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Lord help me, I just bought a basket case LC4

On with the pictures- I spent a good part of sunday assembling, cleaning, etc.
Here goes:
Got the cam in and timed right:
004.JPG

Waterpump rebuilt, new seals and bearings, but it'll need a new wp shaft next time for sure. . . what is it about ktm and waterpumps?
045.JPG

Waterpump and rocker cover on:
050.JPG

Next up: extracting the main shaft bearing:
051.JPG

Making the puller from 3 5/16" grade 8 bolts:
056.JPG

054.JPG

061.JPG

And it's out:
063.JPG

Okay, it wasn't quite that easy in real life. It didn't budge on the first attempt, so I heated up the case with a propane torch, squirted some ATF around the bearing, and tried again. Slowly but surely, it came out.

Install the new bearing, flush with case:
071.JPG


I found that one of the plastic oil pump gears seemed worn, so I'm going to leave off the clutch until I can replace it. In the meantime, the engine can go back in the frame:
078.JPG

And all the electrical/carb/cooling stuff can be hooked up:
079.JPG


I bled the brakes and did a few other things while I was there. . . if Scuderia has the part I need, it should be a runner in a couple days.

zak
 
Scuderia says the part will be in next week. I can't wait that long, I'll just open it up again when it comes. So the bike is all put together now. First attempt to start almost but didn't quite catch. I took out the sparkplug, realized it was still beat up from the broken piston incident, and regapped it.

Waiting for the battery to recharge now- I'm not man enough to kick start it for it's first start up. That left side kicker is weird.
 
slackmeyer said:
Scuderia says the part will be in next week. I can't wait that long, I'll just open it up again when it comes. So the bike is all put together now. First attempt to start almost but didn't quite catch. I took out the sparkplug, realized it was still beat up from the broken piston incident, and regapped it.

Waiting for the battery to recharge now- I'm not man enough to kick start it for it's first start up. That left side kicker is weird.
Click to expand...

Kicking 'em is easy. Put it on the center stand. Use the decompress lever and kick it through a few times- or just go slow and the use the auto-decompress. Then s-l-o-w-l-y kick it through a cycle until you hear the auto-decompress go "click." Stop there, wind the kicker all the way back up, then give it your all.:party

Or use the starter. Until you know the bike, kicking it cold can be a PITA as you won't know how much choke to use. When it's hot though, they kick right up using the above method.
 
I went back out, battery charged up, and it started pretty quick. It didn't take much choke at all- might be because I raised the needle another groove- LA sleeve recommended breaking the engine in with the carb set rich. So I ran it at a high idle for 10 minutes, then shut it off (their recommendations. Sounded fine, actually I was surprised at how quiet it was- I mean, there was a nice sound from the supertrapp, but relatively little in the way of engine rattles.

I'll put the carb needle back down after the first tank of gas, and see if there's anything I want to do about the carb at that point. It probably needs a cleaning- the top was pretty grungy when I looked at it today. The good carb mods have been done though- drilled slide, etc.

Maybe I'll try kicking it over later tonight.

zak
 
Right on Zak!

Now that you got her going again..... I'll give 1200 bucks for her! :laughing

I'm glad to see the 640 is alive again. I rode that bike to Whidby Island and back. Also did plenty of singletrack all over the Sierras. I loved that bike and you will too!

Have Fun!
Gail Weaver
 
Thanks for chiming in Gail-
I had a fun little ride on her the other day, out on some east bay twisties in the rain. I had virtually no front brake though. So last night I spent a while freeing the caliper from the carrier- it was seriously frozen up. Should be good now.

Still haven't gotten the hang of left leg kick starting- starting it on the centerstand is easy though.

zak
 
boney said:
Kicking 'em is easy. Put it on the center stand. Use the decompress lever and kick it through a few times- or just go slow and the use the auto-decompress. Then s-l-o-w-l-y kick it through a cycle until you hear the auto-decompress go "click." Stop there, wind the kicker all the way back up, then give it your all.:party

Or use the starter. Until you know the bike, kicking it cold can be a PITA as you won't know how much choke to use. When it's hot though, they kick right up using the above method.
Click to expand...
my chokeless (well, inaccessible choke) 625SMC started up first kick 90+% of the time. Sure, I used a little AP to richen it up, but it wasn't hard at all.
 
Hey Zak! I'm happy that machine is up and running. I'm in awe of your skill and persistence. Niles, at Scuderia gave me great lessons in starting it up. Once he showed me the tricks of the trade kick starts were rare.

Any idea why it crapped out on me?

After finally registering here I'll be a little more active. Maybe Gail will set up a small little exploratory ride up in the rarely travelled north end of mendo. The Yolla Bolly Wilderness up near thomes creek is begging for camping and exploration out of Anthony's Peak.
 
Hey Paul-
I think it was just one of those things. Piston go kaboom. Now I've discovered that the flywheel (other side of the bike from the clutch) is also self desctructing, which was making some funny noises. So it'll need a new flywheel and stator too. . . . more money, but hopefully that'll be the end of it.

Anyone out there have a flywheel puller for a 640?

I'll be up in your neck of the woods tomorrow- taking a one day trip up to Ft. Bragg, with some detours on Orr springs road and 128 down the anderson valley, and back via geysers road. . . . .on the 950 of course.

zak
 
Zac,

Paul here from our WMRS Ride...

Congrats on your work and getting her running. I have been thinking about getting a 640 adventure but have read so many bad things about the bike and motor..
 
Hey Paul- It's funny how you hear bad things about some bikes, and not others. I think the 640s are pretty good- Granted, they're in a higher state of tune than a DR650 or the like, but there are examples of LC4s with 30-50k miles on them. That's a lot for any thumper, IMHO. I hear of enough rebuilt honda xrr/xrl bikes that I wouldn't trust them any more than a KTM.

The only question I have about the bike is- will I end up riding a 640 on the rides I do, or is it too close to the 950, which does pretty well for a humongous dirt bike? Those 690s definitely feel leaner and meaner than the 640s.

zak
 
You *are* going to put a new spark plug in, right? You don't want that bent (and maybe fatigued) ground electrode to break off and rattle around in your shiny new cylinder, do you?

Good job on the rebuild - I'm going through similar stuff with my wife's DR650. Someone drowned the motor at some point, and didn't clean it - all the bearings were loose, and the con rod small end actually had rust pits in it! 37k miles, tho.
 
slackmeyer said:
Hey Paul- It's funny how you hear bad things about some bikes, and not others. I think the 640s are pretty good- Granted, they're in a higher state of tune than a DR650 or the like, but there are examples of LC4s with 30-50k miles on them. That's a lot for any thumper, IMHO. I hear of enough rebuilt honda xrr/xrl bikes that I wouldn't trust them any more than a KTM.

The only question I have about the bike is- will I end up riding a 640 on the rides I do, or is it too close to the 950, which does pretty well for a humongous dirt bike? Those 690s definitely feel leaner and meaner than the 640s.

zak
Click to expand...

I rode a 690 and WANT ONE !!

just dont want a 3rd bike and dont want to give up my 990 because I do alot of street hwy 9 and longer trips like the CDR ..

the 450 is my hollister, forest hill and Stonyford weapon.
 
Racer Al said:
You *are* going to put a new spark plug in, right? You don't want that bent (and maybe fatigued) ground electrode to break off and rattle around in your shiny new cylinder, do you?

Good job on the rebuild - I'm going through similar stuff with my wife's DR650. Someone drowned the motor at some point, and didn't clean it - all the bearings were loose, and the con rod small end actually had rust pits in it! 37k miles, tho.
Click to expand...

good call AL
 
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