1979 Kawasaki Invader Help

[JLane7071]

Hi everyone, I just got my first project sled and I have a few questions, its a 79 Invader 440 L/C and its been sitting in the woods since 2001. The engine does turn, but i instead of trying to run it I bought the gaskets and plan on tearing it down and rebuilding it first, the tracks in good shape as is the rest of the sled. My questions are regarding the oil pump and water pump, can these be rebuilt? I can't find any kits for them and I want to make sure they are up to snuff beforehand while I've got the engine out of the sled. Any help is appreciated.

[mswyka]

Water pump - yes, these can be rebuilt.  I understand the Flying Dutchman out of Oregon does these repairs.

Oil pump - It is my opinion, unless the sled was abused, should be OK.  If you try to disassemble, be careful.  There is a coating on the barrel of the pump that if scarred, will cause the pump to leak internally.  Unless a shaft is actually broken, if the pump fails, it will put more oil into the engine than it needs, so I am not concerned about running a failed pump.  I have attached a photo of the pump barrel. This is from a pump that must have had grit and wore out.  Oil consumption from this pump was high and evident by the large smoke cloud it left behind.

[Vader]

The problem I had with my oil pump was I think the seal on the actuator shaft was so worn that all the oil from the tank was dripping out through it. Made a big mess on the floor before I noticed what was going on. And you can't find those seals anywhere. (At least back when I was doing this I couldn't)

[mswyka]

If you are sure that oil leaked out past the input shaft then you would probably be better off finding a pump from another engine.  If, and I know that this is a big assumption, if the pump always had clean oil in it none of the parts should ever wear out.

[JLane7071]

Has anyone here attempted to rebuild a water pump themselves? And thanks for the input guys.

[Vader]

I attempted it. I started to press the bearings out with a 12 ton press, but I was pressing so hard I thought the whole thing would shatter, and the bearing only budged a little. I didn't know how I was going to get the mechanical seal out, or where I would find another one. I heard about the Flying Dutchman on this forum, and I will gladly send him the pumps from both my Invaders and leave the job to someone with that specific experience and resources.

[gixxer6]

The problem I had with my oil pump was I think the seal on the actuator shaft was so worn that all the oil from the tank was dripping out through it. Made a big mess on the floor before I noticed what was going on. And you can't find those seals anywhere. (At least back when I was doing this I couldn't)

I have had several oil pumps with this issue.  I always  fill them with oil on the bench and leave them overnight to check for leaks before installing them.  I searched for a replacement seal but couldn't find one the correct size. 

[JLane7071]

I just don't want to put all this time and effort into the sled and first trip out have the motor blow over something stupid.

[JLane7071]

The first pic is how it looked when I first got it home, I started cleaning it up, the seats getting professionally redone, I pulled the engine and am rebuilding it down in my basement. I still can't get over how small that 440 looks under the cowling of those invaders lol.

[JLane7071]

I decided that since my gaskets and everything won't be here until Wednesday-ish I might as well clean the engine up good and make it look nice. Another question for you guys, anyone ever port their jugs to match the gaskets? Ive done it on car engines but never done any of these snowsled engines, I noticed the exhaust port is noticeabally smaller than the gasket, I have read its recommend on the manifold but what about the port itself? And if you have what kind of difference did it make?

[rminier]

 Lookin' GOOD! Take your time and get it right now, and you can enjoy many trouble free miles. These sleds were very reliable when new....most all of them from the late '70s- early '80s were, from all of the manufacturers. But, we have to contend with the 35 plus years since then.
 Polishing the rough surface of the factory castings has to help some. I cleaned up the roughness on my Invader cylinders many years ago. I don't have a clue how much (if any) it helped.
 Absolutely avoid getting too close to the inner chrome liner on the cylinder. Without the proper high speed grinding equipment, it's possible to chip the chrome lining.
 I wouldn't spend a great deal of time, other than smoothing the surfaces, especially the exhaust side. Matching the exhaust port dimension to the gasket, and the y pipe would certainly help.....but the gains that come from having the carbs very clean, the clutches perfectly aligned, and all of the bearings in the drive train in good shape probably outweigh any tiny gains from that precision matching of the ports.

[JLane7071]

Well I was just looking at "The Instigator" and I got thinking I'd like to build it somewhere along those lines, and I went out to look at the clutch and found out I have the comet 102 C with yellow spring? Anyone know how these clutches are? I'm sure most of you guys probably do I'm just wondering because I know they have purple springs and others that change the engagement?

[Interceptor398]

The Comet is easier to fined parts for.

[JLane7071]

So I was looking closer at the clutch and found that it was stuck, so I gave it a good bath in degreaser and then tore it down, gave it a good soak in some WD-40 and started working the plate back and forth so now shes back together and good as new , any recommendations on that spring? I know they say it will change the engagement speed and I want good balance between lowend and topend, do you guys think that the setup I have would be a good setup?

[JLane7071]

Well I managed to gets some new hardware from work and had to see what the motors going to look like, still cleaning and cleaning luckily this sleds cleaner then the old cars and trucks I'm used to working on. But all in all I want this sled to look like a near showroom condition toy but ridden. But here's where I'm at on it as of now.