Reclaiming the lost

Today was rear-brake-caliper and general cleaning day.

Started with this:
b1.png

Normally I wouldn't remove the pistons from the calipers, but given the yucky that came out of the brake-lines I decided I should. I purchased all-balls rebuild kits and then removed the pistons using compressed air (not a job for the faint hearted IMHO):
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Glad I did as it was full of crud. The pistons were a little rough:
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I proceeded to cleanup the mounting frame:
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While the ultrasonic cleaned up the rest:
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I gave the swingarm an elbow-grease-once-over and removed the rear brake line (in preparation to replace it with the steel line):
s1.png

Then I moved on to the switch gear. The hi/low was a little wonky when the bike was parked so I sprayed contact cleaner in the contacts:
c1.png

Accidentally dropped a screw:
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So many places for screws to hide!

Found it:
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Contacts aren't overly clean:
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Spent a while making it better.

Anyone ever paint the fiberglass around the kill switch? Looks a little road-worn:
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But the bike is looking good:
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Super excited to start more re-assembly soon. Looks like a bike exploded across my garage....

Barry
 
ST1100Y said:
About the lift: I'd toss the front wheel clamp (maybe add a rail as "arresting gear", prevent rolling over), place the ST on the main-stand and set a scissor-jack under the oil pan.
Rock solid configuration, free access all around (remove front wheel, rebuild forks, replace head bearings, remove swing-arm/alternator, etc...)
Click to expand...

I have to admit; I was skeptical of this configuration at first but it actually works really well. Thanks for the guidance @ST1100Y
 
Trying to nail down simple hose and tube, just for my diabolical brake bleeding masterpiece seems to be a challenge these days, I was on the site, in KMS, in Princess Auto, a couple bubble packs of I dunno, two or three feet of the yellow fuel line; so the challenge goes, same goes for my gas fitting problems; in my company we've got a couple up and coming techs and it's hard to find the fittings and tubing you really need for testing and demonstrating. I did find [finally] an intermediate transparent container that will connect between my bleed connectors and my monster vacuum tank, it's just gonna take a little brazing.
 
This weekend was a little quieter. It was nice enough to take the dual-sport bikes out (for those non-PNW people that means 38 and no rain). It was SO much fun:
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As to the ST, this was a weekend of cleanup:
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Can't really take credit for this, since the machine shop soda blasted it. I did pay for it though so it seems like I can claim it.

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Cleaned up both the clutch and front brake master cylinders. The original state was super gross. Very glad I have rebuild kits for both of these. The ultrasonic cleaner has paid for itself this week.

Also my Harbor Freight parts washer pump made it 2 days before giving up. I replaced it with a Little Giant:
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Little Giant on the left.

Overall things are going well. I still need to:
* Clean the the clutch slave
* Clean both front calipers
* Clean the carbs
* Change the Alternator
* Change the oil in the forks


And than "just" reassemble everything. There is a small light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope this finds you well,

Barry
 
Today was a day of re-assembling sub-components. First off I put the fan/mounts back on the newly boiled radiator:
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Then I reassembled the rear caliper:
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Got it all assembled and was all happy. There is high temperature brake grease on the sliding shafts (Yamaha brand; don't tell the ST!).
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Then I saw them siting on my bench....
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So I briefly deassembled and reassembled with the brake shoe sleeves.
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Sounds like I should have the alternator changing kit soon. Stay tuned for more reassembly after the alternator is swapped out.

BG
 
I am beat. 4 hours in the garage and partway done. Time for a brief summary.

Let's start a few days ago with the arrival of a box:
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In it is the much loved ST1100 40 Amp Alternator Upgrade it. If you are just joining us head over to http://www.st-riders.net/index.php?topic=545.0 to learn about the kit.

It has seen some things, but it has it where it counts:
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Today is "day one" of using the kit to upgrade the ST. Spoiler alert, I hit two major snags; watch for them as we move forward.

First thing I did was pop the shaft in the freezer:
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This should make installing the bearing easier. Next off to checkout the current state of the bike. It has been been chilling in the corner for a few weeks waiting for this day:
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First thing I did was remove the two bolts from the cover:
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This is as per MMartin's (and others) instructions.

Now I hit my first super mild head-scracher. Many of the directions said to "Remove the alternator". It wasn't entirely clear to me if that was achieve by removing the 4 bolts or if I had to additionally remove the 3 hex bolts. I started by removing the 4 bolts:
1646550538002.png
I was unable to achieve removal. At this point I consulted the Honda manual and it recommended removing the stater than the rotor (and also the oil pan). Obviously the whole reason for the pin trick is avoid the oil pan removal so I skipped that step but did decide to that removal of the 3 hex bolts would be needed to remove the stater. I started by cleaning out the heads of the hex bolts and putting some penetrating oil on them.

Honestly those 3 hex bolts were a pain to get out. They were super tight and corroded. I was worried I would break them and have to drill them out. I figured my best bet was to fully insert a hex head and then tap it out with a gentle hammer action. Enter this tool:
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This little hammer drill worked great to remove the hex bolts. Try to get as much bite into the heads as possible to avoid shearing the bolts.

After a little bit of tugging the stater came off:
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Woot! Practically done :). Now we just need to remove the rotor:
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It was pretty easy to get it part-way out, but I couldn't get it all the way out of the frame. Major snag 1.
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Try as I might, I could NOT get this piece freed. I wiggled, I jived, I shook, I tried. There is the neutral wire close-by, so I was careful not to hurt it, but I seriously worked for over 45 minutes trying to figure out this rubix-cube-like-puzzle that would allow for the rotor to leave the frame. I finally did something magical (still not quite sure what) and it slid out:
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Phew...

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(Continued)
 
Now to move the parts from the old alternator to the new one. I popped the rotor into some soft-jawed vice grips and broke it apart keeping all the parts oriented properly and in order:
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Removed the old bearing retention plate:
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Off to the freezer to get the new shaft (it had been given plenty of time to cool off while I tried to remove the stater from the frame). I used the kit's pipe to install the bearing I had purchased (after applying oil and following the directions):
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I installed this assembly into the plate and installed the retention bracket. I couldn't figure out what to torque these bolts to (none of the references gave a value) so I just put loctite on them and installed them "tighish".

I rebuilt the stack on the shaft in the same order/orientation, put loctite on the nut, put it in the vice, and torqued it. I unfortunately forgot take a picture of it.

I took a brief hiatus to run a string through the oil pan from the drain plug to the opening for the alternator so I could feed the lewis pin cable through the cavern easier:
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I put the lewis pin into the mesh gears and fed the assembly into the ST:
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I followed the directions here to make sure lewis pin was in the 4:30 location (using the FrenStick) when I slammed into my second major snag. I couldn't get the plate to seat deep enough in the engine. Mike Martin's directions say (http://koczarski.com/mmartin/Alt.htm)

"""Place the drive assembly in position and connect the wire securely to the Lewis Pin. (You don't want to lose this pin inside your engine.) You may want to wrap tape around the connection to make it less likely to catch on something inside the engine (particularly the edge of the oil drain plug hole). Position the mark you made on the shaft at the 4:30 o'clock angle, and insert the drive into the engine case while gently pulling the wire out the drain in order to keep the wire from bowing up into somewhere where it might get caught. I found it quite difficult to get the drive lined up, but was finally able to get the mechanism inserted by hand. It lacked being fully seated by about 1/8 inch (3 mm). Avoid any temptation to try to hammer the part into this position."""

I also "found it quite difficult to get the drive lined up"; or rather I found it difficult to get the plate to seat. Try as I might, I kept seeing the seal between the plate and the engine frame (though it was butted against the engine frame). It was like the plate needed to slide in a few more millimeters. I had oiled both the plate/seal and the sealing surface but it wouldn't go "deep enough". This was exacerbated by the inability to put mechanical pressure on the plate due to its location/ergonomics.

I spent ~1 hour here trying different things. As Mike said "avoid any temptation to hammer the part into this position". I know from pictures and commentary that this plate has a little side exposed even when fully installed, but I had a 2-3 millimeter gap between the "wings" on the plate and the engine block where the bolts would go through. I didn't want to hammer/force the plate in, and obviously I was worried about damaging the o-ring. I tried taking it out and putting it back in ~15 times, I gently pulled on the lewis-pin to make sure it wasn't binding or causing any issues (and I triple checked it was in the 4:30 location). I added more oil to the o-ring and the mating surfaces, etc.

Eventually I "gave up". I took 3 of the 4 bolts from the original alternator and very gingerly (1/4 inch socket, no force) hand tightened the plate ever so slightly until it mostly sealed down:
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After removing the bolts completely you can see it opened up 1mm or so. I _think_ this is good and we are golden. At this point my plan tomorrow is to trim the 40amp alternator cover, install the alternator loosely, pull the lewis pin (I did do a bench test already), tighten the 3 bolts, and call it good.

I am slightly disappointed I wasn't able to hand-push the alternator plate past the o-ring, but the lack of force it took on the bolts to seat the plate makes me think we are fine. Thoughts? Were other people able to seat the plate easily by hand or did you need to use a little mechanical advantage to install the plate fully?

Thanks,

BG
 
.. I've done all this STuff more than once across many STs my own and others'. Favorite alternator upgrade was on Linda Labert's. She stopped to fill the gas tank on the way to Gunnar Reed's garage. A full ST tank is heavy ad awkward? :D

Just did the electrical upgrades plus all the coolant STuff on STerling. She's 10 years younger and lower miles but much of the crud was STill resident.

I'll add my thanks (again) to all the collective wisdom STOC and to John Oo. I had forgotten more than I remembered.
 
Barry, the kit should have arrived in a USPS Medium Flat Rate Box (the box itself is free) per the instructions, the kit is sized perfectly to fit in one without anything rattling around/poking holes.

The plastic tube is for routing/feeding the Lewis-Pin wire through the engine.

The newly assembled Alternator Shaft Assembly should slide ‘home’ if the o-ring is lubed, the assembly is lined up, and the split gears’ splines are aligned. More than a few of the plates have been cracked by using the bolts to try to force the assembly home. Don’t. Applying some twisting pressure to the alt shaft assy with the Fren-STick should help the second split gear slide onto the flywheel’s splines.

Nice pictures/documentation. Some of the png images aren’t displaying though…

John
 
John OoSTerhuis said:
Barry, the kit should have arrived in a USPS Medium Flat Rate Box (the box itself is free) per the instructions, the kit is sized perfectly to fit in one without anything rattling around/poking holes.
Click to expand...

It now comes in a fashionable brown box. Might try to score a flat-rate if they have one and return it to it former glory.

Thanks for the guidance on the plate/alternator meshing. Working on it now.
 
After sleeping on the bike and reading @John OoSTerhuis 's warning, I pulled the alternator shaft assembly and gave it a good inspection. Everything looked perfect (seals/etc). I re-oiled it and re-inserted it. It fit fine (now) so I am going to move on as I fear tweaking with things could likely make something worse eventually (my ability to over-analyse and over-engineer could lead me astray).

I started today by trimming the cover for the 40 amp alternator. Some people had experienced success with a small trim in the past, so we started attempting that:
1646603469084.png

I inserted the alternator with the cover into the frame and had very little trouble situating it into place mostly thanks to Ed Lee/Foster Lees notes and with the help of this video (
).

Unfortunately for my bike the bottom part of the alternator cover interfered with getting a direct shot into the shaft. As such, I removed the cover and did the full trim:
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With this trim job I was able to slide the alternator into place:
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I refreshed the oil on the mating surfaces and was able to side the alternator home:
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Here it is all torqued up and looking great:
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I re-installed the cover bolts and a large chapter of the ST1100 fixup comes to an end. I hope the gentle pushing with the bolts doesn't lead to any long-term issues, but worst case it gives me something to fix later :shrug2:.

Thanks for all the comments/help. It was nice reading peoples notes in the 40amp alternator upgrade book and knowing that many had come before me.

BG
 
Don't recall where I read it, but an article somewhere said the split gears can be aligned without the Lewis pin by using the Fren stick. Anyone? Bueller?
 
George said:
Don't recall where I read it, but an article somewhere said the split gears can be aligned without the Lewis pin by using the Fren stick. Anyone? Bueller?
Click to expand...
It’s been done, George. Get the splines of the first/outer split gear on the flywheel’s splines, then twist the FrenSTick CCW (IIRC) to insure the second/inner split gear’s splines are aligned, and shove the alternator shaft assembly ‘home.’ Do a bench test prior to get a feel for the force required to move the gears into alignment. The next upgrade I’m involved in I’ll give this technique a try…

John
 
Another exciting day of reassembly.

Today I started out torquing the exhaust:
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Then I removed and upgraded the coolant elbows:
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New elbows with new o-rings.

Installed the cleaned-up thermostat housing with the new thermostat:
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Broke apart and cleaned up the clutch slave cylinder:
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I also took inventory of my remaining parts, ordered parts for the carburetors, ordered exhaust parts (many of the bolts were rusted badly), and I cleaned up the switch-gear. It was a pretty productive weekend.

BG
 
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