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2012 1050 Engine Inspection and Rebuild

11K views 31 replies 6 participants last post by  RampantParanoia 
#1 · (Edited)
Since I bought my Speedy I've always had a vague notion of putting a 1050 engine into it at some point. I was idly scrolling in a Facebook group recently and came across a deal that I couldn't pass up, £350 for a 2012 engine with 20k miles, brand new gearbox under warranty less than 500 miles ago (PO loved to wheelie through gears) and... an unknown knocking noise. The PO stopped it when the knocking developed and found it cheaper to swap the engine than get the fault diagnosed. He had no idea what was wrong and had left it in the garage for months after the swap.

I figured "Why not?" and bought it, time to make room in the shed! Here it is in its new home:

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I'm going to detail all the inspection and refurb work on the engine in this thread, I'll start another about getting it into my bike and link it later.

My initial thought was the cam chain may have snapped so the first thing I did after getting it situated was to take off the cam cover. I was pleased to find the cam chain was intact, but the intake cam was about 5 teeth out of alignment, oh dear.

Since the timing was out the valves may have gotten friendly with the pistons :( I took the head off, and aside from a lot of carbon everything looked very healthy. There was no sign of damage to the valves or piston crowns and the head gasket looked fine. Wahay!

I refitted the head and re-timed the engine, then turned it over by hand. No knocking or grinding was evident, and it turned over smoothly so hopefully no spun bearings. I took the opportunity to check the valve clearances, which were largely out of spec :/

I wanted to check everything related to the cam chain to see if anything had failed, as I couldn't see why the timing was out. My first stop was the cam chain tensioner to see if it had failed. It looked absolutely fine and the spring was about 69.8mm long, so not far off the 70mm I've seen quoted in various places.

Next I took the cam chain out to check if it was stretched, but I needed to get the sprag clutch off first. Triumph charge £33.14 for the correct tool, sod that! I made my own tool from a length of plate and two old exhaust studs.

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With the sprag off (and looking in fine fettle) I took the cam chain out. Visually it looked unworn, as did the drive and camshaft sprockets. The service manual provides a spec for chain stretch when hung with a 13kg weight, so I had to get a little creative to measure it. I also had to wait til my partner was out, oily tools and engine bits aren't allowed in the kitchen!

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It was well within spec however so again good news. I checked the cam chain rubbing blades for wear and the front one was unworn. The tensioner rubbing blade however had some wear, but the service manual doesn't give any guide for what is too much. They're £64 new so I contacted Triumph for advice, apparently this level of wear (approx. 0.8mm deep at worst) is normal and acceptable so I've kept it. I also asked about the spec for the cam chain tensioner spring and was told there isn't one, so I'm not sure where this 70mm figure came from.

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So far, so good. Although... since I have the engine on the 'bench', I might as well strip the whole thing down to be sure, right?!

To split the cases you need to take off:
  • All the engine covers
  • Water pump
  • Clutch
  • Oil pump sprocket and chain

Before I started stripping all of that off, I took the took head back off and spent some time cleaning the gasket faces. I scraped off all the carbon I could from the valves and I managed to get most of the carbon off the combustion chamber and piston crowns using IPA, degreaser and an old dish brush. I forgot to take before pictures, but they look loads better! I have no idea how to get the rest off without some kind of scraper, but I don't want to risk damaging the bores or piston crowns.

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I bought a clutch locking tool off ebay, removed the clutch and inspected all the plates. They were all within spec and unwarped, and the stack height was within spec as well. At this point I used a set of mole grips on the selector shaft to check all the gears engaged properly and input/output shafts turn smoothly with no grinding.

My next target was the oil pump, which again needs an expensive tool from Triumph according to the service manual. I managed to re-use my sprag tool to lock the drive sprocket and get it undone :) Once the pump was off I found a piece of gasket paper in it, not good! The rotor tip and body clearances were healthy but the pump end clearance was out of spec, and the face of the pump rotor was quite scored, further bad news :(

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I started on the on the other side of the engine with the water pump and thermostat. I couldn't split the water pump but the impeller looked fine through the ports in the pump housing. I tested the thermostat and it did open in boiling water, so it went back in the head. One of the stator cover threads was toast so that got helicoiled, and the stator looks fine and checks out with a multimeter.

Removing the alternator rotor was a bit of a pain. The locking tool and puller from Triumph are… very expensive as usual. I tried a few strap wrenches from ebay but none of them would grip the rotor, so I ended up having to spend on a proper tool (Sealey VS1813 for future reference).

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#2 · (Edited)
With the rotor locked, I found that puller needs an M22x1.5 right hand thread. I bought a Buzzetti BZT30684 which is the right thread but has a smaller bolt to do that actual pulling. I used a penny as a washer but this turned out to be ambitious, I used some proper washers and this didn’t help either. I don’t think this type of puller is really up to it due to the hole in the crankshaft end for the securing bolt. There just isn’t anything to push against unless you have a seriously beefy washer, at which point you can’t thread the puller in enough and start stripping threads.

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I did some searching and found a tool that worked, the Motion Pro 08-0074, which is an M22x1.5 bolt. This did the job in seconds and was cheaper than the Buzzetti! It’s marketed for Kawasakis and Hondas so the OEM tools that it references might work as well.

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The last things to take off before splitting the cases were then the oil filter and the sump. I had a nightmare of a job getting the filter off, I think it must have been done up with an airgun! I turned it a few degrees with the rotor locking tool (and crushed it in the process), broke a screwdriver in it then had to resort to a bigger screwdriver to get the damn thing to turn.

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The sump came off easily after that thankfully, but there was more bits of gasket in there amongst other crud, and an O ring wedged in the bottom of the oil pickup, FFS.

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I haven’t been able to identify the O ring, my initial thought is that it was the one that seals an oilway between the two halves of the engine cases (T3600812). I compared it with one at my local dealer and it doesn’t match so I have no idea. It’s approx. 14mm OD with a 3mm cross section, I think I’ll have to contact Triumph.

Splitting the cases was fairly simple following the service manual to undo the bolts in the right order, although it needed a bit of persuasion to actually finally split. I immediately spotted more bad news, #2 con ron has overheated pretty badly. I took the cap off and found the bearing had well and truly spun, I had to lever what was left off the journal, which wasn't in great shape either.

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Luckily that's the only bearing that's spun, although the main crankshaft bearings are showing some copper as well :(

So far I think that the engine suffered oil starvation from either low oil or the oil pump being out of spec, which lead to the spun bearing and excessive wear on the other bearing shells. I'm going to see if there is enough material on the trashed journal to remain in spec after a regrind, and I need to see if the other journals are within spec. They look undamaged so I'm hopeful I won't need to replace the crankshaft. I'm also going to replace that con rod and all the main and big end bearings while I'm at it.
 
#5 ·
Excellent, I’ll follow this thread and look forward to new instalments.
I enjoyed reading about the home made sprag clutch puller you used rather than purchase an expensive special tool from Triumph.
Good fortune,
Alan


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#7 ·
I've been doing some reading in the service manual and it turns out that at engine no 506366 Triumph introduced a new crankshaft with larger big end journals. The spec went from 34.984 - 35.000mm to 35.002- 35.018mm.

My engine was built after this so it should have the larger big end journals. Hopefully there is enough material to get the damaged journal reground to within the original spec. If not, I now know I can get it reground to the smaller spec and still maintain proper running clearances with the correct bearings, woo!
 
#8 ·
I've been doing some reading in the service manual and it turns out that at engine no 506366 Triumph introduced a new crankshaft with larger big end journals. The spec went from 34.984 - 35.000mm to 35.002- 35.018mm.



My engine was built after this so it should have the larger big end journals. Hopefully there is enough material to get the damaged journal reground to within the original spec. If not, I now know I can get it reground to the smaller spec and still maintain proper running clearances with the correct bearings, woo!


That is a (sort of) stroke of luck. I’m guessing that if you had the journals ground to the smaller size you would have to change the con rods (but perhaps you were intending to anyway?).


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#9 ·
Nope :) The con rods remain the same, as do the bearings available. You just choose different bearings to get the desired running clearance.

That said, I will be replacing the con rod for #2 cylinder as the internal bore is marked pretty badly from where the bearing span, and it has been overheated so I don't trust that it hasn't warped. I've got my eye on a set of 3 on ebay for £30, I'll be able to pick the one in best condition to use then, and have two spares for who knows what.
 
#10 ·
Nope :) The con rods remain the same, as do the bearings available. You just choose different bearings to get the desired running clearance.



That said, I will be replacing the con rod for #2 cylinder as the internal bore is marked pretty badly from where the bearing span, and it has been overheated so I don't trust that it hasn't warped. I've got my eye on a set of 3 on ebay for £30, I'll be able to pick the one in best condition to use then, and have two spares for who knows what.


I hope you never need the spares! I suspect you could sell the two left over for £30 and break even anyway.

Good thread, this will be one for the technical library.


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#13 · (Edited)
A note on alternator rotor pullers I forgot to mention:

There are several types of alternator rotor used through the years on 955 and 1050 engines, but overall they use one of two types of puller. It's easy to tell which one you need before you take the retaining bolt out of the crankshaft.

If you can see an external thread on the rotor spindle then you need a totally different puller (Triumph part number T3880365). A cheaper version is the Laser 6344 which is marketed as a direct replacement for the Triumph tool. I haven't used one so can't speak for how suitable it is. Here is an example rotor, T1300506 from a 2002+ Daytona 955i:

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If you can't see a thread on the outside of the spindle then you need an M22x1.5 puller as described above (Triumph part number T3880203). Here is an example rotor, T1300113 from a 2012 Speed Triple:

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#29 ·
A note on alternator rotor pullers I forgot to mention:

There are several types of alternator rotor used through the years on 955 and 1050 engines, but overall they use one of two types of puller. It's easy to tell which one you need before you take the retaining bolt out of the crankshaft.

If you can see an external thread on the rotor spindle then you need a totally different puller (Triumph part number T3880365). A cheaper version is the Laser 6344 which is marketed as a direct replacement for the Triumph tool. I haven't used one so can't speak for how suitable it is. Here is an example rotor, T1300506 from a 2002+ Daytona 955i:


If you can't see a thread on the outside of the spindle then you need an M22x1.5 puller as described above (Triumph part number T3880203). Here is an example rotor, T1300113 from a 2012 Speed Triple:
Great info, thanks! I currently have my 2009 Speed Triple engine out for the second time - successfully swapped out some shift linkage and changed the timing chain after about 60k miles, then got her running again for a few months only to have it eat a gear somewhere in the transmission. I didn't have to split the cases the first time but I'm about to do that now, removing the rotor is the only thing I have left. That Motion Pro puller did the trick with no additional tools? I managed to get the central bolt out with a strap wrench, just attempting to avoid buying the pricey Triumph tool!
 
#14 · (Edited)
Nicely documented thread.

I resurrected a 1050 S3 engine earlier this year with a similar problem. Bought the whole bike from the original owner who said the engine had seized.

Well it had seized but only inasmuch as it wouldn't rotate forwards but I found out you could actually turn it over backwards!

Pulled it down and found the center big end had overheated and it had spun the shell. Turning it backwards caused the shells to move back into position allowing it to rotate but turning it forwards and one shell slid under the other jamming it.

Have attached a few pictures for interest. I don't want to rain on your parade and I hope for your sake I'm wrong but Triumph nitride harden their cranks which precludes undergrinding the journals. I purchased each colour of shell and the size range really gives you nothing to undergrind to. I took a chance and used the old shoelace linishing trick on the journal which came up pretty good. The rod journal surface wasn't the best but once the shell is in it just sits there anyway.

Whatever you end up doing pay particular attention to the tightening regimen for the conrod caps especially the final angular measurement. Oh and check the bottom lip of the top crankcase just below where the liner sits. The conrod in mine had 'kissed' it slightly.

This engine has about 60,000kms on it and has now done around 8000kms since the rebuild and I don't baby it.

It always seems to be the centre rod that suffers first in 955/1050s. The 675 engine fails in the same way. As far as I can tell it's caused by a very low oil level and the bike falling down when running hard or by steep wheelies held for a long time. Owners who let the level fall that low tend not to change the oil anyway so the little oil that's in there is usually well past it's use by date.

Good luck, let us know what you end up doing with the crank.
 

Attachments

#16 ·
Terry that’s really useful, thanks! Love the linishing trick especially.

As luck would have it I just got back from taking the crankshaft to get reground and you are right, it can’t be done. Turns out my theory on regrinding it to the older (smaller) journal spec isn’t workable. The journal is really badly damaged and there is a crack I hadn’t spotted, so it’s officially a writeoff :( Off to ebay I go to find a replacement lol. I had a quick look at my cases and there is a very slight mark where the rod must’ve hit it, not as bad as yours though which is weird since my bearing/journal is in much worse shape.

In other news my new oil pump arrived today and checks out with feeler gauges, I dropped my sump off at the powdercoaters, and I heard back from Triumph that the mystery O ring is not from anywhere in the engine. No idea where that came from then!
 
#19 · (Edited)
I replaced the #2 con rod today. I managed to get it off without taking the piston out of the liner as per the service manual, but it was fiddly as hell so I ended up just taking the piston out to fit the new con rod. It took patience and a bit of wiggling but I got the piston and rod back in the liner from the top without a ring compressor, yay!

I also had the new crankshaft journals polished, and fitted new con rod bearings all round. Still waiting on the bore gauge so I can sort out the main journal bearings :cautious:

I also replaced the shifter and selector shaft oil seals since I have the engine apart. The shifter seal was easy but the selector shaft was a pain. The bolt was rusted to hell but came off nicely, then the keeper plate came apart instead of coming off.

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The shaft itself wouldn't budge, I had to drive it out with a drift from the other side. Good job I had the clutch off for access. It didn't free up at all with oil or movement so I had to beat it back into place as well. I'm waiting for a new keeper plate from Fowlers, and I replaced the bolt with a stainless version which I'm doing for all of the engine fixings anyway.
 
#22 · (Edited)
The telescopic gauge arrived last Friday, so I have made a lot of progress on the engine :D I had to join and split the cases 3 times to measure the main bearing bores, check the bearing clearances and finally reassemble the cases, so that was a bit of a ballache! I printed off the parts diagram which calls out the sizes of the crankcase bolts, and bagged the upper and lower crankcase bolts separately to make the process a bit easier.

Measuring the main bearing bores with the telescopic gauge was fiddly and tbh I wasn't confident I was doing it right. I checked the previous bearings and they were all white (the paint marks are on the side), this gave me some confidence that what I thought I was measuring was accurate. After buying new bearings (red for the new crankshaft) I checked the clearances with Plastigage and they were all within spec. I'm not gonna lie, I was dreading having to return the bearings and do all of that again if I'd measured the bores wrong!

With the main bearings sorted, I checked the clearances on all the big end bearings, which also came out within spec :D As @Terry Colley alluded to earlier, the torque procedure for the con rod nuts is pretty involved and you need to be precise. You also have to replace the con rod nuts and bolts if you remove the caps, so before reassembling the cases the final time I replaced the lot. My scrap box is growing!

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The next thing to do was refitting the balance shaft. This is fiddly as you have to line up the spring-loaded backlash eliminator gear with the main balancer gear, then you have to line all of that up with the drive gear on the crankshaft. As usual, Triumph want you to use a specific tool to line up the backlash eliminator and lock it in place, T3880016 for £27. I was able to use a pin punch in the holes in the balance shaft gear to lever the backlash eliminator into alignment, then hold it there while lining it up with the crankshaft. It's easiest to have the crankshaft with the alignment mark already facing the balancer shaft, then you can mesh the balancer with the crankshaft teeth and roll it down into the slots in the cases. This all takes two hands, so sorry but no piccies.

The last things before finally joining the cases was putting some engine oil on all the bearings/journals, and putting sealant on the upper crankcase mating surfaces to seal the engine when it goes back together.

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Once I'd bolted the halves up the first thing I did was turn the crankshaft to check for tight spots. I was amazed how easily and smoothly it turned compared to before I split the engine, I was way off before when I thought it was rotating freely! Before, it needed a bit of oomph to get it to move initially, then it would turn ok. Small rotations (e.g. lining up the sprag clutch TDC mark) were really difficult as it would jump too far so I had ended up using my breaker bar just to get some fine control! I now know this was all from the spun bearing, but I had assumed this was normal as I was turning the engine over with no oil. By comparison, it now turns easily and smoothly with just my hand on the clutch basket.

I put in the earlier oil pickup (easy, literally a push fit), and fitted the new sump. It's so shiny and clean it makes the rest of the engine look a bit shabby, there's something else to do!

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I then installed the new oil pump (after filling it with engine oil) and the clutch, lubricating each plate with clean engine oil before putting it in. I wasn't able to reuse the clutch cover gasket so I fitted a new one when putting the cover back on.

Next the alternator rotor went back on, and the new stator cover with a fresh gasket. After weeks of sitting as split cases, it's starting to look like an actual engine again!

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I'm going to have a 3 way grind done on the valve seats before I reinstall the head, so that will be after Christmas I imagine.
 
#23 ·
The telescopic gauge arrived last Friday, so I have made a lot of progress on the engine :D I had to join and split the cases 3 times to measure the main bearing bores, check the bearing clearances and finally reassemble the cases, so that was a bit of a ballache! I printed off the parts diagram which calls out the sizes of the crankcase bolts, and bagged the upper and lower crankcase bolts separately to make the process a bit easier.

Measuring the main bearing bores with the telescopic gauge was fiddly and tbh I wasn't confident I was doing it right. I checked the previous bearings and they were all white (the paint marks are on the side), this gave me some confidence that what I thought I was measuring was accurate. After buying new bearings (red for the new crankshaft) I checked the clearances with Plastigage and they were all within spec. I'm not gonna lie, I was dreading having to return the bearings and do all of that again if I'd measured the bores wrong!

With the main bearings sorted, I checked the clearances on all the big end bearings, which also came out within spec :D As @Terry Colley alluded to earlier, the torque procedure for the con rod nuts is pretty involved and you need to be precise. You also have to replace the con rod nuts and bolts if you remove the caps, so before reassembling the cases the final time I replaced the lot. My scrap box is growing!



The next thing to do was refitting the balance shaft. This is fiddly as you have to line up the spring-loaded backlash eliminator gear with the main balancer gear, then you have to line all of that up with the drive gear on the crankshaft. As usual, Triumph want you to use a specific tool to line up the backlash eliminator and lock it in place, T3880016 for £27. I was able to use a pin punch in the holes in the balance shaft gear to lever the backlash eliminator into alignment, then hold it there while lining it up with the crankshaft. It's easiest to have the crankshaft with the alignment mark already facing the balancer shaft, then you can mesh the balancer with the crankshaft teeth and roll it down into the slots in the cases. This all takes two hands, so sorry but no piccies.

The last things before finally joining the cases was putting some engine oil on all the bearings/journals, and putting sealant on the upper crankcase mating surfaces to seal the engine when it goes back together.



Once I'd bolted the halves up the first thing I did was turn the crankshaft to check for tight spots. I was amazed how easily and smoothly it turned compared to before I split the engine, I was way off before when I thought it was rotating freely! Before, it needed a bit of oomph to get it to move initially, then it would turn ok. Small rotations (e.g. lining up the sprag clutch TDC mark) were really difficult as it would jump too far so I had ended up using my breaker bar just to get some fine control! I now know this was all from the spun bearing, but I had assumed this was normal as I was turning the engine over with no oil. By comparison, it now turns easily and smoothly with just my hand on the clutch basket.

I put in the earlier oil pickup (easy, literally a push fit), and fitted the new sump. It's so shiny and clean it makes the rest of the engine look a bit shabby, there's something else to do!


I then installed the new oil pump (after filling it with engine oil) and the clutch, lubricating each plate with clean engine oil before putting it in. I wasn't able to reuse the clutch cover gasket so I fitted a new one when putting the cover back on.

Next the alternator rotor went back on, and the new stator cover with a fresh gasket. After weeks of sitting as split cases, it's starting to look like an actual engine again!



I'm going to have a 3 way grind done on the valve seats before I reinstall the head, so that will be after Christmas I imagine.
... yet another fascinating instalment, thank you.

I may well start looking for a water cooled triple for my next project bike once the SV650S is finished (but of course project bikes are never finished - I suppose I mean when I’ve spent enough time on it).

Alan


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#24 ·
Good guide to stripping the engine. Enjoyed the read. Two things worried me.

Did you ever get to the bottom of the floating oil ring? There is one that sits between the crank case half for the oil passage (next to the oil hose) and the other worry I had was the liners being unclamped while you were moving the components. They have a habit of breaking the seals at the base and you'll only find it when you run the engine. The liners are simple to pull before the head is back on (see my photos on Daytona 1075 R).

As I said great read

Rob
 
#25 ·
Thanks :) I thought the mystery O ring might be the oil gallery seal but it's the wrong size. I ended up contacting Triumph and from the dimensions it's nothing to do with the 1050 engine whatsoever. It must have gotten dropped into the engine when the gearbox was replaced before I bought it.

I reckon once it got wedged in the oil strainer it caused the oil starvation that led to the spun bearing.

That's a good point on the liners, I'm guessing that would cause an internal coolant leak?
 
#26 ·
Great news re the o ring. Guess same time as the bit of gasket in the pump.

I see from the other thread you've got the head on now. Yes you'll get the water weeping out into the engine when under pressure. You may be ok. It took a fair bit of work to free two of my liners using my self made puller, just one was easy. Anyhow too late now.

I like the other side to the engine build as well. I wondered what bits you needed to change to use the old ecu.

Regards
 
#32 ·
It's been a while since I updated this thread since I haven't had funds/time to work on the engine. I'm not going to update this thread any more as I have found and fixed the faults the engine came with, and I'm going to be modifying it more before it goes back together and into the bike. I'll document all the remaining work in the project thread I linked earlier.
 
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