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'Whipping' out the engine |
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'Whipping' out the engine |
AUTUMN had set in and Neil Webster had at last stopped whittling away at me not to touch the CBX. John Wyatt was ready in Tadcaster to strip and rebuild the engine. Only one thing for it, "We'll whip the thing out," says I.
It looks easy enough in the handbook and, in fact is pretty easy with no front downtubes to worry about. The major requirement is to have plenty of muscle on hand. Enter our resident body-builder Anthony Swain and, for the final heave, squash fanatic Dave Thompson.
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Berry and Swain removing the triangular mounting brackets which attach the six cylinder engine to the top of the frame. |
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The miniature-sized spark plugs on the outside cylinders need to be removed to get at the bottom bolt holding the engine to the triangular mountings. |
The first thing the handbook says is to drain the oil. I didn't bother. I decided to take it out with oil intact. A mistake. In my usual impetuous way I had not bothered to take a proper look. The hoses from the oil cooler snake above the a cross tube at the front of the frame and need to be disconnected to remove the engine.
If I'd drained the oil in the first place I'd have saved time later.
Tank, seat, air boxes, sidepanels, six-into-one exhaust pipes (anyone want to buy 'em?), all came off to reveal that the frame is in quite good order. I won't bother having it refurbished.
One problem, the six-into-one had meant the removal of the centre stand some years ago. A trip to (you guessed it) Ape Accessories in Kettering and £37 later and the next day I had the CBX propped up on a nice new paddock stand.
Small engine covers and gearbox drive covers off we shoved the rear wheel forward as far as it would go. The handbook said this would enable us to pop the chain off the sprocket. It didn't, but the sprocket came off easily enough for the chain to be taken off.
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The two main engine mountings bolts low down at the rear. The middle bolt does not connect to the engine. |
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These fairly insignificant mounting brackets can be missed. |
Gear change pedal was unhitched but we left the footbrake pedal where it was. A mistake. We got the engine out over it only by someone depressing it. Easier to remove it.
Handily, the CBX swivels downwards at the front to allow access to the cylinder heads so, as instructed by the book, we took off the triangular engine mounts each side at the top, the ones between the camshaft covers, two other engine bolts and spacers between the head and the carbs, the rear engine bolt at the top and, good as gold, the engine swivelled down.
A handy bit of kit as this stage would be small trolly as used by car mechanics or a hydraulic car jack - those that slide underneath things. We made do with a sturdy piece of wood and some strategically place bricks to support the front of the engine.
| SECTION: | HOME PAGE | Whipping out the Engine | Preparation and top end strip | Starting on the Bottom End | Stripping the Bottom End | Putting it Together |
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