Ever do a swap yourself?

[jp1]

Ever do a motor swap on a Kat yourself?

-If so, how long did it take you?
-How difficult would you say it was?
-Any advice?

I'm thinking of possibly doing the swap on mine (97 600, once I find a motor, and finish getting the money together ) and was just wanting to get a feel for what you guys thought of a diy swap.

[loudnlow7484]

Never swapped, but I had my motor out and put it back in again. Took maybe an hour and a half to get it out, and probably 2 hours to get it back in. No bodywork on the bike at the time. In case you're wondering why..... countershaft bearing grenaded. But yeah, it's not that hard, just remember where everything goes, and how it goes back together.

[Ace280]

I have swapped two motors, one in my bike and one in my roommate bike. It was not that hard to swap them and takes a couple of hours. One thing I did was put the bike on two pallets and strapped the bike to them (picture below). This raised the bike up and made it a little easer to work on. But, I still need a second person to lower the motor and get the motor out from under the bike. One reason I needed a second person was I used a motorcycle jack to lower the motor, so when the jack was lowered the engine was not low enough to clear the frame, so someone would have to lift the front of the bike up to roll the motor out. Another reason was that you can not let the motor straight down, at least not on a 2002 or 2003 Kat. You have to tilt the motor back, when you are lowering it, to clear the oil cooler brackets. I hope this helps.

[loudnlow7484]

obvioiusly, mine was a 90, but I took off the oil cooler, and all it's associated brackets. I then swung the engine down by unbolting the front of the cradle, but leaving the farthest rear bolt in the rear. once the engine swung down to the ground, I unbolted the rear, and pulled it out from under the frame.

[duff daddy]

Re: Ever do a swap yourself?

Ever do a motor swap on a Kat yourself?

-If so, how long did it take you?
-How difficult would you say it was?
-Any advice?

i just did one about 2 weeks ago swaped 2 pre 98 750's

yes i did the swap my self, had a buddy help me get it in and out but that was it (im a scrawney kid) lol

2 days just messen around should only take you about 8 -10 hours to have it in out back in and running again.

difficult, not really just have some good drill bits just in case, good sockes and extentions, andthats about it

do it and take pictures. let me know if you need anymore info

[jp1]

heeeeeeyyyy, I hadn't thought about pallets...
We do not have a ceiling in our new garage yet, so I was considering dangling it on straps from the trusses.

You guys are making this sound good, keep it up. I've never really messed with cables much, are the cables on a Kat much of a problem off/on?

[Ace280]

My cables were not bad at all, taking them off and putting them back on. But a large set of hemostats helps.

[duff daddy]

just take the motor from the ground put it on a floor jack get the front bolts in so it holds it go to the back put on in back to the fron back to the rear untill all the bolts are in, its easy as hell dude, and when you take the motor out sart in the back and go to the front. also dont move the motor when your taking it out, pick hte front end of hte bike up and roll it back, TRUST ME ITS A WEEKEND JOB

[loudnlow7484]

the cables and wiring are cake..... as a matter of fact, undo ALL the cables and wiring and such before you turn the first bolt on the motor. The wiring harness will all just unplug on the tach side of the battery box, the starter wire will need to be taken off of it's terminal on the solenoid, and there's a ground wire on the back of the engine that needs to be removed. Zip tie the wiring up so it all stays in place. Pull the sparkplug wires. The throttle and choke cables are easy to disconnect at the carbs. ummm..... Drain the oil. Remove the oil cooler and all it's brackets. Take out the big long-ass bolts on the back of the motor. Stick a mechanics creeper under the motor. Take out the front-most of the rear engine cradle bolts, and loosen the rear ones. Take out the inside bolts on the front of the engine cradle. Now, while holding up the front of the engine with, say, your knee, or a floor jack, or a friend, undo the last 2 bolts on the front of the cradle, and let the engine swing down onto the creeper. undo the 2 bolts in the back, and voila! your engine is out. Oh yeah, you should probably take the chain off first. Duh. If you need anything else, let me know.

[jp1]

you guys do know that I have already gotten the "oh god, not another project taking up the entire garage for 6 months" look don't you?

haha, j/k

what about the carbs? Are they fairly easy to swap to the new one?




oh, and duff, I will be taking pics. Just in case I need a reference as to how something goes back

[duff daddy]

pm me and ill give you my nubmer you can call me when ever you need help if yo uwant

[takirb]

i did the swap over the course of a weekend. little bit here, little bit there, not hard at all. i even used the haynes manual as a step by step guide and it was pretty accurate. after the plastics and tank were off, it took me no time to label/disconnect the wiring/carbs and light a cigarette waiting on the oil to drain and motor to arrive.....





for the chain, i just slid the rear tire forward as far as possible, and managed to pull the chain off the shaft on the transmission without having to actually remove it.



i lowered the engine onto an atv jack, and as duff explained, i picked up the front of the bike and more of moved it off the engine instead of the engine out of the bike. **disclaimer** - stacked bricks aren't recommended for supporting the rear of the bike -



voila'!!



just my $.02
- have an assistant's help whenever your trying to unbolt the engine, it's heavy and can be difficult to do alone
- make sure the ground connections are clean on the engine your putting in. after i swapped everything out, it wouldn't crank due to a bad ground connection on the starter. i had to remove the tank, unplug the cables on the carbs and remove them, etc, just to get to it.
- some of the steps in the haynes manual can be skipped. you only need to worry about removing hoses/wires/bolts that are attached to the engine AND frame or another part of the bike. signal generator switch, the 2 oil hoses behind the carbs, and something else that i can't remember were in the manual to be removed, but were only attached to or inside the engine itself, didn't prevent the engine from coming out at all.

[jp1]

thanks for the pics!

it looks so naked

[duff daddy]

dude i didnt even lable wires lol thas why they are color clips lol, keep the screws in the order you took them out and where they came from though thats the one thing that i did, other then that its easy as sin dude there are like 9 bolts holding it in place