As a few of you know from my post in the old forum, the engine in my 3TJ started knocking under acceleration the other week.
After checking the engine with a stethoscope, I still wasn’t sure where the noise was coming from so I stripped off the fairings and drained the oil to check for signs of any problems.
I found fragments of metal in the oil, which is never good news. I then dropped the sump and found even more metal fragments. It was pretty obvious that some serious damage had occurred to the engine.

I pulled one of the conrod end caps and found that the bearing shell was pitted and had a fair bit of wear on it. It also looks as if the oil pump pick up/strainer had been fitted the wrong way around by one of the previous owner, which is possibly one reason why this problem has occurred.
Hopefully I have caught this problem before any real damage has been done to the engine. If the crankshaft has survived without any damage I will be happy.


No3 shell bearing, not looking too healthy. The photo doesn’t really show the extent of the damage as it is badly pitted and the white metal starting to flake off.

Until recently I used to keep the bike at the powder coating workshop where I used to work, as I had nowhere to keep it inside at home and I didn’t really want it left outside in the wind and rain after the amount of work I have put into to it.
I have had a sectional fibreglass shed with double doors in the garden for a few years but there was no easy access to it from the road so I threw out all the old crap I have gathered up in it over the years (windsurfers, outboard motors, bits of old cars/boats, etc), took it apart and moved it to the back of my other shed, next to my driveway.
There is enough room in the new shed to easily hold a couple of bikes, I might even squeeze in 3 if I really had to. I will hopefully get a concrete ramp made up to the doors as soon as I have time.


The new shed was really only meant for storing the bike and I wasn’t expecting to be doing major surgery in there. It in nowhere near finished, i haven’t even got the shed bolted down to the foundation, the floor painted or the electricity plumbed in yet but at least it will keep me dry if it rains.


There was obviously not going to be a quick fix to this problem and the only option was to pull the motor out of the bike. It was an easy enough job to drop the engine out, but it certainly helps to get another pair of hands to help steady the engine when you are dropping it down with a trolley jack.


Note the quantity of oil I have managed to spill all over my brand new concrete floor. I didn’t have any old cardboard handy or i would have had that on the floor to try and keep it clean.


The sick motor, soon to be replaced by a healthy 2nd hand engine. I can then recondition the sick one at my leisure and not have to rush to get the bike back on the road. I wouldn’t mind getting the casings vapour blasted to make them nice and shiny.


I find it really handy to keep all the fixings/small parts in one of these storage cabinets, they only cost about £15 and are worth every penny. You can label all the compartments so you know which bolts go where when it is time to reassemble the bike.

Now that the engine is out it gives me the perfect chance to clean up the insides of the frame and a few of the places that you normally cant get too when the engine is in the frame.

That's not a shed, its a mansion.
I like the little draws idea, i've just put mine back together and i've got at least 10 bolts left, and a big spring (I kid you not). Goes good though..

What front tyre is that?

Well, good luck with it, keep us posted.

Having 10 bolts and a big spring left after a rebuild is never good garlic.

Having everything tucked away in labeled drawers means you know where everything goes so in theory you will have no "spare" bolts afterwards.

The front tyre is a Michelin Macadam, its nothing special but i have done over 2000kms on it and there is hardly any sign of wear on it at all. It will be replaced shortly as my rear is pretty worn and i will be putting a matched set of tyres on.

I think they're mostly from the subframe. I replaced a few, but didn't think i'd have that many left. As for the spring - god knows. I'll put a picture up when i can be arsed.

What rubber you going for? I've just fitted a Michelin pilot race on the front, will have to see how i get on with it.

i always found a couple of cats and a small child useful for stopping oil, you might want to give that a try next time!

The bike doesnt seem a bit harsh on the rear end does it garlic? just we've got a big spring thing on our bike and it makes it much more comfy! hehe!

Ha. Not that big.

Right lads, hows the craic?
At long last my replacement engine for the 3TJ has turned up. I have been waiting for what seems like an eternity and if the useless tw@ts at Streamline Shipping in Shetland would have had their way, it would have been an eternity.
They decided to lose all the paperwork for my engine at their depot, shove the engine into a corner and then just forget about it. It has been sitting in their depot since the start of last week and i only found out yesterday after i started kicking up a stink with Interparcel and TNT to find out which company was dealing with it at the Shetland end, i then had to go to their depot and take the engine home myself as they were too busy to deliver the engine until tomorrow afternoon.


Anyhoo,

after lunch i got the Jizer and powerwasher out and gave the engine a good clean while i had easy access to all the nooks and crannies and then started preparing the engine for the build up.
I have swopped all the powdercoated bits and bobs from my old engine and and and gave the engine a good going over, checking for loose bolts and making sure all was in order.
And the end result is that my 3TJ now has a new engine bolted into the frame instead of the big gaping hole which has been there for the last 4 weeks :D :D :D

I got the engine in place and called it a day otherwise i would have been out in the shed all night until i got the bike running.
I will be up first thing tomorrow to get the engine hooked up and see if i can coax it back to life again.

Unfortunetly my camera phone is broken at the moment so i can't take any photos to post up.

I have eventually got the bike running but there is still a major problem.

When i get the bike running it will idle away perfect and when you blip the throttle it revs fairly cleanly but when i tried going on a test run it bogs down and will only idle with full throttle, you would think it was running out off fuel.
If i then strip off the tank and airbox it will start and rev no problem, build the bike back up and it will start and still run perfect until i try riding it.
I have cleaned the carbs, set the pilots to 2.5 turns out, none of the pipes are kinked, newish fuel filter, removed the filter from the carb inlet pipe, used sealer on the carb rubbers to make sure it is not sucking air, the tank is flowing fuel, there is no vacuum in the fuel tank, removed the air filter, every thing i can think off.
I thought it was the fuel pump last night but i have checked the fuel levels today and there seems to be plenty of fuel in the carb bowls and i have tried bypassing the fuel pump completely and filling the tank up to the top to gravity feed the carbs and i get the exact same problems.

I am at a loss what to try now and i am booked on a bike rally which starts on Thursday so i don't have a lot of time.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Did you take the jets out to clean them ??? Could you have swapped the idle and main jets ... I did that on one carb and it wouldn't pull above 6000 revs.
Try running it with the airbox on, and no tank ... it should go about a 100 yards or so.

Other than that it sounds like maybe one of the coils is breaking down, Check the tank isin't stretching a the electrics

I did have all the jets out when i was cleaning the carbs but i only took out one at a time so they should have been put back where they came from.

All the wiring looks clear of the tank and i have checked all the connections and they seem fine too.

I will check the coils tomorrow, i have been concentrating on the fueling today as i was sure that was the problem.