Head bolts and valve cover

It's going slow but at least it's progress. I torqued the head bolts this afternoon and mounted the valve cover.

New exhaust header gasket.

Shiny valve cover.

Shiny polished stainless steel hex bolts.

Polished stainless steel exhaust

pent several hours this week polishing the exhaust system. Buffing wheels, wire wheels, synthetic sanding/scouring pads, steel wool, polishing creams, rubbing compounds....tried a bunch of different things. The entire system from front to back now has a mirror-like chrome look...the way polished stainless steel is supposed to look. It's not perfect, but it's a million times better than before. The rear pipe, although it had a mirror-finish last year, was in pretty sad condition after the winter riding I put it through in November and December. The amount of road salt the use here is enough to ruin the finish on anything.

Anyway, after  many hours of elbow grease, here's how it looks:

I even went to a local fasteners store and picked up some shiny new hex bolts for the exhaust system. The GSXR muffler needed a good cleaning, but it was relatively quick compared to the front & rear pipes.

Engine re-assembly

Time for engine re-assembly.... Got home from work a little early today so I decided to get started and put this thing back together.

Same piston, new rings. 

And notice the new base gasket -- 

better not leak when I'm done !

Cylinder jug installed.

Cylinder head, timing chain guides installed.

Cam shaft installed, timing marks lined up. 

Still need to torque the head bolts.

Cleaned and polished the spokes over the weekend.

Been polishing my pipe! (that sounds funny)
Still needs a good buffing with a polishing 
compound to smooth out the finish.

Winter maintenance project and upgrades

Progress report.... Photos tell the story.

Yick. What a mess.

Head gasket area and silicone goop all cleaned up.

piston and head cleaned

Head is ready to go back on.

I've polished the cam and valve covers with a Dremel and a few wire wheels,

 plus a couple of buffing wheels, and a little Autosol metal polish. It will look 

great with the new polished stainless bolts.

I've spent a wad of cash recently on a bunch of new parts. The main reason for tearing things apart in the first place was to fix the leaking cylinder base gasket. I could have just bought a new top-end gasket kit and slapped it back together, but you know how it is: one thing always leads to another, especially for a moto-addict like me. So I've ended up with a bunch of new parts, and a bank account that's running on empty.

Here's the tally of all the parts I've purchased to date, plus the shipping, duty, and taxes. While most of these items were purchased online in US dollars, the list below is in Canadian dollars (the exchange rate these days is pretty good for us Canucks, with $1 CDN worth about 95 cents US). The bulk of it came from ProCycle, one or two items from eBay, and the gasket set was purchased from my local dealer.


$100 OEM gasket kit
$65 OEM piston rings
$500 Mikuni TM-40 pumper carburetor
$42 OEM headlight cover/fairing
$12 spark plugs
$70 braided stainless steel brake line
$18 chain roller
$10 auxiliary light brackets
$50 polished stainless steel bolt kit
$92 shipping
$138 duty & taxes
____________________

$1,097 Total

It's like Christmas!

Still to be purchased: a set of Eibach .47 Kg/mm fork springs, and a 7.5 Kg/mm spring for the rear shock. By the time I get these items shipped to my door, I expect to spend another $300 CDN.
I've also got another potential project in mind...I recently scored a super bargain on a set of '90 Katana 600 wheels. The front Katana wheel is apparently a low-fuss 17" conversion for those looking to fit sticky street tires on a DR650. The rear Katana wheel will also fit onto the DR, but requires a little more work. I managed to find the pair locally for just $60. If I can have a set of wheels with street tires, and another set of wheels with dirt tires, I'll be able to swap back and forth easily depending on my mood.

1990 Katana 600 wheels will fit once I figure out 

a solution for the wheel bearings

I need to think about getting the bike back together soon. Riding season is nearly upon us.