Ivj rebuild xt600 tenere 87
 

Ok ,......managaed to source a set of casing,s for my tenere 87 and intend on rebuilding the engine with the original electric start.......

I know they suffered from engine cooling problems from the oil pump and heads blowing and warping so the previous owner ( who buggered off to Australia where I hope things are working out for him,the wife and kids and is living the dream!) moved the oil cooler out into the airflow to a better position to help with cooling but is there anything else I can do to improve it and stop the potential problems occuring again?

I know one of the problems with blown heads from that model was no cooling getting to the head so yamaha got round it by putting vents in the front mudguard to improve cooling to the engine....I,m sure there was something about an improved oil pump on the 3aj/vj model ( not sure of model) and a change to the cylinder head bolts?

Any help or info more than welcome and hope everything is working out with my mate peril....:taz:

Hi,

modify airbox, bloc snorkels and remove service cover from airbox and let her suck the cooler air under the seat. Or fit a 3AJ airbox.

And head and cylinder from 3AJ/3TB or even better a complett engine.

regards

Thomas

1VJ Airbox Mod
 

I uprated my 1VJ because of exactly the same concerns. See attached shots of the mods I've done to the standard 1VJ box: I used some pieces of plastic milk carton to block the inlet snorkels and then drilled inlet holes into the air filter access cover to mimic the 3AJ snorkel (do people think I've drilled enough?). However, as I'm concerned water will run in here when I'm splashing around on Salisbury Plain, I've just sourced a 3AJ box complete and plan on substituting that.

Future plans may include a later head and even a 4PT engine, but the original one is hanging in there for now. I'm thinking about an oil temp gauge before I head off to Maroc this year so I can keep an eye on how hot things are really getting...

Do you think that these 3 holes will be big enough for air intake?

Edit: Now I see that you wonder yourself if drilled holes are big enough. Can you measure original snorkel dimensions, and that way you can calculate how big holes must be. This information will be helpful to me, because now I ride without airbox cover, and I would like to drill some holes in cover and put it back. I'm not sure how big holes must be, and I'm too lazy to remove airbox and measure myself :)

The airbox mod has been done and I would like to soucre a later head with the larger cooling fins.....I think the airbox mod is why it has more oomph than my 4pt....

When i got my 3AJ it came without a snorkel & the previous rider was riding it all across Western Australia like that, the only thing ive changed on that is now ive put some SS gauze in there to strop crap going in, my bike has got a experimental pipe on there (very free flowing) and ive also gas flowed the head so im hoping the opened up airbox will suit.

http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Emezo/...03/snorkel.JPG

There`s a lot that`s been written on this forum about modding the airbox & looking at your holes id say leave it be for now, you can always put some more holes in later.

I think the general rule of thumb is Yamaha got it pretty spot on from standard.

Mezo.

I have an oil temp gaige from e bay instead of a dipstick,,,,

Hope you aren't going to hunt me down Kenny,I did try putting you off it by being as honest as I could about the issues it had. :helpsmilie:
The oil pump in the motor was a 3aj one from what I could tell as it had 3aj stamped on the pump wheel.
Front mudguard mod is to cut it,which I did or to put slats in it like the XT550 had.
Maybe a larger oil cooler,say off a DR650?
Other than that,you're pretty restricted due to the silly design Yamaha did of the fuel tank - far to close to the engine.

oil temp gauge
 

Yeah, thought about these as they're only about £25 here. Trouble is, it's down under the right hand side panel - just too difficult to keep an eye on. On an XT500 ot 600E (oil in frame) it's just in front of you.
So what I'm really after is an electric gauge for the dash area and a matched sensor that I can put in the sump, or better still the oil tank. I fitted one of these to my aircooled VW bus years ago, and it was really useful (and worrying!) when cruising fully loaded on French autoroutes. I've seen universal kits for about 50 quid, but has anyone got any experience of fitting them to 1VJs/3AJs?

No worries mate, I ll check the oil pump when I come to fit it. I noticed the cut down mudguard and will be pulling the bearings from the casings today and start a slow rebuild. Hope everything is working out for you in Oz mate....

i did the blocking the snorkels and removing the air filter service hatch mod on my 1VJ. it ran ok, sounded better, but it was commented on that the exhaust smelled fuelly when riding in company. I removed the snorkels completely allowing more air into the box and this overrichness went away. I've since fitted a leo vinci road end can and performance is improved all round.