Shows you how much I know about marriage. :cry:

On my way out to the garage in about an hour. I had a physical this morning and am now filling my face as I wasn't allowed any breakfast. Also walking kind of funny, if you know what I mean. :wink: So, I'm sharing my chair with two small, gassy dogs who would like me to share my brekkie with them. Or grab it and run if they had a chance.

First order of business, though, will be to replace the last fully working light fixture in my garage that I inadvertently smacked with scrap lumber last night, while hauling said lumber to my fire pit, sending said light fixture to the floor and plunging said garage into total darkness. If swearing was light last night, I'd have been wearing shades. Wish I hadn't been wearing my sneakers, either.

Probably will be finding bits of florescent bulbs for the next month.

You never cease to crack me up Cheesy. :lol:

I send a few guys home every daya walking a bit off..... :roll:

You don't even want to know about the girls! :roll:

There was progress today. I was going to do a step by step pictorial but the battery was dead on the Iceland camera and my phone wouldn't stop ringing. Anyway, at this point I had a charged battery and got a pic of all the paraphernalia cleared away and getting ready to drop the engine.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...otRadiator.jpg

One last step, pull the fan shroud. Gotta say, the fan looks in real nice shape.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...NoRadiator.jpg

Okay, the gurus at the cx500 forum say an engine drop should take 2 hours or so for the first time. Well, four hours later, here we are.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...tEngineOut.jpg

Heavy little bugger, 160+lbs. This is where I stopped for the day. Gotta scrounge two more 4 x 4s to get it up to a comfortable working height. Confidence is high that I caught the cam chain in time, no sparklies in the oil. The tiny coolant leak I couldn't find is found, it is either around the temp sensor or the sensor itself.

More pics tomorrow when I open up.

Thanks for posting the photos and the update, Cheesy. :) Did the engine have any support beneath it? It appears all the engine mounting bolts were located high. :?

Spud :)

Big Job.

I'd say 4 hours was very good time. Putting it back together of course is the trick... :wink:

No support below, Spud, engine is a stressed member. Made it easier to get the jack under there. Water cooling sure makes it a PITA, though. Last MC engine I pulled was a CB750 and I think that was less than 2 hours.

I'll certainly be following your progress.

Is it just me, or would that engine make a perfect mini hot rod engine?

I need to book an appointment, so I can walk funny for awhile. I'm overdue.

Well, what I found wasn't unexpected but that didn't make it any easier when I found it. But, I promised a more or less Step by Step, so here goes.

Pulling the fan. This has nothing to do with the cam chain issue but I'm going to an e-fan and I was curious about the condition of the fan. Turns out the fan was perfect.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...PullingFan.jpg

The rear engine cover. Under here is where the problem lies.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...tRearCover.jpg

Pulling the water pump. This to was in pristine condition.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...tWaterPump.jpg

The nice shape of the fan and water pump was building up my hopes. Alas, they were dashed as I found that the cam chain guide and tensioner were only half there. The rest of the guide and tensioner were laying in the bottom of the engine.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ngsMissing.jpg

Once the flywheel/rotor was off, I could get a better look at the damage. There was some munching going on between the the chain and the block. Guess I'll be pulling the front cover and cleaning out the sump.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../MaggotOMG.jpg

Here is what I pulled out.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...otOMGAgain.jpg

And here is what the parts should look like.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...NewerStuff.jpg

Back together with a new chain and valves timed.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...uffInPlace.jpg

Going to walk away from it for a few days and get back to finishing the spare room.

Stay tuned for the Mechanical Seal.

Wow, that looks way familiar... Pretty much the same shape mine was in. Mine was really low mileage as well, I was shocked at the damage.

Egads! 8O

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...otOMGAgain.jpg

I've never seen a cam chain tensioner disintegrate like that! :?

Spud :)

I think the tensioner went first and took out the guide. I've done a bit of looking around and found out that there is a beefier tensioner available so I'm going to hold off on buttoning up the engine until I get that one.

Finally, finished that freakin' room today. :evil: Not a square corner or straight wall anywhere. :evil: :evil: I despise home remodeling.:evil: :evil: :evil:

Back to the engine tomorrow. As I'm waiting for a new and beefier tensioner, I'll probably pop open the front cover and inspect the sump and the clutch and see if I can find anymore of the tensioner and guide. Probably make some new cover gaskets, double check the stator, and start planning the the e-fan conversion.

Then off to FL for a week of railroad equipment repair insanity. :?

Youngest daughter called and asked if Mrs. C and I would like to meet for lunch today. So, being the award winning Dad that I am, I didn't get much done today. It was worth it just watching her trying to get close to table with the brewing grandson inside her having other ideas. :lol: Award. Winning. Dad. :wink:

I did manage to bench test the stator. Perfect. (whew)

Knocked out the water pump seals. Old on the left, new on the right.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...anicalSeal.jpg

Installed the ceramic seal into the impeller.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...otPoloMint.jpg
That was as far I got with the pump seal. Need to do a mix of cooling and heating parts to get the seal into the cover. Seal is in the freezer. Somehow, I can't see Mrs. C letting me heat the cover in the oven so it may be time to punt on that for the time being.

Also made a new rear cover gasket using 1/32" Fel-Pro Karrepack gasket paper, a few bolts and my trusty 5oz ball peen hammer.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...verGasket2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...verGasket3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...verGasket4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...erFinished.jpg

That's all until next weekend.

Good work! You got a lot done. Clever gasketmaking. I have read about that technique but never done it myself.