Re-baking my ST1300 (Almost-full-redoing)

Today the lady passed the inspection without issues. I achieved to fix the SMC changing the circlip and worked great. I'm changing it completely when the parts arrive.

Also I found out that the odometer surpassed the 199.999 kms and got back to zero 10 years ago, so the motorcycle has 293.000 kms. Surprised me that is working great in spite of that much of a use. I'm thinking about getting a used engine with less kms and save this one for parts if someday I need those. All the bike is great, changing the engine after all the work could be like just changing a diaper to the bike at this point.

I expected it to be a bit stronger, also I noticed that reaching 160 kms/h without noticing almost any vibration, doubt, anything, could be NOT a signal of being not strong enough, but of excellence of technical output. For real I don't notice the speed or the push of the bike, but I'm full aware that I'm changing to the 2 and 3 gears in just a coulpe seconds after a twist of the wrist, and at 140 kms/h. This bike just it's dead bored at 120 kms/h.

Sometimes I think I'm noticing a bit of power losing, but the day was really windy, could be front wind, it's the same sensation but sustained in time (brakes creating issues maybe??) I also noticed that the spring of the front brake master cylinder is weak and it's not pushing out properly the piston, to the point that the brake light stays ON sometimes. All is OK but I see that, the piston is not coming out with enough strenght, also I notice when braking that it's not pushing too hard at all.

Damn thing brakes like hell anyways. I'm really happy with the results, and the pressure of the front brake is never reaching more than 50 bar when braking, 100 when forcing it a lot. A common braking I think it should be around 20, 30 bar at most. Emergency braking around 60, not more than 70 bar.
 
leondante said:
Today the lady passed the inspection without issues. I achieved to fix the SMC changing the circlip and worked great. I'm changing it completely when the parts arrive.

Also I found out that the odometer surpassed the 199.999 kms and got back to zero 10 years ago, so the motorcycle has 293.000 kms. Surprised me that is working great in spite of that much of a use. I'm thinking about getting a used engine with less kms and save this one for parts if someday I need those. All the bike is great, changing the engine after all the work could be like just changing a diaper to the bike at this point.

I expected it to be a bit stronger, also I noticed that reaching 160 kms/h without noticing almost any vibration, doubt, anything, could be NOT a signal of being not strong enough, but of excellence of technical output. For real I don't notice the speed or the push of the bike, but I'm full aware that I'm changing to the 2 and 3 gears in just a coulpe seconds after a twist of the wrist, and at 140 kms/h. This bike just it's dead bored at 120 kms/h.

Sometimes I think I'm noticing a bit of power losing, but the day was really windy, could be front wind, it's the same sensation but sustained in time (brakes creating issues maybe??) I also noticed that the spring of the front brake master cylinder is weak and it's not pushing out properly the piston, to the point that the brake light stays ON sometimes. All is OK but I see that, the piston is not coming out with enough strenght, also I notice when braking that it's not pushing too hard at all.

Damn thing brakes like hell anyways. I'm really happy with the results, and the pressure of the front brake is never reaching more than 50 bar when braking, 100 when forcing it a lot. A common braking I think it should be around 20, 30 bar at most. Emergency braking around 60, not more than 70 bar.
Click to expand...
I always found the ST1300 does not FEEL fast. I believe that is because of it's linear power band, there is no top end rush. Just keep an eye on the speedometer, it is faster than it feels!
 
Um, yeah, changing the engine...

I did one of those (and I still haven't finished it, due to life!) It wasn't fun.

I had an old cop bike with a good engine and a good bike with a bad engine (the guy I got it from ran it out of oil.) So I decided I would swap the engine out of the ex cop bike and put it in the other bike. A second reason was I wasn't too sure about this cop bike, too many cut wires and bad/wrong bolts on it.

It took a bit of work, I used my tractor to lift the ex cop frame off the good engine.

20250207_154209.jpg

And after loosening the bad engine from the other frame, I took off the heads, turned the block 90 degrees and slid the engine out of the frame.

20250310_164715.jpg

Then when I was ready, I again used the tractor to put the good frame over the engine.

20250430_2tractorLowerFrame.jpg

I actually got it going!

20250520_RideAroundBlock2.jpg

I still need to rebuild the forks, flush out the brakes and a few other things to get it road worthy.

Unless you really think you need another engine.... maybe, just replace the seals in the old one?
 
leondante said:
...... so the motorcycle has 293.000 kms. Surprised me that is working great in spite of that much of a use. I'm thinking about getting a used engine with less kms and save this one for parts if someday I need those.
Click to expand...
My first instinct would be to tell you to not waste your time or money. There are a lot of ST1300's that have a lot more mileage on them than that and are still running just fine. If your engine ever blows up there are always cheap used engines available. Forget about it and put your money towards enjoying riding the one that you have.
 
eyrepb said:
Guessing; Dirt in the circlip groove? (Clean groove). Damaged outer retaining edge of circlip groove? (Replace SMC housing). Fatigued clip with not enough tension to stay in groove? (Replace circlip). Wrong circlip installed? (Ensure circlip used is PN# 46182-500-013).
Click to expand...
Regarding piston C-clip failure, I thought of something Larry @Igofar shared about the circles have different edges on different side. Here's an AI explanation attached:
IMG_8901.PNG
 
diferg said:
I always found the ST1300 does not FEEL fast. I believe that is because of it's linear power band, there is no top end rush. Just keep an eye on the speedometer, it is faster than it feels!
Click to expand...
This is my exact same experience. Even grabbing a handful of throttle in 1st and 2nd doesn't give me a visceral sensation of acceleration. Well a small exception is a slight twist of the wrist at very slow speeds. A G2 Throttle Tamer took care of that for me.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
My first instinct would be to tell you to not waste your time or money. There are a lot of ST1300's that have a lot more mileage on them than that and are still running just fine. If your engine ever blows up there are always cheap used engines available. Forget about it and put your money towards enjoying riding the one that you have.
Click to expand...

I had that in mind, but all my work wasn't a waste, because at this point switching the engine it's just another tuesday for me. All parts are replaceable, even the engine, and even changing the engine would be a good investment and profitable for me. So YES, you are right, but I wasn't getting a expendable bike, I wanted to do a piece of art and even buying a couple more engines wouldn't be more expensive than buying another bike in the same conditions that mine is now. I'm preparing this thing to last all MY life, even with a shelf of engines and parts. My favourite prosthetic limb is my motorcycle and my tools.
 
eyrepb said:
Regarding piston C-clip failure, I thought of something Larry @Igofar shared about the circles have different edges on different side. Here's an AI explanation attached:
IMG_8901.PNG
Click to expand...

I had this in mind, installed it counting on it.

My washer of the main rod in the SMC has a piece of rubber that got bigger when cleaning it with gasoline, that stopped the circlip from entering properly in the groove, that and that the old circlip was weak. I got a very good circlip and even created a tool specifically for hammering in the groove, and boy that canal is deep there. I think it could make no difference the side you install the circlip as the groove is really deep. Mine works great now. Today I went to work with it for the very first time. Made 17 kms/liter. Not bad, not too good.

I had to wait 1000 days from buying to starting fixing the motorcycle.
I spent 600 days fixing it.
Weirdly the numbers came out exactly those.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
That is the point that I am making- the engine that you have will more than likely last your life time and then some more so I wouldn't be to concerned about it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying, I read too fast and got the opposite. My mistake.
 
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leondante said:
Today the lady passed the inspection without issues. I achieved to fix the SMC changing the circlip and worked great. I'm changing it completely when the parts arrive.

Also I found out that the odometer surpassed the 199.999 kms and got back to zero 10 years ago, so the motorcycle has 293.000 kms. Surprised me that is working great in spite of that much of a use. I'm thinking about getting a used engine with less kms and save this one for parts if someday I need those. All the bike is great, changing the engine after all the work could be like just changing a diaper to the bike at this point.

I expected it to be a bit stronger, also I noticed that reaching 160 kms/h without noticing almost any vibration, doubt, anything, could be NOT a signal of being not strong enough, but of excellence of technical output. For real I don't notice the speed or the push of the bike, but I'm full aware that I'm changing to the 2 and 3 gears in just a coulpe seconds after a twist of the wrist, and at 140 kms/h. This bike just it's dead bored at 120 kms/h.

Sometimes I think I'm noticing a bit of power losing, but the day was really windy, could be front wind, it's the same sensation but sustained in time (brakes creating issues maybe??) I also noticed that the spring of the front brake master cylinder is weak and it's not pushing out properly the piston, to the point that the brake light stays ON sometimes. All is OK but I see that, the piston is not coming out with enough strenght, also I notice when braking that it's not pushing too hard at all.

Damn thing brakes like hell anyways. I'm really happy with the results, and the pressure of the front brake is never reaching more than 50 bar when braking, 100 when forcing it a lot. A common braking I think it should be around 20, 30 bar at most. Emergency braking around 60, not more than 70 bar.
Click to expand...

I think I found the power losing issue, it's my hand getting tired and losing grip on the throttle. :roflmao-2x:

I have a bad mix of leather handsocks and a surface of the handlebar that need too much of a grip and slides after some time going on. Evidence of that I need to ride more and that the throttle wires are working well.
 
leondante said:
I think I found the power losing issue, it's my hand getting tired and losing grip on the throttle. :roflmao-2x:

I have a bad mix of leather handsocks and a surface of the handlebar that need too much of a grip and slides after some time going on. Evidence of that I need to ride more and that the throttle wires are working well.
Click to expand...


After now some days and around 600 kms of driving it I'm now sure that the thing was remapping the ECU. The power loss was noticeable and after a couple days my hand stopped hurting too much and now I feel properly the grip on the handlebar. It wasn't my hand, now I'm sure. I feel how something is "opened" and like it loses a bit of power, noticeable bit, but after twisting a bit it comes back to normal.

That was a couple days ago. Now the thing is more powerful, CLEARLY more powerful and I noticed a big drop in fuel intake. My dear zombie was full confused mode and now is recovering from all those years of misuse and bad engine shape.

Now it's becoming amazing. It's starting to have better response, better output at low RPM, the thing it's getting sharp at the road. The only thing I really don't like is that the brake lever is too soft and it's hard to manage the brakes with that high and fast response. I really need to change the spring in there, I need some stopping force agains my hand. Damn thing just dives into the pavement every time I try to brake a bit. When I have to make a fast braking and I touch it too hard it gets dangerous.
 
Hello. I'm sorry for taking too long for my last post. I owe you that electrical stuff post that I'm planning to do soon, but it will take time so I'm kinda procrastinating it.

I'm now neck deep into restoring a wheels balancer and a tyres installer machines. Those take real space into my garage so I'm running to do it so I can take back that space. In the meanwhile I'm doing a lot of more small stuff that maybe I'm showing you later on. But before that I want to do that electrical thing post. I hope doing it at the end of this week or maybe the next one. Some hours of keyboarding and chosing and cutting pictures and blablalbalbla. ..
 
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