1981 Liquifire restoration

[JDcarlor]

Hello everybody I am new to this forum. A year ago I received a 1981 liquifire from a guy that was going to restore it but lost interest. The sled is completely torn apart and I have since torn the motor down. I am at the point of putting in a new outer crank bearing on the gear side. This is my first restoration. I am slightly overwhelmed and have almost no clue what I am doing. I also do not have all the parts I need as it was torn apart by the guy before me. I am missing a seat and the secondary clutch is broken. I will post as I go along with questions. Later today I will get some pictures.

[JDcarlor]

Sorry for the mess and the bad pictures but that is what I am working with

[JDcarlor]

Deere still makes the bearing for the pto crankshaft end and the one in the gear case as they are the same.

[High Top]

Welcome to the forum. I haven’t been a member too long but there are others that have lots of experience. Search the forum for things you don’t understand or need more info on. There is a ton of great info here that’s already been discussed in previous topics. A tech manual will be helpful as well. I believe there is one on vintage sleds site. I have access to a hard copy at my dealer and that’s nice. New breed parts has quite a few things that you will be needing when it comes to parts and he has good descriptions on things also that I find very helpful. I’m starting in on an 80 liquifire. Engine is torn down about to the same as yours and I’m about ready to start reassembly. The rest of mine is all still together and it’s very low mileage so I’m excited to hopefully have a nice reliable runner that I’m not scared of blowing the track out of once the engine gets back in. Should be a fun project for you!

[JDcarlor]

My dad is a Deere salesman so I have a technical manual. That is also how I found the part number for the bearings. Speaking of bearings I got the pto end bearing on the crankshaft. In the process I found out the flashpoint of engine oil (whoops). Crankshaft is ready to go in! I have all the parts to rebuild the engine. (I found Busco bullet and new breed parts already). Power washing belly pan tonight with hops of sandblasting tomorrow.

[nick80lf]

Welcome. Looks like you have quite the project there. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

The air boxes in the one photo appear to be for a Kawasaki Invader. The Invaders used a very similar motor with a few small difference. Cylinder heads is one of the differences. I believe the liquifire heads have 2A on the top of the casting.

Also, I typically use Yamabond 4 to seal the case halves (and other sealing surfaces on the engine). The first one of these engines i rebuilt i had a very difficult time getting one head gasket to seal. If you check your head with a straight edge more than likely they will not be flat. I deal with this by lapping the heads and cylinders on a surface plate. I my early days I used a thick piece of glass (today I use a granite surface plate) and wet dry sandpaper (600 grit or so). Place the sandpaper on the glass, wet the sandpaper with WD40 and slide the head / cylinder across the sandpaper using a figure 8 motion until flat. I prefer to use Cometic head gaskets and apply yamabond to both sides of the head gasket (except the metal fire ring in the center of the gasket). I know this sounds strange but some of the history here is that the OEM Deere head gaskets had a rubber coating. If you look in a service manual for the Kawasaki Invader they mention coating the gasket with sealant (the OEM Kawasaki gaskets didn't have the rubber coating).

Also look at the o-rings on the center section of your crank. They can be replaced by carefully stretching them over the rods. It will take them a few minutes to shrink back to the proper size. If the O-ring don't look bad I've already left them alone without having them cause an issue.

Good luck.

[JDcarlor]

I will check the o rings. The engines I have may be Kawasaki engines from a Kawasaki. I’ll look at the heads. Does it matter all that much? The guy I got it from had some Kawasaki’s as well so I have some Kawasaki seats and air boxes and a clutch and airbox.

[nick80lf]

The dome of the Invader heads were shaped differently. The Liquifire engines were supposedly "de-tuned' to improve longevity. Those that know way more than me about squish bands will recommend using the Liquifire head with the aftermarket pistons available today. Eventhough I do have an Invader collecting dust in my shop I have never done much with it.

[JDcarlor]

Update: I have John Deere heads. I somehow guessed the right engine to tear into. The other one I believe has Kawasaki heads on it along with the spare cylinders and heads I have.

I have the sled taped off and ready for sandblasting

[High Top]

Carter me and you are in the same boat so I’ll throw a few questions out for the experts…

My engine I believe is all original and has never been into. It has this white stuff all over and it is what was sealing the case halves. I compare it to hylomar that I’ve used in the last 15 years to seal up water pumps on JD 4045 engines. Seems to work fine but not my most favorite stuff to work with. Has anyone else seen the same stuff on an original engine? I’ve been using the permatex case sealant that new breed sells and have been happy with it for the case halves. Wound the permatex work for the heads also?

As far as the pistons and squish. I was wondering if I should put new aftermarket pistons in? My originals look ok but would definitely need rings. Mine has the L shaped top rings currently. Would the wiseco ones be the better option to put in now while apart?

Another thing to think about is oil injection…… from research it needs to stay on for the center crank bearing and I plan to leave it on mine but I’m considering routing the two intake lines back to the oil pump inlet line and just running my normal 50/1 premix that I run in my other machines. Anyone have thoughts on this good or bad?

[nick80lf]

- The white sealant was factory sealant.
- I've not used the permatex case sealant but some have said it's similar to the Yamabond and Threebond case sealant.
- I've only ever used the Tiawan pistons (SPI, Lemans, part Unlimited), so no comment on pistons.
- Your thought on returning the 2 intake oil injection lines to the tank seems logical to me.

[High Top]

Thanks Nick for the info.

Carter whatever you use to seal up the case with just be somewhat careful to not apply too much. The white stuff on the case halves of this engine had more than plenty and I’m careful getting it cleaned out of spots on the crank that it got into…… some of my trailfires were similar. I use a tooth pick to apply the sealant to the case halves and can really control how much I apply. I think some others here have also used Q tips.

[JDcarlor]

Update on progress: Yesterdays sand blasting excursion ended after a little progress was made. My air compressor was too small to keep up so my dad thought if we put a smaller tip on I could save air. That ended with ruined threads on the not that holds the tip on. New one is ordered and will arrive Wednesday hopefully. Sandblasting will hopefully be finished Thursday and I will prime it on Friday.

In the meantime I have been working on reassembling the engine. Tonight I got the new seal and bearing pressed into the gear case cover.

I also cleaned the fluid film off of the crankcase that I had preventing rust and replaced it with some oil. I am waiting on my dad for a silicone sealant of some kind (he is checking to see if they sell something like the original at the Deere dealer he works at. I set the crank in the case and made sure everything lined up.

Thanks for all the tips so far everyone.

[JDcarlor]

I started tearing apart the skid tonight. I am kind of stuck waiting for parts on the engine and sandblasting but I want to keep making progress so I am bouncing around a little. Does anybody have any tips on how to get the idlers off? One fell of but the other ones are all stuck on.

[JDcarlor]

I power washed the hood and some other parts today just to see how they looked clean. Does anyone know how to get stuck bogie wheels off? 1 fell of but the other 3 are stuck on. The part for the sandblaster showed up so tomorrow I will be blasting and Friday laying down primer.