Post race top end inspection RS vs. TZ

This Honda is blowing my mind with the lack of specifications for stuff. For instance, yesterday I take out the clutch plates to measure thickness. No wear limit in the manual on thickness. Guys on the GP list say "just look at it and if it's toast replace it". Whaddahell kinda answer is THAT?! Wow, well, okay, stick the plates in and don't worry about them. They "look" okay. Take off the cylinder today, no ring end gap limits in the manual! JEEZ, well, as I know the minimum is something like 6 thou on the Yam, the new ring has 8 thousanths, old ring is 16, stuck in a new ring. Piston looks okay. Book says limit 300 miles! I ran the Yamaha 600 routinely. Hell, my old piston port TZs would go 300 miles fer Christ's sake! Screw that, I've got one piston on order and one spare. I'll run the piston another 3 weekends/300 miles. It's probably got 200-300 on it now.

Next, I go to the crank, no small end play limit!!!!! DAMN!!!! Only a run out and big end clearance specification and small end diameter measurement. Clearance limit is .033" and it measures .027" so I guess it's okay. Didn't check side play, but it's not excessive and there's no up and down play. Looks okay to me, on goes the cylinder. Just from reading posts on the GP list, the RS guys seem to rely more on milage than the TZ guys who measure for limits on the specs and replace as needed. Now, I kinda see why the RS guys go by mileage, which is sort of iffy. I don't keep that good of notes on laps made and such. Maybe I need to start doing that? Hell, 'bout all you can do if the friggin' manual won't give you any specs! Guess I could do like the old days, RTF (run til failure), but I'd rather replace before failure. Top ends don't bother me, it's the crank I mainly worry about. I don't wanna go sticking in a new crank if it ain't even necessary! And, all I know about this crank is that it's got 700-800 miles on it according to the previous owner who didn't take notes, either.

Jack



[This message has been edited by Jack (edited 02-12-2002).]

 

I feel your pain. best thing to do is repalce thngs and keep good notes and calculate accurate mileage as best as possible.

 

you ordered from rs they will send you a log book

 

Honda guys(e.g me) rely on milage, like you say. I dont measure anything except piston projection ( wouldn't know what I was looking for, I'm not stupid , I just have been told use the Honda schedule and it will be ok. I would measure everything if I was told there was a benefit). I change the piston, crank etc when the manual says. My bike (96RS) is at leasst the equal of my competitors on performance (which must be the determining factor ?) I'd agree with the clutch thing though, it is unclear, I usually just do it when I can afford it. What I'm trying to say is that Honda's seem to do OK without all this measuring, so perhaps the guys on the list have never had enough problems with the bike to warrant such close inspection?

 

Lets call it what it is. The Honda Manual is toilet paper. The Yamaha manual is a pure dream. It spells everything out. Everything has exploded views with notes on lubrication and torque specs. You need to know something simple and you start looking in the Big Wing book and nothing. You then start looking through every chapter because you cannot believe that they dont have the simple answers your looking for.

If you find any good resources please let me know..

Bill Cole
WERA/CCS/USGPRU #27