Back to the crankshaft, here are a couple of photos.  Unfortunately I failed to take a “before” photo showing the crank before Roy did his magic.  However, the parts Roy replaced are shown as well as the “after” photo below.

In the first components photo note the items circled in red.  In the upper right one can see the one wrist pin (“gudgeon” pin for our UK cousins) Roy replaced due to wear.  The other, original wrist pin was reused.  The second red circle illustrates the bent connecting rod Roy discovered.  If I recall correctly the bent rod was from the left cylinder, the one with the severely damaged piston.  My guess is the rings snagged the transfer ports and caused the piston damage and bent the rod.  That’s my theory anyway.

Roy also replaced the two main ball bearings, which were way beyond their prime.

Roy and I had several phone conversations regarding this project as he was concerned about several details, such as equal weight of the replacement connecting rods.

Great service and work on Roy’s part!

Finished Crank below…

Though the 15-017 is in better shape than this new unit, the new press is a higher end model with variable speed and an easily adjusted (vertically) table.  Other than that, they are very similar machines.

In the photo below, you can see the original drill press in the background to the right, which will now go on Craig’s List.

The piston is literally split up, you can set the crack across the top of the piston in the second photo.

I purchased the computer supply from a local electronics re-cycler for $10.00.  After testing the unit to make sure it worked, it was simply a matter of constructing a mounting method that would work for in my shop environment and sort out the wiring.  I utilized YouTube videos for general inspiration and created a solution that was suitable for my use.  I made the supply base and mount from 3/4″ plywood and everything else I had left over from other projects, except for the red power-on light, which I bought.  The mounting plate for the terminal block, switch and light was fabricated from a piece of scrap steel found in my junk box.  Total cost was about $15.00.

The computer power supplies come with a lot of output wires, most of which I didn’t need.  Instead of cutting back the extra wires almost to where they exit the case, as most folks seem to do, I cut off the computer connectors and left the wiring long.  I bundled them by output voltage, applied heat shrink tubing over the ends and tucked the extra wire away behind the plywood mount.  This was done just in case I’d need additional outputs some day.  It’s easy to cut them off but far more work to add the wires back later and as the extra wire is out of the way, there’s no harm.  Besides, I may add a USB charging port at some point and may need some of the additional wiring.

The mounting method was determined by my shop design and planned usage of the power supply.  I intend to use this unit primarily to power a shop-made X-axis power feed for my mini-mill, which I’m now fabricating.  I wanted to place the power supply out-of-the-way, but readily accessible.  My workbenches have a 3/4″ wide “back splash” so I designed the 3/4″ plywood combination base and mount to take advantage of this by sitting on top of the back splash.  This is a slip-fit, so the supply is easily moved to any spot on the various workbenches in the shop.  The power unit can be seen mounted in-place in one of the photos.

I started with square 9/16″ bar stock that my friend Dan had given me and milled the key square key engagement tip to slightly less than 1/4″ square, taking equal amounts off each of the four sides.  I left the end longer than eventually required so I could drill a hole to utilize a live tail stock center for turning the piece round in the lathe.  The stock was chucked into the lathe 3-jaw chuck, using a piece of 1″ OD PVC as a simple collet to hold the square stock relatively true.  Using the aforementioned live center in the tail stock to support the outboard end, I turned the square body to 1/2″ round.  The taper where the body reduces to near the 1/4″ square tip was turned by using the swiveled compound rest method.

Once I had the diameter and end taper turned, I cut the extended engagement tip off with a hack saw, removing the tail stock engagement hole in the process, then faced the end to square it up. I used the mill to drill and ream the hole for the 5/16 handle, which is drill rod.  The handle is a slight interference fit by design, so I used the shop press to press the handle into the body of the wrench.

The last steps were to hardened and temper the engagement tip.  I heated the end to a cherry red, non-magnetic state using a MAPP torch, then oil quenched.  This was followed with heating in the oven to 600 degrees (F) for two hours to stress relieve and temper the tip so it wasn’t too brittle.

The photos show the finished wrench, along with a side-by-side view of the two wrenches, and the finished key with an example of the square stock I started with.

Note: I’m aware import chuck key wrenches can be bought quite inexpensively.  However, that’s not the point and contrary to why I have a shop.  It’s the journey, not the destination that’s important to me… trying new things, creating something, developing my skills.  That’s why I work on so many different types of projects, so I can try and learn new things.

The next step was to determine how to mount the tachometer.  The MacPod circuit board was clearly designed to allow for  mounting through the front face plate of the mill control box, which would make for a nice finished install.  However, I wanted to minimize modification to the mill and keep it simple.  Therefore, I decided to make a simple black plastic box that could be placed externally on top of the mill control panel box.  There is a metal plate which comes mounted to the top of the control box that I suspect is provided for the purpose of mounting an aftermarket tachometer.  Plus, this allowed for keeping the tachometer up and out of the way and avoid possibly having to make a face plate to protect the unit from exposure to cutting lubricant.

To make the small plastic box, I found inexpensive 1/8 inch thick lack high gloss plastic clip boards in a two-pack at an office supply store.  I measured the MacPod circuit board and added just enough to the length and width to allow for comfortable mounting without making the box any larger than necessary.  I applied blue painter’s tape to each side of one of the clip boards and and laid out the pieces to be cut for the box.  Using a table saw with a fine tooth plywood blade, the material was easy to cut and keep relatively square.  Using small machinist squares, the pieces were setup on a surface plate to allow for squaring and alignment during assembly.  A general purpose styrene/acrylic thin clear cement was used, applied with a fine artist brush allowing capillary action to draw the cement into the joints.  After taping 400 grit sandpaper to the surface plate the joints were cleaned and squared and the original glossy finish was dulled down.  I finished with 600 grit paper, which gave a nice flat finish.  Note there are many how-to videos on YouTube that detail how to make an acrylic box.

The face plate of the box required a rectangular hole to just allow the circuit board digital readout to show through.  I cut the rough opening with a small slitting saw and a Dremel, finishing to size with small files.  Before the box assembly was completed, but after the sides and top/bottom were attached to the face plate, I added 4-40 nuts and screws to the circuit board.  This was to serve as a template for adding nuts to the inside of the box face plate to have a means of attaching the circuit board.  I also cut a 1/8″ slot in the bottom of the box to allow the flat ribbon power/signal cable that connects the tachometer circuit board to the mill mother board to pass through.  I roughed up the plastic where the nuts would mount and used two-party epoxy to mount four 4-40 nuts, allowing the epoxy to set overnight.  The back plate of the box is mounted with four counter-sunk flat head screws to allow for removal.  I added two plastic strips along each side and drilled them to accept the screws for attaching the back plate.  A one-inch wide flexible magnetic strip, the kind that comes in a roll with two-sided tape applied and available at any hardware or home improvement store, was attached to the back of the box.  This is used to mount the box on the vertical metal plate I mentioned earlier.

The only modification made to the mill control box was cutting an approximate 1/8″ wide slot long enough to accommodate the ribbon cable, in the top of the box to allow the ribbon cable to pass through into the control box.  The only concern here was to align the slot with with the mating slot in the bottom of the plastic box.  I did remove the cable from one of the plastic connectors to avoid making the slots any larger than absolutely necessary as the slots would have had to be considerably larger to allow the connector to pass through.

The ribbon cable was feed through both slots, the mounting the box attached to the metal mill plate and the white plastic cable end was reattached to the plastic connector, being careful to ensure proper cable/connector orientation.  Then it was simply a matter of unplugging OEM plug that goes to the external tachometer port supplied with the mill from the mill motherboard and plugging the tachometer ribbon cable into the motherboard.

All in all, this was about a half-day project, not including allowing the epoxy to set overnight.  Though I haven’t put a lot of time on the MacPod kit yet, I recommend this tachometer, it’s very well designed, inexpensive (about $50.00, w/o shipping) and works exactly as I expected.

There’s also a brief YouTube video that reviews the tachometer kit and the box I fabricated at. https://youtu.be/KH-VtD-0Cak

Chuck bead-blasted, thoroughly cleaned, masked and then bolted the cases together before bringing them over.  We had already checked the overall dimensions before he arrived so we were confident the unit would fit into the oven.  We simply had to determine the process to allow for the application of powder on all sides of the assembled cases while protecting the powder during handling and baking.

After some consideration we decided to use 6mm screws inserted into the bottom of the assembly, which was relatively flat.  These screws acted as stand-offs and did double duty, they sealed a number of holes that would have had to be plugged as well as kept the cases elevated to protect the applied powder before and during baking.

Chuck came up with the idea of using long wooden dowels as handles, inserted through the motor mounts, which worked out well.  This allowed us to stand the cases up on end, powder coat the bottom then using the dowels, gently lay the unit over onto the screws to complete the powder application process.  We used these same dowels to maneuver the coated cases into the oven, which was the trickiest part of the whole project, due to the weight and bulk of the cases.

We are quite pleased with the result, which can be seen in one of the photos.

I’m laying down the powder…

Done baking, now cooling down, just about ready to come out of the oven…

The finished unit.  It’s still in a cool-down phase here as it was baked at 400 degrees (F) for about 25 minutes so the unit took a while to cool down.  We removed the heat-resistant masking tape as soon as we could.  If you look carefully, you can see all the 6mm screws Chuck used to seal the various threaded openings in the block.

One of the issues I discovered while breaking down the G5 was the steering/triple tree stop was broken off which allowed the handlebars to rotate too far side-to-side. This resulted in two serious dents on each front side of the fuel tank, which will also have to be eventually repaired. I’d guess that a teenager stuffed the bike into a bank or took a very serous spill, which twisted the handlebars with significant force. This broke off the welded-on steering stop from the front down tube. The weld didn’t fail, the metal from the down tube actually tore away, which can be seen in the one photo below.

This particular sub-project was to repair the damaged front down tube where the metal was missing and fabricate a new steering stop. Since I didn’t have the original stop to use as a pattern I had search on the Internet for photos I could reference so I knew what the original stop looked like. Once I found a couple of photos, I knew the general shape and location of the stop, but had to estimate the size and scale to dimension the new fabricated stop.

I began by squaring off the damage section of the down tube with a Dremel cutoff wheel and used a piece of 1/8” thick scrap steel to shape a replacement filler piece. I left the lower steering stem bearing race in place to use a a reference and guide as this would serve as the perfect means to ensure the inside of the patch was perfectly aligned with the rest of the down tube. I MIG welded the patch in place, and ground it back smooth, then made a gauge from card-stock from the good section of the down tube. I used this gauge to make sure as I ground the repair I matched the shape and curvature of the rest of the down tube.

I used 1/8” 90 degree angle steel available at any hardware store as the basis for fabricating a new stop. I rough cut the general shape I wanted, first making a pattern from card-stock. I finessed the stop shape in the bench vice with files, carefully clamped it in place on the down tube, then tacked welded it in place. I then went and took my time finish welding so the parts wouldn’t shift from the heat.

This was a fairly time consuming repair, total time from start to finish was close to five hours, as I took my time and didn’t rush the welding to avoid overheating the metal. Once the frame is powder coated, I seriously doubt anyone will know this was repaired.

I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.

This project is part of the reconditioning of a 1971 Kawasaki F5 350 enduro I picked up a few months ago.  I’ve  been casually looking for one of these bikes for some time, and a friend found this one last fall.  Though I would have preferred a ’72 or ’73 F9, the successor to this model, in reality they are virtually identical except for the decals.

The bike had weak spark when I got it and I tracked the problem down to the stator, which I repaired using parts from a spare stator that came with the bike.  The attached video illustrates the cleaning and reconditioning of the stator loom wiring (not repairing the stator itself).

I actually started on this Suzuki several months ago, and as of this writing, have completed general disassembly and have actually finished rebuilding the engine.  The motor was completely dissembled, the crank sent out for rebuilding, cylinder bored first-over and all new bearings, seals, gaskets and of course, a new piston and rings installed.  I removed and inspected each gear and shaft in the transmission, and using new parts, replaced the kick starter pawl and spring along with the clutch plates and springs.  I soda blasted all external surfaces, and repainted the engine covers, as originally done by the factory.  For all practical purposes, the engine is as-new and is ready to go back into the frame.

Speaking of the frame, I’ve got everything media blasted and ready for powder coat, which I expect to have complete within the next week or so.  I will powder coat the small items myself, the larger items such as the frame and swing arm will go to a commercial coater.  I also have most of the chrome items sorted out, except for the wheels, which are next on the list so I can get these parts off the the chrome shop.

The body tins are already at the painter, and I expect those back before the first of the new calendar year, though there’s no rush on this as these will be the last items to be installed on the project.

When I get a minute, I post a couple of photos of the finished engine… I’m quite happy with the way it turned out.

Finished, Summer 2015, everything works and the bike runs and drives as it should.