Kawi2strokes.com Forum

I decided to strip and sell the N.O.S. '70 H1 motor, it was a joy to take off the N.O.S. Alternator and ignition system and leads, carbs Etc
.
I drained the oil out of the tranny and it stank, it was the consistency of EP90 gear oil, on removal of the clutch cover and eventual strip down it was clear that the oil had degraded extremely It has stained everything virtually beyond cleaning, there are globules of oil, like mini balls of chewing gum on every part that protruded above the oil level, the residue of oil in the crankcase was just pure sludge, everything is salvageable and useable but its all just so stained
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

_________________
Always remember, there will be greater and lesser people than yourself . . . you can learn from either!

_________________
1973 RD350, 1979 RD400F, 1984 RZ350, 2014 Suzuki Vstrom 1000
CHRIS AND JEFF ARE THE MEN

Well, the Crank seals are still nice and dry -

_________________
"One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." : anon.

Interesting.

_________________
This is true. Where I grew up the hills were so steep and long, when your ball rolled down the hill you just said "screw it"...

I think lacquer thinner will dissolve it and remove the staining pretty well.

_________________
1969 H1, 1971 G3SSA, 1974 G5, 1973 H2A, 1975 S3A, 1975 H1F, 1973 Z1, 1988 HD FLTC, Captain America chopper, 2000 Excelsior Henderson, 1965 Bridgestone BS90

I wonder if Kawasaki used preservative oil in engine transmissions back then?
E.g. in dealer assembly manual of 68" Suzuki T500 Cobra, mechanic is advised to drain preservative oil from transmission case before filling in regular 20W40.

_________________
2x 69" H1

Wow, that is pretty nasty. I think GUTS is right, give lacquer thinner a try to get the staining off.

Dollar store oven cleaner (its weak) then pressure wash

Interesting to see the marking on the pistons, I wonder if they were fitted ? It looks like these spare engines were never tested like the bikes?

When the brand new bikes were taken out of their crates, set up persons were supposed to drain the trans/clutch area of every 2 stroke bike.

The gear cases were filled with a preservative, referred to as "Pickling Fluid" a fish based oil that stopped rust and other issues as the bikes sat in their crates. If rust had formed on gearbox parts, gear teeth, that rust could compromise the gear tooth faces, causing pitting, which could have resulted in gear tooth cracking, and/or failure. The fish oil isn't meant to be a lubricant for the gearbox/clutch, only a preservative.

I used to have a few Kawasaki dealerships in So. Cal., save me all the pickling fluids out of new bikes, which I used on all sorts of things to preserve them, like rebuilt cranks, cylinders, heads, carbs, gearbox parts, etc.

Only times I have ever seen gear oils do what it has done in these pictures, is when the gear oil was very low quality. Also, clutch friction materials usually help cause any fluid used in gear boxes get like that, but, not as bad as in the pictures. Gear to gear friction also causes the oil to degrade through molecular sheer.

I've seem a handful of transmission/clutch areas almost as bad as this one, but, it didn't matter the oil used, even one that had Bel-Ray synthetic 'gear saver' lube in it. This crud/goo doesn't cause any trouble I've ever seen, just hard to clean up.

Most of the spray carburetor cleaners will have a positive effect on removing this goo, without harming the aluminum.

I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition and look what happened there. Be careful with oven cleaner, it may contain lye which is harmful to aluminum. Sorry, aluminium.