I’m going to have the Nikasil cylinders on this bike replated and honed to match the new 9.5:1 pistons I’m going to install in this build. I’ve learned from a well versed airhead mechanic, Tom Cutter, at Rubber Chicken Racing Garage, that the connecting rods are subject to deformation over time such that the distance between the hole centers of the big end and little end of the rod becomes a bit longer than when new. It’s worth having them checked and the flat of the connecting rod cap machined to achieve the design distance between the hole centers. This is not very expensive and ought to reduce wear and tear on the wrist pin and crank shaft throw.
It’s quite straight forward once you have the top end removed as I document in this write-up:
And here is the write-up on removing the connecting rods:
Here is a short video I made showing the tools and the procedure.
VIDEO: 1983 R100RS Remove Connecting Rods
Thanks Brook and Tom. It’s always great to pickup these bits of knowledge for future projects.