Looks like I wasn't the first to get the idea of dumping oil into the top end... but too late for me. I didn't tear down the top end, but with so much handling of the engine, the top end could have been a little too dry. I turned it over a few times without spark to prime it. Maybe it wasn't enough. The battery was low, and Dad was there and talked like I should go ahead and crank it.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/rod1.JPGI made my 1mm longer rod from 1/4 inch drill rod that I had on hand. There is enough clearance in the clutch hole to readily accommodate the larger size.
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Note from the FUTURE again .... The standard hardware drill rod material is too soft (wears too easily on the ends) and it cannot be hardened in a reliable fashion that will not get hot in use and turn blue and resoften on you.
Standard drill rod will not work, period. Go get you some full hardened 6mm real parts from Suzuki, or if you are stubborn like me go get a quarter inch diameter piece of M-2 HHS lathe tool bit material and make your push rod out of something that WILL NOT wear out or heat soften under any circumstances.
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http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/short_rod.JPGThis is the shorter rod installed, it moves the lever in the wrong direction
removing all the adjustment travel and rendering the clutch "worn out". Shorter is incorrect, the cutch rods must be made LONGER.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/long_rod.JPGHere is the 1mm longer rod, suddenly the same 13,000 mile old clutch pack is "new" again with all of the adjustment travel available again.
Longer is the correct direction and 1mm step lengths are obviously the correct stepping distance. And now the "which way does it go?" question is finally answered.
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http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/bit_trick.JPGInstallation of a Slavy tip on the factory cam chain adjuster showing the drill bit butt method to hold the spring tension back while putting the shoulder bolt in place. I used locktite on this fastener as I didn't want it coming loose due to vibration over time.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/paper_gasket.JPG$0.88/5 hand cut paper gasket going in. The stock Suzuki side cover gasket costs $17.00 plus shipping, so there is a thread on how to replace it with a hand cut paper gasket.
Read the notes at the start and end of the thread, use of the black silicone gasket maker over both sides of the paper gasket (covering the inside and outside edges thoroughly) is recommended after having some weepage troubles at the oil gallery area with the bare paper gasket. You need to "rubberize" the gasket with gasket maker, let it harden, then install it with a thin wet wipe of gasket maker in the oil gallery area to provide a maximum durable oil pressure proof seal.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1256595298 http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/Torque1.JPGYou need to torque your gasket covers to keep the force even and to hold it down to the appropriate levels. I think most leaks in this area are from uneven/too much pressure crushing and pinching the gasket and warping the cover. There is a $3.95 torque tool mentioned in the thread above, so having no little bitty torque wrench shouldn't be a show stopper to you.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/baggie_trick.JPGWhile I was waiting through the pull downs on the cover, I also did the baggie trick to heavy gear oil lube my clutch cable. I also pulled the drain plug on the engine to make sure I didn't have any solvent contamination in the sump from all the cleaning & spraying.
(I did, a half cup of thin runny oily stuff came out on the floor)
Plan to change your oil after the first half hour of run time after a major rebuild as you have used solvents and there are tiny bits of gasket trash and some assembly lubes that will be contaminating that oil. Expect some clutch slippage if you sprayed solvents anywhere near the clutch pack (you changed the oil viscosity inside the clutch) which will heal itself in the first day or so of riding=====================
Time to put the oil in place. I am using Rotella T dino white jug oil for the first few oil changes as they are very quickly done to get all contaminants out of the engine.
How you put the oil into the engine after a top end teardown is important. You put it in through the valve covers, not the fill screw cap hole.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/front9.JPGPut a half quart in VERY QUICKLY into the front cover. Goal is to flood the area and raise the oil level right up to the bottom lip of the cover. This floods the valve springs, valve stem and stem seal with oil.
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/back6.JPGPut all the rest of the oil in the back cover, once again pouring it VERY QUICKLY to raise the oil level right up to the lower lip of the recess. This floods the valve springs, valve stem and stem seal with oil
AND IT FILLS UP THE CAM LOBE BATHTUB AREA.
You will use more than 2 quarts of oil. Go high in the sight glass as you have lots of galleries and oil passages to fill up once you crank the engine over.
STOP AND VERIFY THERE ARE NO GRITS OF SAND ANYWHERE AROUND THE HEAD RECESS AREAS!! THIS INCLUDES THE HIDY HOLE BEHIND THE SPARK PLUG!! You are getting ready to huff and puff out the park plug hole and you don't want to blow around and then suck up any sand grits down inside your cylinder !!!Note: put the spark plug into the rubber boot and ground it against a metal surface and then spray a little WD40 into your spark plug hole to top end lubricate your cylinder walls, rings and piston skirt. Since stuff likes to move, try lightly restraining your plug against the steel jacket of the compression release with a clamp or a set of vice grips lightly applied (compression release is a good ground, very convenient to be able to see the spark, etc.)
You carefully maintain a normal spark plug ground condition to keep from stressing your ignition electronics -- this is important because if you kill an ignitor (black box) it costs triple digit money to get a new one.
Then crank your engine over with the starter for several 5-6 second bursts. Give it 10 minutes between bursts for your starter motor to cool back down a bit then do it again. The oil level in the sight glass should drop down about a quarter of a glass. This "missing volume" will go to fill your oil galleries back up and get the oil flow reestablished back up to the head without stressing any dry parts like actually starting the engine would do.
It also gives you a chance to spot any cover oil leaks before you finish putting the bike back together -- saves time in case of a repair need.
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Crank up report:
Started right up, idled just fine. A little extra noise from the top end (Web Cam wants an extra thou of valve clearance on their hot cam set up).
Going at it easy right now so there is no overall performance report to give quite yet.
Old bottom end torque is still there, but it is not the same, there is a mid range surge towards the top end that was not there before. Where you went flat before, you now have a slight second stage "pickup".
Clutch pack hasn't settled in from all the fiddling I did, plus all the solvents and other assembly lubes floating around in the oil -- I need to do an oil change and see if I can get the clutch calmed down some.
There were no oil leaks at head or side cover -- all is good on that front.
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