. The crank pin had minor galling but the needle rollers and conrod were absolutely stuffed. Interestingly, when I did the rebuild on my noisy TE300 2 stroke big end, the crankpin wore out rather than the conrod or bearing. The crankpin on the SMR511 is part of the crankshaft yoke on one side and like the conrod, not replaceable so I'm replacing the whole crankshaft and conrod as one assembly.

Crankpin


Conrod bearing - what's left of it!


Conrod


The last phase of the rebuild will be much easier. I just need spanners, sockets and some loctite.

SMR511 update:

Exhaust valves showing the bad pitting


Checking valve timing with the crank locked at TDC



Work done
Chassis

• Drained all fluids and gave the bike an initial clean
• Checked and re-greased the swingarm and linkage bearings - grease was clean, seals were good and no rusty bearings
• Rerouted speedo wiring to the correct path to the right and behind the fork leg
• Replaced swingarm chain slider
• Replaced chain
• Replaced loose rear sprocket bolts
• Replaced front and rear wheel bearings and seals
• Replaced brake pads front and rear
• Greased rear brake calliper slides
• Reseated leaking spoke o'ring on rear wheel
• Tightened loose spokes and trued both wheels
• Cleaned and regreased headstem bearings
• Serviced front forks with a strip down, clean and refill with fresh oil. Right leg was good. Left leg had some brake dust contamination in the oil
• Serviced starter motor - all good
• Flush and bleed clutch and brake fluids

Engine

• Full engine strip down, clean and check for secondary damage. The damage was limited to the conrod, piston skirts, score marks on the cylinder walls and burrs on the oil pump rotors. The oil flows in the following order: screens, pumps, oil filter then the oil galleries. The oil filter did it's job and prevented any contamination causing further damage.
• Polished oil pump rotors to remove small burrs from metal filings
• Replaced crankshaft/conrod assembly and worn crank bearings
• Shimmed crankshaft bearings to the correct axial clearance
• Replaced worn RHS balance shaft bearing as it was notchy
• All other engine bearings were within tolerance
• Replaced piston and rings (standard size)
• Replaced gear selector fork (worn and not selecting gears)
• Checked shift drum and shift forks for wear - all within limits
• Had cylinder diamond honed and checked for straightness
• Cleaned carbon from cylinder head and inspected valves and valve seats. Valve seats clean and shiny and within wear limits. Exhaust valves black and pitted. Inlet valves are fine however I will replace them now anyway.
• Replaced valves and valve oil seals
• Adjusted valve shims to achieve correct clearances
• Replaced burnt headlight assembly and fitted original spec bulb
• Replaced retaining circlips on oil and water pumps as they had stretched when removed
• Reassembled engine. All bearings and friction surfaces were coated with Maxima Assembly Grease to protect them on initial startup.
• Turned engine over by hand a few times to check valve to piston clearance was ok and timing marks still lined up plus cam chain tension.
• Installed engine into frame
• Reinstalled throttle body, airbox, lower fuel tank and subframe
• Reinstalled wiring loom around airbox and fuel tank and plugged in electrical connectors
• Reinstalled radiators and hoses
• Reinstalled exhaust
• Connect ECU to TuneECU and check all sensor readings are within range
• Filled with fuel, oil (1150ml) and coolant

Startup

• Removed sparkplug and unplugged the coil pack.
• Ran starter motor for 10 seconds 3 times to allow the oil pumps to prime the oil galleries and lubricate all the bearings with oil
• Install spark plug and connect coil pack
• Engine started after a few revolutions. Let engine idle and get up to temperature until the cooling fan turned on. Gave engine a few rev's up to only 5000rpm then turned it off and let it cool down. Did this heat cycling 3 times.
• Will check the oil screens and sump plug for any debris and change the engine oil and filter after 100km.

I'm now only waiting on a new OEM taillight from SWM then I can get a roadworthy certificate, register the bike and go for a ride. Not long now.

You have done a great job hhdwtmtw and that SMR is also super nice looking, now she is better than brand new!!!

Thanks!
I’m looking forward to going for a ride on it. It’s practically a new bike again so should last for many years of enjoyment.
I find it satisfying to repair broken things and keep them going in today’s world of “disposable everything”.

All done. Lights installed and ready for roadworthy test and registration tomorrow.



I love the lines in this perspective of how the exhaust follows the lines of the subframe.

Love it also, it's a beauty!!!