Replacing bottom end of FZR 3tj. I need Yamaha advice and parts sources

[lazaah]

Hey guys,

Anyone know of someone whom has done bottom end repairs on FZR400's? Have a friend doing such job on mine, but we are a bit stuck.

Basically, the engine has been opened up to look at replacing the bottom end bearings, and we have found that the crank is slightly worn at two of the pins/journals and out of spec.

The workshop manual says if the crank is out of spec, to replace it with a new factory item. Not that easy...

Soo, my mate has tasked me to find out what we can do in the way of bearings. I'll admit, this isn't my field.

If there are over-sized bearings available, then he suggests an option may be to have the crank reground and fit over-sized bearings. Would it be best just to call around yamaha dealerships for this? (Kinda reluctant to taking their advice as this is how I ended up in this position in the first place). Similarly, is it ok to fit different sized bearings, say if the bearings corresponding to journals that aren't worn are reused, and bearings of reground journals replaced with oversized ones?

I do have a spare 1WG engine, but we haven't pulled that apart to check its condition yet. If the crank from the original engine is completely buggered, then the crank from this one may be an option. Still need to find bearings though...

Cheers ahead

[Grumph]

Is this the one Kai was helping with ?
Short answer is that there are no undersize shells available. How bad is the crank ? Measurements please...More than half a thou out of round and it's throwaway. Rods can be resized and reused if a shell has spun but forget grinding the cranks.
Shells should be available through, you guessed it, a Yamaha dealer...In ChCh, personal preference says Bob McCleary in Rangiora rather than anyone in town.
Clayton is probably the best Yamaha parts guy left in the SI.

[lazaah]

Is this the one Kai was helping with ?
Short answer is that there are no undersize shells available. How bad is the crank ? Measurements please...More than half a thou out of round and it's throwaway. Rods can be resized and reused if a shell has spun but forget grinding the cranks.
Shells should be available through, you guessed it, a Yamaha dealer...In ChCh, personal preference says Bob McCleary in Rangiora rather than anyone in town.
Clayton is probably the best Yamaha parts guy left in the SI.

Cheers Grumph. Sure is, his words are:
"Your crank mains (measurement of crankshaft journal) are around 29.987mm.
A highest of 29.990 and lowest of 29.984.
Bit of scuffing. Your big ends have a problem, 3rd big-end has significant wear and came in at 29.945mm the other 3 were basically 29.987 + - .002
So ill check specs tmoro, possibly can still machine or polish crank and re-use if groves arent too bad on num 3"

The service manual doesn't say what the size of the journals should be, but state a Runout limit of 0.03mm. Putting the crank out of spec and needing to be replaced based on #3's measurement. However, by your measurements we might be safe.

[rustys]

Hi Lazaah.
I will be pulling a FZR 3TJ-1 engine apart in the next two weeks for Parts. It droped a valve so has damaged head and cylinder liner, bottom end and cranks should be ok. PM me if you need help.

[Grumph]

Cheers Grumph. Sure is, his words are:
"Your crank mains (measurement of crankshaft journal) are around 29.987mm.
A highest of 29.990 and lowest of 29.984.
Bit of scuffing. Your big ends have a problem, 3rd big-end has significant wear and came in at 29.945mm the other 3 were basically 29.987 + - .002
So ill check specs tmoro, possibly can still machine or polish crank and re-use if groves arent too bad on num 3"

The service manual doesn't say what the size of the journals should be, but state a Runout limit of 0.03mm. Putting the crank out of spec and needing to be replaced based on #3's measurement. However, by your measurements we might be safe.

Those figures would suggest #3 is out .0015in - sorry, I still think imperial when it comes to bearing sizes. This is usually beyond the range of selective bearing fitting.
Your other bottom end or rusty's offer would both be worth looking into.

[lazaah]

Cheers Grumph.

Rusty, I will be in touch.

Gee, there must be a mass grave of FZR's out there with no bottom ends. What do people do when they damage cranks racing them?

[mossy1200]

Do the best option

400/600 fzr.

[Paul in NZ]

It have had a major hammering at some point ;-(

The FZR400 was sold new in the USA and is still raced there and as far as I could see it was the best place to buy stuff. If you look there are dedicated FZR400 forums and the folks are usually friendly and very very helpful. I purchased everything from Eds Honda in Boston at around the 1/3 of the price from Yamaha here... Yeah I know... weird...

[Grumph]

It have had a major hammering at some point ;-(

The FZR400 was sold new in the USA and is still raced there and as far as I could see it was the best place to buy stuff. If you look there are dedicated FZR400 forums and the folks are usually friendly and very very helpful. I purchased everything from Eds Honda in Boston at around the 1/3 of the price from Yamaha here... Yeah I know... weird...

Most have by now had a major hammering...

Yamaha prices - not so silly when you know the global pricing zones they work to. NZ of course is in one of the expensive ones...And post internet they should be irrelevant anyway.

[lazaah]

Do the best option

400/600 fzr.

That would be ideal, but as a pg-student its taken me well over a year to save the measly thousand'ish dollars I have at hand to get the bike on the road as it is... Now that I am back living in the big city it is even harder to put money aside. Pretty depressing when you have a paperweight-could-be-running motorbike, but get round on a 30 year old 10 speed!

It have had a major hammering at some point ;-(

The FZR400 was sold new in the USA and is still raced there and as far as I could see it was the best place to buy stuff. If you look there are dedicated FZR400 forums and the folks are usually friendly and very very helpful. I purchased everything from Eds Honda in Boston at around the 1/3 of the price from Yamaha here... Yeah I know... weird...

Yeah, I have done a heck of a lot of reading on those forums, but given my lack of understanding when it comes to mechanics I've found it pretty tricky to understand what is going on, and what is relative to my bike.

[husaberg]

That would be ideal, but as a pg-student its taken me well over a year to save the measly thousand'ish dollars I have at hand to get the bike on the road as it is... Now that I am back living in the big city it is even harder to put money aside. Pretty depressing when you have a paperweight-could-be-running motorbike, but get round on a 30 year old 10 speed!



Yeah, I have done a heck of a lot of reading on those forums, but given my lack of understanding when it comes to mechanics I've found it pretty tricky to understand what is going on, and what is relative to my bike.

The FZR250 forum has the 400 shop manual.

[lazaah]

The FZR250 forum has the 400 shop manual.

Cheers, got a couple of copies of it now.

[GSF]

http://store.speedandsportinc.com/

I don't know what "year" a 3TJ Fizzer refers to but these guys seem to have some parts for 1988-1990.
They've been pretty useful for getting bits for my SR.

Also CMSNL might be worth a look in?

[sidecar bob]

Personally, I would haul the motor out to Grumph & not even touch it myself, speaking from having an extremely good expierence doing that myself, except I hauled my yzf600's from as far away as Tauranga.
I am a qualified mechanic, but this bloke is in a class of his own with this stuff.

[lazaah]

Personally, I would haul the motor out to Grumph & not even touch it myself, speaking from having an extremely good expierence doing that myself, except I hauled my yzf600's from as far away as Tauranga.
I am a qualified mechanic, but this bloke is in a class of his own with this stuff.

Would you mind explaining why you wouldn't touch it yourself Bob? I have confidence in my friend who is carrying out the work, he is knowledgeable about mechanics and meticulous in his work.

Would just like to say cheers to Rusty for supplying the crank etc. Sounds like work will be started next week. In the mean time I have been tasked with finding a gasket set. Can anyone recommend trusted suppliers?