nickgarner
Registered user
My GSA has around 135,000 miles on it. The cam chain guide had disintegrated and there is a horrible low-level vibration from the bottom end of the engine. So I bought's a second hand 40,000 mile engine of eBay to do a swap.
On the forums, I'd seen a thread where somebody had set up a DIY gantry, so I copied that idea. The whole project took about 18 hours, with three hours of garage setup, basic prep on the bike. 12 hours doing the actual engine swap and finally three hours of garage tidy up and fiddling around with little bits and pieces on the bike.
The big win was using ratchet straps which made it very easy to adjust everything precisely. Precisely I also lift bought a platform lifter, which allowed me to adjust the engine height during the swap. Thing I did was get a half ton Jack and strap a block onto it, which allowed me to adjust the height of the gearbox and tilt of the engine, which made it much easier to carefully undo everything without the bike collapsing and yanking out various cables.
The gantry was built with storage shelves and a ladder which had around the place, along with a couple of extra blocks on each end so I wouldn't hit my head.
Surprisingly, it was a relatively straightforward job with no major unforeseen issues.
I've created an album here: http://imgur.com/a/RcuYp
On the forums, I'd seen a thread where somebody had set up a DIY gantry, so I copied that idea. The whole project took about 18 hours, with three hours of garage setup, basic prep on the bike. 12 hours doing the actual engine swap and finally three hours of garage tidy up and fiddling around with little bits and pieces on the bike.
The big win was using ratchet straps which made it very easy to adjust everything precisely. Precisely I also lift bought a platform lifter, which allowed me to adjust the engine height during the swap. Thing I did was get a half ton Jack and strap a block onto it, which allowed me to adjust the height of the gearbox and tilt of the engine, which made it much easier to carefully undo everything without the bike collapsing and yanking out various cables.
The gantry was built with storage shelves and a ladder which had around the place, along with a couple of extra blocks on each end so I wouldn't hit my head.
Surprisingly, it was a relatively straightforward job with no major unforeseen issues.
I've created an album here: http://imgur.com/a/RcuYp
. A great way to introduce yourself on your first post. No messing about with 'what oil?' or 'how far can I go on a tank?', straight in with in an engine swop 
