I bought myself a Christmas present ! It took a few days before I could assemble it, because the weather has been just constant rain, not so good for working on the bike.
All photos in this post taken by me
It is an engine stand for motorcycle engines. I bought the large one because it's rated to handle large bike engines up to 70 kilos in weight; I haven't weighed a Z650 engine, but they're heavy lumps and going to be close to that weight.
What I like about it is that it's on caster wheels, and can have the working height adjusted by taking out the pins and lifting the black sliding bars. But the most useful thing is that it can rotate so you can change the angle of the engine and make it easier to work on the underside.
Before I can use it, I'll need to sort out how to bolt the engine to it. The instructions say to us the bolts that come with the engine, but the only complete set I've got are the ones actually fitted to the bike and holding the main engine in place. I have a spare of the long front bolt, but not the rear bolt. I may be able to bodge something together, however.
The other challenge will be working out how to lift the engine up into it. Doing that at the same time as doing up all the bolts will probably be a two or three person job !
I've got two spare engines; one I have already cleaned up a bit, the other is cosmetically a mess. In both cases, I'm not sure what is going on inside yet. Both have a variety of problems, but I've also got another spare head and barrels.
I am fairly confident that with a lot of work, I'll be able to get a complete working engine put together, even if it is a Frankenstein's Monster put together from the best bits of all the assorted spares I've got ! It won't be a quick project, but it should keep me busy until the weather improves enough that I can work on the bike itself and find out why it's still not running right. I'll need to make sure I've got new gaskets, seals, o-rings etc ready to hand.
