Das XL500 Forum

Hi!

I bought Honda XL500R for 100euros and it has quite bad engine damage (thats why it was so cheap), engine has beem run without oil and because of that camshaft, rocker arms and cylinder head are nothing but junk metal.

I saw lately one fully functional Honda FT500 engine at the local motorcycle junkyard and it seemed to be almost same engine? Is it possible to swap whole engine to XL500 frame? I also could just swap cylinder heads if they fit.

And finally, is it possible to take transmission output shaft apart and change only bearing? It seems that honda sells only the whole assembly as spare (shaft, bearing and pinion). Shaft and pinion are both fine mut bearing isn't.

Hi,

the FT 500 engine fits. But it has an additional oilfilter so you can´t mount the engine protection any more. There´s also an e-starter
The fixing of the manifold ist different, too. But you can handle this with a little bit of improvisation. Or use the fixing of the FT.

It´s also possible to change some parts like the cylinder head, but i don´t know enough of this to tell you.

So far...

Volker

The FT-Engine fits - and doesn't fit. It's not only the exhaust manifold that causes problems:

1. The easy way (leaving the e-starter)

• the whole exhaust system (XL) doesn't fit anymore (the e-starter (FT) hits the exhaust). You have to use the FT-Exhaust wich looks ... different (see pictures below). Or you have to remove the e-starter, wich leads to a lot of problems (see section 2).
• The ignition system is different (you have to change the C.D.I)
• The XL-Battery is to weak for the starter. You have to find a place for a bigger battery.
• The wiring harness is different
• The outputshaft (FT) is about 5 mm longer, the pinion is placed the same distance outer. This results in a diagonal running chain. You can probably build a distance-ring, wich corrects this.

2. The hard way (removing the e-starter)
If you remove the e-starter, you need to demount the complete engine to place a kickstarterspindle into the gearbox (use the 18-mm-Version of the S-Model). You can put the XL-Gearbox in the FT-Crankcase to solve the "Outputshaft-Problem" and replace - by the way - easily the outputshaft sealing [not the bearing, as I wrote first]. Additionally you have to replace/modify the following parts:

• the right crankcase cover (the one from the FT doesn't have a hole for the kickstarterspindle). Use the S-Type-Cover (witch fits on the 18 mm Kickstarterspindle)
• use either the whole ignition system of the XL or the FT. Don't forget to change the sensor in the right crankcase-cover or the pick-up on the right crankshaft side
• drill a new hole in the engine crankcase for the engine air vent
• put a XL5R-Magnetwheel on the left crankshaft side
• use a XL5R-Generator
• replace the left crankcase cover. Use the one from a R-Model.

Doing all this is a lot more work than searching for a good XL-Engine! It's still far less work to rebuild the XL-Engine using FT-Parts (like volkri said).

Creetinks,
Dominik

P.S.: The pictures can only been seen, if you are logged in!

Yeah, that kind of answer i just needed, ill leave that FT engine for FT owners and start to find spare engine. I hope i find one frome here finland, there aren't many of these.

All other parts in my XL500 engine are fine for now, i bought new Wiseco 90.93mm piston and prox connection rod + new bearings for crankshaft. I carefully sandblasted crankcase, side covers and cylinder. After that i painted them black with heat resistant paint. Some day that will look like brand new engine - i hope

Have anyone ever dissambled transmission output shaft assembly?
http://www.xl500.de/tipps/nebenwelle/welle_kpl.jpg

Honda sells only whole shaft assembly as spare, but i need only the bearing to be replaced, shaft itself and pinion are fine. Working solution would be to just buy that shaft assembly but it costs over 250eur at my local honda dealer but that is big money for student like me

Some day that honda will rise and shine

Sorry, I confused you. It's not possible to replace the bearing. I meant the sealing. Best solution ist probably to buy a used shaft.

Creetinks,
Dominik

Hm, i have looked for used engine for a while and it looks like there isn't any of PD02 (or other) XL500 engines for sale.

Do you have any idea where i could find decent cylinder head with valve cover? Lately there was one in ebay.de but i missed it

Well, transmission output shaft is now in pieces, i tried to apply some brute force to it and old bearing popped out without problem.




Now i need to fit new bearing in and put it back together

Dominik hat geschrieben:The FT-Engine fits - and doesn't fit. It's not only the exhaust manifold that causes problems:

2. The hard way (removing the e-starter)
If you remove the e-starter, you need to demount the complete engine to place a kickstarterspindle into the gearbox (use the 18-mm-Version of the S-Model). You can put the XL-Gearbox in the FT-Crankcase to solve the "Outputshaft-Problem" and replace - by the way - easily the outputshaft sealing [not the bearing, as I wrote first]. Additionally you have to replace/modify the following parts:

• the right crankcase cover (the one from the FT doesn't have a hole for the kickstarterspindle). Use the S-Type-Cover (witch fits on the 18 mm Kickstarterspindle)
• use either the whole ignition system of the XL or the FT. Don't forget to change the sensor in the right crankcase-cover or the pick-up on the right crankshaft side
• drill a new hole in the engine crankcase for the engine air vent
• put a XL5R-Magnetwheel on the left crankshaft side
• use a XL5R-Generator
• replace the left crankcase cover. Use the one from a R-Model.

Doing all this is a lot more work than searching for a good XL-Engine! It's still far less work to rebuild the XL-Engine using FT-Parts (like volkri said).

Creetinks,
Dominik

P.S.: The pictures can only been seen, if you are logged in!

Hello to all! Excuse me for my bad english.
I have an FT500 engine in good condition and broken L250S engine. I want to remove e-starter and put kickstarter to FT engine. But i can not remove the mechanizm of kickstarter from L250S engine without "disassemble the engine". If i want to do this operation do i need to put out all gearbox of both engines?!(

Why don´t you keep the e-starter if you have it?
Just do the thinks as described by Dominik in pt.1

After a hard offroad ralley ride you will be happy to have it!
We are all getting older...

Kristian
(just thinking how to kick my XL if I am 70...)

Kristian hat geschrieben:Why don´t you keep the e-starter if you have it?
Just do the thinks as described by Dominik in pt.1

After a hard offroad ralley ride you will be happy to have it!
We are all getting older...

Kristian
(just thinking how to kick my XL if I am 70...)

I dont want to keep e-starter because of
1)a little free space on my l250s for bigger battery.
2)electric wires from xr engine *more easy* then from FT for me.
3)enduro must have it! (kickstarter)

But i dont understand how to demontage the all mechanizm of kickstarter!( on the right side of the engine i saw only kickstarter spindel, and i can not to take it out of engine..

Buy a XL engine if you want to kick. That cost you less than all the work to change everything as Domnik wrote.

My advice: Keep the FT engine as it is and put it in your shelf!
Maybe you will be happy to have it in later times if you are pissed off kicking ore your bones don´t want any longer...

Hi again to everyone! I need a repare manual for FT\XR\XL engine! I need to repair the transmission, montage new bearings. Give me the link for this manual please! Thank you!