Alternater cover puntured

T-Rex · Post by **T-Rex** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 1:44 pm

Hi guys. Had the rex jacked up today using a garage jack under the engine across the exhausts to remove the front wheel (to respray the forks). Bad thing happened. Whilst refitting wheel, trying to align axle bolt the rex toppled off the garage jack over to the left hand side and hit the ground.

if this wasn't bad enough a socket laying on the ground puntured the alternater cover

When I finally liftted the rex upright engine oil was pissing out of the hole in the alt. cover. Now i'm not at all mechanically minded as far as engines go so give me a break and don't laugh. Is there supposed to be engine oil anywhere in that versinity, or was it when the rex was upended oil has run across. Took the alt. cover off and approx 200 - 300ml of oil came out. Should I just put a new alt. cover along with gasket back on after cleaning everything up or is there something else that has to be done? Rest of the rex is ok just a few fairing scratches which will be sorted later. Nothing else broken exept my pride

Post by **Max** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:50 pm

Yes, there's supposed to be oil in there. A new cover will be quite expensive. If you can't source a good used one and the damage hasn't harmed any internals, you might want to take it to a good argon welding dude and have him patch it up. Any chance of posting a pic? (embarrassing as it would be... )

T-Rex · Post by **T-Rex** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:38 am

Hey Max, thanks for the reply. Good 2nd hand covers are hard to come by, all scratched the ones i've seen. The best one i've seen (few slight scratches) is going for $85 AUS. I've ordered a new one from the dealer for $125 AUS plus $20 for the gasket. I can live with that. Below is a pic, the stator & rotor are A O K and Max thanks again I feel better now knowing there IS supposed to be oil in there

Still feeling like a tosser thou that it happened in the first place

Post by **Max** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 11:15 am

Well, don't toss it in the trash yet. Looks like a candidate for a weld up patch. Maybe give it that chamfered 'racey' look (for more ground clearance).

You need one of my lift stands. (Maybe something to take to the welder if / when you go...).

T-Rex · Post by **T-Rex** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:14 pm

Thanks for the tip Re: race set up

,am already working on stands

CULater · Post by **CULater** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:34 am

It probably wil be hard to weld it properly, because the cover isn't real aluminum, but a mix of materials( as we say here "a legering". You need the same material to weld it the right way.

When i had my crash we put some special metal bonding pasta in the hole, sanded it and respayed it. looked like new and has given no probs what so ever!

T-Rex · Post by **T-Rex** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:57 pm

Thanks 4 the tip C U will try a repair first before falking out the dollars for a new one

CULater · Post by **CULater** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 1:51 am

If you want i can look up the name of the stuff i used ?

pics from my crash used to be on our website, but since our provider had a server crash (al data lost, no back up made) our site isn't much these days (but they are working on it) i managed to find a few pics on my computer!

It was a relative slow crash (happened on a roundabout, stormwinds an rain and in a split second i was kissibg the tarmac)

Here you see the hole, oil still dripping out, after the crash i still managed to ride home (about 15 miles)

After i removed the cover

The repaired cover, only thing to do is put the bolts in and sanding it and do a little respraying (i did it with a spraycan)

T-Rex · Post by **T-Rex** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:07 pm

I'm going to try metal putty. Comes in a tube, is soft and can be worked easily and sets like the product suggests, like metal

nukes · Post by **nukes** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:06 am

quicksteel is great stuff. i use it for work and it sets rock hard and can then be sanded likie culater says.any hardware or auto shop should have some.

CULater · Post by **CULater** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:09 am

Don't forget to degrease it first, (the cover that is) i used brakecleaner, perfect for the job!

T-Rex · Post by **T-Rex** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:19 am

thanks guys