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VN750 Engine Rebuild Videos

51K views 116 replies 38 participants last post by  wouter 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm tearing apart the engine on my VN750 with the intention of rebuilding it. I'm going to try and document the entire process in a series of YouTube videos.

Thanks to everyone for the tips so far, and please give me a shout if you have any more.

EDIT: I'm going to put all the videos in this first post to make them easier to find.

EDIT 2: I've also created a YouTube Playlist with all the videos

1985 Kawasaki Vulcan Engine Rebuilt Playlist

EDIT 3: I've been asked to note that the procedures in the videos are applicable to all model years from 1985 to 2006 for the Vulcan 700/750.

EDIT 4: Here is a crude spreadsheet with the cost



1985 Kawasaki Vulcan Engine Rebuild

Pt.1 - Removing & Disassembling Heads

Pt.2 - Removing Clutch, Starter Gear, Right Balancer, Right Cam Chains & Sprockets, Rear Cylinder, Stator & Cover

Pt.3 - Removing & Cleaning Valves, Removing HLA oil filter, Cleaning Heads

Pt.4 - Removing Flywheel, Left Balancer, Left Cam Chains & Sprockets, Front Cylinder

Pt.5 - Removing Final Drive, Damper Cam, External Shift Mechanism Cover, Oil Filter Plate

Pt.6 - Removing Pistons, Engine Case Bolts, Splitting Engine Case, Removing Crank Shaft, Transmission, Oil lines,

Pt.7 - Removing Water Pump Shaft, Water Pump Mechanical Seal, Oil Pump Sprocket & Chain, Balancer Shaft, Oil Pump, Left Side Oil Pipe, Oil Pressure Relief Valve, Oil PAssage Cover, Shift Drum, Shift Mechanism, Tie Rod & Shaft

Pt.8 - Bleeding HLAs, Checking Tolerances on Cam Shafts & Cam Shaft Covers

Pt.9 - Checking Tolerance on Heads, Cam Shafts, Cam Chains, HLA Leak Down, Valves, Valve Guides, Valve Seats

Pt.10 - Checking Tolerances on Valve Springs, Cylinders, Pistons, Piston Rings

Pt.11 - Checking Tolerances on Clutch Plates, De-glazing Clutch Plates, Checking Tolerances on Oil Pump

Pt.12 - Checking Tolerances on Crankshaft, Transmission, Honing Cylinders

Pt.13 - Lapping Valves

Pt.14 - Drilling Clutch Hub (Fix Coffee Grinder Noise), Installing Valves

Pt.15 - Installing HLAs, Rocker Arms & Springs

Pt.16 - Installing Oil Pump, Balancer Shaft, Oil Pump Chain & Sprocket, Oil Passage Cover, Oil Relief Valve, Oil Lines

Pt.17 - Installing Internal Shift Mechanism (Tie Rod, Shift Shaft, Shift Arm), Oil Pump Chain Guide, Oil Return Line, Water Pump Mechanical Seal, Water Pump Impeller & Shaft.

Pt.18 - Installing Shift Drum, Gear Position Lever, External Shift Mechanism Cover, Transmission

Pt.19 - Install Crankshaft, Combining Crank Case Halves, Oil Filter Plate, Starter Idler Gear, Right Side Balancer

Pt.20 - Install Left Side Balancer, Flywheel, Pistons,

Pt.21 - Install Cylinders, Cam Chains, Cam Chain Guides

Pt.22 - Install Heads and Spark Plug Retainers

Pt.23 - Installing Cam Shafts, Setting Cam Chain Timing, Installing Cam Cap, Cam Chain Tensioners, and Cam Shaft Cover

Pt.24 - Installing Flywheel, Primary Gear, Pick up coil mod, Shift Shaft Oil Seal, Left Side Engine Cover, Pick Up Coil Gap, External Oil Lines, Oil Pressure Switch

Pt.25 - Installing Clutch, Right Side Engine Cover, Clutch Cover

Pt.26 - Installing the Exhaust manifolds, Oil Drain Plugs, Carburetors, Starter motor, Final Drive Gearbox. Mounting the engine and starting the bike.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Edit

Whoops, something went wrong with part 2.

I'll try to re-upload it tonight
 
#4 ·
There is nothing like seeing the job done firsthand, just being a fly on the wall and watching a masterful mechanic take things apart correctly and with explanations. Thanks for a great job on part 1, and I'm anxiously anticipating part 2!
 
#5 ·
#7 ·
You must be a master mechanic, my hands never moved that fast removing stuff!
 
#10 ·
Nice tear down. I have a comment tho, when you take the cams out would it be better to take out the ACCT's first? That way it takes tension off of the cams when you pull the plates off. I noticed that the cams were at an angle from the heads when you took off the cam plates from the tension on the chains. I believe it would also make it a little easier to get the cam plates off of the cams without the tension on the chain.
also are you going to replace the HLA's? If not does it matter which hole they go back in? I know on a multiple cylinder setup, I always put the valve train parts in order so that I can put them all back in the same order so they will wear the same. Especially a cam and lifters in a V-8 engine.
Again awesome job, I'm not telling you what to do of course, just a few comments. :)
 
#13 ·
I should have taken the ACCT's off first. I'll be honest with you, this is the first time I've gotton my hands dirty on a four stoke.

There is a procedure in the service manual to check the HLA's. If they are within that service limit I'll try and re-use them.

It probably would have been a good idea to make a template for all the valve train components so they went back were they came from. The cams are marked so I can't get those wrong. But I didn't keep track of the rocker arms.
 
#12 ·
I might be jumping the gun on this...but went back to rewatch part 1 again and part 2 was uploaded although no link here yet..but here it is!

http://youtu.be/EdvB81YIyhQ

I'm outside today working on exactly what he's doing in the video...so hoping there's a part 3 for cracking the case...!!
 
#14 ·
No worries.

I'm waiting on a 18mm x 1.5mm bolt to remove the flywheel. So it'll be a couple days before I get to the crank case.

Maybe I should be editing my first post in this thread with all the video links?
 
#18 ·
#19 ·
Thanks for the link! I'll probably try the Kroil and also another product Freeze-off, if the nut splitter won't get in there..I got the smallest splitter I could find, but it's gonna be tight on clearance. I really hate to cut them off with a Dremel and all 4 are in same condition. Doesn't seem to be rust so much, as probably seized from heat or severe over-tightening. I plan to replace both the studs and the nuts when I do the rebuild.
 
#20 ·
#21 ·
Awesome Roach!! Thanks a bunch for part 3!! I would never have thought to use oven cleaner. You make all this look so simple. Dunno if it's just that your engine is in better condition than mine or what. Mine has just been badly abused, so everything on the teardown has been a fight and I'm being super patient with it, so as to salvage what I can.
 
#23 ·
Mine has pretty low mileage so it wouldn't suprise me if other engines were a lot worse off. I ended up using the razor blade on the valves quite a bit also. I think they are hard enought steel that it won't hurt them.

The video editing probably makes it look more simple than it is. I don't film things like scrubbing parts as it doesn't add much value.
 
#26 ·
Thx for the tip on the ATF/acetone. I may try that too. I did find a can of the Freeze-Off...but the nuts just laughed all the harder! My nut splitter set should be here this afternoon and I really hope it does the trick. It's as much a problem of no way to get any torque to the nut, as it is corrosion, so the nut splitter stands the best chance of getting it off, if I can get enough clearance to get it in there. I've already tried about 4 diff sizes/styles of vicegrips, a pair of vice style channel locks, banged on it good with open wrench and hammer, etc. I get absolutely no budge whatsoever. On most of the stubborn nuts and such, if I can get a socket on there, I use an old worn-out torque wrench as my breaker bar. It works very well.

The problem with my bike is that I can tell, due to missing parts and gaskets, that someone at least partially tore down this bike(not my brother) and then decided to quit and then just put it back together, skipping gaskets and several parts. It seems they then must have run the engine at some point and it leaked like crazy as evidenced by the very thick oil buildup all over the engine. It then sat outside for an unknown time under a carport, then finally sat for a couple more years in the back of my brother's barn/shop. It's not a complete basket bike..but close. For what's it's worth though, I'd still rather start from this point for free(brother gave me the bike) and build a nice custom ride of my own for a couple of grand, than just go sink the same money into something that would still potentially have issues and wouldn't be nearly as custom and mine.

As to bagging, tagging and organizing...I'll try and get a shot of my setup and post sometime today. I agree with OlHoss, not only do I bag and tag, but I organize each set of parts, into boxes(tons of amazon shipping boxes) and tubs. I have big containers for the bigger parts and for the engine, I bought some cheap kitty litter pans to keep everything sorted in. I line the bottoms with shop rags and will wrap parts to keep them from scratching or bumping together.

As to cleaning and such...scotchbrite pads, sandpaper, various buffing/sanding wheels with air tools and also bench grinder, my fav find so far has been a product called Evapo-Rust. It works great and is non-hazardous. I plan to use it on my gas tank and will soak many other parts with it too. I've also got various spray cleaners and a bucket of Chem-Dip w/basket. I'll definitely be adding oven cleaner to the arsenal as well!

I'm really glad that Roach is taking the extra time and effort to document this teardown and hopefully the rebuild too..(hint, hint!!). Salute!!
 
#28 ·
http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/ad269/wolflrv/Bike%20Teardown-organization/

As promised here's a link to a few photos of my shop and organization method. It's a nice place to work on the bike. The bigger bins look a bit rough, but most of those parts are easily identifiable and I only bagged and tagged the smaller bits.

I also included a couple of photos at the end, to show evidence of the lack of gaskets on this bike. I'll know more for sure once I get these stupid nuts off..but I can't see any gaskets at all.
 
#29 ·
#32 ·
Roach, you ended vid 4 with demonstration on why Rad's should be flushed; cool. But how do I flush mine so that such soot can be drained throughout engine?
I really don't know how you get it out once it's in there. I'm not even sure it's a big deal. I just figured it was a good argument for periodic maintenance.
 
#33 ·
The nut driver turned out to be way too big..even though it was the smallest I could find online...so....

Call it luck or whatever...but my better half came out and held the engine down tight, while I slid the bike's handlebars down over the wrench as leverage and managed to torque loose the other three nuts. I guess 3 days of chemical assault must of finally done their job. For the stripped bolt I got out my die grinder and a small grinding tip and reground two flat surfaces and then hammered a 8mm wrench on to it. Then using the handlebars again...I finally got enough leverage to break it loose!!

Now all 4 nuts are loose and I'll tear the rest down in the morning!! I'm gonna tear this bike down yet!! Thx to all for the help and encouragement!!
 
#34 ·
#35 ·
Watched both of them!! Good job!! You've really got me thinking, I'm gonna need to move the engine to the bench though, once I get the cylinders/heads off. There's no way, I can crack that case on my stand. At least it'll be a bit lighter to lift...LOL!
 
#36 ·
Didn't get to the shop today...had to run errands and such. Been debating it and think I'm gonna take a few hrs and build about a 3'x3' table maybe 2' tall to move the engine on. That way I can still roll around on my stool and will also make a nice platform to sand and repaint all the bike parts on.

Any new videos yet?? or are we done till the rebuild starts??
 
#37 ·
Didn't get to the shop today...had to run errands and such. Been debating it and think I'm gonna take a few hrs and build about a 3'x3' table maybe 2' tall to move the engine on. That way I can still roll around on my stool and will also make a nice platform to sand and repaint all the bike parts on.

Any new videos yet?? or are we done till the rebuild starts??
Might want to consider building in some reinforced anchor points on the table for tie down straps or chains to hold engine in place while breaking bolts loose on the case.:smiley_th

I noticed Roach wrestling with the engine a couple of times. If a strong young guy has some struggles, us older guys need to build in all the advantages we can, eh? ;)
 
#38 ·
I absolutely agree OlHoss...I think having my wife come out and hold the engine down was a key factor in getting the right angle/torque to break loose those pesky nuts. I am however using a few pieces of trim wood to kind of shim the engine so it doesn't wobble quite so much, but it will still move around if I'm really torquing. I know from the video I'm gonna have fun with the crankshaft...will probably get the wife back out in the shop on that part too.

And yeah...Roach is still making it look really easy...LOL! Us ol' guys have to work a bit harder...if it wasn't for this arthritis in my hands...really...lol!
 
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