Working on YOUR Bike

Have on hand:

• Some sort of stand that will hold the engine upright; preferably at chest level on a sturdy bench; spaceous enough for the scattered
  engine and a top box and all the large tools.


• Turnbuckles or a come-along so you can flip the engine around as you disassemble it.


• Enough floor space to lay out the big chassis pieces.


• Another bench, or a large lower shelf to layout the smaller running gear bits in the order that they go on upon reassembly.


• A set of quality ratcheting wrenches - at least 6mm to 23mm -- more if you can afford it


• The same with sockets; twelve point if you have too much money.


• Push button release, switch-reverse ratchets in all three sizes.


• Mallets in various materials and sizes and if you're careful: an array of hammers.


• A breaker bar as long as will fit in your work area. A large hand-held impact driver.


• A three jaw puller for the rotor. There are model-specific pullers, but they don't span the whole XV run.


• A hard steel flat bar with two 8x150mm (at least) hardened bolts to pull the left-side case half off of the crank.


• Some hard skinny chisels to work the mains off the crank. You may also want to use acetone/dry ice and a hand torch to aid you.


• An 8mm slide hammer for the rocker shafts; the top-end won't come apart unless you pull them. They are TIGHT.


• Some solvents: gasoline, acetone, something sold specifically as a solvent. Some soft bristle brushes.


• Assembly lube. Special stuff really only on the cam lobes; ATF works everywhere else. Several sizes and styles of oil can/applicator.


• Some tubs (or tubes if you are using a gun) of grease. Molybdenum disulfide for the valve stems, white lithium for the internal bearings,
  marine trailer for the external. In the abscence of grease, use ATF.


• Some sandpaper to dress small flaws and to prep the oil pump. A 3/8" drill with wire wheels and sanding disks in various
  sizes for rust. Some hand files for distortions in the aluminum.


• Some new dowels to fit between the cylinders and heads. Dress the recesses until the dowls are a slip fit.
  They are locators, NOT structural pieces.
• Plastigauge if you plan on going that far.


• Penetrating oil. I'm told that acetone and ATF mixed 50:50 works best.
  Be careful, it doesn't want to stay mixed and acetone will disolve most plastics and rubbers. Maybe stay with WD40 or Liquid Wrench.
  Tapping with a hard mallet actually seems to help them loosen. Don't neglect your hand torch,


• Several different strengths of threadlocker.


• A stack of manuals (heavy on the exploded views). Some manuals of similar models to see if there is a better way to fix things.


• A graduated pipette with ground glass valve - you probably won't use it unless you plan to race.


• A valve guide brush and a driver if necessary. Similarly a ream and seat cutting tools.


• The above can probably be left out if you plan on a trip to a machine shop.


• A bore gauge. Plactic clay; bondo; something else moldable.


• A set of ring gappers.


• Several sizes and types of torque wrenches. You'll see why.


• If you want to play it safe: severel thread files and a tap and die set spanning 2mm to 18mm.


• Some sort of metallic epoxy. JB weld works fine if there is no abrasion and temps never exceed 600F.


• Contact cement. It will hold that stack of washers on the bolt while you line it up and tighten it.


• All the available hard parts (Yamaha) that you think are going to need replaced.


• An array of carbide cutters and a Dremel (or similar) tool with a flex extension if you plan on doing any porting.


• Some polishing heads and various grades of rouge or similar if you plan to get fancy on those ports.


• A flow bench if you are getting really serious.

Always:

• Whenever you're going to work on something oily, dusty, or caustic (even if you're going to wear gloves)
  first rub in some skin conditioner like Intensive Care or its generic equivalent.   It will make clean up a lot easier.


• Trim your nails. There is little that is more annoying than trying to avoid snagging a hangnail.


• When you work a piece either by blasting, sanding, or wire brush, clean up potentially abrasive residue with a polar degreaser
  (like dish detergent or Simple Green) in water -- these are much better surfactants than aerosol types.  
  Then rinse, and dry with a blast of air.   Then finish off with a low- or no-residue water displacer/metal protectant like WD40.


• On threaded fittings (especially stainless or titanium) into aliminum always use something --
  if you plan on taking it apart again, silver-, copper-, or ceramic-based anti-seize.   If it has a tendency to come loose,
  a thread-locker like Loctite.   If it holds fluid (like a brake line or oil cooler fitting) use teflon tape (there is some disagreement on this).  
  Hot Rod Magazine recommends a dab of copper-based anti--seize on spark plug threads -- apparently it is conductive.


• Make sure that the piston pin is a slip fit in the piston.   It should slde through under its own weight.  
  Otherwise, you'll need a pin-press (quite rare) to take them out.   Or drive them out and ruin everything.


• Alway assemble the cylinders and rings and lands dry.   The first few strokes will seat the rings and running for a minute will lubricate them


• Have a matte finish on the piston skirts and a little assembly lube on them.


• On the case halves use Yamabond #4 or Golden Hematite, or similar.


• Wash your hands thoroughly, then peel an orange by hand. It will get all the grease and mung out from beneath your nails.

Never:

• Use silicon-based lubricants (either aerosol or grease) on parts that get really hot (like valve stems).  
  The heat oxidizes it to sand and either seizes the part or abrades it rapidly.


• Use an acid-based rust stripper (like Naval Jelly) on any iron/steel that isn't strictly cosmetic.  
  Acids are hydrogen donors and this causes a phenomenon called hydrogen embrittlement in many metals.  
  Among other effects, it reverses heat-treatment, rendering the part a very short working life in high temperature environments.  
  Remove rust by abrasion or one of the new(ish) "organic" rust dissolvers.


• Use gasket sealer -- it's already in the gaskets.   Maybe a little copper-based aerosol on the head.  
  And if you just can't resist, some silicon-based goop (or Yamabond #4) on the cover-side on the case.  
  It will allow the gasket to come off with the cover.


• Use sand, glass, or metal grit to blast parts that will come in contact with hot oil.  
  The particles embed into the surface and are released by the heating of the motor --
  then it's off to wreak havoc on delicate bearing surfaces wherever it can find sliding or spinning metal to abrade.  
  Instead of blasting, use wire wheels or sanding discs on a die grinder.  
  It's okay to blast the outside of a carefully masked part, which is then carefully cleaned and shot with paint.
  The only exception is actual ball bearings (Small ones) in an operation known as "shot peening."  
  This is done to hardened ferrous (or similar) parts like transmission gears, and is not for cosmetic purposes,
  but rather to close surface imperfections so that they don't develop into cracks.


• Use thread-locker inside an engine. Hot oil is slipperier than the sealer is sticky.
  Never use on rod nuts - it pops right off and clogs oil passages.