Hi, i'd like to get my hands dirty with the bike, get the plastics off and do some routine maintenance stuff, give a good clean etc.... Seems crazy to me that to get the mid fairings off, the R&G bungs have to be unbolted, and this is effectively one of the main frame/engine bolts? Obviously you'd only do one side at a time, but it doesn't fit right with me that you have to remove such a critical bolt which I understand has to be torqued in sequence etc just to do say a coolant flush? The implications of cross threading or over torquing that bolt don't even bear thinking about so its kinda putting me off the job. Any thoughts?
The R&G's have to use those bolts to be at the strongest point during a crash . They are not the only engine mounts and the engine is not going to move if your remove them . I had both of mine off and un bolted with no problems . For refitting get a torque wrench , Handy to have for other parts anyway
That's the rub I'm afraid of protecting your pride & joy, unless you fit no cut crash bungs which tend to be far more expensive, however you would still need to remove the main eng support bolts to fit them but the advantage is no holes to drill and no need to unbolt everytime you want to take the fairings off for maintenance etc. Remember next time you change your bike.
My right hand R&G fell off on the main straight at Snetterton last September. The 10mm bolt had snapped inside the frame bracket. Still finished the day and the next day. Just give the bolt a wire brushing before you refit it and make sure it isn't tight going in, so it ain't cross threaded!!!
Thanks. I have a couple of torque wrenches so that shouldnt be a problem. On the whole torque issue, i found out yesterday that the R&G install instructions say 40 NM for the bolts, but the RR8 manual says 64 nm for the same engine bolts. I rang R&G tech to ask and he confirmed def 40 nm as the bolts are softer or something and shouldnt be over torqued or they will snap in a crash. Anyway, I think i'll have a go at stripping her down at the weekend if i get the time. How about a little copper grease on the bolt threads, that can'f do any harm can it.
Yes it can!!! The torque figure is usually for a clean , dry bolt thread. If you copper grease it, you will overtorque it.
Deffo on Megs comment. I had, what began as a fascinating, lecture on buttering up bolts once when my old rallying partner, a TVR race crew mechanic, caught me greasing the engine casing bolts on the Ducati before replacing them. I say began as because about an hour later he was still explaining sheer values and force multiplier readings as if I actually understood them or had any remaining will to live. But, it did leave me with a fear of using the torque wrench on anything I haven''t scraped clean first.
I suspected as much, hence the question. I think i was made aware of it in a similar way when i used copper slip grease on my old lotus wheel bolts. Megawatt - when your R&G bolt snapped off in the bracket, so it wasn't a bolt directly in to the engine casing then? I was also wondering what you'd do there if after a spill the bolt was bent in half or snapped, how on earth you'd unscrew if from the block???
It snapped in exactly the wrong place mate, in the spacer between engine and bracket. I thought I'd done everything right when drilling it out to 8mm diameter, fitting an easy out and turning it! It still damaged the engine thread and will need welding and retapping!!! You would have to drill it 10mm diameter back to the engine, to allow the engine to drop and then use an easy out. Very difficult job!
