First blaster / engine rebuild

[matrixhabit]

Hey everybody,

My roommate and I recently aquired a 01 blaster from a buddy. The asking price is $350 but he let us take it home to have a look at it. The thing started up and my roommate road it for a short period, but apparently there is some problem with the clutch because after the ride it reverted back to not shifting into gear at all. SO, now its in our garage and we'v nearly taken the whole thing apart. By taken apart I mean we pulled the fearings off and took a look inside the oil pump case, crank case, and correct me (im probably horribly wrong) fly wheel case. Collectively we know only the very basics of the engine. My roommate has a dirt bike and has rebuilt the top end and done other modifications and I have some experience with cars, but we're limited. Anyways, Ill get some pictures up of the blaster once I get home, but my question is this:
Right now we're 50/50 on keeping or selling the bike. Based on some rough estimates with what we think is wrong and what we're prepared to spend "fixing" the thing, we came up with about $200 worth of parts replacements. These include a new clutch, spark plugs, gear oil, rear brake cable, engine oil, clutch cover gasket, shift forks (one of the things we think is ailing the bike), and a new top end.
I understand some of you are laughing at this and are wondering why we are even persuing such a venture with no real experience "overhauling" an engine. The reason im interested is because I want to learn and now is as good a time as any. So, kind sirs. Please, be kind, but if anyone out there could throw a rope of experience at me I would be much obligied. No reason in re-inventing the wheel. I'v browsed around the forum and watched plenty of re-build videos on youtube already, but before i go buy a torque whench to try and torque some bolts to 4 foot pounds somwhere... Help a brotha out. Thank you!

TLDR: Newb trying to fix a quad asks for help with noob-probz. Where to start with a bike that wont get into gear. To sell or not to sell? You rock.

 

[dirtysquared]

Welcome. I'd say keep it, Blaster's are a good engine to learn on. The shifting problem could be a few things. is it just not shifting when it sitting idle or when he was driving it?

Why do you guys think it needs a new top end? Before you get into all that, do a compression and leak test. Those will tell you what needs attention, and what part of the lifespan your top end is on.

Read up and ask questions, and you'll be able to get that thing tight and running good.

 

[Herpderplol]

You mention gear oil and engine oil. just want to clarify its a two-stroke engine and only has trans fluid/oil
NO oil will go in the crankcase itself. that is lubricated by the mixed fuel.

We are not going to laugh at you. a lot of people start like you with less knowledge. some give up, but you dont have to

Take the clutch apart. right side of engine (if on bike) and it will be 5 bolts with springs. dont mess with the center one yet
take a good clear picture of the plates of the clutch and we can tell you if it needs replacing.
also take a picture of the clutch basket (the plates will be in it)

as for a torque wrench. im assuming you mean to tighten the 5 bolts on the clutch?
those also have phillips heads and can be tightened with a screw driver by hand (NEVER use a screw gun to tighten ANY bolts)

top end will probably cost you 175 itself. about 115 for piston, 60 for boreing depending on where you buy from

brakes. chances are its not the cable being a problem. the pre-03 rear brakes just sucked. but budget builds they can be fixed

with a will, there is a way. Dont get discouraged by costs. ask on here and a lot of people can help with parts for cost of shipping
and take advice. dont be the guy trying to check compression with his thumb. if we say leak test, we expect you do it right
and if you lie on the results, we can never truly help because we wont know whats actually bad

 

[jus_me]

Keep it.!!! Enough good pple and info on this forum to get you going right. Plus like you said yourself you want to learn. What better time and place to learn than and here ?? Since you know you have a tranny issue lets start with that.. Top end may be ok but be sure to leakdown test.. Look through the forum and read up on a leakdown test.. A must if you own or ever plan on owning a 2 stroke..

And Welcome..

 

[matrixhabit]

Welcome. I'd say keep it, Blaster's are a good engine to learn on. The shifting problem could be a few things. is it just not shifting when it sitting idle or when he was driving it?

Why do you guys think it needs a new top end? Before you get into all that, do a compression and leak test. Those will tell you what needs attention, and what part of the lifespan your top end is on.

Read up and ask questions, and you'll be able to get that thing tight and running good.

Hey! Thanks for the quick response! I'm thinking about keeping it as well. It ran and shifted for that little while that he ran it, but now it starts, but doesn't shift at all. The list of stuff I mentioned was only a start on what we were thinking about. My guess is he put the new head on there because since we were thinking about tearing the whole thing down we might as well replace it while we were in there. Oh and by the way to all the future helpers out there. I saw in a video about the common oil pump plate mod (I'm butchering that I know), ours doesn't have that, the pump is intact but the resivior in the rear was empty and one of the oil lines had been cut. To make matters worse when we initially opened it up we let the oil drain plug out and to our dismay... Nothing came out. So. That means that most likely while my buddy was riding it for that short time it was completely dry.

 

[Herpderplol]

Hey! Thanks for the quick response! I'm thinking about keeping it as well. It ran and shifted for that little while that he ran it, but now it starts, but doesn't shift at all. The list of stuff I mentioned was only a start on what we were thinking about. My guess is he put the new head on there because since we were thinking about tearing the whole thing down we might as well replace it while we were in there. Oh and by the way to all the future helpers out there. I saw in a video about the common oil pump plate mod (I'm butchering that I know), ours doesn't have that, the pump is intact but the resivior in the rear was empty and one of the oil lines had been cut. To make matters worse when we initially opened it up we let the oil drain plug out and to our dismay... Nothing came out. So. That means that most likely while my buddy was riding it for that short time it was completely dry.

running on no oil could have wrecked your top end.

if you do the oil block off, be sure to put a nipple on the carb spout

 

[matrixhabit]

I'll get some pictures up asap. Thank you guys so much for your responses. I look forward to dealing with all of you. Gives me hope that not everyone on the Internet is here for the porn.

 

[Herpderplol]

well... you got us...

blaster porn

 

[Blaaster]

We will steer you in the right direction!

 

[bummer981]

Some people just disable the pump and leave it in there. I would check to see if your fuel is premixed and as @Herpderplol said the nipple on the right side of the carb blocked off.

 

[matrixhabit]

sorry i havent posted an update in a while guys.. we've been messing around with some other things. Ill get some pictures up tonight when I get off work but in the mean time.. We disassembled the clutch and removed the plates (will post some pictures). We had a buddy tell us that one of the reasons it might not be going into gear is because the plates may have been siezed (sp??). Anyways, when we got those 5 screws off the.. i guess the clutch basket?.. the plates came out and apart no problem. Our issue has now become because of a lack of tools and a late night "tweak" we have been attempting to take off that large bolt at the very center of the basket (we did bend back that washer), crank shaft bolt??. We dont have a pneumatic gun or the tool to hold the basket still so we tried to rig up something to hold it.. it broke one of the.. forks? that holds the clutch plates in place. So now we have to order one of those, and im in the process of getting an air compressor and impact gun. The rommie has offered up another theory because of a video he saw on a dirt bike... if we spin the clutch basket the inner basket im pretty sure does nothing and the outer does move the piston up and down. He believes because the inner basket does not move the chain and the wheels that the crank shaft may be broken. Thoughts? Best place to buy a cheap replacement clutch basket? Again, pictures tonight, sorry again for the pre-school terminology. Thanks!

 

[matrixhabit]

Heres the link to the album of pictures. Let me know if you guys want to see something else.

http://imgur.com/a/W095f

 

[Larry's Shee]

Me thinks your roomie has a flawed theory.
Best thing to do now is either get a Clymers repair manual or find the download on the forum (I forgot where it is)

If no one on here has a Basket to give/sell you, if you go to get one off Egay, post a linc BEFORE you buy so someone can give opinion on it. If you do get new clutch pack, you can make a clutch hub holder with two drive and one driven plate.

Have to inspect external shift mechinism closely, very rarely is shift forks a problem. May save from spliting cases for no reason. Sometimes it's a bent shift shaft, loose shift star, or worn pawl/springs. Might even have been the fact there was no oil in the trans .

Which leads to the next subject: CRANKSHAFT SEALS !! You're right there, they are cheap preventive maintenance. Also may be where all the oil went. Fixed one while back that had sucked all the oil out of trans ,
seal it's self was in several pieces.

As Herp said, you're not doing everything on your list for $200

 

[MercMenace]

hopefully someone else will chime in. that gear oil looks like it started to emulsify. if it was running with no gear oil I wonder if the shift rod and the shift ball got welded together? that would stop it from shifting.

 

[Larry's Shee]

Pics are little fuzzy for me, but the rust on balancer gear was unusuall.

 

[matrixhabit]

Split the cases. Let us know what yall think.

https://imageshack.com/a/3eFz/1

 

[MURPH]

we need to see pics of the shift forks and other transmission parts to know why it wasn't shifting..any pics of before u took everything apart? the cases and gear cluster look like they are in good shape

 

[yamhawman]

(I am the roommate) no we didn't take pictures before we took the shift forks and trans out..played with the shift star while the forks were in last night and it seemed to go into all the gears as we moved it around

 

[MURPH]

if nothing looked bent or anything like that my guess is somebody was in there that didn't know what they were doing and put the transmission together wrong and when it didn't work they sold it for a couple hundred bucks. if the crank bearings are tight and the rest of the bearing look good I would just put that motor back together and run it.. watch the Ken O'Connor racing blaster engine rebuild videos on youtube to assemble it correctly

 

[matrixhabit]

forgot to post the picture of the forks. The thing is murph that yamhaman was able to ride it for a while before it stopped going into gear. We were told initially that it could be a bent shift fork but now that we can see them we're thinking it might just have been a bad clutch. Our issue has now become that we were kinda limited for options on cleaning the cases and tranny parts so we used a random combination of water, dawn, carb cleaner, mineral spirits, purple power, and WD 40. Im afraid that our engine bearings are shot. They don't spin easily. We've gotten them to spin MORE, but not "silky smooth". The other thing is concerning the removal of the crank shaft / replacement of the engine seals. We would like to believe that the seals on the engine are ok and that the bearings will be fine, because removing and replacing all the engine bearings and seals was something we didn't really plan on.