Gas Gas EC200 Rebuild

[plumber mike]

I like your attitude.

Me too. You can't take it with you.

I've found the only way to really get your money back is to ride it out, and you are setting yourself up for one reliable rider that will give you many smiles. Not to mention, you will know that bike inside and out, which gives me a sense of comfort when I am miles from anywhere.

The bearing house, huh? Sounds like a cool store. You big city guys have all the luxuries

[Osnabrock]

My new (used) crank arrived yesterday.  I didn't have time to open the package until today and when I did I realized that it wasn't the same crankshaft.  The shaft wasn't threaded to receive the primary pinion.  I was really bummed.  There's a 14 day return policy so hopefully I can return it with out loosing too much.
I was back to square one.
I really want to get the bike back together so I made a call to one of the places that I was looking at having the new connecting rod pressed.  I asked them if they had that ability to remove the leftover bits of bolt.  They said that they couldn't but referred me to a place in the South suburbs.  They said that they had a machine that could "burn" out a bolt.
I called them and they told me to bring it down.  I had new hope.
When I got there, the guy took a look at it and told me that it was doable.  He said that he couldn't burn it out but, if I wanted to pay shop charges of $90/hr he would take a burring device to the bolt, bring it just down to the crown of the threads, and remove it like a reverse Helicoil.   I told him that I was hesitant to get into that situation as it seemed that it could take a lot more time and money than I really wanted to spend.
So what does he do?  He takes me into the shop and shows me exactly how he'd do it so I could make my own attempt at it's removal.  SWEET.
I went out to FleetFarm on my way to work and got all the bits that he showed me.  When I got home from work this afternoon I got to it.
Within one beer's time I had the bolt remains out on the table.  It was much like what I'd imagine drilling out a tooth and picking out the bits.

[Osnabrock]

I also got my gaskets gaskets and seals in the mail today.  Well, almost all of them.  They didn't have the center case gasket so it will be sent our right behind this order.  Last time this happened, it came just a few days later so there's hope.
I installed the main bearings today.
I used this video

as a reference.  And yes, it did go just as easy as it did in the video.  I was surprised.
As soon as things cool down from the oven, I'll start putting things back together but will need to wait for the center gasket to arrive before I can progress too far.

[sam i am]

Wow, that looked almost too easy!   

[Osnabrock]

Last night I started reassembly. 
I followed the shop manual's instructions, starting with the Right side case.  The crankshaft went in, the crankshaft o-ring, and the crank seal.  Next went in the transmission gears.  The gears are all on two shafts.  I pulled them at the same time when I disassembled it and kept the gears together as they came out to insure everything stayed in it's correct place.  Both the shafts that they were on were hollow, so I ran a wire through them to hold everything together.  There was one gear that needed to be separated from the rest so I marked it's location on the shaft as well as how it joined up with the corresponding gear.  I marked it with black marker as well as a scratch just in case the marker came off.

[Osnabrock]

Once the transmission gears were in I had to install the shift drum and the shift forks.  It was clear where everything went though I did have to spin the gears slightly to get them just right.  Once I had them in, I could cycle through the gears just to see that everything was as it should be. 
Here's a picture, without the shift forks, that shows the drum.  It's a surprisingly simple thing.  The shift forks fit in the grooves. 

[Osnabrock]

Now I'm up to where I have to wait for the center case gasket to arrive.  Getting to this point last night only took about 30 minutes. 
I'm eager to get the thing back together again. 
I may spend some time cleaning up the frame.  There are bound to be some parts of the bike that never get cleaned because they are blocked by the engine.  I also might spend some time going over the powervalve to be sure that everything is as it should be in that department as well.
Here it sits until parts arrive.

[Osnabrock]

It's been a tough week.
I was waiting on my center case gasket, I called the shop (Tuesday) and they said it would arrive in a week.  I was bummed out since I was planning on riding this weekend. 
Some lines must have been crossed because it arrived the next day (Wednesday).  I feverishly began assembling the engine the day it arrived.  I got it assembled that night.  No sweat.  That meant that I had Thursday night to get the engine in the bike since I was going to leave Friday after work to ride.
Once I got the engine into the frame, with all the fluids in as well, I learned that the kick start wouldn't spring back to it's starting position.  It wasn't a big deal. I drained the oil and coolant, removed the clutch side cover and corrected the problem (a misaligned plastic bushing for the starter spring), closed things up, and put the fluids back in.
I turned the fuel on and tried to kick start the bike but it wouldn't go right away.  I heard fuel dripping, or rather pouring, onto my garage floor.  The float bowl had stuck open when I pulled the engine from the frame so fuel kept being sent into the float bowl.  I had to, once again, remove the carb and reset the float bowl.
When I got things back together it started up right away.  No weird noises.
I did have a problem though. 
I had put different bars on the bike while the engine was out.  I like to run narrower bars on my woods bike so I don't clip trees.  I had put on a pair of ProTaper Woods High bars that I had cut down and needed to mess with the clutch and turn signal/horn/kill switch bits to make them fit on the cut down bars.  When I was doing that the piston of the hydro clutch popped out so I needed to bleed the system.  I had done it once before, but this time it was awful.  Any air in the system means it doesn't work well. 
I was up 'til 2AM trying to get things right so I could leave for the trails on Friday.
I postponed the trip and requested help from a buddy to sort things out.  He came over with syringes and tubing for bleeding the system.  It didn't solve things, but it made it ridable.  I was off to the trails.
So, this weekend I got to ride my "new" bike but had to pretty much forget about using the clutch.  It wasn't too bad though.  I still had fun.
When I came home, I bleed the hydro system again.  I think that running the machine dislodged the bubbles and I was able to purge the system. 
I'm no longer afraid of splitting cases.  The bike purrs like a new machine.  All is well.

[Bogus Jim]

Syringes... were you trying to reverse bleed the system? I would like to try that sometime, it sure looks easy (or easier) on YouTube. I have always used the ole' hose in a tin can method.

Glad the bike is running again! Wrenching is fun, up to a point...

[Osnabrock]

Last weekend was my first real ride on the Michelin mousses that I put in a while ago.  If you didn't catch the details or the install, they are essentially foam innertubes that make your tire impervious to flats. 
I ended up taking the rear one out because the "discount" pair that I purchased included a 19" rear.  My Gasser runs a 18" rear.  It was just too loose.  I, instead, installed an ultra heavy duty tube.  I did keep the mousse in the front.
The mousse seems to jar the front end when encountering hard edges.  It's not awful, and perhaps the knowledge of not getting a flat is reason enough for some.  When I change out to new rubber, I won't purchase a new mousse.  I'll reinstall the old mousse or just go back to tubes. 
My riding buddy picked up a new set of mousses after I got mine second hand.  He rode a weekend with the standard tubes before switching to the mousses.  In the first minutes on the bike with the mousses, he "laid 'er down" in a corner.  He said the bike behaved differently with the mousses.  He went on to say that the rear didn't feel that different.
To me, the $125 per mousse just doesn't make sense as I don't have a problem patching flats. 

[greatbuffalo]

Well done. Not sure I would have had the ambition to keep everyone updated on the rebuild, for doing that, I applaud you and thank you. Maybe this will inspire me to take on a similar project.

[Osnabrock]

Doing the write up was a little tough.  At first it was hard to post my progress because I was set on the project more than it's documentation. It was also hard to take the time to do a write up when the progress was swift.  When things got a little tough, it was nice to step back, look at things, vent, and ask for suggestions.  There are certainly some significant gaps in the project, and more pictures would be nice, but the project comes first ya know.
As it stands now, I have about 6 hours on the bikes new bottom end and all seems well.  I'm headed out to a big trail ride here near the Cities this weekend.  Two very large days of riding. http://www.goldeneaglesmc.org/trail_rides.htm
I sent some more fluid through my hydro clutch again this week and it seems to be behaving a little better.  I'm eager to feel how it rides this weekend.
I've also recently learned that my bike has just about every little bit of "bling" on it from a local manufacturer of parts.  I've even got some parts that aren't documented on their website but are clearly from their shop.  http://checkpointoff-road.com/index.html
I've all my camping gear ready to load up tomorrow night (Thursday) so I can head out straight from work on Friday.   

[greatbuffalo]

Enjoy your ride and let know it performs.

[Osnabrock]

The trail ride was a success.
The bike performed better than it did the previous trip out.  The clutch still isn't acting quite like I'd like it too but it may just be down to adjustment now.  Rocky uphills are still a little bothersome for me right now.  The gearbox doesn't always want to drop down through the gears so technical uphills are awful if I hit false neutral. 
I feel that I'm finally getting used to the power delivery of the two stroke bike.  It's been a lot of getting used to but I can already tell that I'm a much faster rider because of it.  I used to ride mostly in first, but now I hardly touch it, and spend most of my time in second and third.  The bike needs to be pushed for it to work well since it doesn't have weight working for it like my other bikes. 
I need to spend some time on the suspension set up.  I like the front end but think the shock needs some attention. 
Right now the bike is up and I'm changing the oil and I'll bleed the clutch once more for good measure.  I pulled the clutch cover to check the clutch disks and they look alright.  I'm switching gear box oil to a different brand to see if it makes a difference with clutch performance.  I've been using Castrol GTX based on the results of a dude on a forum but have switched to a Motul product.   I use Motul in all my four stroke bikes and love it so we'll see if this stuff works well too.
I'm waiting for one of the guys I rode with to post some video of the trails so this one will do in the meantime. 

It's pretty reminiscent of the woods portions of the area but there are some wider flowing sandy sections near the river bottoms that were good practice for cornering.  I'll post video of some of those sections if they get posted.
 

[greatbuffalo]

Awesome! That's some tight stuff. Hoping to ride stuff like that with my new WR.

Nice to see the bike out and working. Nicely done.