Passola Rebuilt - Part 3 - Engine rebuilt - episode I

As the post say, my hands are itchy to get the engine tear apart and start rebuilding it back. The yellow passola was having an engine seized up, therefore ther could be potentially either the crank bearings, piston or the anything that could seize up.

so the journey of the dismantling start with taken the engine out from the frame. i've start to remove the engine myself from the frame by unscrewing the bolt that holding the engine top mounting and the ones attached to the rear suspension. let's not to forget that there are wiring looms and the cables that's need to be removed to make way for the engine removal.

Getting the engine out with the exhaust remove, and away from the frame.

As i was predicting that the piston has siezed inside the piston, it is true that the piston has seized and jammed inside the block liner. there's no way other than wacking the old piston down in order to remove the block and the piston itself free. in this case, i've to let the piston go half way down to the bottom why would give me enough space so that i could knocked out the wrist pin and the circlip from the piston thus liberated the block and piston from the engine.

the seized piston, condition after whacking it out from the block liner. 

once i removed the block, i could see that the connecting rod was still in good condition and the measurement of the connecting rod was still within tolerance. so it is not the engine itself got seized up but it more like the piston itself that is seized rather than the other component in the engine. so i could just go ahead and not tearing apart the engine since i know the rest will not be an issue but hey it will not be enjoyable in doing the refurbishment right. so here you go, setting up to remove the engine component one by one.

During the  right crankcase removal, i've noticed that there's a crack/ damage on the block itself. further inspection showing that the crank case either will need a replacement or getting it repaired by welding. Since this is aluminium alloy casing, you'll need an AC TIG for the job, the DC TIG that i have will not do the job, it will get it worst, the puddle is there but you would not get a join since there is not enough heat to break the oxide surface on the aluminium thus end up with a large hole. 

Since i dont have any tool to do the job, i let the job done by the local profesional welder before i ruined the whole casing. i was lucky enough, there's one bike shop that do the welding in Aberdeen, well at least that one that i knew off. A guys named Lee at Jopps Motorcycle in Jopps lane help me to weld the crank case to its former glory at a good priced labour job.

Cracked on the right crankcase, possibly because of the impact from the exhaust bracket holder.

I've should have bought myself an AC TIG for the job, so need to upgrade my weld set then...

The rest of the engine is just a stripped down process with screw driver, socket sets, hammer and impact screw and swearing because of stubborn nuts or screws that give you problem. its a common issue dealing with old barn find bike like this one.

Engine liner 

rear tire which need a refurb. i need to use a puller to get the wheel out.